In the Galatian Christian community, there was evidently a faction that kept insisting that the primarily Gentile Galatians must follow the Jewish law if they wished to be truly Christian. What is more, as is apparent from Paul's response, these law-advocates focused on both the Abrahamic covenant and the later Mosaic law. If there was anyone well-acquainted with the promises extended to Israel through both these paths, it was the elite-educated, erstwhile-zealous Pharisee, Paul. Heightened by his obvious emotional attachment to the Galatian Christians, Paul's argument against these Judaizers is both theologically brilliant and emotionally barbed.

Immediately prior to today's epistle reading, Paul highlights the issue of the Abrahamic promise. He disarms his opponents' argument by splittin…