Gal 5:6:
Earlier he said that circumcision is harmful—how then does he now
regard it as indifferent? In our judgment, he refers here to circumcision that
preceded faith. It is as if he said: for those who have entered the New Covenant,
circumcision is of no benefit, and its absence is of no harm. Everything
depends on faith working through love—that is, faith that must always be active
and alive in love for Christ. This also implies that although they had
believed, they were not yet firm in their love for Christ, and because of this,
they turned again to the Law. Or perhaps he is instructing them in love toward
their neighbor. At the same time, he shows that if the deceivers had love for
them they would not have dared to do this. Thus, learn that faith becomes
active through love—that is, becomes alive. Without love, it is inactive, just
as it is written: “faith without works is dead” (James 2:20). (The New
Testament Commentaries of Saint Theophylact of Ohrid, 3 vols. [trans. Dean
Marais; Based Books, 2025], 3:31-32)
Jas 2:24:
You see that by works a man is justified, and not by faith alone.
Not by the works of the Law, as has been said—such as circumcision and
the like—but by works of righteousness and other virtues. (Ibid., 3:281)
