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It’s an old proverbial saying: He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword. This doesn’t mean that if you carry a saber with you everywhere you go, your death necessarily will come by being run through . . . although that could happen.
This adage does point to the idea that what we say we choose to live by will be what others use to assess our lives. That idea is reflected in Paul’s words when he writes about how those who are not ethnically Jewish (and, hence, not circumcised) might well respond to Jews who affirm the Law as the standard for life:
And he who is physically uncircumcised, if he keeps the Law, will he not judge you who though having the letter of the Law and circumcision are a transgressor of the Law?
At this point in his argument, Paul is not advocating that true life comes through keeping the Law. But he is pointing out that those who insist that an exacting keeping of the Law is what is required before God leaves them in the place of “dying by their own sword.”
To insist that meticulous Law-keeping is the grounds for life with God would mean that all who so insist must meticulously keep the Law. And, seeing as no one does, the problem becomes evident.