The core issue of Galatians thus boils down to a simple but profound choice—Christ or the Torah.13 From Romans 14, it is clear enough that Paul was willing to allow Jewish Christians (and others) to practice the law as a matter of personal lifestyle, if they chose. But he drew the line when Torah observance was made the indispensable condition for entering and remaining within the people of God. In short, he repudiated the law as the “Jewish gateway to salvation” (Räisänen, Paul, 177–201). At one