If one keeps one law, (out side the big nine), they are committed to all of them.
As it is written..."For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them." (
Gal 3:10)
You always have to interpret verses in light of the context in which they are found. That is what is so complicated when discussing what parts of "the law" are being discussed. But Paul points out clearly what parts of it he is discussing in Galatians:
2 Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, and also took Titus with me. 2 And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run, or had run, in vain. 3 Yet not even Titus who was with me, being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. (see also verses 6-10).
Then he speaks of the covenant they had through Abraham, which again came through
circumcision.
15 Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: Though it is only a man’s covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it. 16 Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “And to your Seed,” who is Christ. 17 And this I say, that the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ, that it should make the promise of no effect. 18 For if the inheritance is of the law, it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise. (Galatians 3:15-18)
Then we have this in Chapter 4:
8 But then, indeed, when you did not know God, you served those which by nature are not gods. 9 But now after you have known God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you turn again to the weak and beggarly principles, to which you desire again to be in bondage? 10 You observe days and months and seasons and years. (Galatians 4:8-10)
Now what days and months and seasons and years is he referring to here? They were
Judaizing, and coming under the sway of false teachers saying they should keep the Jewish days and months and years, i.e. the Sabbaths, new moons, festivals, and years of Jubilee, not after a spiritual manner which would have been acceptable but after the strictness of the Jews, even though they were Gentiles. That they were Judaizing is obvious enough from 4:21, where he says, "Tell me,
you who desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law?"
So the "works of the law" he was saying they would be under a curse from if they placed themselves in bondgage to them were the following:
1. Circumcision (Galatians 2:1-10, and
see also Galatians 5:1-6 where he again repeats it even more strongly), and
2. Observing the Jewish Holy Days (Galatians 4:8-10).
Nowhere in this letter does Paul denounce or encourage them to renounce the greatest two commandments of the Old Testament upon which the law and the prophets were based: To love the Lord their God with their whole heart, mind, soul and strength, and to love their neighbors as themselves. In fact, he specifically sanctions the continued keeping of the latter in Galatians 5:14:
11 Brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased. 12 I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off! 13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Galatians 5:11-14)
Be careful about quoting verses out of their context. He is not talking about Jewish law in its entirety there. He is talking about those parts of the law that were now rendered obsolete through the coming of Christ.