Galatians 3:3
Galatians 3:33Are you so foolish? After starting in the Spirit, are you now finishing in the flesh?
JWs rarely cite because it cuts against the Watchtower system. When it comes up, the move is to confine Paul's "flesh" to Mosaic circumcision — a first-century problem long since resolved. On this reading, Paul's horror does not touch a modern Witness who studies the Watchtower, meets a field-service quota, and reports time to a secretary, because those are not "works of the Mosaic Law" but "Christian activity" under the Faithful and Discreet Slave.
Paul's accusation is the anatomy of every works-based retreat. The Galatians received the Spirit by hearing with faith (3:2). Paul is dismayed that they are now "being perfected by the flesh" — substituting self-effort and rule-keeping for Spirit-led obedience. The Watchtower's arrangement for the "other sheep" is worse than the Galatian error Paul rebuked, because the Watchtower never offers the indwelling Spirit at the start. A JW under the "earthly hope" is asked to begin with rule-compliance and stay there permanently. Paul asks: "Are you so foolish?" The doorstep form of the same question: when you first became a Witness, did anyone say "receive the Holy Spirit and he will transform you," or did it begin with a study programme, meeting attendance, and field-service hours?
The 2013 NWT paraphrases the Greek as "After starting on a spiritual course, are you finishing on a fleshly course?" The 1984 was closer to the Greek: "After starting in spirit are you now being completed in flesh?" Both retain lowercase "spirit" where ESV/NIV/NASB capitalise "Spirit." The 2013 paraphrase dissolves Paul's sharp contrast between the Holy Spirit (the source of Galatian life) and the flesh (the self- effort retreat) into a generic "spiritual/fleshly course," softening the rebuke into a tone-correction.