Frustration with Legalists. Galatians 5:11-12.
Dear Family of God,
In today’s passage, we get an idea of how irritating the legalists were to the apostle Paul. He was watching the fruit of many months of labor and suffering threatening to go to waste because of the misleading input of the Judaizers.
Suffering (v. 11). Paul questions the integrity of the legalists, who apparently had misled the Galatians into believing that Paul agreed with their teaching. His question is, If my preaching confirms the legalism and circumcision, as they purport, why then am I suffering persecution? The message of the cross would no longer be offensive, so surely I should not be persecuted. In other words, they are lying to you. The response I get for my preaching is the opposite of what I should be experiencing if indeed I was in agreement with the legalists.
Sarcasm (v. 12).In his frustration, Paul wishes that the proponents of circumcision would “even cut themselves.” The term used here means to emasculate, castrate. This is similar to what Paul said earlier, “if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed” (1:9). The only difference is that Paul wishes they would inflict the damage on themselves. The reason for this extreme anger is because what is at stake is the core of the gospel and what the legalists are advocating threatens the eternal security of the Galatians.
Why do not they harm themselves instead? What we learn from this outburst is that there are times when diplomacy does not work. The gloves may need to come off so that that which is most precious to us can be protected. Are we too nice to false teachers?
Your Loving Pastor Chris.