Galatians 5:11 - Homiletics

A false imputation repelled.

Perhaps one of the false teachers might say that the apostle was himself one of the subverters of the gospel, for he had circumcised Timothy. "And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased."

I. IT IS RIGHT FOR GOOD MEN TO REPEL FALSE ACCUSATIONS AGAINST THEIR CHARACTER . There are ultra-spiritual people in our day who decline to notice attacks upon themselves, because, as they say, the Lord will preserve their character; and yet they are often found to do unlovely and uncharitable things condemned both by the Church and the world. The apostle could well say, at one time, that for him it was but a small matter that he should be judged by man's judgment; but he as pointedly says, "Let not your good be evil spoken of;" "Let your moderation be known to all men;" and he counsels Timothy that deacons "must have a good report from them that are without." He himself always resolutely defended his moral consistency.

II. CONSIDER THE SOUNDNESS AND RELEVANCY OF HIS ANSWER .

1 . He makes no allusion to the case of Timothy , because that could not justify the Judaistic doctrine of circumcision. It was not because he deemed the rite necessary for Timothy's salvation, but to meet the scruples of weak Christian Jews, that he became for the time "as a Jew to the Jews."

2 . He asks , " If I preach circumcision still , why do you persecute me?" If I preached circumcision, I should not be persecuted. I should be exactly where you are.

3. But that position would imply that "the offence of the cross had ceased. " The cross was a stumbling-block to the Jews, because their Saviour was presented to them in circumstances of humiliation, as a crucified Man. But it was doubly so when it appeared as the very means of atonement, so that a Jew, by simply believing in Christ, might, without legal observances, be saved. The cross is still an offence to more than Jews or Greeks, for it humbles the pride of man, it dethrones all priesthoods, and makes the sinner directly dependent for salvation upon the Lord himself. It humbles man's pride; yet, "whosoever believeth in him shall not be ashamed." The gospel is throughout the religion of a crucified Saviour and of a ruined sinner; not a mere system of morals, nor a mere revelation of truth, but a scheme of remedial mercy. We cannot alter it or shape it in accordance with the false philosophizings of the world. "Blessed is the man whosoever shall not be offended in me."