Galates 5:12

I would they were even cut off that trouble you.

Reasons for Paul’s indignation

Not content with argument he charges the Judaizers with what is base, cowardly, and corrupt. They are mean and time-serving, and dread the loss of caste among their fellow-countrymen. His whole being at last becomes excited with indignation; his brow darkens; his feelings explode; and the flash and the thunderbolt leap forth in an anathema. Only something very serious could justify even an apostle in such a mode of conducting religious controversy. What was it? The error he denounced was--

1. A species of blasphemy against the Divine fact which constituted God’s method of reconciliation, and, as such, it shocked Paul’s love and reverence for the Christ it dishonoured (Galates 2:21).

2. A species of apostasy from Christ, whatever might be their verbal profession of belief, and thus it shocked and was resented by his love for man (Galates 5:2).

3. A thing absurd in itself, and, as such, it shocked his understanding (Galates 2:16).

4. It opposed the idea of progress, intellectually considered, and it was thus inconsistent with Paul’s hope for humanity (Galates 4:9).

5. It was a yoke put on the neck of the Gentiles, and, as such, it shocked the apostle’s respect for liberty, and offended and aroused his spirit of independence (Galates 5:1).

6. It was an attempt to perpetuate a national distinction, and to keep up the supremacy of a particular people, and, as such, it offended St. Paul’s philanthropy and ran counter to his conviction of the design of the gospel, the oneness of the race, and the equality of the nations (Galates 3:26).

7. It interfered with the bestowal of the gifts of the Spirit, and, as such, it grieved the apostle on account of his anxiety for the holiness of the Church (Galates 3:2). (T. Binney.)

Church troublers

The Church is troubled--

I. By false doctrine; thus Ahab troubled Israel (1 Rois 18:18), and false apostles the Galatians.

II. By wicked example; thus Achan troubled Israel (Josué 7:15).

III. By force and cruelty; thus tyrants and persecutors trouble the Church (Actes 12:1). (W. Perkins.)