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Galatians 5:11 And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased. Truth to Learn Our message is offensive to those who refuse to believe.<\/p>\n Behind the Words The word translated, \u201cpreach<\/span>\u201d is k\u0113russ\u014d<\/span><\/em>, which means to proclaim or announce a message publicly.\u201d It is used here in the present tense, active voice, and indicative mood, which implies current continuous action. What Paul is saying is, \u201cif I am still continually preaching circumcision \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOffense<\/span>\u201d is translated from skandalon<\/span><\/em>, which refers to \u201cthe trigger of a trap on which the bait is placed.\u201d Hence, it denotes an enticement to ruinous conduct. But this word is also used of the result of the conduct, as it is in this verse. In this case it means shameful or offensive. It is the word from which we get our English word \u201cscandal.\u201d<\/p>\n Meaning Explained There are some who take the phrase, \u201cif I am still preaching circumcision,<\/span>\u201d to mean that Paul had been accused by the false teachers of teaching the necessity of circumcision just like they did. If this was the case, then the charges were clearly fabricated since Paul spoke out strongly against the need for circumcision in both Jerusalem and Antioch. And after convincing the council at Jerusalem, Paul even carried the letter from the council back to Antioch, which said:<\/p>\n Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, “<\/span>You must<\/span><\/em> be circumcised and keep the law”\u2014to whom we gave no<\/span> such<\/span><\/em> commandment<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>(Acts 15:24<\/span><\/strong>)<\/p>\n For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell.<\/span> (Acts 4:28, 29<\/span><\/strong>)<\/p>\n It is more likely that Paul\u2019s statement, \u201cif I am still preaching circumcision<\/span>\u201d is a reference to his pre-conversion days when he was a Pharisee himself, proclaiming the necessity of keeping the whole law, including circumcision, in order to be righteous in God\u2019s eyes.<\/p>\n Paul\u2019s point is that if he were still preaching the necessity of circumcision, as he did before he was converted to Christianity, then his message would no longer be offensive to the Jews and they would not continue to persecute him. The truth of the matter is that the Jews did continue to persecute Paul, even making several attempts to kill him in order to silence his message.<\/p>\n Application Preaching and living the truth of God\u2019s word often results in persecution and false accusations; in fact, in his second letter to Timothy, Paul said:<\/p>\n Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution.<\/span>\u00a0 <\/span>(2Timothy 3:12<\/span><\/strong>)<\/p>\n Are you suffering because you are committed to living in the manner that identifies you as a Christian?<\/p>\n If so, then keep it up, because God is glorified!<\/p>\n In God\u2019s service, for His glory,<\/strong><\/p>\n Copyright \u00a9 2008 <\/span>Will <\/span>Krause. All rights reserved.<\/span><\/p>\n – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n <\/span>If this message or this link was forwarded to you by a friend and you wish to receive future verses directly to your inbox, you can call the church phone (618) 614-3070 and leave a message telling us your name and e-mail address or you can send an e-mail to: <\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Galatians 5:11 And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased. Truth to Learn Our message is offensive to those who refuse to believe. Behind the Words The word translated, \u201cpreach\u201d is k\u0113russ\u014d, which means to proclaim or announce a message […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-galatians-5"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pd5geA-1a","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ministryofgrace.org\/test\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"signature\"](\"http:\/\/www.ministryofgrace.org\/signature.gif\")
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