“And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why doe I yet suffer persecution? then is the offence of the crosse ceased.”
1611 King James Version (KJV)
5:11 But if I still preach circumcision - As that troubler seems to have affirmed, probably taking occasion from his having circumcised Timothy. Why do I still suffer persecution? then is the offence of the cross ceased - The grand reason why the Jews were so offended at his preaching Christ crucified, and so bitterly persecuted him for it, was, that it implied the abolition of the law. Yet St. Paul did not condemn the conforming, out of condescension to the weakness of any one, even to the ceremonial law; but he did absolutely condemn those who taught it as necessary to justification.
Ga 5:11 And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision. Perhaps the Judaizers, in order to promote their doctrine, urged that Paul also taught circumcision in some places. They might even quote the case of Timothy. See PNT "Ac 16:3". Why do I yet suffer persecution? If this charge was true, why did the Jews everywhere persecute him? Then hath the offence of the cross ceased. The great offense of the cross to the Jews was that Christ is the atonement for sin, and that the whole Jewish system of ordinances perished at the cross. Of course, if Paul taught obedience to the law, he rejected the doctrine of the cross.