For the first time, after some very severe words, Paul expresses confidence that the Lord is going to finish what He started in the Galatians. He hopes out loud here that they will agree with him on what he is trying to get across to them.

“Listen to me. Don’t listen to the one who is disturbing you, or as in verse 12, the one who is throwing you into confusion.

“Don’t listen. These guys are going to be punished.”

Certain is the judgment of the false teacher, the distributor of the poison that is sickening their souls. He doesn't know the names and faces of these teachers, but he knows the smell of the poison from a long distance (5:10).

He turns the conversation back to himself and his own role in their salvation. He asks them to consider the logic of the situation:

Paul's stance against the Judaizers is causing personal trouble to Paul. He refuses to preach the necessity of circumcision for salvation, so he is being maligned and hurt everywhere. They should understand that the very fact of his persecution is reason enough for them to believe that the legalists' message and his message are two different messages, even radically different.

Luther quotes Bernard here: “The church is in best shape when Satan assaults it on every side by trickery and violence,” then goes on to add, “Paul looks with suspicion upon any doctrine that does not provoke antagonism…So do not be surprised or offended when hell breaks loose. Look upon it as a happy indication that all is well with the Gospel of the Cross.”

What is the “offence” or “scandal” of the cross?

If he would cave in to the Judaizers, as some of them seem to want to do, he would not be preaching the message of the cross. It is that message that is the most offensive to the unsaved. That Jesus died in my place and gives me free salvation, not based on my works but His, is so exceedingly difficult for the world to understand. Especially "good Jews." It is a scandalon in the Greek. We get the word scandal, the KJV says offence.

Scandal is a serious word in English: “discredit brought upon religion by unseemly conduct in a religious person.” First definition in Merriam-Webster.

What religion here? Judaism. What discredit? Moses is wrong, you don’t keep the Law to be saved. Who is the religious person? Christ Jesus, who nailed that Law to His cross and paid the price for all the laws broken. Scandal! Heresy! Unpopular to the max! You’re hated when you preach such a thing. Leave Moses? Saved by some gift from God? C’mon, that’s offensive on its face.

And then you’re telling us that the One dying there is really God in the flesh, the Son of God? On a Roman cross, naked and bleeding and suffering? God? Scandal! Stop it! Our God doesn’t die on a cross!

Today the scandal of the cross involves creating another Christ altogether. Jesus died to make you happy. And rich. And powerful. So you can fulfill all your dreams and reach your destiny. The idea of Jesus dying for sin to keep you from hell, that’s old stuff. Your parents emphasized that, but God’s changed since those days.

As some preachers get more and more popular, they need to examine their message to see whether they are truly preaching Christ crucified, absolutely necessary for their salvation, or if they have veered off into a works Gospel, or a pleasure Gospel, or a prosperity Gospel. The Gospel is good news, but only in that sins may now be forgiven due to the blood of Jesus. Any other “good news” is not good, and it is not new: the enemy has been trying to keep Jesus and His people away from the real cross from the beginning (5:11).

What does Paul mean by “cut off”?

A sudden splash of anger comes over Paul, frustration, wishing he could be there in Galatia to do something about this. He then suggests something the false teachers should do.

Macarthur tells us that in Galatia was the cult of the worship of Cybele. One of the acts of worship for them was castration. This was the extreme sacrifice. Paul seems to be saying, if these Judaizers love God so much as to believe that God wants a part of that member cut off, why not show even more devotion and cut off the entire member?

The Greek bears such a translation, and Paul's personality seems to also. But there are others who contend that the "gravity" of an apostle would not allow him such language, and that he is merely saying that, as skin is cut off in circumcision, he wishes they themselves would cut themselves off from the body of Christ, that is, excommunication. Or, as Luther suggests, that God himself would curse them by cutting them off from the church.

Neither option was likely to be followed by the false teachers, and Paul knew that full well. He is simply being extreme because this is an extreme problem. In another place he says he wishes he could be cut off from Israel for the sake of his unsaved brothers. In another, if anyone does not love Jesus let him be accursed.

Paul was extreme. And we love him and thank him for it. His Master was also extreme and played not with sin (5:12).

To what sort of freedom were we called?

5:13-15 13For you, brothers, were called to freedom; but do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh. Rather, serve one another in love. 14The entire law is fulfilled in a single decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15But if you keep on biting and devouring one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another.

We now go back to 5:1 in Paul’s discussion of liberty. Freed from the Law. The Law is not my master. Christ is my master. The Law cannot now send me to hell. Jesus will take me to Heaven.

Liberty is precious, but many want to take liberty to the point where even our carnal flesh has liberty, and that is never the case. Your spirit has been set free, but your flesh, the evil nature with which you were born, cannot be turned loose. To obey the flesh is to deliberately disobey the Law and live in even greater bondage.

Rather, we are freed to obey the Spirit. Freed from the certain judgment that law-keeping (for salvation), will bring. Be filled with the Spirit and allow that Spirit to lead you into the new life of love and service. When your flesh, meaning here your body, is thus engaged it will have no desire to do its own thing. Flesh and blood bodies are great servants, but awful masters. The true you of your life now calls the shots, with this new-found liberty.

He says this to answer one of the serious arguments that legalists wield: You are against law, you are against God's righteousness, you think you can just do anything you want now. No, we teach that we can do anything God wants now, whereas before we tried so hard to please him, but wound up being carnal anyway. Bound. Now free to love. Free to serve. Free to give. Freely forgiven (5:13).

And don't worry. You will be keeping the Law after all. The Spirit within you will give you the grace to love, and when you love you have fulfilled God's law. Leviticus 19:18 is here quoted as the OT standard.

Luther comments on this verse, “Let nobody think that he knows all about this commandment… It sounds short and easy, but show me the man who can teach, learn, and do this commandment perfectly.”

He suggests that Paul is saying to the Galatians, as Luther would to the Papists of his day, “You are so taken up by your superstitions and ceremonies that serve no good purpose, that you neglect the most important thing, love.”

And he quotes Jerome, who could say some good things, “We wear our bodies out with watching, fasting, and labor, and neglect charity, the queen of all good works (5:14).”

We're led to believe here that not only is Paul excited about this matter, but the Galatians themselves may have been arguing much about it, and in so doing had become like wolves themselves, not to mention the wolves coming from outside to devour them.

He warns them to be careful about their contentions, to discuss all this in love, for without love, all is lost. Slowly, slowly, Christ is being formed in the Galatians, and in us, as we read this sound advice from an apostle of Christ.

Note the balance. In no way should false teaching be allowed. But in no way must correct teaching exclude the presence of the love of God in their midst.

At first sight, it seems strange to be seeing this discussion of love all of a sudden. But we are so glad that he entered this pathway, because churches tend to forget loving spirits when discussing doctrinal issues. Eventually their first love is lost, as with the church of Ephesus in Revelation, and all that is left is the list of rules (5:15).