Galatians 5:12 Meaning

“I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves!”

Galatians 5:12, ESV

Paul is saying, “I wish that these people would be cast off from fellowship with you.”

Paul’s Strong Language

But he uses the strongest of language — that the Judaizers would be castrated — that they would emasculate themselves.

Now, this is strong language that he uses. And there are some people who read that language and think that Paul stepped out of bounds on this one.

Calvin’s Argument

But listen to what John Calvin says here when he comments about this — especially in light of that fact that Paul was a minister of these people — he’s a shepherd over the Galatian believers people.

And Calvin — who was a shepherd of his own people — thinks about it, and he says this:

Ought not my care of the church to swallow up all my thoughts, and lead me to desire that its salvation should be purchased by the destruction of the wolf?

https://ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom41/calcom41.iii.vii.ii.html

Isn’t that so true?

Judaizing Wolves

The Judaizers are “the wolf” here in Calvin’s quote. They’re interfering with the salvation of God’s people — those whom Paul is a shepherd over — those whom Paul loves and cares for and is concerned for.

It’s the Judaizers who had stopped these Gentile converts from “running well” (Galatians 5:7). They’re the ones who were causing the believers to question the atonement and the efficacy of Christ’s death.

And so Paul wants to set the believers’ gaze back on the cross. So he prays that the Judaizers would be cast off forever from the fellowship of God’s people. And he says it in the strongest of terms — being a good shepherd.

The Good Shepherd

Think about it — if you were a shepherd and you had sheep fenced in your yard and a wolf got in — what would a good shepherd do? A good shepherd wouldn’t be concerned with the wolf! He would be concerned with his sheep.

So he would run in there and he would do whatever needed to be done to get that wolf out of there so that his sheep would be protected.

Conclusion

That’s what we need to see that Paul is doing here when he says that he wishes the Judaizers would just castrate themselves. He wishes them gone. He wishes God’s judgement upon them! So that they would not be allowed to harm these believers anymore.

Because Paul wants the Galatian believers’ eyes to return to the cross because he knows that in order to run well our eyes must always be fixed upon the cross. Our lives must always be lived upon the cross.