Galatians 6:12

Galatians 6:12. As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh (in the sphere of the flesh), they (and no others) constrain you to be circumcised only that they may not be persecuted on account of the cross [1] of Christ. They display their zeal for external or carnal ordinances by forcing circumcision upon you, that thereby they may escape the scandal and persecution of the cross of Christ, to which they would expose themselves among their unconverted Jewish countrymen by abandoning the law. (Comp. Galatians 5:11; 1 Corinthians 1:24.) Circumcision and the cross, like works and faith, are antagonistic principles, if they are set up as conditions of salvation. The zeal of the Judaizers is traced to a selfish motive to please men and to avoid suffering. The Pharisees loved to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they might be seen of men (Matthew 6:5).

[1] The Greek τῷ σταυρῷ is the dative of the occasion or reason, as in Romans 11:20; Romans 11:30; 2 Corinthians 2:13 (Gr.).