<p>5:11- see on 1 Cor. 1:23; 9:17.</p><p><i>But I brothers, if I still preach circumcision</i>- The more you read between the lines of Paul's letters, the more evident it is that his very own brethren almost unbelievably slandered him. Thus the Galatians whispered that Paul still preached circumcision (Gal. 5:11), probably basing that nasty rumour on the fact he had circumcised Timothy. See on 1 Tim. 5:19.</p><p><i>Why am I still persecuted?</i>- Paul's persecution of Christians was done to him. This was not just Divine poetic justice for the sake of it; it was practically to enable him to understand those brethren whom he had killed and tortured, in order to prepare him for eternal fellowship with them in God's Kingdom.</p><p><i>Then has the stumbling-block of the cross been done away</i>- The cross is described as a <i>skandalon</i>, an offence (Gal. 5:11). Either we stumble (are offended) on it, or we stumble and are offended in the sense of spiritually falling away. Either we share the Lord&rsquo;s cross, shedding our blood with His &ldquo;outside the gate&rdquo; of this world; or we will share the condemnation of those whose blood is to be shed in destruction outside the city (Rev. 14:20). It&rsquo;s Golgotha now, or later. The cross makes men stumble; either falling on that stone and being broken into humility, or the uncommitted stumbling at the huge demand which the cross implies. Paul had all this in mind when he wrote of the lust / affections of the flesh (Gal. 5:24), using a word elsewhere translated &quot;sufferings&quot; in the context of Christ's cross. The sufferings, the lust, the cross of the flesh... or the cross of the Lord Jesus.</p>