The apostle Paul does not often speak about the Cross, and when he does, he tries to be brief. But his words make one feel that, for him, the manifestation of the Son of God's love on the Cross is the most important thing that...
The apostle Paul does not often speak about the Cross, and when he does, he tries to be brief. But his words make one feel that, for him, the manifestation of the Son of God's love on the Cross is the very thing that feeds his faith. There is nothing more important, nothing more worthwhile, nothing the apostle would rather share with people than his knowledge that God died for us. When he comes to people, the apostle brings them exactly this message: "Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ be made void. For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God... for I resolved to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified," he writes at the beginning of the First Letter to the Corinthians. Yet for the apostle the Cross is much more than a sign of love; for him it is an event both of history and of his own life.
At the end of the Letter to the Galatians, as we read today, the apostle speaks about what, in his view, people boast in. To boast means precisely to display something good that has a direct connection to you. The Judaizing preachers with whom the apostle Paul is arguing try to boast that they are turning people toward a proper life under the Law; other people boast in their talents or knowledge, in spiritual or material wealth, in strength of body or character. Modern psychology calls this the need for positive self-esteem. Each person seeks it in his own way; each person finds in his life something for which, as it seems to him, he ought to be loved. In essence, all of us are seeking justifications for our own existence in this way.
And here the apostle says that our being needs no other justifications or even explanations except the Cross, on which God gives us His life. This is the foundational fact in our relationship both to ourselves and to others.
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6:11 Ye see how large a letter - St. Paul had not yet wrote a larger to any church. I have written with my own hand - He generally wrote by an amanuensis.
6:12 As many as desire to make a fair appearance in the flesh - To preserve a fair character. These constrain you - Both by their example and importunity. To be circumcised - Not so much from a principle of conscience, as lest they should suffer persecution - From the unbelieving Jews. For the cross of Christ - For maintaining that faith in a crucified Saviour is alone sufficient for justification.
6:13 For neither they themselves keep the whole law - So far are they from a real zeal for it. But yet they desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh - That they may boast of you as their proselytes, and make a merit of this with the other Jews.
6:14 But God forbid that I should glory - Should boast of anything I have, am, or do; or rely on anything for my acceptance with God, but what Christ hath done and suffered for me. By means of which the world is crucified to me - All the things and persons in it are to me as nothing. And I unto the world - I am dead to all worldly pursuits, cares, desires, and enjoyments.
6:15 For neither circumcision is anything, nor uncircumcision - Neither of these is of any account. But a new creation - Whereby all things in us become new.
6:16 And as many as walk according to this rule -
- Glorying only in the cross of Christ.
- Being crucified to the world. And,
- Created anew.
Peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel, that is, the Church, of God - Which consists of all those, and those only, of every nation and kindred, who walk by this rule.6:17 From henceforth let none trouble me - By quarrels and disputes.For I bear - And afflictions should not be added to the afflicted.In my body the marks of the Lord Jesus - The scars, marks, and brands of my sufferings for Him.