Sermon Central
-
Glory Only In The Cross.
Contributed by Christopher Holdsworth on Jun 24, 2024 (message contributor)
Summary: “God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" (Galatians 6:14).
GLORY ONLY IN THE CROSS.
As Paul draws towards the conclusion of his letter to the Galatians, he takes the pen into his own hand (GALATIANS 6:11) and emphasizes once more the issue between the Judaisers and himself. The motives of his opponents are suspect: to make a good showing in the “flesh” they try to force Gentile believers to be circumcised; but only so that they might not themselves suffer persecution for the cross of Christ (GALATIANS 6:12). Even though they, the circumcised, do not keep the law, they desire to have others circumcised that they may (possibly by keeping stats) boast in their “flesh” (GALATIANS 6:13).
All that is outward, fleshly, but Paul’s response is inward, spiritual: “God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation” (GALATIANS 6:14-15). In other words, outward ceremonies count for nothing: ‘you must be born again’ (cf. John 3:7).
“As many as walk by this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, EVEN upon the Israel of God” (GALATIANS 6:16). There is an ‘Israel after the flesh’ (cf. Romans 9:3-4a), but here those who walk by the rule of the Bible, and they alone, have peace and mercy upon them, and are called “the Israel of God.”
The Apostle stamped this epistle with his own authority when he said, “From henceforth let no man trouble me” (GALATIANS 6:17). "For,"he argued, “I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” The Greek word for “marks” is ‘stigmata’ - which also referred to the branding of a slave. That is how Paul viewed the wounds he sustained in the service of Christ.
Paul draws the letter to a close much as he began: with “grace” (GALATIANS 6:18; cf. Galatians 1:3). Indeed, the letter has been about the grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ throughout. Paul’s last word to the churches of Galatia, despite all the stern words he has had to say to them, is: “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, BRETHREN. Amen.”
