Glorying in the Cross

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"I have written unto you with mine own hand."

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"To make a fair show in the flesh."

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"They compel you to be circumcised."

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"Only that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ."

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"Not even they who receive circumcision do themselves keep the law."

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"If thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision." Rom. 2:25.

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"That they may glory in your flesh."

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"Wo unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves." Matt. 23:15.

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"Far be it from me to glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."

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"Through which the world hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the world."

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"For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision."

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"A new creature."

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"Peace be upon them, and mercy."

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"The Israel of God."

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1. Paul doubtless, partly at least on account of the weakness of his eyes, was accustomed to dictate his letters to an amanuensis. This epistle, however, was so important, and he was so full of earnestness, that he was obliged to seize the pen and write with his own hand. If we turn to 2 Thess. 2:2 we shall see that some zealous persons took advantage of Paul's custom, to write letters in his name, thus troubling the brethren. This forging of documents was very common in the first centuries after Christ, for there were many who wished to go beyond that which was written by the authority of the Holy Spirit. In the Epistle to the Thessalonians the apostle told the brethren how they could tell whether an epistle was from him or not. "The salutation of Paul with mine own hand, which is the token in every epistle, so I write." He always signed his own name, and wrote the salutation with his own hand. In writing to the Galatians, however, he wrote the whole epistle with his own hand, and therefore there could be no chance for misunderstanding. No one could say that some man's ideas were incorporated along with Paul's writings.

2. Circumcision was given as a sign of righteousness—the keeping of the law. Rom. 4:11. It was a sign of righteousness by faith, of course, for in no other way except by faith can the law be kept. But the people who were misleading the Galatians were making it a substitute for faith, and so of course they did not keep the law. An outward show was all that they desired. They would entice their victims with fair words, and afterwards boast over their mere formal religion. "Meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips." Prov. 20:19. "A flattering mouth worketh ruin." Prov. 26:28.

3. Compare verse 12 with 5:11. Attempted righteousness by works means self-glory and boasting. Righteousness by faith in the cross of Christ means humility and meekness, the acknowledgment that there is no goodness in the flesh. A man can preach "morality" of the highest kind by the year, and meet with nothing but approval from all classes of men, if he does not preach righteousness through the cross. If he assures his hearers that they can do it, there will be no persecution; but when he assures them that in them is no good thing, and that only through confession and self-renunciation and perfect dependence on Christ can they ever attain to any goodness, there will be plenty of opposition.

4. But there is glory in the cross of Christ. It is all glory. People talk of the "shadow of the cross," but it casts a shadow only in the same way that the sun does. The sun is light; from itself alone there comes no shadow; it casts a shadow only when something comes before it. Whenever we get out from behind any object interposed between us and the sun, we are no longer in the shadow, but only in the light. So from the cross itself no shadow comes. The shadow comes only from the things which people's unbelief has interposed between them and the cross. When they cast aside unbelief, and their own works, which are the result of unbelief, and come into full view of the cross, they find that "the darkness is past, and the true Light now shineth." 1 John 2:8. Jesus said, "I am the Light of the world; he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the Light of life." John 8:12.

5. In Christ Jesus only a new creature availeth anything; and "if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." 2 Cor. 5:17. Then "all things are of God." God's law will, therefore, be fully manifested in the life, even as in Christ's life. It is not our works that save us, but God's own works, which He has done, and laid up for us. Eph. 2:8-10; Ps. 31:19, 20.

6. "I bear branded on my body the marks of Jesus." The Greek word rendered "marks" is the plural of "stigma," which we have incorporated into our own language. It was used specially of marks pricked or branded into the skin of a slave, to show to whom he belonged. Paul was crucified with Christ, and so bore the marks of the cross. The word "stigma" has with us the idea of shame, and so the cross was considered. The slave who had any fineness of feeling would naturally wish to conceal the evidence of his servitude. But the Christian will glory in that which shows that he is indissolubly linked to Christ. Let none presume to trouble such an one, for his Master will protect him.