Galatians – Part 11

Series – February 2023 – Grace & Truth Magazine

Galatians– Part 11

We have now come to the last few verses of Galatians 6: “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen” (vv.14-18 KJV ).

Why glory in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ? The cross stands out as the measure of man’s guilt before God, for the world is guilty of the murder of the Son of God, the most heinous crime ever known to man!

The whole world was represented there at the cross by the title, “The King of the Jews,” written over Him in Hebrew, Greek and Latin (Jn. 19:19; Lk. 23:38). They nailed Him to a wooden cross, a Man so full of love, mercy and grace – who went about doing good. There they manifested what God had long before declared by His prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 17:9): “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”

I suppose that if God should abandon man to himself and remove all restraint from him, then he would excel in sin to such an extent that even Satan would have a very hard time keeping up with him. The truth is that man is sinful to the core. It is not that man is a partial sinner; he is a sinner entirely. Every fiber of man is sinful. He was not made this way, but he became so through one man’s disobedience – by Adam’s disobedience (consider Gen. 1:27,31, 3:1-6; Rom. 5:12,19).

In the cross of Christ we see what man truly is, for there man displayed all the hate, bitterness and wickedness of his heart against God. On the other hand, we see the heart of God manifested in pure, rich and holy love to man. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (Jn. 3:16). When and where did God give up His beloved Son? Was it just when He came to earth, born in a manger? I think not. It was when He died on the cross. We sometimes sing, “Thou gavest Him, well knowing all that lay before Him here, the thorny crown, the purple robe, the gall, the cruel spear” (Miss Catherine Helene von Poseck, 1859–1953). What great and everlasting love was seen there at Calvary’s cross.

Well may we sing from the hymn “The Love Of God,” by Frederick M. Lehman (1858–1953):

The love of God is greater far Than tongue or pen can ever tell. It goes beyond the highest star And reaches to the lowest hell. The guilty pair, bowed down with care, God gave His Son to win; His erring child He reconciled And pardoned from his sin. Could we with ink the ocean fill, And were the skies of parchment made; Were every stalk on earth a quill, And every man a scribe by trade; To write the love of God above Would drain the ocean dry; Nor could the scroll contain the whole, Though stretched from sky to sky.

“God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). Such is the greatness of God’s love. Who can measure its sublime height or sound the depth of His love? Who can span its everlasting breadth? His love is infinite and true, and in the cross of Christ we see this fully expressed, “in shining letters, God is love” (Thomas Kelly, 1796–1854). From the pulpit of the cross the love of God was proclaimed to sinners far and near. God does not love because of who we are, what we have or what we know; but in spite of those things.

God’s love is an unconditional love. Do you ask, “Why glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ?” It’s because it is the means of our salvation. The Christ could not die by stoning or by the sword. The only way the Christ could die is the way the Holy Scriptures said He would. It is written: “They pierced My hands and My feet. I may tell all my bones: they look and stare upon Me. They part My garments among them, and cast lots upon My vesture” (Ps. 22:16-18). These verses set forth the crucifixion of the Christ hundreds of years before that method of execution was introduced by the Roman empire. God told us that His Son would die on a cross when at that time there was no cross in the entire world.

This, God began to show when He told Moses to make a serpent of brass and set it on a pole, that if anyone was bitten by a serpent they could look at the serpent of brass and live (Num. 21:8). That was a picture of Christ on the cross bearing our judgment. “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:14-15). The Lord Jesus is God’s salvation to the entire world, and every man, woman and child must come to Jesus Christ to be saved. There is no other way, no other name, but Jesus Christ the Lord (Acts 4:12). “I am the way, the truth, and the life,” said the Lord Jesus, “no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (Jn. 14:6).

I glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ: because by it “the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (Gal. 6:14). By the cross of Christ I am set apart unto God from this world (Heb. 10:10). James G. Deck (1807–1884) wrote about Christ: “Thy cross has severed ties which bound us here, Thyself our treasure in a brighter sphere.” The cross stands between my soul and this vile world, and tells me, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world” (1 Jn. 2:15).

The cross is the symbol of sufferings, shame and death in this world, but it is also the mark of life and everlasting glory to the believer. “The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God” (1 Cor. 1:18). We are called upon to preach the cross and to bear the cross.

Note that I did not say to “wear the cross” but to “bear the cross.” There are some who wear the cross but are enemies of all that the cross stands for, who even hate the One who died there. It is not merely wearing a cross but the bearing of the cross in our hearts and lives as we take our place with Christ, who was rejected, disowned and crucified in the world of sin and woe. Are you willing to suffer with Christ in this world, to be rejected, to suffer shame, to deny yourself and to be denied? Are you willing to put Christ first? “If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me” (Mt. 16:24).

Going on to Galatians 6:15, the apostle showed that “in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.” New birth is what is important, that you be born again and receive new life from God. This is the way to become a new creature – it is to be born again, born of God, born from above. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:17). This is the all-important thing: new creation, not whether you are circumcised or not. Galatians 6:16 tells us: “And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.” What rule? It is that circumcision or uncircumcision availeth nothing, or provides no benefit; what is important is new creation. We ought to walk according to the rule of the new creation and not after the old.

Who are those described as the Israel of God? They are the Jews who have repented and accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord and Messiah. Mercy and peace be upon them, in contrast to the Jews who remained under the law by refusing to accept Jesus Christ as Lord. These know no peace and no mercy, “but the wrath of God abideth on them” (Jn. 3:36).

The apostle had fought the preachers of the law at Antioch, at Jerusalem and now at Galatia. At the end he desired to be left alone. All should know by this where he stood, and that they could not shake him in the least from the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. He might even have believed that he had defeated the preachers of the law forever, but the serpent’s head was only wounded in this matter, for the war continues to this day. Nevertheless, as a great warrior Paul had fought a good fight (2 Tim. 4:7). It was now as if he laid down his sword and shield and said: “From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus” (Gal. 6:17).

The keepers of the law were marked by circumcision, indicating they were devoted to the law and obliged to keep every jot of it. The apostle wrote: “For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law” (5:3). The Pharisees reviled the man who was born blind saying, “Thou art His [Jesus’] disciple; but we are Moses’ disciples” (Jn. 9:28). However, the Lord Jesus, in John 5:46-47, said, “Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me: for he wrote of Me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe My words?”

Paul was bearing about the marks of the Lord Jesus in his body (Gal. 6:17). I am told that the Romans had a custom of branding their slaves, which spoke of ownership beyond dispute. In like manner, the marks in Paul’s body proved beyond dispute that he belonged to Christ; all of which he received in the path of devoted service to his Lord. He was like an old veteran soldier, decked all over his body with the badge of honor. It has been said that wherever one placed the palm of his hand on any part of Paul’s body, he would be covering some scar that he had received in the service of the Lord. “Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches” (2 Cor. 11:24-28). The preachers of the law sit in their easy chairs, they suffer nothing for the law, and they want nothing to do with the cross. May we, instead, “live unto the Lord; and … die unto the Lord” (Rom. 14:8).

“Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen” (Gal. 6:18).

By Milton Jamieson

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