Galatians 6:11-18;
Key Verse: 6:14a
“But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
This last section of Galatians, 6:11-18, is a summary of the entire letter. It contrasts the cross of Jesus with circumcision, which is to contrast faith with works. If we understand the difference between faith & works, we’ll understand what Galatians is about, which is to understand what the gospel is, & what it means to be a Christian. Based on our key verse, 6:14a, we either depend on or boast in the cross, or in circumcision (6:14b). No one can ever do both.
1st, circumcision avoids persecution (11,12). Look at verse 11. “See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.” As was common in those days, Paul dictated most of his 13 letters/epistles in the NT to a secretary or amanuensis. But toward the end of his letter, he would sign the letter with his own handwriting to prove that he was the author of the letter.
Look at verse 12a. “It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised.” This verse explains the reason why Paul wrote to the Galatians in the first place. Those “who would force you to be circumcised” are Jewish Christians, also called Judaizers, who probably came from Jerusalem. They claimed to believe in Jesus, who died on the cross & rose again from the dead to save us from our sins, which is the gospel Paul preached. But there was one thing they wanted to add to Paul’s gospel, and this was the Jewish ceremonial act of circumcision. Not only did they want to add circumcision, Acts 15:1 tells us their message: “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” This was a way of telling the Gentile converts, “You have to become like us if you want to be a Christian.” For the Judaizers, salvation meant the cross plus circumcision.
There is a continual temptation for the church to turn the gospel into the cross plus something else. This “something else” is usually a work, something you had to do. But Paul’s repeated point throughout Galatians is this: “If the gospel is to be the gospel, the cross of Jesus has to stand alone. Nothing can be added to it.”
Since the Judaizers believed that this “work” of circumcision was necessary for salvation, they wanted as many as possible to accept it. When they came to Galatia, they pressed the Gentile Christians there to be circumcised.
Now the question is why?” Why were the Judaizers doing this? In their ignorance, they thought they were doing God’s work. But Paul exposes their motive in verse 12b: “in order that they may NOT be persecuted for the cross of Christ.” They were trying to avoid persecution. Persecution from who? When we think about the sufferings of the early church, we often think of the persecutions that came from the Romans. But the first attack came from the religious people, from the Jews. They were the ones who crucified Christ; who put Peter in prison, who had Stephen, the 1st Christian martyr, stoned to death (Acts 7).
As Paul planted churches during his 1st 3 missionary journeys as recorded in Acts, the church spread widely. Many Gentiles became Christians and also began sharing the gospel with others. But the oldest, the senior Jewish Christians, were not happy about it and were bothered by this because there was no proper boundary or distinction between Jewish Christians & Gentile Christians. So the Judaizers who followed Paul in Galatia found, to their horror, Jewish Christians having fellowship with uncircumcised Gentile Christians. They were eating with them and even eating animals that are to us we consider as pets. They were bothered by the way they dress and the way they behave. But what really bothers them was that if this continues much longer, this would create trouble with the religious leaders and authorities in the local synagogue. They do not want to face persecution from them. So their solution was in Acts 15:5, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to ORDER them to keep the law of Moses.” So they did this because they were not willing to be persecuted for the cause of Christ.
Paul said in 2 Timothy 3:12, “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” The cross has a way of inviting persecution. It’s unavoidable. It invites opposition because it says that we are sinners who deserve eternal punishment from God. It tells that we cannot save ourselves, not by our own human efforts, but to only trust in Jesus. Many Christians are afraid of preaching the cross because of fear of losing friends and persecution from family members. People generally do not like being told that they are sinners who need a Savior. But this is what it means to be a Christian: it means standing up for Christ and his cross.
2nd, circumcision makes man look good (12). There was another reason why the Judaizers urged the Galatians to be circumcised. Not only did they want to avoid persecution, they also want to be successful with their demand. Verse 12a says, “It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised.” Verse 13b says, “they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.” What does this mean? The more people they circumcised, the more foreskins they collected, the more people back in Jerusalem would be impressed, saying “Wow! You guys made them do that?” So, they were not really concerned about whether or not the Galatians kept God’s law. They just wanted to be able to brag about how many new converts they made. They wanted to make the headlines in their newsletter: “100 Gentiles circumcised!”. Here’s their 100 foreskins as proof!” Their ministry was almost like a show, in order to show off to each other what they did for God.
What’s the difference between true religion & false religion? False religion shows off what they did: how many people they brought, how their church is growing, how many people are being sent out, etc. It’s not that these things are bad. But false religion is SO concerned with outward appearances. Therefore, their leaders pressure their members to recruit more converts so their church would look like its growing. But true religion is always inward. Although it works its way out it starts within. It always starts inside the heart. Its focus is inward change, where the Holy Spirit transforms the sinner’s heart. The problem with making circumcision important in Christianity is that circumcision is a human work; it is an outward sign. We must always remember that true religion is not based on outward works; it is based on inward faith.
To boast in something like circumcision is really an empty boast. Circumcision is supposed to be a sign of total commitment to God & to God’s law. But look at verse 13. Paul said, “For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law.” They’re hypocrites! They thought they were better just because they were circumcised. Just because they did something which others did not do. They had no idea that they were under God’s curse for thinking that they were better than others. Galatians 3:10 says, “For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” How little they understood God’s Law! They thought they raised the standard by demanding circumcision & outward compliance to the law of Moses. They had no clue that they lowered God’s standard by their demand, for God demands perfection (Mt 5:48), which no one can keep. Yet they felt superior to uncircumcised Gentile Christians, just because they were circumcised. Jesus called such deadly legalists, “blind guides” (Mt 15:14; Mt 23:16, 24).
What circumcision amounted to was justification by works. It was basically saying, “I can improve myself by my hard work, by what I do, by my strong self-discipline. I can be saved by my will power, & by my own efforts, & by my own keeping of the law.” Humanly, this sounds good, & commendable, even noble. But this WAS the complete opposite of God’s only way of salvation for all mankind, which is only by grace alone (1:6; 2:21), by faith alone (2:16), in Christ alone (3:13)! No wonder apostle Paul opposed them very strongly in every way possible!
To Paul, they were the worst kind of preachers & Bible teachers. They were unwilling to endure persecution. They sought the glory of their own success. They never practiced what they preached. Worst of all, by trusting in circumcision rather than the cross, they denied the free grace of the gospel.
3rd, the only thing to boast about (14). Look at verse 14a. “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The word “boast” in Greek means more than just boasting. Pastor theologian John Stott says, “It means to boast in, glory in, trust in, rejoice in, revel in, live for.” What did it mean for Paul to boast only in the cross? 1stly, it meant that Paul refused to boast in the things people boasted in, such as his authority & power, his popularity, his success, his performance, his influence, his appearance, his intellect, etc. Paul refused to boast in any of his abilities or accomplishments. 2ndly, Paul only wanted to boast about the cross of Jesus. In Paul’s day, the cross was something no one wants to boast about. It was the ugliest & most shameful thing to people in the Roman world. So, the cross of Jesus should have been shameful & embarrassing to the early church. It’s like boasting that the founder of Christianity had been executed like a low-life criminal. But that was the main thing that Paul wanted to talk about, & boast about—the cross of Jesus (2:20, 3:1, 5:11; 1 Cor 1:23, 2:2, 1:18; Col 2:15; Php 2:8). To Paul, the cross is not just something to boast about; it is the only thing to boast about. Why?
The cross is the only thing to boast about because it means that God loves us enough to die for us, that he saved us through the death of his own dear Son. It means that we’ve been redeemed, that Christ has paid the whole price of our salvation. The cross means that we have forgiveness of our sins, that Christ offered himself as an atoning sacrifice to take away our guilt. It means that we are justified, that God now accepts us as righteous in his sight, even though we are sinful. His wrath has been turned away, & now we stand innocent before God.
Practically, how can we boast about Christ crucified? Only if we renounce anything & everything we can do to save ourselves. Even though there are many religions in the world, there are only 2 religious options: glorifying in ourselves or glorifying in the cross. To glory in the cross is to stop trusting in our own good Christian works – our church attendance, worship style, bible study meetings, even our personal prayer time, our sacrifice for the church, serving others etc. I’m not saying we should stop doing these things. What I’m trying to say is that we must know that all these cannot save us. Jesus already did that part. While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. The problem with us is that we think when we fail to do these things, we lose our salvation, we lose God’s love, and God’s blessings. Or when we do these things, we think God owes us the blessings. And when we see others who don’t them, we look down on them and not see them as Christians. That is why Paul insists that we can only be saved & justified by Christ alone, & never by any works that we do. Galatians 2:16 says, “yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.” Because we are saved & justified by Christ alone, we must only glory in the cross of Christ, & not in ourselves & our good works.
4th, 3 crucifixions & a new creation (14-18). Practically, how do we boast & glory only in the cross of Jesus? To boast only in the cross, we do not just believe that Jesus died for my sins, but that I must live a crucified life. Read 6:14. “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” If you observe carefully, this verse describes not 1, but 3 crucifixions, though there is just 1 cross. The 3 crucifixions are 1) the crucified Christ. 2) the crucified world. 3) the crucified Christian. Let’s briefly think of each of this in turn.
1) To boast & glory only in the cross of Jesus is to be united with Christ. Paul says in 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” How do we live crucified with Christ & united with him? We cannot just do this by will power. We cannot just force ourselves or make ourselves to be crucified with Christ. But we can continually pray & constantly dwell in the thought of Jesus “who loved me and gave himself for me.” When I remember how much Jesus loves me even to the point of dying for me, the Holy Spirit works in me, & transforms my heart from the inside out.
2) & 3) To boast & glory only in the cross of Jesus is to be crucified to the world by living as a crucified Christian. What does it mean when it says “the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world”? It means that we no longer live by conforming to the pattern of the world. Romans 12:2a says, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind.” We no longer live for the values & pleasures & comforts of this world. Mainly, we no longer live a selfish life. 2 Corinthians 5:15 say, “and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” Again, this crucified Christian life in Christ cannot be done by ourselves alone, but only by Jesus & the Holy Spirit (5:24).
Read 6:15. “For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.” What is this new creation? It is the inward transformation by which the Holy Spirit turns a sinner into a whole new person. He becomes a brand-new person, not just an improvement of the old person we once were. Once we become a new creation by the power of God, nothing else matters, not even whether or not we are circumcised. The only thing that matters is Jesus. If we have Jesus we have everything. In Jesus, & only in Jesus as a new creation do we receive the blessing of peace & mercy, which the whole world can never ever give us.
Read 6:16. “And as for all who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.” In this verse, 2 phrases need explanation. “The Israel of God,” an OT term, refers to the NT church of Jesus Christ, the New Jerusalem. And to “walk by this rule” means to glory & boast only in the cross of Jesus. Like the Judaizers who default to circumcision, we Christians default to some “law.” Some Christians look down on others because they can’t speak in tongues, or because they do not feed the homeless, etc. Even though these are good things, yet anyone who emphasizes their preferred or favorite Christian practice is minimizing Christ. The crucified Christian has only 1 rule, which is to boast in the cross of Christ, & nothing else.
Read 6:17. “From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.” Here, Paul warns his opponents, the Judaizers, not to cause him any more trouble. But wherever Paul went to plant churches, he gets persecuted, because Paul was not interested in pleasing men (1:10), but in only pleasing God by boasting only in the cross. Their persecution was so violent that he bore scars & marks of suffering from beatings, stoning & whipping on his own body. This also warns all Christians that sooner or later, every Christian who glories in the cross will face opposition from legalistic people like the Judaizers.
Read 6:18. “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.” In this last sentence of his letter, Paul ends the same way he began (1:3), & he states the 2 key words of Galatians: “grace” & “spirit.” We are saved only by the grace of Jesus, & not by works. And only by the Spirit can we live out this grace of Jesus in our daily life. May God bless you to glory & boast only in the cross of Jesus all the days of your life.