Focus: The Cross In Galatians

Text: Gal.6:14

"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."

Paul is a man who has a deep insight into the mystery, majesty, might and significance of the cross of Christ. His whole life is centered on the cross of Christ. The cross is the principle of his life.

In Gal.2:20, he says, "I am crucified with Christ…" In other words, Christ's death is Paul's death. Paul died when and where Christ died. He reckons himself to be dead with Christ.

In the same scripture, Paul says, "I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and GAVE HIMSELF FOR ME." Paul is profoundly acknowledging the fact that the historical cross of Christ has a spiritual significance for him. Paul is saying, 'Christ was crucified for me. It was for me that Christ died on the cross.

In Gal.5:24, Paul says, "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts." Paul is saying, 'I belong to Christ now. I cease to be my own master. The flesh is crucified in me. I am no longer a captive of my own flesh. The lusts of the flesh have lost their luster in me.'

In Gal.6:14, Paul says, "The world is crucified unto me…" Here he is saying, 'The world and all its attractions, affections, and fascinations are dead to me.' Paul doesn't see anything appetizing or interesting about this world anymore. For him, the world is only a corpse, nothing alluring about it anymore.

In the same scripture, Paul also acknowledges the fact that he is crucified to the world. In other words, there is no meeting point between him and the world. What the world loves, Paul hates, and what the world hates, Paul loves. John puts it bluntly, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1Jh.2:15). The cross has settled everything for Paul.

Follow the logic:

Christ has been crucified FOR me.

I am crucified WITH Christ.

The flesh is crucified IN me.

The world is crucified TO me.

I am crucified TO the world.

Then from our text, Paul sees glory in the cross of Christ. He takes pride in the cross of Jesus Christ. He sees it as something to boast about, not as something to be ashamed of. Nothing else in this world is worth bragging about.

Finally, the preachers of the cross of Christ must preach it in such a way that the audience must not only hear, but also see the cross vividly and graphically displayed before their eyes. The listeners need to see the reality and feel the impact of it in their own souls. Paul says, "O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, CRUCIFIED AMONG YOU?" (Gal.3:1). It is as if the cross of Christ is being enacted again, and the audience is there, watching it live.

I pray you let the cross of Jesus Christ do its work in you, for no one can be a good Christian without letting the cross of Christ to function as the operating center of his life.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter