The Wonder of the Cross
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2020 · 31 May 2020
Please open your Bible to Galatians 6:11-18. Paul collects some thoughts here from various aspects of his emphasis in this book. Let us read these, “See with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand! 12 As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.”
“13 For not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. 14 But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.”
“16 And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God. 17 From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. 18 Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.” The cross has been the symbol of Christianity since our Lord’s death. It stands on top of churches around the world.
Crucifixion was originally designed by the Persians. But it was really perfected by the Romans, who crucified tens of thousands of people. Some historians tell us that as many as thirty thousand people were crucified by the Romans in and around the land of Israel around the time of our Lord. So the Jewish people were used to seeing people hanging on crosses, bleeding and suffocating.
It was not only an instrument of physical torture, but it was also a tool of degradation. To be suspended on high along a public highway totally naked, nailed by hand and foot, and left to bake in the sun while the gawking crowds looked up, to be attacked by birds and insects and end up dead was about as degrading as anything that could ever be done to a human being.
The ancient Roman historian Suetonius and Tacitus both wrote that the people called “Christians” were followers of a criminal who was crucified by Pontius Pilate, giving secular affirmation to the biblical account. It was offensive to the Jews because there was no way that in their messianic theology they would see their Messiah ending up on a cross, crucified by unclean Gentiles.
In spite of Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22, the Jews didn’t expect the Messiah to be crucified. Consequently, the cross was for them a stumbling block, a barrier to believing that Jesus was the Messiah. To the Gentiles, the cross was just foolishness, that a crucified Jew, rejected by His leaders and His nation, was in fact the eternal Creator God of the universe and the only Savior of the world.
So Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1 that the cross is to the Gentiles, foolishness; and to the Jews, it is a stumbling block. Verse 18, “But to those who are being saved, it is the power of God.” Because we see in the cross the power of God to crush His own Son for our sins, to save us as believers from divine wrath, such that it didn’t destroy Jesus; but rather He came back to life after three days.
We see the loving wisdom of God at the cross, in punishing the suffering Savior. If God wanted to have people in heaven, if God wanted a bride for His Son, if God wanted to bring to glory a redeemed humanity who would forever praise Him, He had to get them to heaven. Their sins had to be dealt with, and so He punished His Son for them, and then imputed His Son’s righteousness to us.
On the cross, Jesus died our death, that we might live His eternal life. Philippians 3:17-18 says, “Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern. 18 For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ.” You either embrace and glorify in the cross, or you are an enemy of the cross.
Many enemies of the cross make Paul weep. Why? Because Philippians 3:19 says, “Whose end is destruction.” What you do at the cross determines your eternal destiny. Now in Galatians we have learned much about the cross. Back in Galatians 3:1, we were told that Jesus was crucified there. In Galatians 2:20, Paul says that believers were crucified with Him there.
“I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live.” When Jesus died, we died. When He came to life, we came to life because we were in Him. And then in Galatians 5:24, we learned that our flesh was crucified there. “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Our flesh was crucified there. In other words, the dominant power of the flesh was broken.
Everything happened at the cross. That is in contrast to what was being taught by some Jewish teachers who said they believed in the Messiah Jesus, and said they were a part of the church. But they said, “You’re not real believers. You’re not forgiven. You’re not going to enter heaven.” Why? “Because Jesus Christ is not enough, you must be circumcised and follow the Mosaic ceremonial law.”
So even Gentiles were required to be circumcised and adhere to the Mosaic Law. That’s a false gospel. Paul says in Galatians 1:8, “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed.” You can accept Christ and add works, and you end up with the same damning message. The law cannot save you, it only curses you.
People think that there are two roads to heaven to God. One is the religion of human achievement where you earn your way to heaven by your morality, by your goodness, by your religiosity, by ceremonies and rituals. This is the category which includes all false religions in this world. They’re all just different forms of the religion of human achievement where there is no hope for those people.
The other is the true religion of divine accomplishment, where everything is done by God, and it’s offered to us by grace and received by faith only, and not works. That’s what Paul’s been dealing with throughout this letter. In verses 11 to 13, we see boasting in the flesh; and in verses 14 to 16, we see boasting in the cross. And you will see the difference here in just some interesting ways.
Verse 11, “See with what large letters I’m writing to you with my own hand.” Very unusual for Paul to write a letter with his own hand. Normally his letters were written by a scribe who took down dictation. Often Paul would sign his name at the end, as in 1 Corinthians, Colossians, and in 2 Thessalonians. But Galatians is his first letter and he just attacks them with fury over the false gospel.
There may be another reason he writes large letters. In Galatians 4:13, he says, “But you know that it was because of a bodily illness that I preached the gospel to you the first time.” What was it? In verse 15 he says, “I bear you witness that, if possible, you’d have plucked out your eyes and given them to me.” Well, in the ancient world, when your eyes went bad, there was no cure.
Paul is looking at his letter and saying, “Because of my poor eyesight, you know how hard it is for me to write with my own hand. But what I have to say is so important that I couldn’t wait, and so I went ahead and wrote. I’ve never tried to impress you with my personal skills. And this letter is not written in an attractive way, but it is the truth, and it is the gospel from God.”
And with that he introduces again the Judaizers boasting in the flesh. Verse 12, “Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh.” This reminds me of those who preach the false gospel. This is a blow at the Judaizers. He hates their doctrine. He has destroyed their doctrine, and now he wants to say a few things about their motives: Why do they spread a false doctrine?
Motive Number One is pride, “to make a good showing in the flesh.” That’s what legalists do, they show off. It seems that the more paraphernalia they wear, the more they declare their hypocrisy. The more it is for show, the less it is reality. They make a good showing in the flesh. They want to make an outward impression of being holy and virtuous for other people.
This was a way of life for legalistic Jews. Luke 16:14 says that the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were scoffing at Jesus and mocking Him. Jesus said to them, ‘You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men.” The greater your spiritual pride, the greater your eternal condemnation. Jesus continued, “For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.”
Second motive was cowardice, verse 12, “They try to compel you to be circumcised only so that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.” These were Jews who would condone it if you believed in Jesus but held onto Judaism. We all know the Jews in Jerusalem and Israel persecuted the believers in Jesus Christ; and they wound up slaughtering many of them.
And what offended them was the cross. But what offended them probably more was that the cross declares that you are a sinner. The cross declares that you cannot please God, whoever you are. The cross declares that you deserve to be punished, but God has punished Christ in your place. The cross declares you are a sinner who is both unwilling and unable to please God.
And the Romans had actually legalized Judaism. So the Romans saw Christianity as a threat to Caesar, because all Romans knew that Caesar was lord. And if you said Jesus is Lord you were an insurrectionist. Christians were burned in garden parties for Caesar. Judaizers held on in order to escape the persecution that comes to those who believed in the gospel of the cross.
There’s a third characteristic that shows up in their boasting in the flesh, and that’s their hypocrisy, verse 13, “For those who are circumcised do not even keep the law themselves, but they desire to have you circumcised so that they may boast in your flesh.” They want to show you off like some kind of convert when they can’t even keep the law themselves.
Nobody can keep the law. That’s why our Lord in Matthew 23:27 said these Pharisees are painted white like a tomb on the outside; but inside, they’re full of dead men’s bones. In Romans 2:21-23 Paul says, “You who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You blaspheme God.”
Paul will boast only in the cross, verse 14, “May it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This is the religion of grace. The cross says, “You can’t save yourself.” The cross says, “God had to save you by offering His own Son, placing your sins on Him, punishing Him in your place.” You deserve hell; the Father gave that hell to Christ in three hours of darkness.
Why did He surrender to the cross? Reason Number One: The cross frees us from the world’s bondage, verse 14, “through the cross the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Judaism, which started out as a revelation from God, in the Old Testament had become a false religion. The god of this world is no longer my God. Paul says, “I have been freed from the world by the cross.”
Verse 15, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.” I’m separated from the system that is perishing. Not only that, I am a new creation. 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Old things have passed away, everything has become new.” The frustration of religious self-effort and works is gone. In the language of John, “I’ve been born again. I have a new heart, I have a new spirit.”
The power of the cross brought me the blessings of salvation.” They’re implied in the words of verse 16: “Those who will walk by this rule, this principle,” – meaning the principle of grace and faith as demonstrated in the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ –“those who walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them.” When you leave the law behind and come to the cross, your life is flooded with peace.
Peace is God giving you what you don’t deserve. Mercy is holding back from you what you do deserve. Paul continues, “and upon the Israel of God.” This is a direct hit at these Judaizing false teachers; they are the Israel of Israel, but they are not the Israel of God. He means Jews who are real believers who belong to God. Romans 2:28-29, “The only true Jews are those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.”
And then his final words, verse 17, “From now on let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” He is talking to the people in the church who are making his life miserable because they’re listening to the false teachers. And he’s talking to the false teachers who are attacking him. Paul says, “I am beaten is not because of what I’ve done, it’s because of who I represent.”
Paul says, “I’m all of that. I’m a slave a Christ, a soldier of Christ, devoted to Him. I’m a criminal as far as the world is concerned, and I’m hated because I have Jesus branded on me.” Every scar he ever got was a brand, a brand for Christ. “These are the scars of Jesus.” And then a farewell in verse 18, “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen.” He is giving us his blessings too. Let us pray.