Scripture Reference: Galatians 6:11-14

In the text of our Scriptural reference, Paul makes a contrast between the Galatians who glory in the flesh (the original Greek word means to “glory,” “boast,”) and his own humble, spirit that forbids that he should glory, save in the cross of Jesus Christ. The Galatians in their propensity and affinity for glorying in the flesh, for turning aside from the salvation provided by the love and mercy of God in Jesus, and for turning to sophisticated and well-educated human teachers, thought that in self-righteousness and self-commendation they could save themselves before God.

In the third chapter of this book Paul addressed them, “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you?” (Galatians 3:1). I think that if we were to take the letter and the appeal of the apostle written in the first century and apply it today he would have said, “O foolish modernists and liberals, who has bewitched you that you should glory in the flesh, in human effort, in human speculation, in your own works? But God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The cross stands with all of its naked repulsiveness, as the Romans would have it; the cross with all of its philosophical irrationality, as the Greeks would have it; the cross with all of its shame and suffering, as the scribes would have it; but it’s the cross that stands with all of its love and mercy and forgiveness, as Paul preached it.

“But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

The Cross – An Emblem of the Christian Faith

First, we should consider the cross is a sign, an emblem of the Christian faith. The whole course of history turned in A.D. 300 when Constantine was converted. In the midst of a battle for the throne of the Caesars Constantine said, “At midday I saw a sign in the sky, a cross, and underneath these words in Latin meaning: ‘in this sign conquer’.” Upon this occasion, as upon countless other occasions before, the sign of the Gospel of the Son of God is found in a cross.

The insignia of the Christian faith is not two tables of stone containing the commandments of God. It is not a sword, a scimitar, a star, or a galaxy. The insignia of the Christian faith is not a seven-branched lampstand or even a halo above a submissive head. Rather, the insignia of the Christian faith is a stark, rude, crude, rugged, empty cross.

I’ve read that on the Roman Colosseum is the best example of the cross that we as believers know. Unlike what we think of as a decoration on the top of a church or as an ornament to wear around our necks made of gold and silver and studded with precious stones, the cross in the Colosseum is as rugged a cross-beam as could be ingeniously devised. I have read that it was placed there many years ago in honor and in memory of the early Christians who lost their lives in that terrible arena.

The cross speaks a universal language. All men everywhere understand it. If you’ve ever seen the Passion Play either on stage or on television, especially if you’ve watched it in another language, you would understand the unusual and deep persuasion that as you sit there and watch the drama of the suffering and crucifixion of our Lord, every man in his own language and in his own tongue would understand it. The cross speaks to human hearts everywhere in every nation, in every language, in every family, clan, and tribe under God’s heaven.

To Be Continued

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, ESV © 2016 by Crossway Bibles.
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