Galatians 6:14 (ESV) … “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.”
Today we don’t think much about someone speaking of the beauty of the “Old Rugged Cross.” Christians all over the world speak of its grace and its glory.
However, in the apostle Paul’s day, to speak of the glory of the cross was a very odd thing. It would be like someone today talking of the glory of the electric chair or the gallows. In that day no individual, let alone a Roman, would ever think to glory in a cross. It was an instrument of suffering and shame. So, what changed the cross? JESUS!
Jesus is all the difference in the world. Through Jesus, we can now glory in that old cross. For by his death on that cross we now have eternal life. What does it mean to glory in the cross of Christ?
The cross is God’s answer to our sin problem.
The cross is God’s purpose and plan that transcends time.
The cross is God’s promise of eternity with Him.
The cross is God’s wisdom and power displayed.
The cross is God’s preaching to this lost world.
The cross is the dividing point for those who accept Christ and those who reject Him.
The cross is the beginning point of faith in God.
John Phillip’s puts it this way:
As the cross was the world’s answer to Christ, so the cross is the believer’s answer to the world. The world will sometimes mask its face and pretend friendship for the Christian. It will offer us its pleasures, money, methods, and applause—but always at the price of compromise. The Christian’s answer is the cross.
Paul lived with an eye on Calvary. He never lost sight of the cross. The world held no glamour for him. To him, the cross was the symbol of what the world had done to Jesus. It was a constant reminder of the world’s undying underlying hatred for all who name the name of Christ. A proper view of the cross puts an end to all compromise with the world.[1]
[1] Phillips, J. (2009). Exploring Galatians: An Expository Commentary (Ga 6:14). Kregel Publishers; WORDsearch Corp.
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