November 10, 2025 - Galatians 6:11-18 - "The Glory of the Cross"

Galatians 6:11-18

"Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand. As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. 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. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen."

The glory of the believer is not in what he has done, nor in what he has avoided, nor in what he has become. His only glory is in the cross of the LORD Jesus Christ. All boasting of the flesh is shut out, for the flesh profits nothing. Every religious work that men perform in order to attempt to make themselves righteous before God is but the same effort of Adam to cover himself with fig leaves. The world glories in the outward show, but the believer glories only in Christ crucified, and His work on the cross accomplished for their justification before God..

The apostle wrote, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (v.14). That was not the language of a man who merely admired the cross from a distance; it was the confession of one who had been nailed there in Christ as his Substitute. The cross to him was not a piece of wood nor a symbol of religion, but the place where sin was put away, where Justice was satisfied, and where Love was revealed. In that cross the believer sees the Wisdom, Power, and Righteousness of God.

Those who sought to make a fair show in the flesh desired to glory in their converts’ circumcision. They were afraid of persecution for the cross of Christ. They wanted to avoid the offense of the cross. But the cross has always been an offense. It declares man’s total ruin. It leaves no room for human merit, no space for pride, no foundation for boasting. The cross says that the world is condemned already apart from Christ, and that Salvation is wholly of the LORD.

In the cross of the LORD Jesus, the believer sees the end of himself. He is crucified with Christ. The world is crucified unto him, and he unto the world. There is now a separation that can never be undone. The man who once loved the world now counts it dead. Its pleasures, honors, and religion are but dust and ashes. The believer’s life is hid with Christ in God. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Galatians 2:20).

This crucifixion to the world is not a product of discipline or effort, but the result of union with Christ. When He died, His people died in Him; when He rose, they rose with Him. The same power that raised up Jesus from the dead works in them that believe. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Because of Christ’s death, the old things of the law, with it’s condemnation have passed away. Therefore the apostle says, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature” (Galatians 6:15).

The believer glories in the cross because everything he needs is found there. Righteousness, Redemption, Peace, and Life are all obtained by the blood of the Lamb. The cross is the altar where God met man in Judgment and Mercy. It is the Throne where Grace reigns through Righteousness unto Eternal Life. At the cross the sinner sees what sin deserves and what Love has procured for the Salvation of God’s elect. “He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

The world cannot understand such glory. It glories in wisdom, power, wealth, and religion; but the believer glories in shame, weakness, and death, because in that death is eternal life. The cross stands as the dividing line between the old creation and the New, between the curse and the Blessing, between death and Life everlasting.

So the believer says with Paul, the world behind me, the cross before me. The flesh may seek to glory, but the heart that has seen Christ crucified by the Spirit of God has nothing left to boast of but Him. All that was once gain is counted loss for His sake. The cross is the believer’s message, his Hope, his Life, and his Song forever.