Boasting in the Cross

Introduction

Remember the 80’s fashion? Raiders football gear, tight rolled pants, overalls with one flap down. And what about those hairstyles? Guys wore mullets, and ladies were walking fire hazards with all that hairspray on those bangs!

My parent’s generation wasn’t any better. Liesure suites, short coaching shorts, waterfall haircut. I remember looking through photo albums and wondering: “What were they thinking” It’s all a sign that we are fallen people.

Platt, David. Exalting Jesus in Galatians (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary) (p. 136). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Of all the things that have been worn, what do you think the disciples would have thought was weird?

So why does Paul say this is the only thing that you can boast in?

Paul begins his closing statement summarizing his thoughts and contrasts his cross-centred ministry with the self-exalting ministry of the false teachers.

Platt, David. Exalting Jesus in Galatians (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary) (p. 136). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

1. Compelled Vs. 11

Vs. 11 Why is Paul writing with such big letters? The boldness of the handwriting answers to the force of the apostle’s convictions. He wants to get his readers attention. Paul want’s to reemphasize the central message of the letter and his own personal investment in it.

the boldness of the handwriting answers to the force of the apostle’s convictions.

Vs. 12 Look! These people want to make you fulfill the law because they don’t want to suffer.

George, T. (1994). Galatians (Vol. 30, p. 432). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

Paul is charging them, as we will see later, not only with dangerous doctrinal deviation, they have moved from the true gospel to a false gospel, but thier motivation where even wrong.

“Maybe if I get them to be circumcized, I can still call myself a Christian, and not get persecuted for it.”

“to make a good showing in the flesh” These teachers wanted to make a good impression outwardly. When these false missionaries got home, they wanted to declare at their next missionaries meeting of how much they have to show for their efforts.

So by their teaching, they are showing what they cherish the most.

Application: This is a massive warning for me. A challenge not only to make sure that the message is true, but that my motives are right. The only way I can combat the pride that wells up within my is to daily crucify those passions and desires (5:24).

Galatians Compelled to Be Circumcised

Christians inevitably face this temptation because the cross has a way of inviting persecution. It arouses opposition because it says that we are sinners under God’s curse. It tells us that we need someone else to die for our sins, that there is nothing we can do to save ourselves, only trust in Jesus.

Christians inevitably face this temptation because the cross has a way of inviting persecution. It arouses opposition because it says that we are sinners under God’s curse. It tells us that we need someone else to die for our sins, that there is nothing we can do to save ourselves, only trust in Jesus.

There’s a story of a pastor who once had a conversation with a woman who was wrestling with the claims of Christ. She had begun to realize that surrendering to God’s will for her salvation would require radical changes. “If I believed that my friends at the pool were really going to hell,” she said, “then I would have to tell them about Jesus, wouldn’t I? But then I wouldn’t have any more friends!” Maybe not. People generally do not like being told that they are sinners who need a Savior. But this is what it means to be a Christian: it means standing up for Christ and his cross.

Ryken, P. G. (2005). Galatians. (R. D. Phillips, P. G. Ryken, & D. M. Doriani, Eds.) (p. 271). Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing.

BI: When you know the significance of Jesus’ death, then you can agree with Paul’s desire to boast only in the cross you will see the emptiness of anything else.

2. An Empty Boast. Vs. 12 -13

Vs. 12 “to make a good showing in the flesh” These teachers wanted to make a good impression outwardly. When these false missionaries got home, they wanted to declare at their next missionaries meeting of how much they have to show for their efforts.

Paul is charging them, as we will see later, not only with dangerous doctrinal deviation, they have moved from the true gospel to a false gospel, but thier motivation where even wrong.

“Maybe if I get them to be circumcized, I can still call myself a Christian, and not get persecuted for it.”

“to make a good showing in the flesh” These teachers wanted to make a good impression outwardly. When these false missionaries got home, they wanted to declare at their next missionaries meeting of how much they have to show for their efforts.

True religion is inward. Although it always works its way out, it starts within, where the Holy Spirit regenerates a sinner’s heart. The problem with making something like circumcision the essence of Christianity is that it is only an outward sign. It is merely external, something done to the body, to the flesh of sinful self-reliance. True religion is not based on outward works; it is based on inward faith.

And these missionaries motives were wrong as they wanted to be able to brag about what they had done, not what God had done. Their motives were also wrong in another way.

Ryken, P. G. (2005). Galatians. (R. D. Phillips, P. G. Ryken, & D. M. Doriani, Eds.) (p. 272). Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing.

Are you cultivating humility in your life and trying to crucify human pride? How can you do this?

You must go to the cross. At the cross, our pride bubble gets popped. There is no room for boasting at Golgotha. We must crucify the flesh and walk by the Spirit to cultivate humility and avoid the false teacher’s pattern.

“In order that they may not be persecuted from the cross of Christ.” These people want to make you fulfill the law because they don’t want to suffer.

Paul is charging them, as we will see later, not only with dangerous doctrinal deviation, they have moved from the true gospel to a false gospel, but their motivation where even wrong.

“Maybe if I get them to be circumcized, I can still call myself a Christian, and not get persecuted for it.”

Application: This is a massive warning for me. A challenge not only to make sure that the message is true, but that my motives are right. This is the challenge when one feels opposition. The only way I can combat the pride that wells up within my is to daily crucify those passions and desires (5:24).

Christians inevitably face this temptation that these missionaries faced, compromising on what the Bible says, because the cross has a way of inviting persecution. It arouses opposition because it says that we are sinners under God’s curse. It tells us that we need someone else to die for our sins, that there is nothing we can do to save ourselves, only trust in Jesus.

There’s a story of a pastor who once had a conversation with a woman who was wrestling with the claims of Christ. She had begun to realize that surrendering to God’s will for her salvation would require radical changes. “If I believed that my friends at the pool were really going to hell,” she said, “then I would have to tell them about Jesus, wouldn’t I? But then I wouldn’t have any more friends!” Maybe not. People generally do not like being told that they are sinners who need a Savior. But this is what it means to be a Christian: it means standing up for Christ and his cross.

For us, the application is clear. Either you glory in the flesh or you glory in the Christ. Pick one.

Platt, David. Exalting Jesus in Galatians (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary) (p. 139). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

BI: When you know the significance of Jesus’ death, then you can agree with Paul’s desire to boast only in the cross you will see the emptiness of anything else.

BI: When you know the significance of Jesus’ death, then you can agree with Paul’s desire to boast only in the cross shows how empty everything else is.

Are you cultivating humility in your life and trying to crucify human pride? How can you do this?

You must go to the cross. At the cross, our pride bubble gets popped. There is no room for boasting at Golgotha. We must crucify the flesh and walk by the Spirit to cultivate humility and avoid the false teacher’s pattern.

BI: When you know the significance of Jesus’ death, then you can agree with Paul’s desire to boast only in the cross and when we do, it shows how empty everything else is.

3. Something to Boast About Vs. 14

Platt, David. Exalting Jesus in Galatians (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary) (p. 139). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

3. Something to Boast About Vs. 14

Boasting in the cross gives us something to actually boast about thought.

Paul’s entire theology of justification is reflected in the way he used the word “boast” in this context (vv. 13–14). On this side of forgiveness and new life, the only boasting permitted is that of the justified sinner who has surrendered the autonomy of the self to the lordship of Christ, the hymn, Rock of Ages, boast of redemption: “In my hands no price I bring, Simply to thy cross I cling.”

George, T. (1994). Galatians (Vol. 30, pp. 429–430). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

“Boast” - Mean’s to glory in, to be consumed with

to boast except in the cross. Boasting in the cross implies that you place your confidence in Christ and His work for your salvation.

You are not trusting in your religious acts. Not the amount of converts you got, or how big your ministry is, our your reading streak in your Bible app. Cross-exalters rest everything in what Christ has done. Cross-exalters believe that Jesus lived the life we could not live and died the death we should have died. Those who boast in the cross simply say, “This is for my peace: Jesus died in my place.” Boasting in the cross implies that God accepts you because of the work of Christ. You can say, “Because of the cross, the wrath of God will not be poured out on me. Because of the cross, I am united to Christ. Because of the cross, I am dead to this world and all its claims on my life. Because of the cross, I have become a new creation.” So boast in the cross. Revel in it. Rejoice in it.

Galatians Something to Boast About

Christ crucified meant the world to him, as it should to us. The cross is not just something to boast about; it is the only thing to boast about

Platt, David. Exalting Jesus in Galatians (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary) (p. 140). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Paul was always boasting about the cross … and God forbid that he should ever boast about anything else. Christ crucified meant the world to him, as it should to us. The cross is not just something to boast about; it is the only thing to boast about. The cross is the only thing to boast about because it means that God loves us enough to die for us, that he saved us through the death of his own dear Son. It means that we have been redeemed, that Christ has paid the whole price for our salvation. The cross means that we have forgiveness for our sins, that Christ offered himself as an atoning sacrifice to take away our guilt. It means that we are justified, that God now accepts us as righteous in his sight. His wrath has been turned away, and now we stand innocent before him.

To glory in the cross is to stop trusting in our own merits—our church attendance, worship style, devotional habits, social involvement, theological orthodoxy, or number of converts—and to start trusting in the merits of Jesus Christ alone. The cross rejects any merely human attempt to please God. It declares that “sinners may be justified before God and by God, not because of any works of their own, but because of the atoning work of Christ; not because of anything that they have done or could do, but because of what Christ did once, when He died.”

Platt, David. Exalting Jesus in Galatians (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary) (p. 140). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Ryken, P. G. (2005). Galatians. (R. D. Phillips, P. G. Ryken, & D. M. Doriani, Eds.) (p. 275). Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing.

BUT. This only happens when we repent and believe.

“By which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” In other words, He is saying, “I don’t care about what’s happening around me, I have Jesus.” Boasting in the cross means more than simply believing that Jesus died for our sins; it also means living a crucified life. You are called to live this out.

Live this out! Live as though this world has nothing for you and Christ is everything to you! Die to the enticements and cares of this world, and live as though Christ were your ultimate treasure. The motto for the Christian is: the world has nothing for us; Christ is everything to us. This is the daily power of the cross.”

To glory in the cross is to stop trusting in our own merits—our church attendance, worship style, devotional habits, social involvement, theological orthodoxy, or number of converts—and to start trusting in the merits of Jesus Christ alone. The cross rejects any merely human attempt to please God. It declares that “sinners may be justified before God and by God, not because of any works of their own, but because of the atoning work of Christ; not because of anything that they have done or could do, but because of what Christ did once, when He died.”

Can you look at your idols—money, success, human praise, power, peer approval, wanting attention, ungodly romance—and say, “I would not give a fig for you”? See your idols for what they are: pathetic, crucified, dying things. They are not attractive to the person who sees them for what they are and sees Jesus for all He is.

Platt, David. Exalting Jesus in Galatians (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary) (p. 141). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Platt, David. Exalting Jesus in Galatians (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary) (p. 142). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Platt, David. Exalting Jesus in Galatians (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary) (p. 142). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

So, what are you boasting in today? If it’s in the cross, how is it changing the way you live? The Galatians had a choice between the cross and circumcision. It was either or, not both. The cross of Christ is the sufficient ground for the salvation of sinners. What are you resting in? If it’s the cross, shall that not compel us to our neighbours, to the ends of the world, to yell from the mountain tops, “Christ died for our sins and rose again.”

I was reminded of this the other day.

Matthew 13:44 ESV

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

I had to ask myself, do I treasure the gospel. What am I willing to give up for it. When I repent and believe in the Gospel, It means that we are justified, that God now accepts us as righteous in his sight. His wrath has been turned away, and now we stand innocent before him.

BI: When you know the significance of Jesus’ death, then you can agree with Paul’s desire to boast only in the cross and the willingness to give up all rhings for the sack of the gospel.

4. A New World vs. 15-16

Vs. 15. The cross has done what nothing else can do. It made us into a new people. Christ has made us new people by his work on the cross.

In Paul flushes this idea more:

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

The new creation talks about the whole process of conversion: the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, the giving you a new heart, that leads to repentance and faith, the daily process of mortification (the desire to be killing sin) and bringing back to life (vivification), continual growth in holiness leading to eventual conformity to the image of Christ. The new creation implies a new nature with a new system of desires, affections, and habits, all done by the supernatural ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer. No spiritual gymnastics, no twelve-step program on the deeper life, no quick-fix “How-to-Be-a-Better-Christian” seminar can produce this kind of transformation. If you are a Christian, you are a new creation and that’s only done by an act of God in effecting a new thing.

What does a new creation look like? Look at .

BI: When you know the significance of Jesus’ death, then you can agree with Paul’s desire to boast only in the cross we will long to be “the new creation.”

Galatians 2:19–20 ESV

For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

These wonderful verses put boasting in the cross and a new creation together. A person who is united to Jesus Christ, who died on his behalf, is never the same person again! He has become a new creation! Are you glad this is true? Are you glad that you are a new creation? Christianity is not about being a nice person, trying harder, or just being religious. It is about becoming a new person. And this new life is made possible by the cross. As new creations in Christ, we are now fit for a new creation.

Vs. 16. And as for all who walk by this rule God calls us to live by a standard. There is peace and mercy of God upon those . . . who remain faithful to the truth of the gospel Paul had originally preached among them”

Platt, David. Exalting Jesus in Galatians (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary) (p. 142). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

And as for all who walk by this rule,

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.

God calls us to live by a standard. There is peace and mercy of God upon those . . . who remain faithful to the truth of the gospel Paul had originally preached among them”

Platt, David. Exalting Jesus in Galatians (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary) (p. 142). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Platt, David. Exalting Jesus in Galatians (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary) (p. 143). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

A Pastor said it this way (Danny Akin), “Once more this reminds us that theology matters; that theology is important; that good, sound gospel-centred theology is essential to both the health and life of the church. Ultimately this is something for which the whole church is responsible” (“The Cross and Faithful Ministry”).

BI: When you know the significance of Jesus’ death, then you can agree with Paul’s desire to boast only in the cross means you live a new life.

BI: When you know the significance of Jesus’ death, then you can agree with Paul’s desire to boast only in the cross means you now have a new life.

5. The Mark of a Christian vs. 17

Vs. 17. for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. Paul is talking about the actual marks he has on his body. And these are the marks of following Jesus.

“Mark” stigmata are marks or scars on the body, especially the type of “brand” used to mark ownership of slaves. Paul was branded. Christ’s slave. By this point in his ministry, the apostle had really taken a beating. Among other things, he had been stoned and left for dead in Lystra (see ), one of the cities of Galatia. And Paul’s sufferings had left their mark on him.

By this point in his ministry, the apostle had really taken a beating. Among other things, he had been stoned and left for dead in Lystra (see ), one of the cities of Galatia. And Paul’s sufferings had left their mark on him.

In Luke the same verb “bear” is used of disciples who must bear their own cross (). John uses the word for Jesus carrying His cross to His execution (). If you are going to follow Jesus, you are going to bear some scars. You will bleed, if not in the body, then in the heart.

In Luke the same verb “bear” is used of disciples who must bear their own cross (). John uses the word for Jesus carrying His cross to His execution (). If you are going to follow Jesus, you are going to bear some scars. You will bleed, if not in the body, then in the heart.

Paul tells Timothy, “In fact, all those who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (). This does not mean we go looking for trouble; it simply means we should be ready and not surprised if we suffer for Christ’s sake. Jesus never promises us that life will be easy and devoid of hardship, but He does promise that He will be with us! And He is worth it!

This passage shows us Paul’s great love for the Savior. He not only bore the spiritual marks of a believer, he also bore literal scars for his obedience to Jesus.

Platt, David. Exalting Jesus in Galatians (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary) (p. 144). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

So, I ask you you, how much do you love the gospel? How much is it a treasure to you? What are you willing to give for it?

Platt, David. Exalting Jesus in Galatians (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary) (p. 144). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Platt, David. Exalting Jesus in Galatians (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary) (p. 144). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Vs. 18

Platt, David. Exalting Jesus in Galatians (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary) (p. 143). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

BI: When you know the significance of Jesus’ death, then you can agree with Paul’s desire to boast only in the cross we can face whatever may come.

So What?

Paul was always boasting about the cross … and God forbid that he should ever boast about anything else. Christ crucified meant the world to him, as it should to us. The cross is not just something to boast about; it is the only thing to boast about. The cross is the only thing to boast about because it means that God loves us enough to die for us, that he saved us through the death of his own dear Son. It means that we have been redeemed, that Christ has paid the whole price for our salvation. The cross means that we have forgiveness for our sins, that Christ offered himself as an atoning sacrifice to take away our guilt. It means that we are justified, that God now accepts us as righteous in his sight. His wrath has been turned away, and now we stand innocent before him.

BI: When you know the significance of Jesus’ death, then you can agree with Paul’s desire to boast only in the cross.

Questions:

In what possessions, gifts, and opportunities are you tempted to boast? How does the message of the cross change your perspective?

What does it mean to boast in the cross? How can you boast in the cross practically every day?

Platt, David. Exalting Jesus in Galatians (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary) (p. 146). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

How does Paul say the cross should affect our view of the world?

Platt, David. Exalting Jesus in Galatians (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary) (p. 146). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Platt, David. Exalting Jesus in Galatians (Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary) (p. 146). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.