Galatians 6:14

We might have expected that St Paul would have named -the Spirit" or -the new creature" as the object of his boasting, in immediate contrast with -the flesh", the seat of the outward rite, in which the false teachers gloried. He doesmention it at the end of Galatians 6:15. But he here names thatwhich is the root and source of -peace and mercy" in this present life and of eternal salvation in the life to come. There is nearly the same contrast in Philippians 3:3 with the verbal substitution of -Christ Jesus" for the -Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ".

but God forbid that I The personal pronoun stands first in the Greek and is emphatic. -Others would find cause for boasting in a fleshly rite: but for my part, God forbid that I should glory &c." See ch. Galatians 2:17, note.

in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ -in the atoning death, as my means of reconcilement with God" Alford. -Not in my suffering for Christ, but in His sufferings for me". Lightfoot. Compare the well-known hymn, -When I survey the wondrous Cross &c.". It is a death of shame and ignominy, pronounced to be accursed of God, in which St Paul will glory nay, he rejects every other ground of boasting but this alone. Such a declaration would be the raving of a maniac, unless Jesus were the Son of God, the Saviour of the world.

by whom R.V., - through which ". Commentators are not agreed as to the antecedent to the relative pronoun. Is it the Cross, or Christ Himself? The Greek admits of either. We have few data by which to decide. But practically it matters little. The Cross does not, it cannot mean the material Cross on which our Saviour died. Thathas long ago ceased to exist in its original form, even if the tradition of its discovery could be historically established. (See an interesting Article by the Rev. R. Sinker in Smith's Dictionary of Christian Antiquities, on the Finding of the Cross.) If we read -by which", the reference is not to across, but to theCross, i.e. the atoning death of Christ; if -by whom", it is not Christ as the glorified Son of Man, but Christ crucified that is referred to.

the world is crucified Lit., - has been crucified ". It is not easy to define exactly the meaning of the term -world". Alford explains it as -the whole system of unspiritual and unchristian men and things". Its force may be inferred from St Paul's use of it elsewhere, e.g. 1 Corinthians 2:12; Ephesians 2:2. Comp. James 1:27; James 4:4; 1 John 2:15-16; 1 John 5:19.

The world with its passing interests, its narrowly limited aims, its sordid gains, its perishable treasure, its hollow show, its mockery of satisfaction is to me like yon felon slave, nailed to the cross dying by a certain and shameful, if a lingering death. And I too am so regarded by the world. It is an object of contempt and relinquishment to me, and I to it. We seem to hear the echo of our Saviour's own words, words so hard to understand, so much harder to act upon, Luke 14:26.