"But may it not come to be to me to be boasting, if not in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom to me [the] world has been crucified [and] I to [the] world."
-Many, many things about which we can and do boast. How we look. What we have acquired or learned. What we have done. Numbers - of converts, of attenders, account balances, winning streaks - you name it. Paul here adds one more to the list - the Ultimate Trump Card. The greatest thing he has going for him - wait for it - is the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. HIS Lord, to be sure. In fact it is sooooo far and away superior to anything else which might otherwise be something about which he might boast, that those others are not even worth mentioning. The most important thing about Paul - and about me and you and anyone else for that matter - is the sublime truth that the Father sent the Son to be our Savior (John 3.17, 4.42; 1John 2.2, 4.14). May it not EVER come to be, he says, that I would boast in anything else. Leading by example, this.
-And it is this very cross of Christ which has changed everything. Paul says through Jesus and His death on the cross, he has similarly been crucified to the world and the world in turn has been crucified to him. There are essentially dead to him. Nothing else matters. Nothing else comes close to holding sway in his life, in his thoughts, in his desires and aspirations, in the choices he makes. That which concerns the world does not concern him anymore. All that the world wants, and pursues, and values - he is dead and dying to all that. Total game changer. It is what he said back in Chapter 2 (Galatians 2.20) - it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. It’s not about walking in death, per se. It’s about a new life... Next verse!
No comments:
Post a Comment