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H.A. Ironside · Citado em PreceptAustin
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Ironside - A hard, critical spirit will drive the failing one deeper into sin and make it more difficult to recover him at last. But a loving, tender word, accompanied by gracious effort to recover, will often result in saving him from further declension. Max Anders writes that "believers with Christlike character traits produced by the Holy Spirit encourage faltering Christians. The legalist is judgmental, harsh, and condemning toward those who struggle with sin (Acts 15:10). They know the law, and they know the consequences of falling short of obedience to the law. But they do not know mercy. (Holman New Testament Commentary - Galatians) Don Anderson on restore - But have you been around Christians like I have that just delight to take the assignment to go twerk somebody— straighten them out. It’s amazing, you can almost write it down in your book that that person is probably living in the flesh and loves to have a brother who is also living in the flesh but would like to really criticize him. Some people actually enjoy the confronting role, and their rebuke comes off as a verbal equivalent of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. But anyone who savors muckraking through someone else’s sin just to flex the muscles of his own spiritual pride is guilty of spiritual malpractice. THE WARNING REGARDING RESTORATION Each one looking to yourself - "Each one" added by translators of NAS. This is a word of caution to restorers that they themselves don't become offenders! Spiritual believers can stumble! The idea is the one who is spiritual and is carrying out the restoring needs to be very attentive to his own heart (cf Pr 4:23) lest he also fall into temptation and sin! There is none of us who could not be tempted to sin! This warning recalls a similar one by Paul to the saints in Corinth "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall." (1 Cor 10:12). Matthew
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Ironside says "When he said these words he was not thinking just of the wooden instrument on which Jesus died, and he certainly was not thinking of a cross on a steeple of a church, or on an altar of a church, nor yet of a cross dangling from a chain at the waist or throat, or worn as an ornament. When he wrote of “the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,” he was thinking of all that is involved in the crucifixion of the blessed Saviour on that tree. The cross of Christ is the measure of man’s hatred to God." (Galatians 6 Commentary) Lovett says: CROSS. Whereas the Judaizers gloried in circumcision (because it enabled them to acknowledge Christ yet escape the stigma of His cross), Paul gloried in the cross. He counted it an honor to bear the stigma of Christ. Humanly, he enjoyed rank among the Jews, was likely the best educated man of his day, and bore the title of apostle. But all these he regarded as mere toys of the earth compared to the towering majesty of the cross. The cross was the dividing point of his life. Not only is time divided into B.C. and A.D., but so is the Christian. The cross, like a huge surgical knife, slices a man’s life into two parts: that which is yet a part of the world (old nature) and that which lives in the Spirit (new nature). Calvary is the great spiritual watershed of one’s life. (Lovett's lights on Galatians) F F Bruce - "It is difficult after sixteen centuries and more during which the cross has been a sacred symbol, to realize the unspeakable horror and loathing which the very mention or thought of the cross provoked in Paul's day. The word crux was unmentionable in polite Roman society....even when one was being condemned to death by crucifixion the sentence used an archaic formula which served as a sort of euphemism...."But Paul, Roman citizen by birth and religious Jew by upbringing, not only dismisses as the merest refuse (skubala, Phil. 3:8) those things in which he had once taken a proper pride but embraces as the most worthwhile goal in life the knowledge of the crucified Christ and boasts in his cross-a shocking paradox indeed." (The Epistle to the Galatians) Cross (4716)(stauros from histemi = to stand) was an an upright stake, especially a pointed one. Thayer adds the stauros was a well-known instrument of most cruel and ignominious punishment, borrowed by the Greeks and Romans from the Phoenicians; to it were affixed among the Romans, down to the time of Constantine the Great, the guiltiest criminals, particularly the basest slaves, robbers, the authors and abetters of insurrections, and occasionally in the provinces, at the arbitrary pleasure of the governors, upright and peaceable men also, and even Roman citizens themselves. This word originally was used of wood or timber. In later Greek it came to mean a tree and was used of the cross by Peter. In the NT, the cross speaks of the atonement necessitated by man's sin. Martin Luther - The cross of Christ runs through the whole of Scripture. J. C.
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Ironside - Someone has said, “When we get home to heaven God is not going to look us over for medals but for scars.” I wonder whether we have received any scars for Jesus’ sake. Many of them are not physical scars, they are scars of the heart, but it is a great thing to have the brand-marks of the Lord Jesus. Gilbrant has a lengthy note on stigmata - A stigma is a mark or tattoo pricked or branded upon the body as a means of identification (cf. Liddell-Scott). The idea of a mark or brand on the body for identification is almost as old as civilization. The ancient Babylonians and Egyptians marked cattle with a symbol identifying ownership. Slaves also bore a physical mark signifying their status and the name of their owner. Later marks were placed on those who, by reason of some unacceptable social behavior, were considered unworthy of social freedom. Among those so marked were rebellious concubines, sons who mistreated their widowed mothers, or adopted sons who denied their fathers. In a less negative sense, Egyptians marked themselves with symbols denoting membership in a particular tribe or religious cult. A man so marked was acknowledged as a servant of his chosen deity and thereby protected by the god (Betz, “stigma,” Kittel, 7:660). The Greeks and Romans adopted the practice of marking domestic animals and slaves but expanded it to include criminals and soldiers as well. At first the mark on humans was a sign of dishonor. A slave was marked for running away, stealing, or failing in his duties. A soldier was marked for cowardice or disrespect to a superior. The mark labeled him as “good for nothing.” Many attempted, by various means, to remove the mark, but to no avail. It usually persisted for life. In later times, new recruits in the Roman army received a tattoo (usually in their palms) of an abbreviation of their emperor’s name. The Septuagint uses the word stigma only once, in Song of Solomon 1:11. Here it refers not to a mark on the skin but to a tiny ball or point on a piece of jewelry (ibid.). Though the word stigma, in its accustomed meaning, is not found in the Old Testament, the idea of identification marks in the body was not unknown among the Jews. In the Mosaic ordinances concerning slavery (Ex 21:1-6) a man bore the mark of a pierced ear to denote his deliberate, free choice of lifelong servitude. A Hebrew could be held as a slave only for a maximum of 6 years for a debt that he could not pay. In the seventh year his debt was paid, and he was free. If, during his period of servitude, he married one of his master’s female slaves, she could not go free with him when he was released. If he chose to remain with his master and his wife and children, he would publicly renounce his freedom before the council of elders and allow his earlobe to be pierced as a sign of his voluntary life of slavery (ED: NOTE THE SPILLAGE OF BLOOD - THIS WAS ANALOGOUS TO MAKING A BINDING BLOOD COVENANT). The Levitical code prohibited the Jews from cutting or otherwise disfiguring their bodies as a sign of grief for the dead, after the custom of their heathen neighbors (Leviticus 19:28). However, they did adopt the practice and continued it until the captivity (ibid., 7:660f.). (See Jeremiah 16:6; 41:4,5.) Stigma appears only once in the New Testament. Paul wrote to the Galatians (6:17). He doubtless was thinking of the prevailing custom of branding one’s body with the identifying mark of ownership (as a slave) or of devotion to deity (as a worshiper), but the marks that he bore were not self-inflicted tattoos or mutilations. They were the marks of physical suffering, torture, persecution, and privation he had endured for Christ. According to Christian tradition, certain holy men—noted for their piety, self-denial, and humility—are said to have borne the physical marks of Jesus’ cross (also known as the stigmata): nail prints in their hands and feet, wounds in their sides, or marks duplicating the crown of thorns or scourging. The Roman Catholic Church recognizes about 300 such occurrences. Many of those reputed to have borne these marks were later canonized or beatified by the church as saints (ibid., 7:664) (ED: CLEARLY PAUL WOULD NOT CONDONE THIS LATTER HUMAN PRACTICE! A BELIEVER IN ONE SENSE NEEDS NO MARK FOR ONCE HE ENTERS THE NEW COVENANT IN CHRIST'S BLOOD, HE BECOMES A SLAVE FOR LIFE TO CHRIST AND IS NO LONGER HIS OWN - cf 1 Cor 6:19-20, Titus 2:14, 1 Pe 2:9). (Complete Biblical Library Greek-English Dictionary) Paul had suffered much for the cause of Christ and he had marks to show for it. 2 Corinthians 11:23-28 Are they servants of Christ? (I speak as if insane) I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death. Five times I received from the Jews thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I have been on frequent journeys, in dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship, through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure upon me of concern for all the churches. Bartlett - In the church of today, it is to be feared, there are too many battle-scared soldiers and too few battle-scarred soldiers of the cross. Too few are prepared to stand for the Master at all cost. Something is seriously wrong if we are ashamed to own Him who owns us. The Lord’s ownership precludes the world’s ownership of us. It was Amy Carmichael who wrote the piercing (pun intended) words in the form of a question.... Hast Thou No Scar? Hast thou no scar? No hidden scar on foot, or side, or hand? I hear thee sung throughout the land, I hear them hail thy shining star, Hast thou no scar? no scar? Hast thou no wound? et I was wounded by the archers, spent, Leaned Me against a tree; and rent By ravening beasts ‘round Me, I swooned: Hast thou no wound? no wound? No wound? no scar? Yet, as the Master shall the servant be, And pierced the feet that follow Me; But whole? can he have followed far Who has no wound nor scar? John Butler - Marks of Faith Galatians 6:17 "From henceforth let no man trouble me; for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus" (Galatians 6:17). Paul wanted to put to a stop the constant challenge about his commitment to Jesus Christ. It had become a distraction to him and took too much of his time defending his commitment. This statement is a great challenge to all believers—do we bear scars for the Savior? FIRST—THE PROBLEM "From henceforth let no man trouble me." Paul's ministry was being constantly challenged by those who opposed him and were working havoc among the Galatians. When the enemy does not have a good argument in the issue at hand, he often changes tactics and attacks the person's claims who is giving them an undisputable argument. Paul was battling the people who wanted to make the law part of salvation. His arguments were very effective so his enemy changed tactics and began to challenge the sincerity of Paul's commitment to Christ. Paul had proof of his commitment and said that this should stop the argument about his sincerity. SECOND—THE PROOF "For I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Paul's physical body bore evidence of his commitment to Christ. We note a few of the marks. His marks were not a tattoo of Jesus on his arm. • Paul bore the marks of stonings. At Lystra he was stoned so badly that it was thought he was dead (Acts 14:19). That had to leave some ugly marks on his body. Why was he stoned. Because of his preaching Jesus Christ. • Paul bore the marks of stripes. At Philippi Paul was beaten with "many stripes" (Acts 16:23). These stripes would leave long scars upon his body. Why the stripes? Because he preached Jesus Christ. • Paul bore the marks of stocks. At Philippi he was thrown in prison and his feet put in stocks (Acts 26:24). This would leave marks on his feet and legs. Why was he put in stocks in prison? Because he preached Jesus Christ. • Paul bore the marks of slander. "The word for "mark" is the Greek word from which we get the English word 'stigma.' One of the meanings of stigma is infamy and disgrace. These marks on Paul's body were not glory marks. They were marks that brought a disgrace to him. Paul received no honor from men to suffer for Christ. Rather every mark on the body for Christ was a disgrace to the person. But Paul bore those marks with honor. There are marks on people's bodies today, such as tattoos, that disgrace them. There is the mark of smoking—the nicotine stain on the fingers, the aging of a women's face, and the disfigured face from operations for cancer. These marks are a disgrace for sin, for it tells what a profligate life they have lived or are living. What marks are on you today. Are they the tattoos of the world or the marks of Christ. It makes a difference with God Adrian Rogers - Branded for Christ SCRIPTURE TEXT: GALATIANS 6:17 Introduction Would you take God's Word, please, tonight, and turn to Galatians, chapter 6. Thank you, Ken, for that music, and thank you for leading us. I don't think that you could have sung a song that would have been more apropos for the message tonight than the one that you just sang. Galatians 6:17: "From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus" (Galatians 6:17). "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." I want to speak to you, tonight, on this subject: "Branded for Christ"—"Branded for Christ," or perhaps I might say, "The Marks of the Master." Some years ago, somebody came up with this question: "If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?" That's a good question, isn't it? Let me ask you, again: If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? Now, the Apostle Paul was being accused. He was not being accused of being a Christian; he was really being accused of not being a Christian, or at least they were accusing him of not being an apostle, not being a God-called man, and not being worthy of apostleship and leadership. And, he was being accused by some people that we will call Judaizers, and they were saying that Paul was not really a true preacher, and not really an apostle. They were saying that if Paul were truly an apostle, then he would have everybody follow the Jewish laws of circumcision, and all of these other things. And so, they were criticizing Paul, and they were persecuting Paul. Now, the verse that I've just read to you is Paul's answer to them—these people who were bothering him, these people who were pestering him. And, I want you to listen to his answer again: "From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus." Now, what did Paul mean by that? Paul had scars on his body; he had literal disfigurements. He had been wounded; he had been bruised; he had been broken; he had been bloodied; he had been stoned; and he had been mutilated, and his body literally had scars on it. And, he said, "These scars are my defense"—'Let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.'" There are three things I want you to notice tonight about the marks of the Master. I. The Making of Those Marks First of all, I want you to notice what I'm going to call the making of those marks. How did Paul get these scars? I remind you now that Paul is not using figurative language; he's using literal language. Paul suffered. You know, in Romans 8, he talks about the things that cannot separate us from the love of God, and he says that famine, and peril, and nakedness, and sword, and tribulation, and distress, and persecution—he says that these things can't separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:35). Now, friend, Paul was not talking in the abstract. The way that Paul knew that those things could not separate him from the love of God is that he had endured all of those things. Paul had endured famine, and peril, and nakedness, and sword, and tribulation, and distress, and persecution. He knew first-hand that those things that had happened to him could not separate him from the love of God. If you don't mind turning in your Bible, then I want you to turn—just put your bookmark there, in Galatians, chapter 6—and turn to an astounding passage in 2 Corinthians. You just have to turn left a little place, and you'll find it—2 Corinthians 11:24. I tell you, folks, I didn't want to preach this sermon tonight. I'm going to tell you a secret: I prepared it for this morning, but I wasn't ready to preach it this morning. And, I had to pray about it to preach it tonight, because what I'm going to say to you tonight just humiliates me; it makes me ashamed to even say that I'm a Christian, when I think about this little man named Paul. Notice what he said of what he endured for Christ. Now, here are others who were saying they were ministers of Christ. Let's go back to verse 23. There were people who were troubling Paul at Corinth, the same as there were in Galatia. He said: "Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure,"—he was talking about stripes on his back—"in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft" (2 Corinthians 11:23). As a matter of fact, there's some good evidence that Paul may have been stoned to death—that he may have died, and that God raised him from the dead. The next chapter speaks of that when Paul said, "I knew a man in Christ who went into the third Heaven." He said, "Whether I was in the body or out of the body, I don't know. Whether I died and had gone to Heaven, or whether I was just in a trance or a vision, I really don't know" (2 Corinthians 12:2). Paul may have died, and God brought him back to life—I don't know. But, he mentions: "in deaths oft. Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one." That is, he had 39 stripes laid on his back. Now often, men would die from this kind of a scourging. "Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned,"—I mean, they took huge boulders. This was the capital punishment that the Jews used. He was stoned; he was left for dead. As far as they were concerned, they said, "We finished this guy;" but God brought him back—"thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep;"—that is, for 24 hours he was floating around out there in the ocean, not knowing whether or not he would ever reach shore—"in journeys often, in perils of waters,"—the word perils means "dangers"—"in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness" (2 Corinthians 11:23-27). Now, you understand what Paul meant when he said, "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus" (Galatians 6:17). Leonard Ravenhill wrote about the Apostle Paul, and this is what he said: He said, "Look closely at Paul—at that cadaverous countenance, that scarred body, that stooped figure of a man chastened by hunger, kept down by fasting, and ploughed with the lictor's lash; that little body, brutally stoned at Lystra and starved in many places; that skin, pickled for thirty-six hours in the Mediterranean Sea! And add to this list danger upon danger, and then multiply it with loneliness; finally, count in the 199 stripes, 3 shipwrecks, 3 beatings with rods, a stoning, a prison record, and deaths so many that count is lost." When I think about that, and I think how little I've suffered for Jesus, folks, it shames me. And, when I remember that Paul said that all who "live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12), I wonder why some of us seem to get off so easy. I wonder why some of us are so slick and well fed, and why we have it so easy, and why we mumble and complain, sometimes, when we do. Oh, we sing these songs, folks, if we could ever think about the lies we tell in our song service: "Faith of our fathers, holy faith," in prison dark, and in dungeon; "Faith of our fathers, living still... we will be true"—O God—"to thee till death;" and some folks don't even get back Sunday night. I heard of a boy who was talking to his girlfriend on the phone, and he told her, "I love you more than life itself." He said, "You are so precious to me." He said, "I worship the ground you walk on." He said, "I would fight wild beasts to be at your side." He said, "I would walk barefoot on hot coals to be near you." He said, "I would wade through a swamp of crocodiles to hold your hand." And then, later on, he said, "And sweetheart, if it's not raining, then I am coming over to see you Saturday night." And, so many of us are that way, you know—we talk, but talk is so cheap. And, these people who were criticizing Paul, they talked, but they did not suffer for Christ. The making of those marks—they were literal, physical disfigurements upon the body of this man. He had been beaten, brutalized, and mutilated for Jesus Christ. II. The Meaning of Those Marks Now, the second thing I want you to notice—not only the making of those marks, but I want you to notice with me the meaning of these marks. Because, the Apostle Paul, when he said, "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus Christ," could have chosen one word to mean marks, which is a normal word for scars or disfigurement. But, he chose a special word; he chose the Greek word stigmata. "I bear in my body the stigmata of Jesus Christ." And, when he used that word, he showed us that he was making a play on words. Not only was he talking about a literal mark, but now, he's also using the word figuratively. And, the word stigmata is the plural for the word for "a brand"—very much as if one would brand cattle like they do out west, and here in Tennessee, and other places. And, he's talking about some sort of a brand-mark that was put in the flesh of some animal or, sometimes, a person. Now, in Paul's day stigmata were used for several things. A. A Mark of Ownership First of all, it was a mark of ownership. A slave would be branded by his master. Slaves were like cattle—just like cattle and other things. And so, the master would say that "this is my slave," and he would take a branding iron, and he would burn his name into the slave. "This is my piece of property; he will not be able to get this mark off of his body." And, when Paul said, "I bear the stigmata of the Lord Jesus Christ," what he was saying is, "I am His slave. I have been branded for Christ. I'm not my own. I am bought with a price." And, Paul spoke of himself over and over again as the bondslave of Jesus Christ. Now, I had to ask myself this question as I prepared this sermon; and, since I've asked myself this question, and had to deal with God about it, I'm going to do something to you—not for you—to you: I'm going to ask you the same question: Are you a bondslave to Jesus Christ? Have you been branded for Christ? Now, talk is cheap, folks. Are you His slave? You know, there are folks who waltz down to church on Sunday morning, and join a church like they're doing God a wild favor—like we are a prize package, and He's so lucky to get us. Are you a slave of Jesus Christ? The Apostle Paul said, "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. I am branded for Christ. I am a slave of the Lord Jesus Christ." B. A Mark of Allegiance But, not only was it used as a sign of ownership; it was also used as a mark of allegiance. Back in this day, stigmata were also used by soldiers. Soldiers would tattoo themselves—brand themselves—with the name of their general. For example, Alexander the Great, who conquered the known world and wept because there were no more worlds to conquer, had his soldiers that wore his stigmata, that wore his mark, and they had the alpha for Alexander—the A tattooed upon their hand—which said, "I belong to Alexander. I owe my allegiance to my captain. I am in his army." The Apostle Paul surely must have had that in mind also, when he chose this special word stigmata to say, "I bear in my body the brand mark of the Lord Jesus, because not only am I His slave; I'm also His soldier. I know how to endure hardness. I know how to bear hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." And, the Apostle Paul said, in 2 Timothy 4:7: "I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith" (2 Timothy 4:7, cf 2 Ti 2:3-4). And, Paul, as I've said, was faithful to the faith, to the fight, and to the finish. C. A Mark of Religious Belief But now, again, the word stigmata was used, not only for slaves, and not only for soldiers, but it was also used as a mark for people who were followers of a particular religion. Now today, to show that we're followers of a particular religion, we may wear a gold cross around our neck, or we may wear a Jesus first lapel pin. I'm not opposed to any of that; I think that's fine. But, in Paul's day, the different religions would often have themselves branded in the temple to show that they were devoted to that particular God. They would use the mark, the sign, the symbol, the crest, or whatever it was, of that religion. Now, what Paul was saying, I believe, is this: "that I am the slave of Jesus Christ. I am a soldier of Jesus Christ, and I am devoted to Jesus Christ. I love Him. I am a deputy of the Lord Jesus Christ." D. A Mark of Shame But, I want to tell you a fourth way that the stigmata were used in this day: They were also used as a mark of shame. Criminals were often branded with stigmata. Have you ever heard the word stigma? We get the word stigma from the word stigmata. That is, a person has a stigma upon them; he has a mark on him. He has a mark of shame. If a person was a criminal, for example, if a person were like some of the well-known criminals in our day, one of the ways they would identify him—if they ever did release him out of prison—was that they would brand him. He would wear that brand everywhere he went. And, it would be a mark of shame, and it would be a warning to other people: "This man wears the brand." It was a mark of warning, and a mark of shame. Do you remember back in the Old Testament when Cain slew Abel? Well, you don't remember; you weren't there. Do you remember reading about it? A little boy asked his grandma—he said, "Grandma, were you on the ark?" She said, "Why, no." He said, "Why didn't you drown?" When Cain slew Abel, the Bible says that God put a mark upon him; it was a mark of shame. And, what Paul is saying is this: "Look," he said, "I bear these marks. I bear this stigma. I don't mind you knowing that I'm a slave of Jesus Christ. I don't mind you knowing that I'm a soldier for Jesus Christ. I don't mind you knowing that my love belongs to Jesus Christ. And, I don't mind you knowing that, whatever shame Jesus bears, I am willing to bear that shame." Today, we're interested in medals. Paul was interested in scars. III. The Message of Those Marks Now, the third and final thing I want to talk to you about, after the making of the mark, the making of those scars—they were literal; and the meaning—Paul used a special word to attach a special meaning; now, thirdly and finally, think with me about the message of those marks. What does that mean to me? Well, I'll tell you what it meant to me, as I thought on this and pondered. A. An Encouragement to Faithfulness First of all, it was an encouragement unto me to be faithful, to never be ashamed to suffer for Jesus, to never to be ashamed to stand for the Lord Jesus Christ, and not to whimper if I do have to suffer for the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice what the Apostle Paul said in verse 14: "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" (Galatians 6:14). Now, Paul gloried in those marks. He wasn't ashamed to be branded for Christ. He gloried in the fact that he could suffer for the Lord Jesus Christ. Everybody glories in something. You glory in your grandchildren or your musical ability; you glory in your possessions, your gun collection, your automobile, or your flower garden—everybody has something that he wants to glory in. Paul had so much that he could glory in. He could have gloried in his education. He had an equivalency of a double PhD. He sat at the feet of one of the greatest teachers in the world at that time: the learned Dr. Gamaliel. Paul could have gloried in his aristocracy, his religion, or his background, for he was a royal blueblood; he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. Paul could have gloried in his preaching. I don't suppose that there's ever been a greater preacher than the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul was known in Hell for his preaching; the demons mentioned his name in the same sentence with Jesus: "Jesus I know, and Paul I know" (Acts 19:15). The demons in Hell knew of the power that this Apostle Paul had. He could have gloried in his achievements, being a great missionary and a great church planter. Did you know that the Apostle Paul wrote at least half of the books of the New Testament? If you count the Book of Hebrews, it's more than half of the books in the New Testament. He had so much to glory in; but, he never mentions any of that. He doesn't brag about any of that. He says, "God forbid that I should glory in anything except the cross of Jesus Christ, by which I'm crucified to this world, and this world is crucified to me" (Galatians 6:14). And, when I read that, I said, "O God, help me so that those marks might mean to me—as Adrian—as they meant to Paul, who was faithful." You need to be faithful, and don't worry if you suffer for Jesus. Let me give a verse; put it in your margin—John 15:18. Jesus Christ said: "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before he hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me" (John 15:18-21). You know, I used to wonder when the persecution for Jesus would begin. When I was a younger preacher, I used to preach about how we ought bear persecution for Jesus; but I always felt a little sheepish about it, because I didn't have much of it. I'm getting some, I know what it is; and I'm still ashamed to even talk about persecution, because, as the writer of Hebrews says: "Ye have not yet resisted unto blood" (Hebrews 12:4). I don't know that I've ever really shed a drop of blood for Jesus. You know, I've been cussed and discussed a little, and I've been ridiculed a little. And frankly, folks, it makes me feel a whole lot better, because I got to thinking about what the Bible means when it says, "Beware when all men speak well of you" (Luke 6:26), and, I got to thinking about what Jesus meant when He said, "The world hates Me, and it's going to hate you" (John 15:18). "The servant is not better than its master" (John 15:20). And, I think what Paul is saying is this: "I bear these marks as stigmata. I have been branded for the Lord Jesus." Back in medieval times—as they say, "when knights were bold"—they had warrior kings—kings, like the romanticized stories of King Arthur. And, those warrior kings would lead the knights into battle, and those knights would want to stand by the king, number one, to protect the king, and, number two, to show their allegiance to the king. And, of course, the king was the center of the battle. And so, the hottest part of the battle would center around the king, and the arrows would fly the thickest around the king—where the king would be. And then, if the battle was a victory, they would come back to the castle, and there would be a sumptuous feast with the smoking meats and the delicacies. And then, at a particular time, they would discuss the battle. And, the king, who would certainly, surely, be wounded somewhere in the battle, would show his wounds, and would show his scars. And, others who had fought by him and stood by him would also show their scars out of their love for their king—that they had received because they stood by the king, and fought with the king. And at that time, other warriors who had no scars did not count themselves lucky that they had no scars—they hung their heads in humiliation and shame. Could it be that they were not brave enough? Could it be that they were not near enough to the king? I found these words by Amy Carmichael. Amy Carmichael spent half a century as a missionary for Jesus in India, and here's what she wrote: No wound? No scar? Yet, as the Master shall the servant be, And pierced are the feet that follow Me. But thine are whole; can he have followed far Who hast no wound or scar? (Amy Carmichael) You see, as the master is, so shall the servant be. And, she also wrote these words: Captain beloved, battle wounds were Thine, Let me not wonder if some hurt be mine. Rather, O Lord, let my deep wonder be That I may share a battle wound with Thee. (Amy Carmichael) B. An Encouragement to Fearlessness The Apostle Paul said, "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus" (Galatians 6:17). What is the meaning of those marks? Number one: an encouragement to faithfulness. Number two: an encouragement to fearlessness. Let's not be afraid to suffer for the Lord Jesus Christ. It is better to be scarred than be scared—than to be scared. And, let's make up our minds that this world is not going to love us. We are twice- born people in a world of once-born people. We're going to find ourselves going against the tide most of the time, and we must remember that Jesus Christ described us as salt. And, salt, when it finds a wound, irritates. And, number two: Jesus described us as light, and light discloses. Salt irritates, and light reveals. And, you can understand, therefore, that people are going to be against salt and light in a world of disease and darkness. But, let us not be afraid. Again, somebody has written these words, and we sing these words: Am I a soldier of the cross, A follower of the Lamb, And shall I fear to own His cause Or blush to speak His name? ... Sure I must fight if I would reign; Increase my courage, Lord I'll bear the toil, endure the pain, Supported by Thy word. (Isaac Watts) C. An Encouragement to Fruitfulness I want to call upon you, as the members of this church, not to be intimated by the devil, and to let the marks that the Apostle Paul bore in his body—this man, branded for Christ—let it encourage you, number one, to faithfulness; let it encourage you, number two, to fearlessness, and to say, "I will not be ashamed nor afraid of what man can do to me." Finally, the message of the Maker is, to me, not only an encouragement to faithfulness and fearlessness, but also to fruitfulness. Do you know why Paul was used of God so mightily? He wasn't trying to save his life. He said: "I die daily" (1 Corinthians 15:31). He remembers the words of the Lord Jesus—Jesus said: "Whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it" (Mark 8:35). Jesus said: "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit" (John 12:24). Do you know something, folks? We don't have to go around baiting persecution, and, if possible, I don't want to be wounded and scarred physically; but, I have to be willing to be, and so do you. We have such a cheap faith—so easy, so air-conditioned, so upholstered, and so streamlined. Do you know what one of our big problems is in the Baptist church, folks? It's to get men to give a dime out of a dollar. Oh, what sacrifice for Jesus! Paul said, "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus"—beaten, shamed, mutilated, and vilified. When we begin to live as Paul lived, we'll see revival, and we'll see fruitfulness in our lives. There was a man who didn't know whether he wanted to believe in Jesus or not. He wanted to, but he needed some proof—his name was Thomas. Do you know what Thomas said? Thomas said, "Except I see the scars in His hand and in His side, I'll not believe" (John 20:25). Now, he believed that Jesus died, all right; he just wasn't convinced that Jesus arose, and it was those scars that convinced Thomas. I am wondering if there are not some people who are looking for some scars in our lives to be convinced. Now, they don't have to be literal scars. There's more than one way to bear a scar. But, you can suffer for Jesus. You don't have to go out and bait suffering. Don't anybody get a martyr complex, and try to get people to persecute you for Jesus Christ. But, I'm saying, dear friend, that, when we get serious about suffering for the Lord Jesus Christ, and we say, "Pentecost at any cost," and when we say with the Apostle Paul, "I'm going for God, no matter what it costs," I believe there shall be in our lives that fruitfulness that Paul had. Conclusion "Well," you say, "my goodness, Preacher, I thought this thing of being a Christian was supposed to be wonderful." Hey folks, don't feel sorry for Paul. Don't feel sorry for Paul. Paul looks down on you, feeling sorry for you. One of these days, you're going to meet Jesus. One of my favorite songs is this: It will be worth it all when we see Jesus, Life's trials will seem so small when we see Christ; One glimpse of His dear face all sorrow will erase, So bravely run the race till we see Christ. (Esther Kerr Rusthoi) I bear in my body little marks of the Lord Jesus-branded for Christ. Let's pray. Galatians 6:17 G Campbell Morgan Life Applications from Every Chapter of the Bible Henceforth let no man trouble me ...—Gal 6.17 There is a fine touch of independence in these words, a claim that the writer is exempt from interference, that if any shall break in upon his quietness, the intruder is guilty of misdemeanor. After reading the letter, with its clear logic and its splendid passion, we feel that he has won the right to write thus. And yet it is not upon that ground that he bases his claim. His ground is that he bears branded on his body the stigmata of Jesus! There has been much mystical interpretation of these words of Paul, which may be warranted. I believe that the reference was a very simple and very actual one. In his proclamation of the Gospel committed to him, he had given his physical powers without reserve, and in the process had been actually bruised and broken by the brutality of those who had opposed him. He carried the actual scars of this brutality, and knew actual physical weakness as the result of his devotion. These all were to him the true stigmata of Jesus, sweet and terrible companions of the very wounds of his Lord. Let them appeal to men to recognize his right not to be troubled. And so his appeal finally was to the Gospel which was thus evidenced, as to its compelling and sustaining power, by the very sufferings through which he had passed, of which these scars were the sure signs. It is really a very keen word this. Have we any right to claim exemption from the troubling of men, such as Paul had? What stigmata do we carry about with us that speak of suffering or deprivation, or limitation, resulting from our persistent and passionate devotion to the Gospel of the eternal grace? "Go Get Your Scars!" It is said that when the knights of King Arthur's court, returned from the field of battle, if they did not bear in their bodies some scar of the battle, they were thrust forth by the king, with the command, "Go, get your scar!" How few of us can say with Jesus' faithful warrior, Paul, "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus" (Gal. 6:17); "Christ Jesus my Lord... for whom I have suffered the loss of ALL THINGS" (Phil. 3:8). Remember that when we appear before the judgment seat of Christ, to be judged for the deeds done in the body, Christ is not going to look for medals. He is going to look for SCARS! Tabletalk - Bearing the Marks of Jesus GALATIANS 6:17–18 “From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen” (vv. 17–18). Far from a dispassionate treatise on justification, Paul’s epistle to the Galatians is among his most personal letters, his deep concern for his audience evident throughout. At many points the apostle’s dismay that the Galatians would foolishly abandon his message is clear, revealing that he saw their flirtation with legalism as an affront to him and a danger to their souls (1:6–9; 3:1–3). Moreover, Paul describes the Galatians’ affection for him in their willingness to look past his ailments and love him when he first came to them (4:8–20). In today’s passage we find one final confirmation of the apostle’s close relationship to the Galatians. Aside from his reference to his readers as his “brothers” in 6:18, Paul also remarks in verse 17 that no one should cause him trouble any longer. This is most likely a reference to the personal vexation that he felt as the Galatians were taking steps away from the gospel of grace to the false promises of the Judaizers, a gospel that was in fact no good news at all (1:8–9). The “marks of Jesus” in Paul’s body are the basis for the Galatians to stop heeding the false teachers and thereby cause him trouble no longer (6:17). Remember that the Judaizers’ insistence that the mark of circumcision proves a person’s loyalty to the Jewish Messiah motivated Paul to write Galatians in the first place. Here in verse 17 the apostle employs irony, granting in a sense his enemies’ point that bodily marks can show forth true discipleship. Yet circumcision is not the sign of commitment to Jesus but the scars of persecution for the cross of Christ. Paul does not invest these marks with absolute significance for salvation; unlike the Judaizers, he does not say that one must be physically marred to be justified. But he is pointing out that true disciples show forth their love for the Master in their willingness to suffer all manner of hardships for the truth of gospel (see also 2 Cor. 11:16–12:10). They do not substitute human effort for God’s grace and then claim to be Christians while following a false gospel. Divine grace is the note that closes this epistle (Gal. 6:18). May we never compromise this grace, which declares there is but one God (3:20), one gospel (1:6–7), one holy people (3:29; 6:16), and one new creation in Christ (v. 15). X CORAM DEO Living before the face of God Not all of us live in cultures or societies where physical harm is an inevitable part of faithfulness to Christ Jesus. Yet all of us should bear some kind of marks that testifies to our faithfulness to the Lord, whether they are insults from coworkers or professors, loss of a job, the sacrifice of worldly goods for the sake of gospel ministry, or other such things. What are the marks you bear that testify to your faithfulness to our Lord and Savior? Hastings - Great Texts - THE MARKS OF JESUS From henceforth let no man trouble me; for I bear branded on my body the marks of Jesus.—Gal. 6:17. THE Apostle was growing an old man. He was stamped and marked by life. The wounds of his conflicts, the furrows of his years, were on him. And all these wounds and furrows had come to him since the great change of his life. They were closely bound up with the service of his Master. Every scar must still have quivered with the earnestness of the words of Christian loyalty which brought the blow that made it. See what he calls these scars, then. “I bear branded on my body the marks of Jesus.” He had a figure in his mind. He was thinking of the way in which a master branded his slaves. Burnt into their very flesh, they carried the initial of their master’s name, or some other sign that they belonged to him, that they were not their own. That mark on the slave’s body kept any other but his own master from touching him or compelling his labour. It was the sign at once of his servitude to one master and of his freedom from all others. St. Paul says that these marks in his flesh, which signify his servitude to Jesus, are the witnesses of his freedom from every other service. Since he is responsible to his Master, he is responsible to no one else. ¶ The stigmata are the marks of ownership branded on the Apostle’s body. These stigmata were used: (1) In the case of domestic slaves. With these, however, branding was not usual, at least among the Greeks and Romans, except to mark out such as had attempted to escape or had otherwise misconducted themselves, hence called “stigmatized (literati),” and such brands were held to be a badge of disgrace. (2) Slaves attached to some temple or persons devoted to the service of some deity were so branded. (3) Captives were so treated in very rare cases. (4) Soldiers sometimes branded the name of their commander on some part of their body. The metaphor here is most appropriate, if referred to the second of these classes. Such a practice at all events cannot have been unknown in a country which was the home of the worship of Cybele. A temple slave is mentioned in a Galatian inscription. The brands of which the Apostle speaks were doubtless the permanent marks which he bore of persecution undergone in the service of Christ. ¶ In the Roman Empire when a slave ran away, if he was caught, his owner might have him stripped, the irons heated, and the letters “FVG.” (fugitivus) branded upon him. Perhaps the owner’s initials might be burnt on the slave, too. The practice long survived in France, where convicts were branded “V” (voleur), or “TF” (travail forcé), and people took their children to see it done as a lesson in virtue. The historian, Herodotus, tells us that in Egypt, if a slave were dissatisfied with his master, he might go to the temple of Herakles and take on him the stigmata of the god, and be free for ever of his master and belong to the god. Such marks were indelible. ¶ The branding was a mark of shame. No man was branded of his own free will—apart from slaves taking on them such a brand as that of Herakles, which was to exchange one servitude for another. To be the slave of Jesus Christ had not been Paul’s intention. The shame of bearing Christ’s name—of being “made as the filth of the world, the off-scouring of all things” (1 Cor. 4:13)—the loss of home and family and friendships, of everything (Phil. 3:8)—the squalid life of privation, insult, persecution and danger—humiliation from beginning to end—no man would have chosen it, and Paul did not choose it. It was a vocation: “Necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel! For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, I am entrusted with a stewardship” (1 Cor. 9:16, 17). A steward was very often a slave, if not always. Paul is at the beck and call of another whom he never chose to make his Master. He must have no will of his own. “Go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do” (Acts 9:6),—so far was he from choosing a vocation, he has to wait for his orders. The two responsibilities go together—the servant is responsible to the Master, and the Master to the servant. The very stigmata themselves become so many promises. The body is marked all over with signs of the Master’s use, as a favourite book, which a man reads often, shows most signs of wear—pencilled in here and there, crushed, worn and shabby, and in all these things identified with the reader who cannot do without it. The battered body and the tried and weary spirit are reminders themselves to Paul that “Christ liveth in me.” I OUTWARD MARKS Every Christian man or woman ought to bear in his or her body, in a plain, literal sense, the tokens that he or she belongs to Jesus Christ. You ask how? “If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee.” There are things in our physical nature that we have to suppress; that we have always to regulate and coerce; that we have sometimes entirely to cast away and do without, if we mean to be Jesus Christ’s at all. The old law of self-denial, of subduing the animal nature, its passions, appetites, desires, is as true and as needful to-day as it ever was; and for us all it is essential to the loftiness and purity of our Christian life that our animal nature and our fleshly constitution should be well kept down under heel and subdued. If we are not living a life of self-denial, if we are not crucifying the flesh with its affections and lusts, if we are not “bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Christ may be manifested in our body,” what tokens are there that we are Christ’s slaves at all? ¶ The marks of Christ are brands burnt into the very body, so no outward thing will satisfy; nothing that your hands have done, nothing that the world can measure, for it is beneath all the dress and apparel of a so-called religious life, of which the world takes cognizance. They are part and parcel of yourself, so they can be nothing which can be taken up and laid down at will. They are inseparable, like flesh of your flesh and bone of your bone. You may be stripped of all else, like a body washed ashore, but by these shall it be known whether you are Christ’s or no. ¶ At the Cross, Bunyan tells us, Christian received four gifts from the angels—peace, new raiment, a mark, and a sealed roll. The mark, like the raiment, has to do with the outward appearance, but it is more intimately connected with the individuality of the man than the new garments. It seems to stand for something distinguishable by others, which is in a stricter sense ourselves than even our character is—a subtle change wrought upon the very personality by the Cross of Christ, as the marks of the Cross were printed upon St. Francis of Assisi in the familiar incident of the stigmata. In the Bible there are such references as the mark of Cain; the mark of Ezekiel’s man with the slaughter-weapon; the mark of the beast and the mark in the foreheads of the chosen ones, recorded in Revelation. All these illustrate in various ways the subtle change in men, recognizable by others, produced by supreme experiences of good and evil. 1. Here is a man whose restless spirit, whose keen hungry eye, whose hard face, whose metallic voice, tells the story of a sordid soul. Do we need to ask anything about his master? We know, as we listen to him, as we look into his face, that he has a craving for money; that his life is spent in following the god of gold, and worshipping in the temple of mammon. Mammon is his master, and he bears branded upon his body the “stigmata” of the master he serves. Here is one whose bloated face, feverish lips, and furtive glance tell of sensuality. The vice seems to have petrified on the countenance. Not a finger-touch of God seems to be left there. We know the name of the master that man serves. He bears branded upon his sensual face the marks of the master whose slave he is. The name of his master is lust. Here is another whose mien betokens a lofty indifference and a contemptuous disregard for others, and an unquestioning appropriation of the best of everything. Those haughty looks tell the story of a life completely dominated by pride. Here is another whose face is scarred and marred with anguish. It says, as you look at it, “I am a man who has seen affliction.” The furrowed face, wrinkled brow, and sunken cheeks tell of a life that has been trodden by the hoof of sorrow. We know that the man has spent long years in the school of sorrow; he bears on his body the “stigmata” of pain. ¶ We are spinning our own fates, good or evil, and never to be undone. Every smallest stroke of virtue or of vice leaves its never so little scar. The drunken Rip Van Winkle, in Jefferson’s play, excuses himself for every fresh dereliction by saying, “I won’t count this time!” Well! he may not count it, and a kind Heaven may not count it; but it is being counted none the less. Down among his nerve cells and fibres the molecules are counting it, registering it, and storing it up to be used against him when the next temptation comes. Nothing we ever do is, in strict scientific literalness, wiped out. Of course, this has its good side as well as its bad one. As we become permanent drunkards by so many separate drinks, so we become saints in the moral, and authorities and experts in the practical and scientific, spheres by so many separate acts and hours of work. ¶ In one of Tolstoy’s books he represents an ideal Czar who keeps open house and table for all comers. But the guests had to face one condition—each man had to show his hands before sitting down to the feast. Those whose hands were rough and hard with honest toil were welcomed to the best of the board, but those whose hands were soft and white had only the crusts and crumbs. The hands were the index of the soul. The hard rough hands told the story of toil, sacrifice, and suffering, and it was for these the best of the feast was spread. 2. The face of a Christian disciple should testify to the grace of God within. It is a matter of constant observation that strong ruling emotions of heart do come, in time, to stamp themselves upon the countenance. Sometimes we see a face that speaks of beaming kindliness, or of sweet, devout, and holy peace. What God wants is that His character should be so stamped upon the lives of all His children that every observer of their daily walk should recognize in them what is really Divine. ¶ After the death of the saintly McCheyne, a letter addressed to him was found in his locked desk, a letter he had shown to no one while he lived. It was from one who wrote to tell him that he had been the means of leading him to Christ, and in it were these words, “It was nothing that you said that first made me wish to be a Christian, it was the beauty of holiness which I saw in your very face.” II SPIRITUAL MARKS 1. While it is true that the primary reference of the text is to the scars of old and recent wounds which St. Paul had endured in the service of Christ, these were not the only “marks of Jesus” that he bore. After all, the true marks of Jesus are not outward but inward, not physical but spiritual. It was the Apostle Paul himself who said, “If any man hath not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” And in St. Paul’s own case, the wounds he bore, while in some respects the most striking, were not the deepest and most convincing “marks” of Jesus. The final and absolutely decisive proof that St. Paul belonged to Christ was that he had the spirit of Christ and that Christ lived over again in him. The brand of Christ may be upon the mind and heart as truly as upon the body: on the mind, in the effort we make to subdue our natural arrogance and pride into humbleness and faith; on the heart, in the loving pity we have for the misfortunes of others. Are our minds no longer conformed to the spirit of the world, but transformed to the image of the Son; so that the mind that was in Christ is the mind that is in us? Are our hearts thus quick to suffer in the suffering of others, as His was, who by force of sympathy bore our grief and carried our sorrows? Therein only can we rest, thus only be at peace about ourselves; and as we pass through the detractions and misunderstandings of this world, and as we journey down the long road whose goal is death, we can learn to say, “Let no man trouble me—let me not even be troubled for myself—I have the marks of Christ, I know whom I have believed, and who shall separate me from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, my Lord?” To have the marks, the brands, the stigmata, the open proofs of self-surrender and self-sacrifice—that alone counts. ¶ There is a tendency, even in these days, to think Christ’s “marks” are external and mechanical. We think sometimes that the “mark” of a Christian is that he observes the Sabbath and attends church services and belongs to some ecclesiastical organization. I do not disparage the Sabbath and church attendance and membership. But these external things are not the “real” marks of Jesus. Did not Jesus Himself say that a man may have all manner of Church guarantees and certificates and be none of His? Did He not say, “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out devils, and by thy name do many mighty works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” No, it is not the crucifix on the watch-chain, or the “S.A.” on the collar, or the name on the church roll that constitutes the marks of Jesus. The marks are inward and spiritual. They are certain features of character, and especially these three, obedience, love, sacrifice. Indeed, our Lord Himself emphasized and underlined these three things as being, above all others, the marks of His servants. First, obedience. “Whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.” Secondly, love. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” And thirdly, sacrifice. “If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” Have we got these marks? Is our life characterized by an utter obedience to God, a great passion for souls, a remorseless sacrifice of self? We ask sometimes, “Hath He marks to lead me to Him, if He be my guide?” And we answer, “Yes, He has certain infallible marks: ‘In His feet and hands are wound-prints, and His side.’ ” But there is another question: Have we the marks that single us out as His? Does the world recognize Christ’s marks on us? Life always leaves its mark. The life of greed leaves its mark. The life of frivolous self-pleasing leaves its mark. The life of sin leaves its mark. And the life of Christian service leaves its mark. “They took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” The world, in their courage and devotion and self-sacrifice, saw the “marks of Jesus.” But more important still, does Jesus see the “marks”? “The Lord knoweth them that are his.” How? By the marks. We read how, in the last great day, there will be a division and a discrimination. The great Shepherd will then gather and fold His sheep. And that is how He will know them—by the “marks.” Shall we then be amongst the sheep on the right hand? It all comes back to this: Do we bear branded upon us the “marks” of Jesus—the infallible signs and tokens of His service? Do we possess that spirit of obedience to God, and love to men, and utter self-sacrifice which a real surrender of ourselves to Jesus Christ always produces? “For if any man hath not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” As in the Christ, though men beheld no beauty— Only the marks of suffering and care, God, from the first, beheld His own bright image Rejoicing in the revelation fair. So, where His children, looking on each other, See forms and faces marred by pain and woe, God, looking on the depths and not the surface, Sees oftentimes His likeness formed below. 2. The “stigmata,” the marks of Christ their Master, cannot be mistaken. His followers have His marks on their body, as signs that they are members of His Body, in all purity and chastity and holiness, as being “temples of the Holy Ghost.” But they also have His marks on their temper, as those who have taken up their cross and borne it after Him in self-denial and mortification, in patience, in forgiveness, in humility, in cheerfulness; His marks on their soul, as being set free from condemnation by the atoning mercy of the Saviour, as being made partakers of the precious fruits of His sacrifice upon the Cross—the mark of justification, and the mark of sanctification, the imputed righteousness of Christ, the imparted and inherent righteousness wrought in them by the Holy Ghost; His marks on their spirit; being full of all spiritual affections—love, joy, peace, patience amid the trials of earth, longing for the security of Heaven, the present enjoyment of an almost perfect rest in the arms of God; in short, “a life hid with Christ in God.” I would not miss one sigh or tear, Heart-pang, or throbbing brow; Sweet was the chastisement severe, And sweet its memory now. Yes! let the fragrant scars abide, Love-tokens in Thy stead, Faint shadows of the spear-pierced side And thorn-encompass’d head. And such Thy tender force be still, When self would swerve or stray, Shaping to truth the froward will Along Thy narrow way. Deny me wealth; far, far remove The lure of power or name; Hope thrives in straits, in weakness love, And faith in this world’s shame. III STIGMATA OF THE SAINTS 1. The Apostle, it may be added, may have used the word “stigmata” with special reference to those marks in the body of his blessed Lord which were in the eyes of faith the symbol of salvation, and which love imagined to be reproduced in the disciple; those marks on which Thomas looked, and cried aloud, “My Lord, and my God.” For in the heat of his love of Christ, and in the certainty of his oneness with Him, what image was more natural than that of his own heart bearing the traces of the wounds of Christ? Such a thought must have passed into the minds of many saints of God; and where legendary fancy has expressed it outwardly, in the figures of holy men receiving actually in their bodies the print of their Saviour’s wounds, can we not read in the painter’s art the spiritual truth, “I bear branded on my body the marks of Jesus”? ¶ St. Francis of Assisi in the year 1224 A.D. received in a trance the wound-prints of the Saviour on his body; and from that time to his death, it is reported, the saint had the physical appearance of one who had suffered crucifixion. Other instances, to the number of eighty, have been recorded in the Roman Catholic Church of the reproduction, in more or less complete form, of the five wounds of Jesus and the agonies of the cross; chiefly in the case of nuns. The last was that of Louise Lateau, who died in Belgium in the year 1883. That such phenomena have occurred there is no sufficient reason to doubt. It is difficult to assign any limits to the power of the human mind over the body in the way of sympathetic imitation. Since St. Francis’ day many Romanist divines have read the Apostle’s language in this sense; but the interpretation has followed rather than given rise to this fulfilment. In whatever light these manifestations may be regarded, they are a striking witness to the power of the cross over human nature. Protracted meditation on the sufferings of our Lord, aided by a lively imagination and a susceptible physique, has actually produced a rehearsal of the bodily pangs and the wound-marks of Calvary. ¶ The name of a well-known scientific man having been mentioned, who, forbidden to work, occupies himself in closely watching his own case, Sir James Paget said, “It is a most dangerous thing to do that; people, by dwelling upon symptoms which they have not got, are very apt to produce them.” I said: “I have been told that the stigmata might quite well be produced in that way.” “Undoubtedly,” he replied. 2. There is something far better for us to do than so to contemplate the sufferings of our Lord as depicted by human art, that the stigmata may literally appear on our hands and feet. It is so to contemplate our Lord in the whole spirit of His life and service and sacrifice, and so to come under His influence, that the spirit of His life and cross shall enter into us, and we shall go away from the secret place of contemplation to reproduce His image and likeness in conduct and character—that we, “beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord,” may be “changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” ¶ In all art and literature, in every great and new creation, the impulse seems to lie in a new and vivid experience which makes a new knowledge. The man who was branded “FVG.,” like the woman in Hawthorne’s novel who wore the scarlet letter or the man who did not, knew something of those letters of the alphabet in quite a different way from all the rest. A burning experience and a burning memory indelible from flesh and spirit gave him those. It is somehow so that the poet learns his peculiar alphabet—something is burnt in upon him, perhaps in pain, perhaps in joy, for the joy of insight may go with pain and overwhelm it—and you get a new man, a “God-intoxicated man,” like Spinoza, perhaps—or a Jacob Behmen. All knowledge is changed for him; he knew before;—no, he thought he did; but he knows now—not so many things, but the one thing in a new way that alters all. “If any man be in Christ,” said Paul, “it is a new creation.” All things are made new—they have new values in the new light, and none is ever again what it was before; it cannot be. Life has a new intensity, a new direction a new purpose. It becomes a vocation. I saw in Siena pictures, Wandering wearily; I sought not the names of the masters, Nor the works men care to see; But once in a low-ceiled passage I came on a place of gloom, Lit here and there with halos Like saints within the room. The pure, serene, mild colours The early artists used Had made my heart grow softer, And still on peace I mused. Sudden I saw the Sufferer, And my frame was clenched with pain; Perchance no throe so noble Visits my soul again. Mine were the stripes of the scourging; On my thorn-pierced brow blood ran; In my breast the deep compassion Breaking the heart for man. I drooped with heavy eyelids, Till evil should have its will; On my lips was silence gathered; My waiting soul stood still. I gazed, nor knew I was gazing; I trembled, and woke to know Him whom they worship in heaven Still walking on earth below. Once have I borne His sorrows Beneath the flail of fate! Once in the woe of His passion, I felt the soul grow great! I turned from my dead Leader; I passed the silent door; The grey-walled street received me: On peace I mused no more. IV CHRIST’S OWNERSHIP The ownership of Christ is one of the great realities of the Christian life. We speak of Christ as our Saviour, our Friend, our Example, our Teacher, but how seldom do we think and speak of Him as our Owner! And yet He is. We belong not to ourselves, but to Him. Our time, our talents, our money, our business, our home—all that we call our own is not so much ours as His. We were “bought with a price,” and we belong to Him who bought us. That which is abject degradation when it is rendered to a man, that which is blasphemous presumption when it is required by a man, that which is impossible, in its deepest reality, as between man and man, is possible, is blessed, is joyful and strong when it is required by, and rendered to, Jesus Christ. We are His slaves if we have any living relationship to Him at all. Where, then, in the Christian life, is there a place for self-will; where a place for self-indulgence; where for murmuring or reluctance; where for the assertion of any rights of our own as against that Master? We owe absolute obedience and submission to Jesus Christ. The Christian slavery, with its abject submission, with its utter surrender and suppression of our own will, with its complete yielding up of self to the control of Jesus, who died for us; because it is based upon His surrender of Himself to us, and its inmost essence it is the operation of love, is therefore co-existent with the noblest freedom. ¶ The Hebrews had a scheme of qualified slavery. A man might sell his service for six years, but at the end of that time he was scot-free. On the New Year’s morning of the seventh year he was granted his full liberty, and given some grain and oil to begin life with anew. But if on that morning he found himself reluctant to leave all his ties binding him to his master’s home, this was the custom among them. He would say to his master, “I don’t want to leave you. This is home to me. I love you and the mistress. I love the place. All my ties and affections are here. I want to stay with you always.” His master would say, “Do you mean this?” “Yes,” the man would reply, “I want to belong to you forever.” Then his master would call in the leading men of the village or neighbourhood to witness the occurrence. And he would take his servant out to the door of the home, and standing him up against the door-jamb, would pierce the lobe of his ear through with an awl. Then the man became, not his slave, but his bond-slave, forever. It was a personal surrender of himself to his master; it was voluntary; it was for love’s sake; it was for service; it was after a trial; it was for life. Now, that was what Jesus did. The scar-mark of Jesus’ surrender was not in His ear, as with the old Hebrew slave. It was on His cheek, and brow, on His back, in His side and hands and feet. The scar-marks of His surrender were—are—all over His face and form. Everybody who surrenders bears some scar of it because of sin, his own or somebody else’s. Referring to the suffering endured in service, Paul tenderly reckons it as a mark of Jesus’ ownership—“I bear the scars, the stigmata, of the Lord Jesus.” Even of the Master Himself is this so. And that scarred Jesus, whose body told and tells of His surrender to His Father, comes to us. And with those hands eagerly outstretched, and eyes beaming with the earnestness of His great passion for men, He says, “Yoke up with Me. Let Me have the control of all your splendid powers, in carrying out our Father’s will for a world.” ¶ Some scars are ornaments. I do not know a more splendid word in all the supremely splendid Epistles of St. Paul than “I bear branded on my body the marks of Jesus.” “Do you see this?” he said, “I was stoned there”; and then he would pull up his sleeve and say, “Do you see that?—it is the mark of the scourge. If you could only see my back, I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus”; he exhibited them as some men parade their degrees. His scars were his crown. ¶ Walk through Greenwich Hospital, or go down to Chelsea and talk to some of the old pensioners. Are they ashamed of their scars? Why, I remember how, a few months back, we had, at one of our meetings, a brother who had served in the Crimean War, and he showed me how a bayonet had gone in here and come out there—how there was a mark in his arm where a ball had gone right through and a scar in his face where the sword had cut. I think he said that he had about twenty scars on him, and his eyes flashed fire as he told the story. ¶ The “marks” of valour that the soldier obtains on the field of battle are invariably a matter of pride to himself and his friends. Lord Raglan’s orderly officer, Lieutenant Leslie, was wounded at the battle of Alma. On the evening of that day Lord Raglan said to another officer, “Do you know Tom Leslie’s mother? She is a charming woman. I must write to her. How proud she will be to hear that her son has a bullet in his shoulder!” At the battle of Busaco in Portugal, in 1810, Sir Charles Napier, afterwards the conqueror of Scinde, was shot through the face. His two brothers had been wounded a short time before, and when he wrote to his mother he said, “You have the pride of saying your three sons have been wounded and are all alive. How this would have repaid my father for all his anxieties, and it must do so for you. Why, a Roman matron would not have let people touch her garment in such a case. There is no shame for such wounds. The scars on my face will be as good as medals; better, for they were not gained by hiding behind a wall.” If Thou, my Christ, to-day Shouldst speak to me and say, “What battles hast thou fought for Me? Show Me thy scars; I fain would see Love’s depth of victory;” If Thou shouldst speak, my Christ, My Leader and my King, And bid me lay my wounds in sight, The scars borne just for Thee in fight, What love-scars could I bring? Vance Havner - No Offense, No Effect God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Galatians 6:14. We need men of the cross, with the message of the cross bearing the marks of the cross. Paul was a MAN of the cross. He gloried in it. "I am crucified with Christ" (Gal. 2:20). With him it was not a theory but an experience. His message was the cross. "I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ, and him crucified" (I Cor. 2:2). He bore the marks of the cross: "I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus" (Gal. 6:17). We are hearing a new version of Christianity that avoids all this. It is not foolishness to the world and it is without offense. It involves no crucifixion of self, it presents no bleeding Saviour, it offers medals instead of scars. But if any man or an angel preach a crossless Christ let him be accursed. For such a Christ is without offense and without effect. Todd Wilson - The Marks of Jesus (Gal 6:17) When we’re confident in the cross of Christ—even to the point of boasting—we’ll start thinking radical thoughts and doing radical things. Practically speaking, we may even be willing to suffer for the good of others, confident that suffering is the proof, rather than the counterevidence, of our life in Christ. This was Paul’s attitude toward suffering. In fact, his final rebuff of his opponents and closing appeal to the Galatians points them to the fact of his suffering as the sign of his authenticity: “From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus” (Gal 6:17). But when Paul says he bears on his body the marks of Jesus, what does he have in mind? His male-pattern baldness, crooked nose, or rearing in Tarsus rather than Rome, each of which was evidently true of the Apostle to the Gentiles? Often we hear people refer to the “crosses” they have to bear—a cranky mother-in-law, a lousy golf swing, or an overbearing boss. But personal disappointments aren’t the marks of Jesus. Personal sacrifices that involve suffering are. The marks of Jesus to which Paul refers are those visible, tangible reminders of how he’s suffered with Christ for the advance of the gospel and the good of others. He’s referring to the wounds and scars he carries around with him on his body, the ones he has acquired in the service of God’s gospel for Gentiles. Do we bear the marks of Jesus in our lives, perhaps even on our own bodies? Is our identification with Jesus and service of others so vibrant that it’s become costly? If we looked at our recent bank statements, would we see the marks of Jesus? If a friend perused our calendar and the way we prioritize the use of our time, would he see the marks of Jesus? Or if someone talked to our friends and neighbors, would they testify to seeing the suffering Savior in our visage? Understand, then, that because the Christian life is sacrificial, it will be painful. If it’s not, it probably isn’t Christian. Or at least it’s not cross-shaped, and thus patterned after Christ’s own life. For our Lord’s was no safe, sanitized life. And yet he endured it all—becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross—for our sake and for our salvation. Your Biography When D. L. Moody was moving into old age, he was asked to grant permission for his biography. Moody refused, saying, “A man’s life should never be written while he is living. What is important is how a man ends, not how he begins.” For better or worse, I have failed to follow that dictum. My biography has been published. Yet I agree with Moody that the way our lives end is the crucial test of authentic discipleship. Only if we remain in a steadfast relationship with the Savior can we be confident not merely of entering heaven, but of obtaining the victor’s crown (1 Corinthians 9:25). Paul was concerned about the possibility of being disapproved by his Lord (v.27). He was a redeemed believer who was serving the Lord, yet he feared that his service might prove to be wood, hay, and straw rather than gold, silver, and precious stones (1 Corinthians 3:12-13). What will be the Lord’s appraisal of our lives? Will someone evaluating us be able to say honestly that we continued to bear fruit in old age? (Psalm 92:14). Whatever vocation we pursue, with the help of the Holy Spirit we may be “steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58). Oh, may all who come behind us find us faithful, May the fire of our devotion light their way; May the footprints that we leave lead them to believe, And the lives we live inspire them to obey. —Mohr © 1987 by Jonathan Mark Music and Birdwing Music (ASCAP) For the ignorant, old age is as winter; for the learned, it is a harvest. —Jewish proverb Galatians 6:18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen. NET Galatians 6:18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen. GNT Galatians 6:18 Ἡ χάρις τοῦ κυρίου ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ μετὰ τοῦ πνεύματος ὑμῶν, ἀδελφοί· ἀμήν. NLT Galatians 6:18 Dear brothers and sisters, may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. KJV Galatians 6:18 Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. <Unto the Galatians written from Rome.> ESV Galatians 6:18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen. ASV Galatians 6:18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen. CSB Galatians 6:18 Brothers, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. NIV Galatians 6:18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen. NKJ Galatians 6:18 Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. NRS Galatians 6:18 May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen. YLT Galatians 6:18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is with your spirit, brethren! Amen. NAB Galatians 6:18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen. NJB Galatians 6:18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, my brothers. Amen. GWN Galatians 6:18 May the good will of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters! Amen. BBE Galatians 6:18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. So be it. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: Ro 16:20,24 2Co 13:14 2Ti 4:22 Phm 1:25 Rev 22:21 Gal 1:3 Galatians 6 Resources - Multiple Sermons and Commentaries A CLOSING PRAYER FOR GRACE Paul "bookends" the book of Galatians with grace. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,(Gal 1:3+) The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen - Not "the Law of Moses" but the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ! How fitting that Paul closes with a prayer for grace in a letter written to counter those men who would seek to "steal" grace from the saints in Galatia by seeking to coerce them to live by the Law. Grace and Law simply do not mix. Where Law (legalism in any of its subtle forms) creeps into the believer's life, that believer will in effect blunt the effect of grace in their life.
Gálatas 6:7
Ironside comments that… It is a remarkable fact that it is in this connection, what we might call the principle of “giving and receiving,” (in Gal 6:6) that the Holy Spirit directs our attention most solemnly to the kindred law of “sowing and reaping.” It never pays to be forgetful of the future. He who acts for the present moment only is like one who is indifferent to the coming harvest, and so either thinks to save by sparse sowing, or else recklessly strews obnoxious seeds in his field, sowing wild oats, as people say, and yet hopes to reap a far different kind of harvest. We reap as we sow. This is insisted on again and again in Scripture. Here we are told, “Be not deceived, God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap.”… This is so self-evident that it needs no emphasis. Yet how easily we forget it, and how readily we hope that in some strange, unnatural transformation our sinful folly will be so overruled as to produce the peaceable fruits of righteousness. But whether it be in the case of the unsaved worldling, or the failing Christian, the inexorable law will be fulfilled—we reap what we sow. How important then that we walk carefully before God, not permitting ourselves any license which is unbecoming in one who professes to acknowledge the Lordship of Christ… Soon, at our Lord’s return, we shall enter into life in all its fulness (glorified bodies, absence of sin, presence of God), and then, at the judgment-seat of Christ, we shall reap according to our sowing. They who live for God now will receive rich reward in that day. And they who yield now to the impulses of the flesh and are occupied with things that do not glorify God will suffer loss (1Cor 3:12, 13, 14, 15). (Ironside, H. A. Expository messages on the Epistle to the Galatians. 1943) Marvin Vincent interprets do not be deceived as follows… The Galatians are not to think that it is a matter of no consequence whether their fellowship be with their Christian teachers who preach the word of truth, or with the Judaizing innovators who would bring them under bondage to the law. Do not be deceived (4105) (planao from plane which describes "a wandering" and gives us our English word "planet") means literally made to wander and so to go (active sense) or be led (passive sense as of sheep in Mt 18:12-13) astray. The use of the present imperative with a negative in Greek indicates that some were being deceived thinking they could sow and not reap in kind. Note also that planao is in the passive voice which indicates an outside force, in this case the fallen flesh nature which is still present, "lurking" in believers. The fact that this is a continual command indicates that there is the ever present danger of deceiving ourselves. In fact, we are deceiving ourselves if we think that we can sin with impunity and will not reap a harvest of corruption. As an aside although believers have a "new heart" (Ezek 36:26, 27, Jn 3:3,4,5), in a sense they still possess a "deceitful heart" (Jer 17:9) because of the presence of the fallen flesh. (cp 1Pe 2:11-note) Paul issued two similar strong warnings regarding the danger of deception to the church at Corinth… Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived (present imperative with a negative) neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, (1Co 6:9). Comment: Tragically in our day, there are false teachers who twist Paul's warning, undoubtedly because they themselves are deceived (cp 2Ti 3:13-note). They teach the lie that an individual can pray a prayer to "receive Jesus" and then spend the rest of his or her life living like the devil! This is exchanging the Truth of God for the lie of the devil (Jn 8:44)! Paul is not saying that any men or women in this group cannot be saved (in fact read context 1Co 6:11), or that believers cannot be tempted by or occasionally fall into any of these sins. What Paul is saying is that if one claims to have the Spirit of Christ within (Ro 8:9-note) and continually manifest a lifestyle characterized by one or more of these sins (cp Ro 8:13-note), they will absolutely not come into God's Kingdom, but are destined to "pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power" (2Th 1:9). Remember that the best (really only) antidote for deception is the Truth, specifically the Truth of God's Word, and in this context it is the Truth that "the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God". "Reception" of and "assimilation" of this Truth will effectively neutralize the poison of the false teaching that one's lifestyle has no bearing on one's eternal destiny. A godly lifestyle does not save you (only faith in Jesus saves - Ep 2:8, 9-note, Ro 10:9, 10-note), but it does demonstrate that your faith is genuine and therefore you are truly saved (Jas 2:14, 15, 16, 17-note, Jas 2:18, 19, 20-note, Jas 2:26-note). Do not be deceived (present imperative with a negative): "Bad company corrupts good morals." (1Co 15:33) Comment: If one "sows" with "corrupt" company, he himself will "reap" corruption. One deception here would be to think "I'll just bring them up to my standards of morality!" Wrong! They will inevitably bring you down. Obviously Paul is not saying we should not minister to "bad company", but just that we should not enter into their corrupt lifestyle. Jesus was holy and yet actually spent time with some of the most unholy people of the day (tax collectors, prostitutes, etc). Henry
Gálatas 6:7
Ironside: They who in their youth sow wild oats will have a terrible crop to reap in older days (Pr 22:8). No wonder the world has so many disillusioned and disappointed old men and aged women. They frittered away the golden hours of youth in careless living and selfish indulgence, and as a result their wrecked constitutions, and in some cases impaired minds, make their later years most distressing and unhappy. It is quite otherwise with men and women who, in the days of their youth, lived in an orderly manner walking before God in self-control, refusing to become the slaves of sensuality. For them gray hair is indeed a crown of glory, because they are found in the way of righteousness (Pr 16:31). Someone has well said, “The Devil has no happy old men.” But how different it is with those who have known and loved the Lord through the long years! When they reach the eventide of life, theirs is a peace and a serenity which is found only in the service of God. Of them it can be said, “At eventide it shall be light.” Sowing the seed of a ling’ring pain, Sowing the seed of a maddened brain, Sowing the seed of a tarnished name, Sowing the seed of eternal shame, Oh, what shall the harvest be? He who tends the fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who cares for his master will be honored. (Pr 27:18) Comment: "The proverb for today explains this reward for service in terms of tending a fig tree. Taking care of a tree is thankless work: most of the year the caretaker mulches, prunes, waters, sprays, or trims. But when the fruit comes, its caretaker is rewarded for his labor. The same is true regarding the servant who looks out for the interests of his master. Jesus says that God will honor those who serve His Son and go where He goes, even unto death (Jn 12:26). In economics, this is called the law of returns. What you cast on the water after many days will return to you (Ec 11:1) (MBI - Today in the Word) For they sow the wind and they reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; It yields no grain. Should it yield, strangers would swallow it up. (Ho 8:6-7). Comment: Note that the reaping comes later and greater! Do not be deceived! Next time you are considering some willful sin, stop and ponder Gal 6:7, 8 and Hosea 8:6! It just might be the best pause you'll ever make, because you cannot even predict the consequences. Surely if King David had been able to envision the consequences that his evil deeds would wreak on his family, he would have had pause and cause to turn his eyes away from Bathsheba! Warren
Gálatas 6:9
Ironside commenting on "in due time (season) we will reap if we do not grow weary"… We are so apt, having begun in the Spirit, to seek to finish in the flesh, as in the case of these Galatians. But only that which is of the Spirit will be rewarded in the day of manifestation. That which is of the flesh—even though seemingly religious—will only produce corruption and bring disappointment at last. In closing this section the apostle reverts to the general principle of Gal 6:6, now extending it to include all men everywhere. The spiritual man is one who sees things from God’s standpoint, therefore he cannot be insular, self-centered, or indifferent to the needy souls all about him. “As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith” (Gal 6:10). Thus we will imitate Him whose life was laid out in doing good, both to the unthankful and the godless, and to the little flock who waited for the consolation of Israel. As we seek, by the power of the indwelling Spirit, to maintain the same attitude toward our fellow-men, whether sinners or saints, we fulfil the righteousness of that law which says, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” We do not need to put ourselves under the law to do this. We only need to recognize our relationship to the glorified Christ, who is the Head of that new creation to which, by grace, we belong. Are we ever on the watch for such opportunities to manifest the goodness of God to those with whom we come in contact, and thus magnify the Lord, whose we are and whom we serve? Having been so wondrously dealt with ourselves, how can we do other than seek to exemplify in our dealings with others the mercy and loving-kindness which has been shown toward us? This is indeed to live on a higher plane than law. It is the liberty of grace, which the Holy Spirit gives to all who recognize the Lordship of Christ. (Ironside, H. A. Expository messages on the Epistle to the Galatians. 1943) John
Gálatas 6:14
Ironside explains that "of Christ," he means this then:—I accept the cross of Christ as my cross; I accept His death as my death; I take my place with Him as one who has died to the world, to sin, and to self, and henceforth I am not under law but under grace. Law crucified my Saviour (cp Gal 3:13). He met its claims upon that cross, and now, having satisfied all its demands, I am delivered from its authority and am free to walk before God in grace (Ro 6:14-note, Ro 7:4, 5, 6-note), seeking to glorify Him in a life of happy obedience because I love the One who died there to put away my sin (cp 2Co 5:14, 15)...Christian, have you taken that stand? Do you realize that Christ's cross means absolute separation from the world that rejected Him?" Lehman Strauss... In contrast to the self-effort and self-glorying of the legalizers, Paul adds his personal testimony: "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" (Gal 6:14). THE CROSS - REVELATION OF MAN'S HATRED GOD'S LOVE By the cross here Paul does not have in mind the wooden beams on which the body of our Lord was fastened. To Paul the Cross was a revelation of the measure of man's hatred against God and of God's love for mankind. The Cross of Christ was the place where the love of God for sinners was poured out. There man did his worst against God while God did His best in behalf of man. When the Judaizing teachers gloried in their success of persuading a Gentile to observe the Mosaic Law, Paul exalted the finished work of Christ at Calvary for sinners. They denied the Cross so that they would not have to bear a cross; Paul identified himself with it notwithstanding the persecution which resulted from such a stand. Paul knew that in heaven the believer's boast will be in God's redeeming grace and that all glory will be ascribed to the Lamb of God. WHAT IS THE APPLICATION FOR BELIEVERS? Let others despise the Cross if they will, but let it be the fixed purpose of every true child of God to find his highest expression of praise in the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is only as we thus take our stand that the world-system is rendered unattractive to us and we are rendered unattractive to it. Faith in Christ and acknowledgment of what He has done for us will not allow for any compromise on our part with the world. Let the Cross separate us from the world and the world will no more appeal to us. (Galatians and Ephesians Commentary. 1957)