…Those who want to impress people by means of the flesh are trying to compel you to be circumcised…. May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation.
— Galatians 6:12-15
Paul wrote this letter, which we call the book of Galatians, to certain Christians who had begun their new spiritual life with faith in Jesus, but then were told by others that Paul’s message of grace was horribly incomplete and probably dangerous. They taught that it is not enough to believe in Jesus and follow him; you must also continue to observe those hundreds of regulations in the Old Testament. Even if you are a Gentile, you should still observe the dietary laws, the sacrifices, and circumcision, they said.
Paul saw this as a spiritual emergency, and he wrote this letter to warn these believers not to be bewitched by those legalists.
There is one way to God. Let the things in your life that should die, die. Let strivings die, let legalism die, let love for the world die, let personal spiritual pride die. Resign it all, give it all over, let it be crucified as Jesus let himself be crucified, and you will be free.
Then we will have something to boast about. We will brag about Jesus Christ. We will shout his name to the world. We’ll fill up with a pride not in ourselves, but in him. And we will look at his cross and see it as a moment of glory, not shame.
Ponder This: Are there things you have been boasting about in your life? What needs to happen for you to boast only about Christ?
