One of my favorite songs is Isaac Watts’s “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.” One verse in that songs leads me to a favorite, yet quite challenging verse, in the Scriptures, Galatians 6:14: “But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.”
Men (and women) like to boast. We boast in our education, influence, belongings, wealth, prestige, personal appearance, reputation, friendships, independence, positions, success, self-reliance, abilities & skills, intellect, and holiness.
But boasting in these things is foolish, pointless, and forbidden: 1 Cor. 3:21; 2 Cor. 5:12. Boasting in arrogance is evil (James 4:16). Paul gives a list of items in which he could have boasted in Philippians 3:4-6.
Yet something happened at the cross in which we can boast! We can boast (or “glory,” if you prefer) in our reconciliation with God through Jesus Christ, because of the cross (Rom. 5:10-11). We can boast that, in Jesus Christ, we have righteousness, sanctification, and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30-31). Because Jesus died for our sins, on the cross, we can boast in our tribulations (Rom. 5:3). We can even boast in our weaknesses, since we then see the power of Christ (2 Cor. 12:9).
We can boast in the cross because it shows God’s love for us. The cross shows that God was not sparing His Son but delivered Him up for our salvation. If love is measured by sacrifice, then the love of God is an infinite sacrifice.
We can boast in the cross because it shows God’s righteousness. Since we are unable to make a sacrifice for our own sins, unless it is through our own destruction, then we need God, coming forward in Christ, and making satisfaction for sin by paying the ultimate penalty.
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We can boast in the cross because it shows God’s power. The cross is God, in Christ, conquering the kingdom of Satan, by which He showed Himself stronger than the devil and the evil in the hearts of men (1 John 3:8).
We can boast in the cross because it shows God’s wisdom. It was God showing how He could be just and, at the same time, justify the one who believes in Him through Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:26). The cross shows how God can draw the sinner to Himself and yet condemn the sin of the sinner.
Because of the cross, Paul writes in Galatians 6:14, “the world has been crucified to me.” The world is the place in which the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, and the lust of the eyes find their natural manifestation. Paul did not consider the world to be useless but it had lost its attraction for Paul. It had no power over him, no influence over him, because he looked at the world in the shadow of the cross.
Thus Paul writes in Colossians 3:5 that we are to crucify, put to death: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness. In Ephesians 4:21-31, he gives a further list of: bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander, lying, stealing, and vulgar talk.
What happened at the cross? I was crucified to the world at the cross. We’ll talk more about this tomorrow.
–Paul Holland
