Galatians 6:14

14. Translate, "But as for me (in opposition to those gloriers 'in your flesh,' Ga 6:13), God forbid that I," &c. in the cross--the atoning death on the cross. Compare Php 3:3, 7, 8, as a specimen of his glorying. The "cross," the great object of shame to them, and to all carnal men, is the great object of glorying to me. For by it, the worst of deaths, Christ has destroyed all kinds of death [Augustine, Tract 36, on John, sec. 4]. We are to testify the power of Christ's death working in us, after the manner of crucifixion (Ga 5:24; Ro 6:5, 6). our--He reminds the Galatians by this pronoun, that they had a share in the "Lord Jesus Christ" (the full name is used for greater solemnity), and therefore ought to glory in Christ's cross, as he did. the world--inseparably allied to the "flesh" (Ga 6:13). Legal and fleshly ordinances are merely outward, and "elements of the world" (Ga 4:3). is--rather, as Greek, "has been crucified to me" (Ga 2:20). He used "crucified" for dead (Col 2:20, "dead with Christ"), to imply his oneness with Christ crucified (Php 3:10): "the fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable unto His death."

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Verse 14. But God forbid. Rom 3:4. "For me it is not to glory, except in the cross of Christ." The object of Paul here is evidently to place himself in contrast with the Judaizing teachers, and to show his determined purpose to glory in nothing else but the cross of Christ. Well they knew that he had as much occasion for glorying in the things pertaining to the flesh, or in the observance of external rites and customs, as any of them. He had been circumcised. He had had all the advantages of accurate training in the knowledge of the Jewish law. He had entered on life with uncommon advantages, tie had evinced a zeal that was not surpassed by any of them; and his life, so far as conformity to the religion in which he had been trained was concerned, was blameless, Php 3:4-8. This must have been, to a great extent, known to the Galatians; and by placing his own conduct in strong contrast with that of the Judaizing teachers, and showing that he had no ground of confidence in himself, he designed to bring back the minds of the Galatians to simple dependence on the cross.

That I should glory. That I should boast; or that I should rely on anything else. Others glory in their conformity to the laws of Moses; others in their zeal, or their talents, or their learning, or their orthodoxy; others in their wealth, or their accomplishments; others in their family alliances, and their birth; but the supreme boast and glorying of a Christian is in the cross of Christ.

In the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Jesus, the crucified Messiah. It is a subject of rejoicing and glorying that we have such a Saviour. The world looked upon him with contempt; and the cross was a stumbling-block to the Jew, and folly to the Greek. 1Cor 1:23. But to the Christian, that cross is the subject of glorying. It is so because

(1.) of the love of Him who suffered there;

(2.) of the purity and holiness of his character, for the innocent died there for the guilty;

(3.) of the honour there put on the law of God by his dying to maintain it unsullied;

(4.) of the reconciliation there made for sin, accomplishing what could be done by no other oblation, and by no power of man;

(5.) of the pardon there procured for the guilty;

(6.) of the fact that through it we become dead to the world, and are made alive to God;

(7.) of the support and consolation which goes from that cross to sustain us in trial; and,

(8.) of the fact that it procured for us admission into heaven, a title to the world of glory. All is glory around the cross. It was a glorious Saviour who died; it was glorious love that led him to die; it was a glorious object to redeem a world; and it is unspeakable glory to which he will raise lost and ruined sinners by his death. Oh, who would not glory in such a Saviour! Compared with this, what trifles are all the objects in which men usually beast! And what a lesson is here furnished to the true Christian! Let us not boast of our wealth. It will soon leave us, or we shall be taken from it, and it can aid us little in the great matters that are before us, It will not ward off disease; it will not enable us to bear pain; it will not smooth the couch of death; it will not save the soul. Let us not glory in our strength, for it will soon fail; in our beauty, for we shall soon be undistinguished in the corruption of the tomb; in our accomplishments, for they will not save us; in our learning, for it is not that by which we can be brought to heaven. But let us glory that we have for a Saviour the eternal Son of God--that glorious Being who was adored by the inhabitants of heaven; who made the worlds; who is pure, and lovely, and most holy; and who has undertaken our cause, and died to save us. I desire no higher honour than to be saved by the Son of God. It is the exaltation of my nature, and shows me more than anything else its true dignity, that one so great and glorious sought my redemption. That cannot be an object of temporary value which he sought by coming from heaven; and if there is any object of real magnitude in this world, it is the soul which the eternal Son of God died to redeem.

By whom the world is crucified unto me, etc, Gal 2:20.

(a) "God forbid" Php 3:7,8,9 (1) "by whom" "whereby" (b) "crucified" Gal 2:20

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Verse 14 But God forbid that I should glory - Whatever others may do, or whatever they may exult or glory in, God forbid that I should exult, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; in the grand doctrine, that justification and salvation are only through Christ crucified, he having made an atonement for the sin of the world by his passion and death. And I glory, also, in the disgrace and persecution which I experience through my attachment to this crucified Christ. By whom the world is crucified unto me - Jewish rites and Gentile vanities are equally insipid to me; I know them to be empty and worthless. If Jews and Gentiles despise me, I despise that in which they trust; through Jesus, all are crucified to me - their objects of dependence are as vile and execrable to me, as I am to them, in whose sight these things are of great account.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain