See with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand! As many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation Galatians 6:11-15 (NKJV).
Review: Sowing and reaping (1 Corinthians 2:7-10)
Paul begins this section with a personal comment, “See with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand!” Again he wants the Galatian believers to understand that this writing is not a forgery. It is his conviction, from the grace which the Lord Himself has given to Paul for the Lord’s church. There are thoughts that Paul had an eye issue, no doubt from the many beatings and times spent in dark prisons. So he makes mention of “large letters.” He also did not use a scribe to pen his letter, but it was vital for them to know that he wrote this letter and not another.
Paul’s summary of the flesh and the cross; circumcision and the law; boasting in the flesh; boasting in the cross of our Lord; the world is crucified to me and I to the world; In Christ nothing avails, but a new creation.
Here we have six full summaries of Paul’s Letter to the Galatian believers and, by the way, a message to those operating in the flesh through the law.
First, let’s speak of the “flesh” and the “cross.”
The Roman cross was how God the Father chose to offer His “Only Begotten Son” as the sacrifice for the world’s sins.
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”
1 Corinthians 1:18-19 (NKJV).
But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
But as it is written:
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
1 Corinthians 2:7-12 (NKJV)
But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. For if he who comes preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or if you receive a different spirit which you have not received or a different gospel which you have not accepted — you may well put up with it!
2 Corinthians 11:3-4 (NKJV)
Now let’s speak of “circumcision” and the “law.”
It is essential to understand that circumcision was given to confirm the covenant that God made with Abraham. His promises to Abraham and Abraham’s Seed were established 430 years before the Law was given to Moses. Numerous times God spoke in covenant terms and promises to His servant Abraham between Geneses 12-18. In chapter 17, God spoke to Abraham and gave him His covenant instruction. These instructions were for Abraham’s descendants as well.
And God said to Abraham: “As for you, you shall keep My covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised, and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.
Genesis 17:9-14 (NKJV)
The cross is the wisdom of God and eliminates the circumcision of the flesh. Jesus flesh crucified is the “New Covenant” from heaven. Jesus’ blood that was shed is the New Covenant that cleans all sin and unrighteousness in humanity. The cross becomes the reconciling agent of the New Covenant, eliminating the need for the circumcision of the flesh. Circumcision of the male reproductive organ was a sign pointing to the Seed that would come and establish the New Covenant in the Spirit. The Letter to the Galatians is the thesis of Paul on the subject.
Next, Paul deals with the subject of “boasting the flesh”
Paul makes clear the hypocrisy of these leaders in their focus on circumcision of the flesh since the flesh could never keep and obey the law. “For not even those who are circumcised keep the law.”
“For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh (meaning “judged”), that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Romans 8:3-5 (NKJV)
“But they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.”
Religion relates well to the flesh. To many times our flesh is at the center of religious activity. The reason is that religion focuses on what we do to appease God. The cross is all about what God did for humanity. Our response is to be one of humility; I am a sinner, and I need redemption. I cannot redeem myself. I willingly receive what God in Christ did for me in the shedding of His blood and dying on the cross of Calvary. By faith, I trust in Christ’s redemptive work and give Him my life to be lived as a sacrificial offering. (Romans 12:1-2) also, see (Hebrews 12:1-2).
Next, Paul deals with “bosting” in the cross of our Lord.”
Paul left boosting in his flesh in the keeping of the law. He knew he could not fulfill the law. This is what Romans chapter 7 is all about. It is about his previous life under the law. He could never do what he wanted to do in righteousness because of the weakness of his flesh. Now in Christ, he can boost, but not in himself, only in “the cross of the Lord.”
Paul concludes that his strong statement, “The world is crucified to me and I to the world.” The world is dead as far as Paul is concerned.
In Christ nothing avails, but a new creation.
This is the new thing that the Lord has done, as recorded in Is 43. The New Creation of the Spirit producing a whole new man in the earth, not someday, but presently because of the resurrection of Christ, He who was the firstborn among many. This is true unity, the unity of the faith that Ephesians 4:13 mentions. This is what Christ came to do, create a whole new man in His own image. The new man is made up of Jew and Gentiles. The new man is made up of bond and free and made up of neither male nor female. It is Christ in us the hope of glory.
