Our Boast

Wednesday of Invocabit

February 25, 2026

Galatians 6:11-18

Our Boast

The Judaizers that came to Galatia talked as if they were more strict and pious than Paul. “Paul makes Christianity too easy. To be a Christian you have to submit to the Law of Moses, and that begins with circumcision.”

Many heretics talk like this. They come to prey on consciences that are awakened, convicted of sin, wanting to be free. These kind of teachers say, “The Gospel is too easy.”

But the Judaizers, despite claiming to be strict and austere, were actually soft. They were making things easy on their flesh. The Gospel of Jesus Christ was suffering persecution by the Jews. The Judaizers hoped to boast to the Jews: “Look how many Gentiles we have circumcised! Yes, we preach Jesus as the Messiah. But in the end we are really on the same team. We both uphold the same Law. And we are helping our nation by bringing many Gentiles to observe the Law of Moses.”

Many supposedly conservative Christians do this very thing in our day. They are not trying to appease the Jews but adherents of secular liberalism. They say, “Yes, we preach that salvation is only in Jesus Christ, but at the end of the day we subscribe the same liberal democratic values as you, and we teach our converts to be good citizens of modern liberal democracy who respect religious freedom, the liberation of women, and so on.”

These Christians downplay or deny the Law of God where it conflicts with the values of secular democracy. Where the Word of God calls women to obey their husbands, these Christians describe a wife’s submission as something that only makes demands on her husband. Where the Scripture describes homosexuality as an abomination, these Christians insist that no sin is more grievous than another. Where Scripture says the civil government ought to punish those who do evil and praise those who do well, these Christians insist that the government should respect the rights of citizens to blaspheme, practice witchcraft, and worship idols. They deny that Christ “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works” (Titus 2:14). They also are trying to avoid persecution for the cross of Christ.

But Paul only wants to boast in one thing: the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Judaizers want to boast that their version of Christianity has been successful at getting lots of Gentiles to obey the Law of Moses. American Christians who want to conform to American Liberalism boast that Christianity is not only perfectly compatible with liberal democracy; it is actually the source of all the good things of our liberal order. Christians were the first abolitionists, they say. Christianity led to the liberation of women and religious tolerance.

But Paul does not boast in the cross because it serves the aims of some other ideology or pleases the world. He boasts in the cross of Jesus because through it the world has been crucified to him, and he to the world.

The cross of Jesus crucifies us to the world because it gives us something better than the world’s praise. The devil spread out all the kingdoms of the world before Jesus and offered it all to Him if He would fall down at Satan’s feet. But our Lord Jesus scorned the devil’s offer of the world so that He could be crucified and atone for our sins. Through the cross of Jesus we have become God’s sons. The world is ours, because Jesus has overcome the world. But more than that: God is ours. The Son of God gave Himself for us. He laid aside His glory to take up our sin and its punishment so that we might be heirs of God.

What counts before God is not circumcision, a partial change of the body, but a new creation. What counts before God is not a partial amelioration of political oppression, like American liberalism boasts in, but a new creation. That is accomplished by Jesus’ cross, where we died to sin and were made sons of God.

And Paul not only was crucified at Jesus’ crucifixion, but bore on his body the marks of Jesus. He was referring to the scars that covered his body, from rocks thrown at him, from whips and rods that fell on his back. These were much more valuable marks than the marks of circumcision, which merely show one is under the Law he does not fulfill. Paul’s marks showed that he was crucified with Christ and had become the new man. Christ was in Him. Paul bore His marks.

God grant that however the cross touches us for Jesus’ sakes, even if it leaves no marks on our body, we may boast in it. The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is our boast because it is the sign that we have died to the world and been born of God.

This I believe, yea, rather,

Of this I make my boast,

That God is my dear Father,

The Friend who loves me most,

And that, whate’er betide me,

My Savior is at hand

Thro’ stormy seas to guide me

And bring me safe to land. (TLH #528 st. 2)