Galatians 6:14, commentary and pictures

To glory in the cross means to make Christ's death the only ground for boasting, confidence and joy, refusing to glory in human power, righteousness, wisdom, or worldly gain. Through that cross a double death takes place, with the world crucified to the believer and the believer crucified to the world, so its claims, pomp, pleasures and selfish interests no longer rule the life. The cross reveals the Father's infinite love and Christ's self-denying humiliation from manger to Calvary, where He bore the world's sin to make fallen humanity rich in eternal life. It is the great central truth of salvation and the believer's only hope, the light for all truth and study and the pledge of the crown of immortality to all who lift and bear it. Keeping its scenes vivid melts and transforms heart and character, destroying pride and self-worship, awakening love, peace and praise, and binding the soul to Christ in self-denying love. Living it out means clinging to Christ alone, taking up the cross daily in humility, obedience and suffering, breaking with sinful customs, display and love of the world, and holding Christ aloft in teaching, preaching and self-sacrificing service.

Glory in the Cross

The cross of Jesus Christ is the believer's only ground for glory, boasting, confidence and enthusiasm, because it reveals the heavenly Father's infinite, everlasting love and deep sympathy drawing people to Himself. Through the cross the world is crucified to the believer and the believer is crucified to the world, so that the world no longer rules the life and the believer no longer belongs to its values. It is the privilege of the Christian to glory in the cross, to give self wholly to Christ who gave Himself, and then to carry the light of Calvary to people in darkness. Contemplating Christ's sacrifice and love awakens deep devotion, refines and elevates the affections, and transforms the whole character, while the cross borne bravely brings blessing and pledges the crown of immortality.

That glory turns the mind away from glorying in anything else and from extolling great men of the world. It forbids boasting in human achievement and power, in personal righteousness and ability, in so-called intellectual wisdom and philosophy, in worldly enterprises and amusements, in self-love, self-exaltation, and pride in training or position. Looking to Jesus on the cross destroys desire for self-glorification and humbles human pride, because it reveals God's provision for every believer and levels human exaltation by Him who humbled Himself in meekness and lowliness. The disciples' testimony to Christ crucified sprang not from human achievement but from the Spirit's power and longing to carry the gospel to the world, and the same redeeming love should stir believers to share truth with those in darkness. In practice this means rejecting self-love and cultivating love for one another, speaking and thinking kindly, and living with Christ's meekness and gentleness, looking toward Calvary with deepest emotion rather than remaining cold toward God while excited over worldly enterprises and amusements.

To glory in the cross means to hold it up as the foundation of all true education by precept and example over and over, to turn from the world's example and honors, to be separated from the world and dead to it, and to bravely bear the cross after Christ in self-denial and humility on straight paths leading away from the world to Calvary. It is done by lifting up the cross in the life, and lifting it raises and upholds the one who lifts it, for the cross is a strength and staff in adversity, privation and sorrow, hung with mercy, compassion, sympathy and inexpressible love, and rightly regarded it is a pledge of the never-fading crown of immortality to all who lift and bear it. It means presenting nothing to God but self crucified to the world, following in His consecrated self-denying footsteps as the only way to find salvation, turning from human devising, methods and expedients to use only the means of grace heaven has provided while looking to Jesus for help and blessing. It means clinging to the cross alone, bringing no price in the hand, hiding self in Jesus and depending wholly on Christ's power, with a deep abiding sense of responsibility and labor in close communion with Him who is the fountain of justice, mercy and truth, letting the Saviour's love be the undying motive that upholds in conflicts with self and struggles against evil. There is no crown without a cross, for it is the privilege to be strong in the strength of God under all circumstances, and strong faith requires circumstances that exercise and try faith.

Paul exemplifies this boasting, for he lived for God's glory, gave himself to Christ's work, and used every blessing to benefit others. His boast was not in worldly power or honor but in the cross, shaping a life of poverty, self-denial and suffering while he remained at peace with God and fearlessly upheld its message. Though poor, friendless and suffering he held the cross aloft without fear, and his life of self-denial and service reflected the peace and character of Christ in contrast with worldly power and corruption. The meaning is illustrated by studying Jesus' life and shameful death on the cross as a criminal alongside tracing Paul's conversion and life.

Meaning of Double Crucifixion

The verse teaches a double crucifixion worked through the cross, in which the world is crucified to the believer and the believer is crucified to the world, so that the world is dead to the Christian and the Christian is dead to the world. Outward circumcision or uncircumcision does not matter; what matters is becoming a new creature and walking by this rule, with sanctification expected of those who accept it. Taking a stand for Bible truth on this ground may bring opposition and painful conflict even within marriage or family, yet it does not excuse abandoning a spouse, for the believer remains faithful in family duties and seeks to lead loved ones to truth while refusing to give up conviction of duty to God as Lord and Master. Glorying only in the cross means turning from the world's example and honors and making the cross central to teaching and life, bringing blessing to those who bear it bravely and pledging them the crown of immortality. Paul's life exemplifies this pattern, living for God's glory, giving himself to Christ's work, using every blessing to benefit others, and illustrating the verse by his conversion and life after studying Jesus' life and shameful death as a criminal.

On one side the world loses its claim, power, hold and rule over the life, and on the other the believer no longer belongs to its values, with self suppressed and worldly ambition and attachment losing their hold. This means giving up hope in its pomp and pleasures and accepting humiliation, reproach, shame and suffering for Christ's name rather than expecting earthly greatness, with sharing His glory following suffering with Him. The break is with former harmony with the ways and customs of the world, with unity with those who enjoy worldly pleasures, with seeking pride and ambition, and with fellowship with the disobedient who excuse living in sin and sustain one another in unrighteousness. Accepting the gospel invitation changes the current of thought and the aims of life and ends oneness with the world.

This crucifixion is painful and cross-like, felt as the severing of deep affections. The world crucified to the believer is the pain of having to separate the affections from relatives, companions and others who love and enjoy the pleasures of the world, and the believer crucified to the world is the pain those pleasure-lovers feel when relatives separate from them in worldly associations. It is coming out and being separate and touching not the unclean in order to be received as sons and daughters and members of the royal family of the heavenly King, choosing Christ and heaven as the portion in this life, making every sacrifice to join the heavenly family above, refusing the world that crucified Jesus and choosing Jesus instead of Barabbas.

It is death to earthly and selfish interests and to the affections and lusts of the world, and freedom from being a servant of mammon. It means being crucified to sin by receiving the light God gives and acting on it, becoming dead indeed to the world and alive to God, abandoning idols and giving an example on the side of self-denial rather than self-indulgence. Glorying in the cross means renouncing the honors, treasures and reputation of the world and accepting the cross, which stands in the path to eternal life and calls for self-denial and surrender of life, thoughts, will and affections to Christ, with those who do not resist God's will renewed in knowledge and true holiness. Being thus crucified and made alive in Christ unites the soul to God and marks those He accepts and sanctifies as set apart and devoted to Him, in renewal in knowledge and true holiness and in diligent faithful service with the salvation of others as the one leading object above every other interest.

Mere profession of Christ without this crucifixion leaves the soul engaged by the world, and few among those who profess to follow Christ can truthfully speak these words, while those who live the verse with willing obedience and true love shine with holy brightness. Church profession, name on church records, or outward form of godliness alone does not make someone God's child or part of His spiritual building; vital connection with Christ, sharing His Spirit and divine nature and turning from the world's affections and desires, does. Being crucified means being dead to the world's pull and refusing to live by its vanity and pride, in a self-denying humble life distinct from the world and lived for God's glory, which outward profession contradicts when dress, speech and actions conform to worldly ways. Those who merely admit Christ died on the cross but refuse the crucifixion they themselves must experience deny the cross, do not know it and do not glory in it, and though they call themselves Christians they are Christians only in name, whereas to glory in it is to know it, receive its lessons leading to self-denial and self-sacrifice, and make a risen Saviour the central point of faith bringing to all who receive Him the privilege of being sons and daughters of God.

What the Cross Reveals

The cross reveals the Father's infinite, everlasting love and deep sympathy by which He draws people to Himself, and the Saviour's matchless love in giving Himself for them. That love is seen in the Son of God leaving heaven and stooping to earth to save a fallen world, a gift so great that when it is studied it ends all other boasting and calls for giving self wholly to Christ. The more the cross is contemplated, the more fully this glorying is adopted, for beholding that mysterious love elevates thought, purifies the heart, transforms character, and sends the one thus changed forth to reflect its light to people in darkness.

At Calvary Jesus, in whom the hope of eternal life is centered and in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily, died in agony a shameful death as a criminal, bearing the weight of the sins of the world. That amazing love in its length and breadth and height and depth cannot be fully comprehended or fathomed, yet its scenes must remain vivid and be deliberately contemplated for safety. From the manger to Calvary His life was self-denial, self-sacrifice, humiliation and finished obedience, and He did not give up His life until the work He came to do was triumphantly carried out, so that through a life of obedience the fallen sons of Adam may at last be exalted to the presence of God. He became poor so that people might become rich, not in earthly possessions but in the eternal inheritance.

Christ crucified as atonement for sin is the great central truth around which all other truths cluster, the light in which every truth from Genesis to Revelation must be studied, and the theme of every discourse. Every other truth derives its value and importance from its connection to this truth, for the sacrifice of Christ for sin is the central truth by which every other truth in Scripture must be understood, the great display of mercy, regeneration, salvation and redemption. Rightly regarded and perfectly understood, the cross is the highest science, the science of salvation, true philosophy and pure and undefiled religion, and eternal life to all who believe, with the crucified Messiah as the central point of all Christianity.

The cross is the believer's only hope, only means of salvation, hope of life and exaltation, and crown of rejoicing. Those who make Christ and His cross their hope surrender themselves and all they possess to God, trusting in Christ, humbling themselves before Him and walking carefully as He molds and fashions them. Lifted up in the life, the cross raises and upholds the one who lifts it, proving a strength and a staff in adversity, privation and sorrow, hung with mercy, compassion, sympathy and inexpressible love. Rightly regarded it is a pledge of the never-fading crown of immortality to all who lift it and bear it bravely after Christ.

The cross shows the sinfulness of sin and God's abhorrence of duplicity and sin. Its cost reveals the immeasurable worth of a human soul, for Christ accepted shame, agony and death to accomplish redemption, making the treasures and honors of earth insignificant by comparison and revealing the true value of the soul as the science and song of the redeemed through eternity. Remembering that one's own sins placed the Saviour on the cross leaves no room for self-exaltation, boastful claims of freedom from sin, comparing guilt, accusing others or criticizing, for those who live near Jesus and in the shadow of the cross recognize their own frailty and sinfulness and know their sin caused His agony. Their only hope is in the merit of the crucified and risen Saviour, whose grace subdues the heart's controlling desires so that a person dies to sin and is made alive in Christ.

Changed by Beholding Cross

Contemplating the cross and keeping the scenes of Calvary vivid and fresh in mind is what produces glorying only in the cross, and the more the cross is contemplated the more fully that glorying is adopted. Beholding the Saviour's matchless love and immense suffering absorbs the mind and fills it, touches and melts the soul, and refines and elevates the affections. That beholding elevates thought, purifies the heart, and completely transforms thought, heart, character and the whole life. As the mind is thus absorbed and transformed the world loses its hold and value, so that the world becomes as dead to the believer and the believer as dead to the world, turned away from its values and called to humble obedience and to take up the cross as a disciple from the manger to Calvary.

Looking to Jesus on the cross destroys the desire for self-glorification and humbles human pride, leaving no room for pride and self-worship to flourish. Keeping Calvary fresh in the heart shows that neither personal righteousness nor human ability is any ground for boasting or confidence, because the cross reveals God's provision for every believer and levels human exaltation, since Christ humbled Himself in taking human nature in meekness and lowliness. As people draw nearer to Christ they recognize sin more clearly, humble themselves, and rely wholly on His righteousness.

Keeping Calvary's sacrifice fresh awakens deep devotion and praise and tender, sacred feeling instead of remaining calm and unimpassioned, cold toward God, or excited only over worldly enterprises and amusements. More fully comprehending the magnitude of the sacrifice made by the Majesty of heaven magnifies the plan of salvation before the mind and awakens the deepest and most sacred emotions of the Christian heart. That contemplation awakens love, peace and joy and puts praise to God and the Lamb in the heart and on the lips instead of tears and sighs and cold indifference.

The cross reveals the Father's infinite, everlasting love and deep sympathy drawing people to Himself, and the one thus changed gives self wholly to Christ who gave Himself. Transformed in thought and affection, the believer goes forth to reflect in some degree that mysterious love as a light to people in darkness, yielding to that love and carrying its light to others. Seeing the Prince of heaven die frees from selfishness and binds to God and one another in self-denying love, calling to self-sacrifice, self-denial and generosity and awakening concern and hope for people without God.

Cross at Center of Work

The cross is to be held up as the foundation of all true education and the science of all education, the center of all teaching and study, taught by precept and example over and over to every student and taken as food for the mind and soul. To glory only in the cross is to turn minds away from the glory of everything else and from extolling the great men of the world, to be separated from the world and dead to it, and to bear the cross bravely in self-denial and humility. The sacrifice of Christ on Calvary as atonement for sin is the great central truth around which all other truths cluster, the light in which every truth from Genesis to Revelation must be studied, and the theme of every discourse, with every other truth deriving its value and importance from its connection to it. Rightly regarded and perfectly understood, just as near now as it was to Paul, the cross is the highest science, the science of salvation, true philosophy and pure and undefiled religion, and eternal life to all who believe, with the crucified Messiah as the central point of all Christianity, the great display of mercy, regeneration, salvation and redemption. Those who bear it gain advantage and straight paths that lead away from the world to Calvary, and it is a pledge of the crown of immortality that never fades to all who lift it and bear it after Christ. Those who study the Redeemer's sacrifice grow in grace and knowledge, feeling inefficiency and entire dependence on Christ for success, refusing to seek to be above brethren, hiding self in Christ so self does not appear and Christ is revealed as chiefest and altogether lovely, and lifting up Christ draws people to Him.

Brought into daily practical experience, the cross turns the believer from the world and makes Christ a constant companion and friend, with every thought brought into captivity to His obedience. When the cross enters daily life the world loses its hold and rule, the believer is separated from the world, the world fades from view, heaven's glory becomes most attractive, and Christ's grace leads to willing obedience and a desire to share with others what has been received. Its power awakens hope, reverence, adoration and love as the believer learns from Jesus and surrenders the will to Him. This glorying grows from God's love revealed in Christ and is lived out in loving one another.

In preaching, ministers must exalt the crucified Saviour rather than themselves, pointing people to Christ and not glorifying themselves or attaching people to themselves. They are to talk of Jesus and lose self in Jesus, with lowliness and meekness letting hearers lose sight of the human instrument while Jesus is exalted, keeping Calvary and the cross central instead of bustle and stir about religion. When sinners are led to look fully at Him they can be saved, for Christ crucified as the atonement for sin is the only means of salvation. The cross is thus the center of their testimony as they proclaim Christ crucified and respond to God's love by giving themselves to Him.

Grasped with the Holy Spirit as the overflow of matchless, incomprehensible love, this glorying fills the heart with a benevolence so full, so deep and so far-reaching that it impels believers to go to the ends of the earth carrying the glad tidings of a risen Saviour to the utmost bounds of the world. There remains one prevailing interest, one subject of emulation and one ambition to reveal the likeness of Christ's character in divine love and benevolence and to labor for the enlargement of His kingdom. Proclaiming the truth as it is in Jesus with power yields hearts, gathers converts from all directions, reconverts backsliders, unites sinners with Christians in seeking salvation, and turns the bitterest opponents of the gospel into its champions. As at Pentecost, the Spirit's power and gratitude for forgiven sin and longing to carry the gospel to the world lead to testifying of the cross everywhere, with intense longing to add to the church those who will be saved, calling believers to arouse and do their part so all nations hear the truth and the earth is filled with glory, taking up the harvest work with unselfish desire to give mercy to those in the darkness of error and unbelief, making no grievous complaints.

The cross of Christ is the banner every servant of Jesus must bear and the standard to be lifted in the conflict against Satan while bringing light to people in spiritual darkness and advancing the work. To glory in the cross is to enlist as a Christian soldier under the blood-stained banner of Prince Emmanuel, devoting the ardor of youth and the tireless energy of manhood to the service of Christ, warning sinners and proclaiming the last note of warning to the world, making it special work to storm the strongholds of sin, bearing reproach for the truth's sake, keeping unabated zeal, and seeking to inspire others with the same earnestness and energy. Those who see His matchless charms take their stand as obedient children and adopted sons and daughters, coming out and being separate and touching not the unclean thing, so the world does not know them, has no interest in their Christianity, says they have left it, and cannot make one who has chosen to be a child of God love the things it loves. The cross's power is displayed through Christ's principles and love, and its efficacy is seen and felt when the church lives the Christ-life and carries out its mission.

The cross is the deliverance for those enslaved by evil habits and must be made central in temperance reform, for leading intemperate souls to the cross brings repentance, faith and obedience and lifts the soul to a new and nobler life. Thus glorying in the cross has its place in the work of the third angel's message, calling people at camp-meetings to the principles of true temperance and to pledge themselves against intemperance. It inspires self-sacrificing service such as workers caring for homeless children, who are to be inspired by Calvary and to serve as Christ did. Life and service belong to Christ because His sacrifice at Calvary bought us at an infinite price, making a new, transformed life possible, and those who belong to Christ are to use their powers as sacred trusts for God's glory and the good of others, working with Him to save the lost.

Living Crucified Daily

Living the verse means self-denial, humility, meekness and willing obedience, taking up the cross as a humble disciple and following from the manger to Calvary with eternal interests at stake. It turns the mind from glorying in anything else and from extolling great men of the world, brings separation from the world and death to it, and gives straight paths that lead away from the world to Calvary. It requires asking in each act how the course will affect the Redeemer's kingdom, choosing Christ's footsteps however painful to natural feelings, sitting at His feet and learning of Him in entire surrender of will, plans and purposes, trusting Him as leader and letting nothing deter from consecration owed to God. It means having citizenship in heaven whence to look for the Saviour, piety felt by all within the sphere of influence, abiding in Christ as sole refuge, walking the narrow restricted path, and shunning even the appearance of evil in every act of life.

To glory in the cross is to lift it up in the life, and lifting it raises and upholds the lifter as a strength and staff in adversity, privation and sorrow, hung with mercy, compassion, sympathy and inexpressible love and pledged as immortality. It is to count it a privilege to suffer for Christ, with His innocent suffering for the guilty silencing every complaint, and willing suffering honoring Him. It is to be strong in the strength of God under all circumstances, enduring suffering and trial in reliance on His strength rather than one's own, since there is no crown without a cross and strong faith requires circumstances that try faith. Trials exercise faith, give new experience, purify character, advance character building and prepare for heaven, so what appears loss may work for good and comfort is found in the cross rather than in the world's friendship.

That death to the world governs family and conscience, for taking a stand for Bible truth may bring opposition and painful conflict even within marriage or family, yet does not excuse abandoning a spouse but calls for faithfulness in family duties while seeking to lead loved ones to truth and never giving up conviction of duty to God as Lord and Master. It refuses to belittle or compromise holy faith by uniting with the Lord's enemies in marriage with unbelievers, since departure from God's requirements exerts influence for evil, leads others to do the same, and brings infinite harm to those looking for guidance. It stands firmly for Christ through sound principles, integrity and holy boldness in acknowledging Him, honoring the cross rather than yielding conscience and moral independence to others or being converted by the world. It is cut off from the world by obedience to all God's commandments, even losing employment for keeping the Sabbath and being set adrift without money laid by, a sacrifice on a different line from what unbelievers make to oppose truth.

Being crucified to the world means being dead to its pull, pomp, pleasures, vanity and pride, and living a self-denying, humble life distinct from the world and lived for God's glory. Words, dress and actions must distinguish Christians from unbelievers and show faith affects character, with holy influence imitating Jesus, while conformity to worldly ways in dress, speech and actions contradicts outward profession. That separation requires self-denial in dress, dressing plainly, abstaining from display of jewelry and ornaments of every kind, rejecting love of display, vanity of dress, gold chains or pins worn to attract attention, levity in conduct, love of pleasure and amusement, and everything sanctioning the spirit of those living only for this world with no thought for the next. It rejects seeking the world's pleasures and admiration as means of becoming heavenly-minded or growing in grace, refuses to live by its fashions, and separates from worldly-mindedness in action rather than mere talk, instead of prioritizing acquiring land and holding money above God's cause and its workers.

Glorying only in the cross calls for praise and thanksgiving instead of tears and sighs, moving solidly and not capriciously, speaking with discretion, working carefully, following in Jesus' footsteps, and being a blessing in church and home by binding the family together with the strong cords of Christ's love. It rejects self-love, self-exaltation and pride, cultivates love for one another, speaks and thinks kindly, lives with Christ's meekness and gentleness, and wears the adorning of a meek and quiet spirit so the church can help and bless others. It trains the tongue to speak of heavenly things and His glory, living soberly and speaking about Jesus and truth with glory centered on the cross. That walk is sober, with mind dwelling on truth and speech solemn, watchful and centered on Jesus and truth because the day of the Lord is at hand, after the pleasureless, sorrowful, self-denying life of John the Baptist who proclaimed Christ's first advent and died without seeing and enjoying the power manifested by Christ.

Those who have of late embraced the third angel's message must die a greater death to the world than they have ever yet died, as part of getting ready and reflecting the lovely image of Jesus, because time is almost finished and there is a great work to do in but little time. Beginning the Christian course includes dying to the world so its pleasures and concerns no longer hold love and attention, and continuing to love those pleasures and dwell on worldly matters shows that step has not been taken. The cross is to remain continually in view as a reminder of a nobler world, directing away from the world's sensual customs toward separation from worldly things and affection for what is above. That greater death means not thinking too much of appearance, not being proud, and being devoted to God rather than devoted to self.