Glorying in the Cross

“God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our LORD Jesus Christ,

by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.”

(Gal. 6:14)

To glory in the cross of the LORD Jesus is to exclusively give the praise and honor to the One Who died on the cross, shedding His blood unto death, to satisfy the Father’s law and justice and save those sinners in time those that the Father gave Him from eternity!

God forbid that any glory should go to ourselves or any other in salvation. How foolish for anyone to think that the death of the LORD Jesus requires our contribution or cooperation. Paul wrote to the Galatians that if righteousness come by the law (one’s personal obedience) Christ died in vain, Galatians 2:21. If justification can be obtained by the observance of any law - ceremonial or moral - then there was no need for the death of Christ as the Sacrifice for sin. That would be to put the work of salvation wholly in the sinner to work it out, therefore, the merit would be his and not Christ’s alone. If anyone thinks that it is their will, works or believing that justifies them before God, then they deny the LORD Jesus the glory that the Father gave Him exclusively in saving His people, Galatians 2:16.

‘God forbid’ is a strong term that the apostle Paul uses to renounce any thought of even a shared glory with regard to the death of the LORD Jesus. It is a compound word meaning may it never be considered nor the thought ever entertained to take to oneself any part of the glory belonging to the LORD alone. Yet, there is no message more hated by religious, self-justifying sinners than to tell them that they have no part in the glory and that it belongs to the LORD Jesus alone, whether to save or to condemn. His death on the cross was a double-edged sword as illustrated in dying between the two thieves. For the one thief, it was for His salvation. For the other, it was for his condemnation but either way, our LORD was glorified, Matthew 15:27-32. Christ was glorified in dying for one and not the other.

It must be then, as Paul declared, that the world was crucified to him and he to the world. The world looked upon our LORD and His death with contempt, as do those today who deny God’s full, free, and final justification of His people AT THE CROSS. To the Jew (the self-righteous religionist) He is a stumbling block and to the Greek (intellectual reasoning) He is folly. But to those for whom our LORD was crucified, when He is revealed in them by His Spirit, He is ALL their wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption and glory, 1 Corinthians 1:30-31. Excluded are any who confide in their own integrity and feel that God ought to save them because of anything in themselves. They don’t see themselves as incurably sick and therefore have no need for the Great Physician. Confiding in their own righteousness, they thereby reject the Grace of God and despise the only justification before God exclusively by the shed blood of the Redeemer, Romans 3:24.

What Grace to be brought by God’s Spirit to renounce ourselves and take our place as guilty sinners before God, given eyes of Faith to look on the Blessed Redeemer crucified ALONE as our ALL in ALL, glorying in the One Who died on the cross as ALL our salvation!