BIG IDEA:
BOAST ONLY IN THE CROSS OF CHRIST AND THE CORRESPONDING SCARS OF IDENTIFICATION WITH THE CROSS
INTRODUCTION:
Thomas Schreiner: Galatians 6:11–18 should be categorized as a letter closing. The exhortation section has concluded with 6:10, and Paul now touches on several major themes of the letter. Cosgrove underestimates the role of the conclusion when he says that “the postscript itself affords no immediate entrée into the inner logic of the epistle.” The central themes of the letter are touched upon in the conclusion so that the Galatians are reminded of what is at stake in the controversy. . .
Paul’s letters typically conclude with a prayer for grace (6:18). What is striking here is that two verses earlier we also have a prayer for peace and mercy (6:16). Still, most of the elements of the conclusion are unique to Galatians and are best explained by the situation addressed in the letter. . .
Paul teaches that the cross of Christ is the decisive turning point in history so that the new creation is inaugurated. Hence, those who are still advocating circumcision have denied the cross and belong to the present evil age (1:4).
Final Summary (6:11–18)
A. The Importance of the Conclusion (6:11)
B. The Opponents’ Desire to Avoid Persecution (6:12)
C. The Opponents’ Desire for Adulation (6:13)
D. Boasting Only in the Cross (6:14)
E. Centrality of the New Creation (6:15)
F. Peace and Mercy for the Israel of God (6:16)
G. Paul’s Sufferings for the Cross (6:17)
H. Prayer Wish: Grace (6:18)
Douglas Moo: The structure of the passage is concentric. The reference to Paul’s own “signature” in verse 11 and the grace wish in verse 18 provide a formal frame around the passage. Paul’s rebuke of the agitators in verses 12–13 is matched by his plea that such people no longer “give him trouble” in verse 17. And at the center of the passage are the key theological images—crucifixion to the world; new creation; and believers as the “Israel of God,” maintaining this new-creation perspective—that should reorient the mind-set of the Galatian Christians. The passage is characterized throughout, as Weima (1994: 161) has noted, by antitheses between the agitators and Paul: they are motivated by selfish considerations while Paul is motivated by Christ’s cross; they focus on the physical mark of circumcision, Paul on the “marks” of Jesus; they are bound to this world, and Paul is bound to the next world (see also Witherington 1998: 445). And the creator of all these antitheses is the cross of Christ (vv. 12, 14).
Scot McKnight: There are two sections here: Paul’s critique of the Judaizers (vv. 12–13) and his evaluation of himself (vv. 14–17).
Paul finds four problems with the Judaizers:
(1) Their method is force (v. 12a);
(2) their motive is fear (v. 12b);
(3) their consistency is flawed (v. 13a); and
(4) their goal is to flaunt (v. 13b).
He then evaluates himself by (1) revealing his goal (v. 14), (2) reiterating his perspective on nationalism (vv. 15–16), (3) and declaring his justification for being right: he has been persecuted (v. 17).
David Platt: Main Idea: Paul summarizes some of the major themes of the letter as he contrasts his cross-centered ministry with the self-exalting ministry of the false teachers.
I. A Cross-Centered Conclusion (6:11)
II. Cross-Centered Contrasts (6:12-18)
A. A cross-centered life is humble not prideful (6:12-13).
B. A cross-centered life boasts in the cross not self (6:14a).
C. A cross-centered life treasures Christ not the world (6:14b).
D. A cross-centered life values spiritual transformation not external ritual (6:15-16).
E. A cross-centered life walks in truth not error (6:16).
F. A cross-centered life seeks to please Christ not man (6:17-18).
Richard Longenecker: The subscription of Galatians (6:11–18) highlights three matters that are to the fore in all that Paul has written regarding the judaizing threat previously in the letter:
(1) the motivation of the Judaizers as Paul saw it (vv 12–13);
(2) the centrality of the cross in the Christian gospel (v 14); and
(3) the nature of a proper Christian lifestyle as believers attempt to express their faith in the circumstances of their day (v 15).
Then there is an expanded peace benediction pronounced on all those who view the Christian life in such a way as set out in v 15 (v 16), which is followed by a further comment of warning and authority (v 17) and a grace benediction (v 18). Thus the subscription provides important clues for understanding the issues discussed throughout Galatians, particularly those having to do with the judaizing threat brought into the churches by certain legalistically oriented Jewish Christians, for it not only summarizes the main points dealt with earlier in the letter but also allows us to cut through all of the verbiage and see matters in their essence as Paul saw them.
David deSilva: The peroration (or conclusion) of an address could be expected to attend to a number of goals.
- It might provide a closing summary of the position advanced or course of action urged in the address.
- It might seek to arouse strategic emotions among the audience, to leave them in a frame of mind especially well suited to adopt the speaker’s agenda for their situation.
- It might give some parting attention to issues of credibility, both affirming the speaker’s own credibility and taking parting shots at the credibility of rival speakers or opponents, thus “disposing the hearer favourably towards oneself and unfavourably towards the adversary” (Aristotle, Rhetoric 3.19.1).
Paul’s closing lines in Galatians admirably and succinctly achieve all of these purposes for his own communiqué to his converts as they stand poised to make a decision about what course of action they will take (individually or collectively). Paul reaffirms his own credibility and his investment in his hearers (6:11, 14, 17–18), suggests two self-centered motives driving the rival teachers and calling their reliability and good will into question (6:12–13), and reminds the hearers of the major issues at stake here (6:15–16).
(:11) ASIDE: AUTHENTICITY AND IMPORTANCE OF THE EPISTLE
“See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.”
Timothy George: But why did Paul write in such large letters, that is, in Greek uncials rather than in the smaller cursive script? Much speculation has been given to this question. Was it Paul’s poor eyesight (cf. 4:15) that required him to write in this unusual manner? Or was his writing hand twisted or defective as a result of some harsh persecution he had received? Was Paul simply reflecting the fact that he wrote not as a professional scribe but as a workman whose hands were more accustomed to shaping leather and making tents than to cultivating the kind of precise penmanship many of his readers would perhaps expect from a religious teacher? Do the “large letters” signify that Paul was “a Hebrew of the Hebrews” more familiar with the large Semitic characters of his mother tongue than with the congested traffic of a Greek sentence? All of these are intriguing possibilities, but none of them can be set forth with certainty. It is more likely, as Lightfoot said, that “the boldness of the handwriting answers to the force of the apostle’s convictions. The size of the characters will arrest the attention of his readers in spite of themselves.” So, in addition to authenticating the letter as genuine and attesting that he had “meant what he said,” Paul wanted to underscore and reemphasize both the central message of the letter and his own personal investment in it.
Donald Guthrie: At this point the apostle may have taken the pen from the amanuensis and have added the concluding remarks in his own handwriting. If so, he felt it to be necessary to draw special attention to this, no doubt because the change of script would have been noticed only by the reader when the epistle was read aloud, and even he might well have overlooked the significance of the change.
David deSilva: The amplitude of the characters signals the urgency of the matters he raises and his own investment in the outcome.
Ben Witherington: Gal. 6:11 reminds us that Paul is not simply offering a speech or a discourse, but rather doing these things within an epistolary framework. As we shall see shortly, Paul is far more concerned with following rhetorical rather than epistolary conventions as he concludes Galatians, but nonetheless he does not fail to give at least a nod in the direction of the rules of first-century letter writing, as is evident here in this verse.
Philip Ryken: What had probably happened was this: According to his usual custom (e.g., Rom. 16:22), Paul had dictated most of this epistle to his amanuensis, or secretary. But he finished the document in his own handwriting, personally adding his autograph in order to give his letter to the Galatians the stamp of his apostolic authority. And he wrote his signature in large letters to underscore his conclusion. The last section of Galatians, therefore, is more than a hastily written postscript, the afterthought of an apostle. Instead, these verses constitute a summary of the entire letter. They place circumcision over against the cross, showing that justification by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone means boasting in the cross alone. To understand this is to understand Galatians. More than that, it is to understand the gospel.
John MacArthur: Paul may have used the somewhat unsightly lettering as a statement, saying, in effect, “Because of my poor eyesight, you know how hard it is for me to write by my own hand, but what I have to say is so important and urgent that I want you to have this letter in your hands as soon as possible, with as bold lettering as possible. Unlike the Judaizers, I have never tried to impress you with my scholarship, personal skills, or superficial formalities. When I first came to you, you accepted my message with gladness, although my bodily presence was unattractive. This epistle is not written attractively, either, but I hope you will receive its message with the same urgency with which it is sent.”
Richard Longenecker: The subscription of Galatians contains no greetings, whether directly from Paul himself, indirectly using the readers as his agents, or simply passing on the greetings of others (the reference to “all the brothers with me” at 1:2 of the salutation is no exception, for there endorsement rather than greeting is to the fore)—probably reflecting something of the strained relations between Paul and his converts that is evident throughout the body of the letter. Likewise, the subscription has no expression of joy, no request for prayer, and no doxology. Each of these items would have assumed a relationship of fellowship and thankfulness between Paul and his readers such as cannot be found elsewhere in the letter.
I. (:12-13) LEGALISTS SHUN THE PERSECUTION ASSOCIATED WITH THE CROSS OF CHRIST
A. Concerned with Their Worldly/Religious Reputation = Man-pleasers
“Those who desire to make a good showing in the flesh”
Ben Witherington: We must presume, I think, that the agitators were concerned about their honor rating and relationship with local Jews in Galatia, and wished to be able to report to them that they were proselytizing Gentiles and that in due course they would come around to accepting the Mosaic Law including circumcision in addition to what they believed about Jesus. Gradualism was after all a widely accepted approach in early Judaism to the acceptance of Gentiles within the people of God, as the existence of God-fearers in the synagogues shows. In this way the agitators could maintain friendly contact in and with the local synagogues as well as with the Christian community in Galatia, and furthermore could report to Jerusalem that an approach satisfactory to the most conservative Jewish Christians, and presumably various Jews as well, was being pursued on the mission field. The above scenario best accounts for all the data in Galatia.
Ronald Fung: The three motives are closely related: a good showing in the flesh provides not merely an escape from persecution (by humans) but also a ground of boasting (before both humans and God). Of these three, it is the last—that of boasting—which appears to be the basic motive.
B. Conformed to the Accepted Legalistic Rites of the Culture = Compromisers
“try to compel you to be circumcised”
George Brunk: Galatians 6:12 is the clearest statement that the opponents were trying to convince the Galatian Gentile Christians to be circumcised (cf. 5:2). In recounting the Jerusalem meeting in 2:3 Paul used the word compel to describe the pressure that some were exerting on others to be circumcised. The NRSV translation try to compel implies that the teachers may not yet have succeeded in their compelling. This rendering of the Greek verb is possible, but a more straightforward translation would be those who are compelling you to be circumcised, without implying either success or lack of success in that effort.
C. Concealed from Persecution for the Cross of Christ = Cowards
“simply that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ”
Robert Gromacki: If the Judaizers had disavowed the necessity of circumcision, they would have been ostracized by the Jewish communities. They would have been excommunicated from the synagogues, exploited financially, and probably harmed physically. The Judaizers knew that, thus they were afraid to take a stand for justification by faith alone. They were more closely identified with the Pharisees and the priests than they were with the apostles.
Thomas Schreiner: Paul insists that their avoidance of persecution reflects their dismissal of the cross of Christ. One is righteous either by circumcision or by the cross as far as Paul is concerned—either by the law or by Christ. By promoting circumcision these opponents avoided the offense of the cross (cf. 5:11). At the same time they lost any benefit in what Christ has done (5:2–4). One cannot trust in circumcision and the cross at the same time, for the cross assigns salvation to the Lord, while circumcision focuses on human obedience.
Philip Ryken: The Judaizers said that circumcision was necessary to belong to God’s covenant, but their real motivation was fear. They were afraid of what other Jews would say and do if they found out that they were worshiping with Gentiles. It would be much easier to defend their involvement with Christianity if they could say that the Gentiles in their house church kept the law of Moses. If only the Gentiles would agree to be circumcised like Jews, it would solve everything. Deep down, they were not willing to be persecuted for the cause of Christ.
D. Confused about Their Own Obedience to the Law = Hypocrites
“For those who are circumcised do not even keep the Law themselves”
E. Conceited because They Have Been Successful in Attracting a Following = Selfishly Ambitious
“but they desire to have you circumcised, that they may boast in your flesh”
Robert Gromacki: The Judaizers were a bossy bunch. They attempted to impose legalism on the Galatians. They wanted to make converts.
Philip Ryken: This was a strange boast to make, and it shows how important circumcision had become to the Jews. Apparently, the more foreskins they collected, the more impressed people would be back home in Jerusalem. The Judaizers were not really concerned about whether or not the Galatians kept God’s law; they just wanted to brag about how many converts they had made. . . Their ministry was all for show.
Showing off is one of the differences between true and false religion. False religion gets caught up in externals, like attendance figures and worship rituals. Outward religion is what cult leaders strive for when they pressure members to recruit new “converts.” It is what churches are after when they seek to entertain rather than to edify, or when they base salvation on what people do for God rather than on what God has done for them.
John MacArthur: The Judaizers who were circumcised did not even sincerely try to live by the standards of the Mosaic Law, much less by the power of the Holy Spirit. They were not even honest Jews, much less genuine Christians, Paul implies. Their religion was pure pretense, a sham display put on for the benefit of others. They performed the easy, outward surgery on each other, but never lived out the rest of God’s law.
They were greatly concerned about making proselytes to their perverted form of the gospel, which was symbolized not by baptism but circumcision. They desire to have you circumcised, Paul told the Galatians, in order that they may boast in your flesh. Although they themselves never kept it, the Judaizers zealously worked to win converts to the Law, so they could brag about their effectiveness in gaining proselytes.
II. (:14-16) LEGITIMATE DISCIPLES BOAST ONLY IN THE CROSS OF CHRIST AND FOCUS ONLY ON THE NEW CREATION =THE ONLY 2 THINGS THAT REALLY MATTER
A. (:14) The Cross of Christ Means Everything = Objective Focal Point
- It Is the Only Source for Boasting
“But may it never be that I should boast,
except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ”
Ben Witherington: In Paul’s view the present evil age exists, but has been dealt a death blow by the crucifixion of Jesus. All of the world’s basic values and assumptions and operating procedures have been put on notice that they are passing away (cf. 1 Cor. 7:31). What really matters are the new eschatological realities brought about because of the death of Christ. In Paul’s view, even the Law, as well as other good things about the material world, are part of the things that are passing away or are fading in glory (cf. 2 Cor. 3). Having lost their controlling grip on a human life when Christ came and died, one must not submit to such forces again, but rather live on the basis of the new eschatological realities. The new age has already dawned and Christians should live by its light and follow the path it illuminates.
Philip Ryken: We can boast about Christ crucified, however, only if we renounce anything and everything we can do to save ourselves. When it comes right down to it, although there are many religions, there are only two religious options: glorying in ourselves and glorying in the cross. To glory in the cross is to stop trusting in our own merits—our church attendance, worship style, devotional habits, social involvement, theological orthodoxy, or number of converts—and to start trusting in the merits of Jesus Christ alone. The cross rejects any merely human attempt to please God. It declares that “sinners may be justified before God and by God, not because of any works of their own, but because of the atoning work of Christ; not because of anything that they have done or could do, but because of what Christ did once, when He died.”
Kathryn Greene-McCreight: For Paul, conforming to the cross is his pride Boasting is, in itself, not the problem; the danger lies in the object of the boasting: “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord” (1 Cor. 1:31). Even the places where Paul might seem to boast in his own ministry, he makes clear that his pride is in the power of God working through him. Paul speaks of boasting in Christ and in his converts, especially among the Corinthians. Here in Galatians, Paul boasts specifically in the cross, the instrument of execution that, through the power of Christ’s resurrection, brings life (2:19–21; 5:24).
- It Is the Instrument of Death to the World in My Life
“through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world”
John MacArthur: The first reason Paul gives for his glorying in the cross is its power to free him from bondage to the world system of evil. The world translates kosmos (the opposite of kaos, from which we get the English chaos) and speaks of an ordered system. Our word cosmetic (derived from kosmos) has the basic meaning of covering up disorder with something that brings order. In the New Testament, kosmos refers to the order of the evil world system ruled by Satan and his agents (see John 12:31; 14:30; 1 Cor. 2:6, 8; Eph. 2:2). The life of a person apart from Jesus Christ is the life of a victim of that system. It is a meaningless life, a life with no hopeful plan, purpose, or reason for being. It is also a life ruled by the flesh, which naturally and inevitably follows the system of evil promoted by the world, whether in gross immorality or simply in day-to-day self-gratification.
The person without Christ is often haunted by the past. He cannot free himself from the guilt of things he has done and failed to do. Yet he has no way of relieving his guilt or his anxiety. He is often enthralled with the future, continually expecting tomorrow to bring better things and more meaning; but it never does, and life becomes a pile of frustrated dreams. Or he may decide hedonistically to live just for the day, taking all he can while he can. Because physical life is all he can see or cares about, he declares with ancient Greeks who denied the resurrection, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (1 Cor. 15:32). In one way or another, every unbeliever is in bondage to the futilities and frustrations of the world.
The person who belongs to Jesus Christ, however, is freed from the world’s evil and hopelessness. He knows that his past, present, and future sins are forgiven through Christ’s death, that his present life is in the Holy Spirit’s care and strength, and that his future life is as secure in heaven as if he were already there. Everything a believer ultimately treasures is in heaven. His heavenly Father is there, his Savior is there, his eternal home is there, and his reward is there. His greatest hopes are there and, although they are yet to be realized, they are assured and secured by the Lord. “He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus,” Paul declares (Phil. 1:6).
But a believer’s blessings are not all in the future. In this present life he has the awareness of God’s presence and love and peace, the consciousness that God is alive and that he himself is alive because of what Christ accomplished on the cross on his behalf. He knows that he has been blessed “with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,” chosen “in Him before the foundation of the world, [to] be holy and blameless before Him,” in love “predestined . . . to adoption as [a son] through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,” and that he has “redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of [his] trespasses, according to the riches of His grace” (Eph. 1:3-8).
In light of the immeasurable blessings of the cross, Paul therefore says, the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. As noted earlier, kosmos (world) here refers to Satan’s spiritual system under which humanity is now in bondage because of sin. In a more specific aspect it refers to Satan’s vast system of false religions, all of which are grounded in human merit and works righteousness. “The whole world lies in the power of the evil one,” John declares (1 John 5:19). Whether a person is religious or atheistic or agnostic, if he does not know Christ he is captive to the satanic system of the world. Reminding them of their pre-Christian lives, Paul told the Ephesians, “You were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest” (Eph. 2:1-3).
The world is corrupt (2 Pet. 1:4) and is going to be judged (1 Cor. 11:32), and everyone who is identified with that system is corrupt and will be judged with it. But the Christian is freed from the world’s corruption and judgment. The idea of the world and the believer being crucified to each other means they are dead to each other. As in the case of the flesh being crucified (5:24), it does not mean the world has no more influence over the believer, but that its dominion is broken and he is no longer in total bondage to it. The death blow has been dealt to the world system, so that soon it will not exist at all. It is still in the throes of dying, and it can still touch the believer with its corruption. In the meanwhile, the Christian’s citizenship is no longer in the evil world system but “in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself” (Phil. 3:20-21).
“I manifested Thy name to the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the world,” Jesus prayed to His Father. “Thine they were, and Thou gavest them to Me, and they have kept Thy word. . . . And I am no more in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep them in Thy name, the name which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as We are. . . . I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:6, 11, 15-16).
The phrase the world has been crucified to me also relates to the believer’s spiritual position before God, to the historical fact of his trusting in Christ for salvation and his spiritual union with Christ through His death on the cross. “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world,” John tells us, “and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. And who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4-5). When a person receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, sin becomes a dead issue, the law becomes a dead issue, and the world becomes a dead issue.
In light of the specific danger of the Judaizers, Paul was saying, in effect, “That part of the world system called Judaism is crucified to me and I to Judaism. It is dead to me and I am dead to it. We no longer have any part in each other.” Whatever the particular manifestation of the world system a person is trapped in, his only escape is through the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, through which he becomes dead to his old life and his old life becomes dead to him. “Our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin” (Rom. 6:6-7).
The phrase and I to the world relates to the Christian’s practical living before God. The faithful believer has no more compelling interest in the things of the world, though he still falls prey to its lusts. Just as they have become dead to him, he becomes dead to them. Obviously it makes no sense to associate with a corpse, which is the reason Paul asked the Colossians, “If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, ‘Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!’ (which all refer to things destined to perish with the using)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men?. . . If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 2:20-22; 3:1-3).
B. (:15) New Life — Not Dead Flesh – Should be the Subjective Focal Point
“For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.”
David deSilva: Inclusion in the household of God, among the children of Abraham, is not effected through circumcision, nor does uncircumcision exclude one.
Richard Longenecker: The nub of Paul’s purpose in writing Galatians and the focal point of his subscription is to be found here in v 15. He has spoken of the Judaizers’ motivation in vv 12–13 and the cross of Christ as bringing an end to any “mode of life which is characterised by earthly advantages” in v 14. Now he applies all this to the Galatian situation, stating the essence of his position in a maxim. Following the statement of this maxim, Paul pronounces a “peace benediction” on “all those who follow this rule” in v 16. . .
What, then, is the epitome of Paul’s teaching vis-à-vis the Judaizers’ claim that all Christians, whether Jews or Gentiles, must live a nomistic lifestyle in conformity to the Mosaic commandments? It is simply this: that all external expressions of the Christian faith are to be understood as culturally relevant but not spiritually necessitated, for all that really matters is that the Christian be “a new creation” and that he or she express that new work of God in ways reflective of being “in Christ” and directed by “the Spirit.” Paul is not against external expressions of one’s faith per se, nor against all cultic rituals. One’s spiritual life cannot be simply internal; it must also be expressed externally in acts of worship to God and service on behalf of God to people. But Paul is against the Judaizers’ attempt to make Gentile believers conform to Jewish laws. For while maintaining continuity with his redemptive activity for his people Israel, God has done a new thing through the work of Christ. For life now “in Christ” is to be lived not in the context of laws but in the context of “the Spirit.” It is not just “re-creation” that God effects “in Christ” and by “the Spirit,” thereby taking believers back to some primordial state. Rather, what God has done “in Christ” and by “the Spirit” is to effect a “new creation.” Therefore, “all that matters” (ἀλλά) for the Christian is the fact of being “a new creation,” with that newness of creation reflected externally in culturally relevant lives of worship and service.
Ronald Fung: Paul is saying in these two verses (vv. 14f.) that Christ, by virtue of his coming and his atoning death on the cross, has inaugurated and brought about a new creation: his cross marks an absolute break between the new and the old world. Therefore, what matters now is no longer circumcision or uncircumcision, since that distinction belongs to the old world, but participation in the new order of existence. This new order is characterized by a new relation to God which is bound to Christ and accepted by faith. The cross symbolizes this break, both in its objective significance and in its subjective meaning for Paul, and so has become Paul’s sole object of boasting. Here, too, we may discern an underlying connection between justification by faith and salvation history: the cross, which marks the line of demarcation between the old world and the new creation, also marks the line of demarcation between circumcision and the law on the one hand and justification by faith on the other, in that it rendered the former inoperative as a means of justification and brought the principle of faith into effect.
C. (:16) The Blessing of God Falls Upon All Who Boast Only in the Cross
“And those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them,
and upon the Israel of God.”
George Brunk: The word rule does not mean regulation or law, but standard of measurement. Paul may have chosen the word deliberately to avoid the connotation of law while preserving truth as a standard (cf. the truth of the gospel in 2:5, 14; and truth in 4:16; 5:7) that governs the church. The Greek word is literally canōn, which later came to designate the Christian Scriptures as the standard of truth, or rule, for the church.
John MacArthur: The Israel of God refers to Jewish believers in Jesus Christ, to those who are spiritual as well as physical descendants of Abraham (Gal. 3:7) and are heirs of promise rather than of law (v. 18). They are the real Jews, the true Israel of faith, like those referred to in Romans 2:28-29 and 9:6-7.
Alternate View seems preferable in light of the context:
Richard Longenecker: All of the views that take “the Israel of God” to refer to Jews and not Gentiles, while supportable by reference to Paul’s wider usage (or nonusage) of terms and expressions, fail to take seriously enough the context of the Galatian letter itself. For in a letter where Paul is concerned to treat as indifferent the distinctions that separate Jewish and Gentile Christians and to argue for the equality of Gentile believers with Jewish believers, it is difficult to see him at the very end of that letter pronouncing a benediction (or benedictions) that would serve to separate groups within his churches—whether he means by “the Israel of God” a believing Jewish remnant within the broader Church of both Jews and Gentiles, a nonjudaizing group of Jewish Christians in Galatia, or an eschatological Israel that is to be saved at the time of Christ’s return. Certain elements within Paul’s other letters may be used to support one or the other of these views, but Galatians itself cannot easily be used in such a manner.
Rather, it seems better to argue that here Paul is using a self-designation of his Jewish-Christian opponents in Galatia—one that they used to identify their type of fulfilled Judaism vis-à-vis the official Judaism of their national compatriots (so, tentatively, Betz, Galatians, 323). Furthermore, this was a self-designation that they must have included in their message to Paul’s Gentile converts, assuring them that by observing the God-given Jewish laws they would become fully “the Israel of God.” The phrase itself is not found in the extant writings of Second Temple Judaism or later rabbinic Judaism, and does not appear elsewhere in Paul’s letters. So it may be postulated that it arose amongst the Judaizers and became part of their message to Paul’s Galatian converts. If that be the case, then Paul here climaxes his whole response to the judaizing threat in something of an ad hominem manner, implying in quite telling fashion that what the Judaizers were claiming to offer his converts they already have “in Christ” by faith: that they are truly children of Abraham together with all Jews who believe, and so properly can be called “the Israel of God” together with all Jews who believe.
Nijay Gupta: Paul’s main point in Galatians 6:16, often lost in the minutiae of scholarly debate, is that Jew and gentile are both welcome and blessed in the household of God, not because of circumcision (or uncircumcision) but simply because of Jesus, crucified and risen, Lord and friend, Son and brother, opening up a pathway to include many brothers and sisters in the family (Rom 8:29). The rival teachers made their arguments for a circumcision-oriented path to Abrahamic sonship—they saw that as the only way to blessing and peace and mercy. Paul rejected that idea firmly. The circumcision requirement belongs to an old era; what matters now is Christ’s work in new creation and living by faith expressed in love.
(:17) VALIDATION OF THE APOSTLE’S SPIRITUALITY = THE SCARS OF PERSECUTION (FROM IDENTIFICATION WITH THE CROSS OF CHRIST)
“From now on let no one cause trouble for me,
for I bear on my body the brandmarks of Jesus”
Philip Ryken: In the Greek world, the word stigmata was sometimes used to refer to the branding of a slave. Such usage would be appropriate in Paul’s case because his scars marked him as a servant of God. But John Calvin drew a different comparison. After describing all the “imprisonment, chains, scourging, blows, stonings and every kind of ill treatment which he [Paul] had suffered for the testimony of the Gospel,” Calvin said: “For even as earthly warfare has its decorations with which generals honour the bravery of a soldier, so Christ our leader has His own marks, of which He makes good use in decorating and honouring some of His followers. These marks, however, are very different from the others; for they have the nature of the cross, and in the sight of the world they are disgraceful.
David deSilva: Paul’s scars are the marks that show whose he is, in whose service he labors. They are also the marks of his sincerity in his preaching. Despite the opposition he encountered and the physical pains he endured, Paul had not altered the message that God had entrusted to him, but rather had proven himself a loyal messenger. He was not a coward, nor was he an opportunist. Unlike the rival teachers (6:12–13), he has been willing to suffer beatings and whippings for telling the truth about what God has done in Jesus, however unpopular this stance has made him with those same people whom the rivals fear. These same scars are also proof that Paul has not “preached circumcision” where it suited him (5:11); he has preached the Torah-free gospel wherever he has gone, even when it meant being whipped for it. The absence of such marks on the bodies of the rival teachers becomes, at the same time, a stroke against them. Their smooth skin proves that they are unwilling to face the hostility that the “truth of the gospel” arouses (6:12). Paul thus asserts here at the end the physical evidence of his unassailable credibility. On this basis he commands that “no one keep making trouble for me” by calling his gospel or apostleship into question, as the rival teachers have done.
Ronald Fung: The “brand-marks of Jesus” in Paul’s body stand in antithesis to the mark of circumcision in the flesh of the Judaizers’ converts: if the Judaizers boast in circumcision as the sign of God’s covenant with Israel (cf. Rom. 2:25–29) and in the circumcised flesh of their converts (Gal. 6:13), Paul appeals to the marks of Jesus as the new eschatological sign marking the Church as the true circumcision (Phil. 3:3) and the new Israel.
(:18) CLOSING BENEDICTION
“The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen.”
Howard Vos: Then, after all the sorrow and anxiety the Galatians had cost him, Paul ends the epistle with “brethren” (it comes at the end of the verse in the original). Of all the benedictions at the end of Paul’s epistles, only this one has this term of endearment. In this way he reminds them of their unity in the faith and their relationship with Jesus Christ.
Nijay Gupta: Galatians, this fiery, radical message of cruciformity and Spirit-transformation, ends with a word of grace. Paul’s ultimate desire for the Galatian church was that they know deeply the love and grace of God shown in Jesus Christ. Before the final “amen” of the letter, we find the crucially important reference to the Galatians as “brothers and sisters” (adelphoi). This beautifully sophisticated letter is all about family. This is a household of faith welcome to all, where everyone has equal standing, and grace and love abound. To add “amen” is to commit oneself to believing that Spirit is stronger than flesh, faith is stronger than law, and the cross is the true sign of life in the age of new creation. To confess “amen” six chapters and eighteen verses into Galatians is to say, Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: A simple life of faith in Jesus, following the man of the cross, and keeping in step with the Holy Spirit, is all it takes to find your place in the great household of God, by God’s grace and sacrificial love in Jesus Christ.
Bruce Barton: No Turning Back –
Paul’s letter to the Galatians boldly declares the freedom of the Christian. Doubtless these early Christians in Galatia wanted to grow in the Christian life, but they were being misled by those who said this could be done only by keeping certain Jewish laws.
How strange it would be for a prisoner who had been set free to walk back into his or her cell and refuse to leave! How strange it would be for an animal, released from a trap, to go back inside it! How sad it would be for a believer to be freed from the bondage of sin, only to return to rigid conformity to a set of rules and regulations!
If you believe in Jesus Christ, you have been set free. Instead of going back into some form of slavery, whether to legalism or to sin, use your freedom to live for Christ and serve him as he desires.