29. Benediction of Liberty - 6:18
Benediction of Liberty - 6:18 “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren. Amen.” (6:18) This is what we all need, the resources that are in the Lord Jesus Christ and His grace. Over against the law keepers, the Judaizers, those who wanted to make a fair show in the flesh, he puts the resources that we have through the grace of God (and God is the God of all grace, 1 Peter 5:10). So “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ”means that all the kinds of grace that are needed are available in Him. The Cross
I want to close with a few comments about the cross. First, I draw attention to chapter 2 verse 20, which demonstrates that the cross sets aside the first “I”and introduces the new “I.”It is an important example of the tremendous difference between what is before the cross and after the cross: the old “I”and the new “I.”The cross sets aside what is of the flesh and introduces what is of the Spirit of God. The cross is the ‘wall of separation’between bondage and liberty, between the life of the sinner outside of Christ (which is morally death) and eternal life in fellowship with Him. This is why there are these huge contrasts in Galatians. The noun ‘cross’and the verb ‘crucify’together are used seven times in Galatians (the seven references are quoted from JND):
“For I, through law, have died to law, that I may live to God”(2:19);
“O senseless Galatians, who has bewitched you; to whom, as before your very eyes, Jesus Christ has been portrayed, crucified among you?”(3:1);
“But I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why am I yet persecuted? Then the scandal of the cross has been done away”(5:11);
“But they that are of the Christ have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts”(5:24);
“As many as desire to have a fair appearance in the flesh, these compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not be persecuted because of the cross of Christ”(6:12);
“But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ”(6:14);
“...through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world”(6:14).