“But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.”
β Galatians 6:14-15
Context & Key Themes
Chapter 6 closes the letter. After the fierce polemic of the earlier chapters and the practical ethics of chapter 5, Paul turns to the shape of community life among those who walk by the Spirit. He gives instructions on how believers should handle one another in moments of failure, how they should bear each other’s burdens while still taking responsibility for their own walk, and how they should relate to those who teach them. Then, in the closing paragraph, he takes the pen himself from the hand of his scribe β as he tells them explicitly β and writes the final section in his own large handwriting, driving home the core message of the letter one last time: the agitators have mixed motives, the cross is the only legitimate boast, and what finally counts is not ritual alteration of the body but the new creation that Christ has begun.
The closing section contains some of the most quoted lines in Paul’s writings. God is not mocked. Whatever a person sows, that he will also reap. Let us not grow weary in doing good. Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Each of these functions as both a summary of something Paul has been arguing and a principle that has carried believers through every century since.
The autograph at verse 11 β see with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand β is one of the most striking details in any of Paul’s letters. Paul normally dictated his letters to a scribe, as Romans 16:22 makes explicit when the scribe Tertius sends his own greetings. Here Paul takes the pen for the conclusion and signs off personally, in handwriting that is deliberately visible and large. Some have speculated the large letters reflect Paul’s poor eyesight; others have suggested they are for emphasis, a way of pounding the table one more time in case any Galatian reader had missed what had come before. Either way, the shift to Paul’s own hand is a mark of how seriously he takes the moment. The letter that began with astonishment ends with the apostle’s own handwriting pressed visibly onto the page.
Summary
Paul opens the chapter with instructions for the Spirit-led community. If someone is caught in any transgression, those who are spiritual β that is, those walking by the Spirit β should restore him in a spirit of gentleness, keeping watch on themselves lest they too be tempted. The Greek verb for restore is katartizete, the same word used for setting a broken bone or mending a torn fishing net: the goal is healing and return to usefulness, not punishment or exclusion. Believers are to bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
Paul then adds a balance. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Each person should test his own work, and then his boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. For each will have to bear his own load. The apparent contradiction with the previous verse β bear one another’s burdens β is resolved by the two different Greek words Paul uses. BarΔ, the word for burdens in verse 2, refers to a crushing weight that is too heavy for one person to carry alone. Phortion, the word for load in verse 5, refers to the pack each soldier was expected to carry as his own responsibility. There is no contradiction. Believers help each other with crushing weights while each still carries his own proper share.
Paul then turns to the relationship between teachers and those they teach. The one who is taught the word must share all good things with the one who teaches. This is consistent with what Paul taught at Corinth β the laborer deserves his wages β even though Paul himself chose not to accept pay from the Corinthians. The principle stands regardless of his personal practice in specific situations.
He then delivers the famous warning. Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. The one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption; the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. So believers must not grow weary in doing good, for in due season they will reap if they do not give up. As they have opportunity, then, they should do good to everyone, especially to those of the household of faith.
At verse 11 Paul takes the pen himself. See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. What follows is the autograph closing. Those who want to make a good showing in the flesh β the Judaizers β are trying to compel the Galatians to be circumcised for one reason: so that they, the agitators, will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. Their motive is not zeal for the law; it is protection from the social and religious hostility that following Christ crucified brings. Even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law; they want the Galatians circumcised so they can boast in their flesh β so they can report back to their backers in Jerusalem that they have added another notch of Gentile conformity.
Then the final theological declaration. Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Paul’s only boast is the cross β the instrument of the Roman empire’s criminal execution, shame, and defeat, which has become for him the instrument through which the world’s claim on him has been put to death and his claim on the world has been put to death in return. Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; what counts is a new creation. Peace and mercy be on all who walk by this rule, and upon the Israel of God.
He closes with one last personal note. From now on let no one cause me trouble, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus. The Greek word for marks is stigmata β the word for the brand that identified a slave’s owner or the scar that identified a soldier’s service. Paul is saying, in effect: the Galatians can see from the scars on his body whose he is and what his allegiance has cost. He does not need to be bothered by those whose credentials are easier than this. And then the final benediction: the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers. Amen.
Reflection
The opening restoration passage in verses 1-2 gives the early church’s framework for handling moral failure among its own, and it is worth holding against the two extremes the church has repeatedly drifted toward. One extreme is the harsh excommunication that treats every fall as proof the fallen was never a believer, cuts them off entirely, and washes hands of the work of restoration. The other extreme is the permissive silence that refuses to name sin as sin and lets the sinner drift further into destruction without intervention. Paul names a third way. The sinner has been caught β the word suggests being discovered or overtaken, not premeditated rebellion. Those who are spiritual are to restore him, with the gentleness and attention of a doctor setting a broken bone. And the restorers are to watch themselves, because the same temptations that brought down the brother can bring them down too. This is the pastoral posture the New Testament commends. It is neither harsh nor indulgent. It aims at healing.
The sowing-and-reaping principle in verses 7-8 is stated in its most general form and applies broadly. Paul’s immediate application is to the Galatians’ choice between flesh and Spirit β if they continue sowing to the flesh by adopting law-keeping as a supplement to Christ, they will reap corruption; if they sow to the Spirit by walking in the freedom Christ gave them, they will reap eternal life. But the principle extends beyond this immediate situation. The life a person leads is the seed that is being planted every day, and the harvest is coming. God is not mocked. What looks like it might be gotten away with in the present is, in fact, producing its own harvest at a slower pace than human impatience would prefer. Believers who feel they are sowing into nothing, who have been doing good without visible results, are encouraged: the harvest is coming in due season if they do not give up.
The autograph section is one of the most personal moments in Paul’s writings. He literally takes the pen from his scribe and writes the closing himself, in deliberately large handwriting. And what he writes is a final unmasking of the opponents followed by a final declaration of his own position. The opponents’ motive, Paul says bluntly, is self-protection. They are pushing circumcision on the Galatians not because they love the law but because they are afraid of being persecuted for the cross. The cross of Christ generates opposition, and the agitators want to avoid that opposition by adding enough Jewish practice to the gospel that it becomes socially defensible in Jewish circles. This is ancient cowardice dressed in ancient piety. It has been repeated in every generation since, under different costumes.
Paul’s counter-declaration is breathtaking in its completeness. Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. The cross was, in Paul’s Roman world, the utmost shame. No respectable person would boast of association with a crucified man. Paul has inverted the entire scale of honor. What the world calls shameful is the only thing he will boast in, because the cross has performed a double crucifixion for him β the world’s power to determine his worth has been put to death, and his own captivity to the world’s measures has been put to death. Neither circumcision nor its absence matters. What matters is the new creation β the same new creation he had named in 2 Corinthians 5 β that has begun in Christ and is breaking through into every person joined to him by faith.
The closing line about the stigmata of Jesus is Paul’s final answer to the Galatian opponents. They wanted to mark Gentile bodies with the knife of circumcision as proof of allegiance. Paul is saying: look at my body. It has marks already. They were not put there by the knife of a mohel making a convert; they were put there by the whips and rods and stones of those who tried to stop the cross from being preached. His body is branded with the marks of his Lord’s service. No further mark is needed, and no further argument is necessary. The apostle who closes this letter is a man who bears in his flesh the evidence of whose he is, and the evidence does not match the agitators’ argument. They want easier credentials. Paul has the credentials that come from refusing to seek easier ones. And with that he signs his name, blesses his readers’ spirits with the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and lays down the pen.