Weekly Bible Study

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Galatians 6:14-18

"May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."

In order to understand properly the context of this quote from Galatians, we first need to consider the “Judaizers.”  These Jewish Christians in the early church held that circumcision and the observance of the Mosaic Law were necessary for salvation and wished to impose them on the Gentile converts or require them of other Jewish Christians.

Paul admonishes those of the Galatian church who continue to promote the notion that their external acts, behaviors and achievements mark them as believers. These acts seemingly became a source of boasting.

Paul points them, rather, in the direction of the one and only reality that must be the source of their boasting: the cross.  In this context “cross” signifies the whole Christ-event, the Paschal Mystery.  When he says “the world has been crucified to me and I to the world,” Paul has put to death within himself all that is opposed to his new faith. He looks to the cross as the true symbol of transformation. The reality of the Paschal Mystery is now so central to Paul’s life that he is totally absorbed in its power to shape his life.

Would that we could even come close to Paul’s resolve!

The author, Ms. Barbara Gawle, leads Bible studies at her parish, Incarnation Church of Wethersfield, CT. She is a CBS graduate and the 2012 recipient of the Biblical School's highest award, The Lawrence Boadt Memorial Medal.