Bethany Bullet - July 16, 2013

The Cross + Nothing = Everything we need to stand with confidence before God in heaven.

The Cross + Nothing = Everything we need to speak with conviction about God in the world.

These are the final equations of St. Paul’s letter to the Galatians. 

In Paul’s world the cross was not universally recognizable as a common symbol.  In Paul’s world unspeakable horror and loathing arose at the very mention or thought of a cross. “Crux” was unmentionable in polite Roman society.  Cicero records that even when one was being condemned to death by crucifixion the sentence used an archaic formula which served as a euphemism: “arbori infelici suspendito”, which means “hung on the unlucky tree.”

It would have been understandable therefore if the early Christians, knowing that the crucifixion of Jesus was an undeniable fact, had admitted it reluctantly when they were compelled to do so.  Yet for Paul, the cross is the basis not only for his personal hopes but also for his public boasts.

Why is the content of his crowing the cross?  For through it, or more precisely through the One who hung on it in our place (the perfect, holy Son of God who did fulfill the law purely and yet suffered the indignity to the unlucky tree), we who believe have been delivered from the most unspeakable horror of all, being loathsome to God forever. 

-Pastor Kevin Kritzer