Galatians 6:14Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

If servants boast when they receive only praise from their masters, who are of the same nature as themselves, how shall we not boast? The Master, true God, was not ashamed to endure death on the cross for us. Therefore let us not be ashamed of His ineffable mercy toward us. He was not ashamed to be crucified for you, and are you ashamed to confess His boundless mercy? In that case you are like a prisoner who formerly was not ashamed of his king. But when the king came to him in prison and removed his chains with his own hands, he then became ashamed of him because of this. That would be utter madness, since this especially is what one must boast in. "By whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." Here he calls the world not heaven and earth, but the affairs of life: praise from men, honor, glory, wealth, and all such things that usually seem brilliant. "All this," he says, "has become dead to me." Such must the Christian be, and these words he must always have on his lips. But the Apostle was not content with only the first kind of mortification. He added a second, saying: "and I to the world." By this he indicates a double mortification. It is as though he said: "This is dead to me, and I, on the other hand, am dead to it. It cannot possess me or take me captive, because it has once for all died to me. Nor can I be possessed by desire for it, because I also am dead to it." There is nothing more blessed than such mortification, for it is the foundation of blessed life. On Jn 5:44: Listen to Paul, who knew human glory precisely. He not only does not seek it, but recoils from it, saying: "God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ." Therefore be zealous for this boast, so that you may not anger the Lord. By seeking human praise, you dishonor not only yourself but God. If you were a painter and had a pupil, you yourself would not endure it indifferently if he did not show you the works of his art, but displayed the painting to ordinary spectators. If this is offensive among fellow servants, much more is it so toward the Master. On 1 Cor 6:3.

"By whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." By the world he means the affairs of life: glory, wealth, and pleasure. They have died to me, and I am dead to them. This is a double mortification. They cannot take possession of me, because they are dead. Nor can I run to them, because I am dead.

It was wondrous that the woman bound by Satan for eighteen years was loosed (Lk 13:16). Yet what is this in comparison with us, who were bound by the bonds of sins? But the crown of the Cross enlightened those blinded by ignorance, freed all who were under the power of sin, and redeemed the whole human race.

Therefore let us not be ashamed to confess the Crucified. With boldness let us make the sign of the Cross by hand on the forehead and over everything: on the bread we eat, and on the cups from which we drink. Let us make it when entering and leaving, when lying down to sleep and rising, when on the road and at rest.

It is a great protection, given as a gift to the poor and without toil to the weak. For this is the grace of God, a sign for the faithful and a terror to evil spirits. By it He "triumphed over them, making a public spectacle of them boldly" (Col 2:15). When they see the Cross, they remember the Crucified. They fear Him Who crushed the heads of the dragon.

Do not despise this sign because it has been given to you freely. For this very reason, honor the Benefactor all the more. If ever you happen to inquire into this and have no proofs, let firm faith remain in you. But having acquired much knowledge, better stop the mouths of the Jews with the Prophets, and the Greeks with their own fables.

They worship those struck by lightning. Yet lightning that descends from heaven does not descend upon such persons without cause. If they are not ashamed to worship those hated by God and struck by lightning, will you be ashamed to worship Him Who is beloved by God, the Son of God, crucified for you?

I am ashamed to speak of those whom they call gods, and because time is short I leave this aside. Let those who know these things speak. Let the mouths of all heretics be stopped. If anyone says that the Cross is an illusion, turn away from him. Hate those who say that His crucifixion was a phantom. For if crucifixion on the Cross is a phantom, while salvation comes from the Cross, then salvation too is a phantom.

If the Cross is a phantom, then the Resurrection is also a phantom. "But if Christ has not risen, we are still in our sins" (1 Cor 15:17). If the Cross is a phantom, then the Ascension is also a phantom. If the Ascension is a phantom, then the Second Coming is undoubtedly a phantom. In the end, nothing will be firm.

Let the Cross be for you the first unshakable foundation, and on it build all the rest of the doctrine of faith. Do not deny the Crucified. If you deny Him, many will convict you. Judas the traitor will convict you first. After betraying Him, he saw that Jesus had been condemned to death by the chief priests and elders. The thirty pieces of silver will testify against you.

Gethsemane, where the betrayal took place, will testify. I do not even mention the Mount of Olives, on which those who were there at night prayed. The moon of night will testify. The day will testify, and the darkened sun. It could not look upon those who took counsel in lawlessness. The fire at which Peter stood warming himself will convict you.

If you deny the Cross, eternal fire awaits you. I speak harshly so that you may not be harshly tempted. Remember the swords of Gethsemane with which they went against Christ, so that you may not be struck by the eternal sword. The house of Caiaphas will convict you. By its present desolation it manifests the power of Him Who was condemned in it then.

Herod and Pilate will stand against you, as though saying: Why do you deny Him Who was crucified by the Jews before us, and of Whom we know that He sinned in nothing? For I, Pilate, washed my hands then. The false witnesses will stand against you, and the soldiers who clothed Him in a purple robe, placed a crown of thorns on Him, crucified Him on Golgotha, and cast lots for His tunic.

Simon of Cyrene, who carried the Cross after Jesus, will convict you. Among the lights, the darkened sun will convict you. Among earthly things, the wine mingled with myrrh will convict you. Among reeds, that reed will convict you. Among plants, the hyssop will convict you. Among things produced by the sea, the sponge will convict you. Among trees, the wood of the Cross will convict you.

The soldiers, as has been said, will convict you, who nailed Him and cast lots for His garment. The soldier who pierced His side with a spear will convict you. The women who were present will convict you. The temple veil, then torn in two, will convict you. Pilate's Praetorium, now desolate by the power of Him then crucified, will convict you.

This holy Golgotha rising here, visible even to this day, will convict you. It still shows how the rocks were then split apart for Christ. The nearby tomb in which He was laid will convict you, and the stone placed at its entrance, which remains by the tomb to this day. The Angels who were then present will convict you. The women who worshiped Him after the Resurrection will convict you.

Peter and John, who ran to the tomb, will convict you. Thomas will convict you, who put his hand into His side and his fingers into the wounds from the nails. For he handled Him with such care also for our sake. What you, not being there then, would have had to seek, he found then by divine economy.

The twelve Apostles are witnesses of the Cross. The visible universe is a witness, and the world composed of men who believe in the Crucified. Even the very fact that you have now come here should convince you of the power of the Crucified. For who has brought you here now? What soldiers? By what chains were you drawn? What court compelled you?

The victorious and saving sign of the Cross of Jesus, the Cross itself, has gathered all. It subdued the Persians. It tamed the Scythians. Instead of cats and dogs and many kinds of delusions, it gave the Egyptians the knowledge of God. It heals diseases even to this day. It drives out evil spirits even to this day, and scatters the deceptions of sorcerers and magicians.

It will appear again from heaven with Jesus. For the victorious banner will go before this King, so that the Jews, seeing Him Whom they pierced and recognizing by the Cross the One they mocked, may weep in repentance. They will weep. Every tribe will weep. They will repent then, when there will be no time for repentance.

But let us boast in the Cross with rapture, worshiping the Lord Who was sent and crucified for us, and worshiping God the Father Who sent Him, together with the Holy Spirit. To Him be glory unto ages of ages. Amen.

When, after being freed from outward things, he struggles against the very pleasures themselves, against the desire for things, and against his own wishes, and when he puts his passions to death, then he himself is crucified to the world. Then he is counted worthy to say with the Apostle: "The world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."

For this reason Christians who believe in Christ sign themselves with the sign of the cross, not simply, not carelessly, not negligently, but with all attention, fear, trembling, and deepest reverence. For the form of the cross shows the reconciliation and fellowship into which man has entered with God. Therefore the demons fear the form of the cross. They cannot bear to see the sign of the cross traced even in the air, but immediately flee from it. They know that the cross is the sign of the fellowship of men with God. They know that they, as apostates and enemies of God, removed from His divine face, no longer have freedom to approach those who have been reconciled to God and united with Him. They can no longer tempt them. If it seems that they tempt some Christians, let everyone know that they fight those who have not properly understood the exalted mystery of the cross. But those who have understood this mystery, and in very deed have learned by experience the authority and power that the cross has over demons, have also learned that the cross gives the soul firmness, strength, understanding, and divine wisdom. These cry out with great joy: "God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" (Gal 6:14). Therefore, since the sign of the cross is great and dread, every Christian is bound to make it with fear, trembling, reverence, and attention. He must not do it simply and carelessly, merely by habit and with negligence. For according to the reverence each person has toward the cross, he receives corresponding strength and help from God, to whom be glory and dominion unto the ages. Amen. Having said, "by whom the world has been crucified to me," the Apostle shows this: if the Lord had not come, had not become man, and had not offered Himself as a sacrifice for us, no one would ever have been freed from the world's bonds. This would also be true if He had not been pleased so to order things that everyone who believes in Him, being filled with sanctification through the reception of His grace, is freed from those bonds. These bonds are the three passions, for they are the bonds of the world. All would perish, for there is no other path to salvation and there can be none.

By the power of the Cross of Christ the world is crucified to me, and I am crucified to the world. But how is this? He who fears neither persecutions from Gentiles nor attacks from Jews, and who counts bodily rest, human respect, worldly honor and glory, in a word, everything worldly, as refuse, that he may gain Christ (Phil 3:8), is like Paul strengthened by the grace of the Cross. He is well pleased "in weaknesses, in insults, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ" (2 Cor 12:10). In such a man the world can do nothing. For him it is crucified, that is, dead and ineffective. Thus the world was crucified to Paul. Of this he said: "the world has been crucified to me."

And when a man is persecuted, reproached, despised by the world, and regarded as the refuse of the world and the offscouring of all things (1 Cor 4:13), yet endures this magnanimously and joyfully, like Paul strengthened by the power of the Cross, the world considers him as crucified. That is, it regards him as dead and motionless. This is what it means: "By Whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."

Holy is such boasting. But why "only," as though he were saying, only in the Cross of Christ? Because the Cross of Christ accomplished the work of God, that is, the salvation of men. But were not the Incarnation of God the Word, His suffering, Resurrection, Ascension, sitting at the right hand of majesty, and the sending of the All-Holy Spirit from heaven also saving works of God? Why, then, did the God-inspired Paul boast not in these but in the Cross?

The Incarnation of the Son of God had as its aim the salvation of men, but not its completion. So we believe and confess, saying: "For us men and for our salvation He came down from heaven, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became man." The suffering of the incarnate Son of God was also the beginning of salvation, but not its completion. "For it was fitting that He, for Whom and by Whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, should perfect the Author of their salvation through sufferings" (Heb 2:10).

He completed it through sufferings when, on the Cross, He offered Himself as a sacrifice to God for our sins and gave His soul to God and the Father. Then He completed the work of our salvation. Therefore, when He was hanging on the Cross and received the vinegar, He said: "It is finished." Then "He bowed His head and gave up His spirit" (Jn 19:30).

"It is finished": the enmity between God and men has come to an end. "It is finished": the dominion of sin and the power of death have come to an end. "It is finished": the work of the salvation of men has been accomplished. The Resurrection, the Ascension, the sitting at the right hand, and the descent of the Holy Spirit were the consequences and fruits of the life-giving sacrifice accomplished on the Cross.

Therefore he who boasts in the Cross of Christ boasts in all the mystical works of God accomplished for our salvation. This, then, is the reason why the God-taught Paul boasted in nothing other than the Cross of Christ.

Truly the Cross of Christ is worthy of being boasted in, not only for the reason explained, but also because of the great and most glorious works accomplished by Him Who was crucified on it. The Jews considered the Cross an instrument of shame, and the crucified one accursed. The Greeks had many great gods, but since they did not have a crucified God, they considered the preaching of the Cross foolishness.

Paul and the other Apostles knew the thoughts of the Jews about the Cross and the mockery of the Greeks against the Crucified. Yet, in no way holding back, they boldly preached everywhere to Jews and Gentiles that the Cross is the instrument of salvation. They preached that Jesus Christ, crucified on it, is God and Creator of all visible and invisible creation. "But we preach," said Paul, "Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness" (1 Cor 1:23).

This is not strange. The Apostles were assured of the truth of the faith by what they had seen and heard. Breathing divine zeal, they preached to Jews and Greeks that the crucified Jesus Christ is true God. Therefore they said: "We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:20).

What is wondrous is how the stumbling block persuaded the Jews, and how the foolishness convinced the Greeks. Wondrous and incomprehensible is how an Israelite, believing that everyone hanging on a tree is accursed by God, and a Greek, prejudiced that such preaching is foolishness, came to believe and be assured that Christ, condemned to death under Pontius Pilate as a criminal, crucified and dead, is God, Almighty, Creator, and Provider of all visible and invisible things. Wondrous and incomprehensible is how so countless a multitude of Jews and Gentiles accepted such a faith.

Thus, brethren, as far as possible and as the required brevity allowed, we have examined these God-inspired words: "But God forbid that I should boast, except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Gal 6:14). What have we learned from this examination? We have learned that Paul's boasting was holy and pleasing to God, because he boasted in the great and supernatural works accomplished by Jesus, crucified for us. But the boasting of those who exalt themselves in their own works or goods is a sin hated by God and deserving great punishment.

We have also learned from this that the acceptance and spread of the Christian faith are works of the right hand of the crucified Jesus Christ. Blessed, then, is he who, imitating Paul, boasts in the Cross of Christ. Miserable is he who, imitating proud men, boasts in his own goods and works.

Who can boast like Paul in the Cross of Christ? No one except the one who, like him, has crucified worldly desires. Truly no one boasts like Paul except the one who nails his mind to Mount Golgotha, depicts in his heart the Cross and the Lord's Passion, and, seeing Him always hanging on the Cross, crucifies his flesh "with the passions and desires" (Gal 5:24). Such a man truly boasts like Paul, saying: "But God forbid that I should boast, except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."

Thus the world was crucified to the Apostle, and the Apostle to the world (Gal 6:14). Holy David prayed to God for the gift of strength and ability for such crucifixion: "Nail my flesh with the fear of Thee" (Ps 118:120). That is, nail my fleshly mind and my will, so that they may remain inactive.

She proclaims the word of the cross by oral preaching, by the sign, and by its material image. In it She finds consolation, glory, and salvation for Herself. "By whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." In contrast to the false teachers, the Apostle boasts in the cross of Christ, by which the whole world died to him, ceased to exist, and ceased to attract his attention. Through this same cross the Apostle himself no longer exists for the world. Everything in him has been slain for sin.

At its foot I have laid down all my earthly advantages. Let anyone boast in whatever he wishes. I boast in nothing except the Cross of the Lord. I boast in it alone. God forbid that I should ever boast in anything else except Thy Cross. Such was the holy Apostle, and so he preached. In the work of salvation no one should rely on anything except the Cross of the Lord.

To boast only in the Cross of the Lord means to believe that by it alone salvation is given. It means to base one's salvation on nothing else but it. It means not only to believe in its power and to base salvation upon it, but actually to regard oneself as saved in it. Just as someone boasts in a patent granted by a king, with full knowledge of its force, so the Christian boasts in the Cross, presenting it as a patent for salvation.

By this complete hope in the Cross all Jewish rites are brought to nothing. In Christianity, saving power apart from the Cross is denied to everything that anyone might do or undertake. Sufferings for the faith stand above all else, but their whole value comes from faith in the power of the Cross of Christ. Beyond everything, one must cleave to the Cross of the Lord. Then, once you have cleaved to it, boast loudly before all in your salvation. It is yours.

Besides faith in the saving power of the Cross for oneself, to boast in the Cross also means to endure with joy everything humiliating, every deprivation and suffering, for this faith and the preaching of it. This is to boast that you bear the Cross which is Christ's Cross. It is borne for Him and grafts one into His Cross.

This was also true of the Apostle. When he boasted in the Cross, he boasted that he believed in it, preached it, and bore for it every sorrow and deprivation. Saint Chrysostom says: "This is considered dishonorable, but only in the world and among unbelievers. In heaven and among the faithful it is the greatest glory. Poverty is dishonorable for others, but for us it is praise. To suffer mockery seems ridiculous to many, but we boast in it. So too the Cross is our boast.

"What, then, is the boast in the Cross? It is that Christ for my sake took the form of a servant and endured sufferings for me, a servant, an enemy, and an ungrateful one. He loved me so much that He gave Himself over to death for me. What can be found equal to this? If slaves boast when they receive only praise from their masters, who are of the same nature as they are, how shall we not boast when the Lord, the true God, was not ashamed of the Cross for us?

"Therefore let us not be ashamed of His ineffable mercy toward us. He was not ashamed to be crucified for you. Will you be ashamed to confess His boundless mercy? This would be like a prisoner who had not been ashamed of his king before, but then, when the king came into his prison and loosed his bonds with his own hands, became ashamed of him for this. That would be utter madness. For this especially must be our boast."

"By Whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." To be crucified to something means to die to it. The Apostle says: by the power of the Cross of Christ, the world is dead to me and I to the world. It does not exist for me, and I do not exist for it.

The world means everything earthly and human: honor, glory, wealth, consolations, and everything by which a man on earth thinks to establish his happiness and satisfaction. When the Apostle says that all this is dead to him, he affirms that he has cast it all aside. When he says that he is dead to all this, he affirms that he has no sympathy for any of it. He finds no taste in it. It does not occupy or attract him.

Saint Chrysostom says: "By the world the Apostle here means not heaven and earth, but the affairs of life, praise from men, glory, wealth, and everything similar that seems bright and brilliant. All this, he says, has become dead for me. Such a Christian must be, and he must always carry these words within himself. But the Apostle was not satisfied with only the first form of death. He added another, saying: and I to the world. By this he teaches a double death. It is as though he said: this is dead to me, and I am dead to it. It cannot capture me, for it is already dead. I do not want to desire it, because I too am dead to it. What can be more blessed than such death? It is the foundation of the blessed life."

This is because death to the world is produced by life for God and in God. Those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the passions and desires. Behold death to the world. But at the very time this self-crucifixion is accomplished, the life of Jesus is also formed in our mortal nature, deadened to sin. Behold life in Christ Jesus. The Apostle immediately reminds us of this.