The Cross Of Christ

The Cross Of Christ

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.

Galatians 6:14

The cross of Christ doesn’t refer just to the wood that Christ carried on his shoulders and on which he was nailed. It also signifies all the troubles of the faithful people whose suffering is Christ’s suffering. Paul talks about Christians enduring these sufferings in 2 Corinthians 1:5. In Colossians 1:24, he says, “Now I rejoice in what was suffered for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church.” Therefore, the cross of Christ generally refers to all the afflictions that the church suffers for the sake of Christ.

Christ himself testifies to this in Acts 9:4 when he says, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” Saul didn’t attack Christ. He persecuted his followers. But whoever touches them touches the apple of [God’s] eye (Zechariah 2:8). We know by experience that the head is more sensitive than other parts of the body. For if a toe or another tiny part of the body is injured, the head recognizes the feeling, and the face shows it. The nose wrinkles, the eyes squint, and so on. Similarly, Christ, our head, makes our afflictions his own and suffers when we, his body, suffer.

It’s helpful to remember this so that we don’t despair when our opponents persecute, excommunicate, and kill us, or when heretics hate us with such deep hostility. We should remember Paul’s example and pride ourselves in the cross. We have taken up this cross, not because of our own sins, but for the sake of Christ.