+I. When professed teachers do not practise the virtues they
enforce on others.+
+II. When zeal for the observance of outward rites disguises the
lack of personal godliness.+
+III. When success is sought simply to be able to boast of success.+
_MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verses_ 14, 15.
_Glorying in the Cross_--
+I. Because of the great truths it reveals.+--"But God forbid that I
should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" (ver. 14).
"The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ" is a comprehensive phrase
signifying the whole redeeming work of Christ--the salvation effected
for the race by His crucifixion and death upon the cross. The problem
how God can forgive sin without any breach in His moral government,
or dimming the lustre of His perfections, is solved in the cross. God
is great in Sinai. The thunders precede Him, the lightnings attend
Him, the earth trembles, the mountains fall in fragments. But there
is a greater God than this. On Calvary, nailed to a cross, wounded,
thirsting, dying, He cries, "Father, forgive them; they know not what
they do!" Great is the religion of power, but greater is the religion
of love. Great is the religion of implacable justice, but greater is
the religion of pardoning mercy. The cross was the master-theme of
the apostle's preaching and the chief and exclusive subject of his
glorying.
+II. Because of its contrast to effete ceremonialism.+--"For in
Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor
uncircumcision" (ver. 15). To the Jew circumcision was everything. By
the cross Judaism, as a means of salvation, is utterly abolished.
Uncircumcision includes all Gentile heathenism. Before the cross all
heathen religions must perish. The Gentile cultus was never intended
to supplant Jewish customs; both are excluded as unavailing in human
salvation. The devotees of form and ceremony are apt to develop into
bigotry and pride; the foes of ritualism are in danger of making a
religion of their opposition; and both parties indulge in
recriminations that are foreign to the spirit of Christianity. "Thus,
I trample on the pride of Plato," said the cynic, as he trod on the
philosopher's sumptuous carpets; and Plato justly retorted, "You do
it with greater pride." Ceremonialism is effete, and is not worth
contending about. It is nothing; Christ is everything, and the cross
the only subject worthy of the Christian's boast.
+III. Because of the moral change it effects.+--"But a new
creature"--a new creation (ver. 15). In the place of a dead
ceremonialism the Gospel plants a new moral creation. It creates a
new type of character. The faith of the cross claims to have produced
not a new style of ritual, not a new system of government, but new
men. The Christian is the "new creature" which it begets. The cross
has originated a new civilisation, and is a conspicuous symbol in the
finest works of art. Ruskin, describing the artistic glories of the
Church of St. Mark in Venice, says: "Here are all the successions of
crowded imagery showing the passions and pleasures of human life
symbolised together, and the mystery of its redemption: for the maze
of interwoven lines and changeful pictures lead always at last to the
cross, lifted and carved in every place and upon every stone,
sometimes with the serpent of eternity wrapped round it, sometimes
with doves beneath its arms and sweet herbage growing forth from its
feet; but conspicuous most of all on the great rood that crosses the
church before the altar, raised in bright blazonry against the shadow
of the apse. It is the cross that is first seen and always burning in
the centre of the temple, and every dome and hollow of its roof has
the figure of Christ in the utmost height of it, raised in power, or
returning in judgment." The true power of the cross is not artistic
or literary or political, but moral. It is a spiritually transforming
force that penetrates and guides every form of human progress.
+IV. Because of personal identification with its triumph over the
world.+--"By whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the
world" (ver. 14). As the world of feverish pleasure, of legal
ordinances, was conquered by the cross, so the faith of the apostle
in the crucified One gave him the victory over the world, so that it
lost all power to charm or intimidate. The world of evil is doomed,
and the power of the cross is working out its ultimate defeat. I have
seen a curious photograph of what purports to be a portrait of the
Saviour in the days of His flesh, and which by a subtle manipulation
of the artist has a double representation. When you first look upon
the picture you see the closed eyes of the Sufferer, and the face
wears a pained and wearied expression; but as you gaze intently the
closed eyes seem to gently open and beam upon you with the light of
loving recognition. So, as you gaze upon the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ it seems to you the symbol of suffering and defeat, but as you
keep your eyes steadily fixed upon it the cross gradually assumes the
glory of a glittering crown, incorruptible, undefiled, and that
fadeth not away (1 Pet. i. 4).
+Lessons.+--1. _The cross is the suggestive summary of saving truth._
2. _The cross is the potent instrument of the highest moral
conquests._ 3. _The cross is the loftiest theme of the believer's
glorying._
_GERM NOTES ON THE VERSES._