“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” (Galatians 6:14).

In contrast to the Judaizers boasting in the flesh, Paul only gloried in the Lord who had laid His life down for the atonement of believers.

He gloried in the cross. The cross represents everything about God’s grace, mercy, love, wisdom, etc., while at the same time representing shame, reproach, and foolishness to the world. There is an intimate connection with the cross and the Christian. Upon faithful obedience to the gospel message, Paul suggests there is A Double Crucifixion involving the believer and the world:

“The world has been crucified to me” – The world is everything contrary to God. “Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God” (James 4:4). For an individual to receive remission of sins he must first repent (cf. Acts 2:38). Repentance is a complete change of mind with regard to the world. It is now repugnant to the Christian, and to be avoided. It is full of folly, and shame. It is the Christian’s resolve to live for righteousness as he walks in newness of life (cf. Romans 6:12-14).

“And I to the world” – When one crucifies the world to himself he must not be naïve in thinking this has no consequences. The world will “think it strange that you do not run with them in the same flood of dissipation, speaking evil of you” (1 Peter 4:4). Jesus suffered a cruel death, a shameful death in the eyes of the world. Therefore He says, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you” (John 15:18). “Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12). The world is foolish to you, but you are therefore foolish to the world (cf. 1 Corinthians 1:18).