Boast Only in the Cross

Paul closes in his own hand and exposes what he believes motivates the circumcision pressure: avoiding persecution for the cross and boasting in converts’ flesh. Paul rejects that boast. His only boast is the cross of Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to him and he to the world. The decisive reality is not circumcision or uncircumcision but “a new creature”—new creation. He blesses those who walk by this rule, invokes peace and mercy “upon the Israel of God,” points to the marks of Jesus carried in his body, and ends where the letter began: grace.