I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus (Galatians 6:17)

Galatians 6:11-18 and Paul’s Own Hand

Thank you for listening to this message from the ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts. Morse Corner is a non-denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information, visit our website, morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message. So if you would, please turn to the book of Galatians chapter 6. Galatians chapter 6, and the title of this message is Stigmata, a New Creation, and the Israel of God.

So this is going to be the final message from the book of Galatians. And in this last section, verses 11 through 18, this must be important because Paul decided that he was going to write this last section with his own hand.

So some of you know this, that Paul would dictate his letters. His secretary would write the letter and then at the end, Paul would usually sign his name. So there'd be something about his signature. They could identify it.

Okay, this letter is from Paul. So it's authentic. It's authoritative. But this time Paul writes a whole section at the end of Galatians. So that's pretty significant. And we're going to look at several things this morning.

False Teachers, the Cross, and the New Creation

Some final statements about the Judaizing false teachers and how their goal was to draw disciples away from themselves. We're going to see this statement by Paul that the world, he said, is crucified to him.

What does that mean? He says, what matters is the new creation. And hopefully everyone here this morning, hopefully everyone listening is a new creature in Christ. Because if that's not the case, nothing else matters.

What matters most is that you're a new creation. And then finally, Paul makes some statements about the Israel of God. Who is the Israel of God? There's some questions about that. So these are the things we're going to be looking at.

But before we do, let's open in a word of prayer. Lord, we thank you for all that we've learned from this letter written by your faithful servant. And how the gospel has been defended with such clarity in Galatians.

That salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. And Lord, help us through your Holy Spirit to walk as new creatures in Christ Jesus. Walking in the spirit and enjoying the fruit of the spirit.

Which the scripture says is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Lord, we thank you for these gifts of grace. We ask all this in Jesus' name.

Amen. Galatians chapter 6 verses 11 through 18. Paul writes, see with what large letters I have written to you with my own hand. And this statement along with another statement where Paul tells the church, if you could have taken out your own eyes and given them to me, you would have.

So based on these statements, many believe that Paul had a vision problem. And that's why he had to write so big. And that's probably the case. But you see that Paul is writing himself. Okay. Verse 12.

And as many as desire to make a good showing in the flesh, these would compel you to be circumcised, only that they may not suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. The false teachers were teaching this doctrine of salvation through the law or salvation through circumcision to do what?

To escape persecution. Verse 13, for not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh. 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.

For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything but a new creation. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace and mercy be upon them and upon the Israel of God. And from now on, let no one trouble me for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.

Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen. And that closes the book of Galatians. Now, I just want to make one comment on verse 17 where Paul says, I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.

What does he mean by that? I bear in my body. Well, how many of you have heard of the stigmata or you've heard of stigmata? Okay, I'll give a definition in a moment. The last year I was down in Pennsylvania and I saw a sign advertising the St. Padre Pio Center.

I don't know how many of you are familiar with St. Padre Pio. I'm familiar enough to know the name that he's venerated by the Roman Catholic Church as a saint. Of course, we know in the Bible all Christians are called saints, but that's in their system.

You have to be this high elevated person who gets canonized. But anyways, the Padre Pio Center. What he is known for, this man, he is known for displaying the marks of the stigmata. Basically, he had open wounds in his hands.

The idea is miraculously, the wounds of Jesus in the crucifixion appeared on his body. And he showed it to all and people looked at him and he bears the marks of the Lord Jesus. And they tie that into this verse in Galatians.

I'd just like to read from this article. Stigmata are the appearances or the appearance of bodily wounds, scars and pain, in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus Christ. For example, these would be nail prints in the hands and in the feet and then marks on the forehead corresponding to the crown of thorns.

Stigmatics are exclusively associated with Roman Catholicism. Many reported stigmatics are members of Catholic religious orders. For example, St. Francis of Assisi. The current Pope is named after St. Francis of Assisi.

Well, St. Francis is the first recorded stigmatic over 50 years ago. Or this is from the time of the writing of this. St. Padre Pio, he reported stigmata, which were studied by several 20th century physicians.

And the first and only stigmatics have been Catholics who lived after the great schism of 1054. So just the past thousand years, St. Francis of Assisi was the first one to claim these marks. In recent times, St. Padre Pio was one who claimed to have the marks of the stigmata.

Says that over 80 of all stigmatics are women. And in his book, Stigmata, A Medieval Phenomenon in a Modern Age, Ted Harrison suggests that there is no single mechanism whereby the marks of stigmata were produced.

Harrison says that most cases of stigmata have been debunked as trickery. Okay, so I know I was seeing some confused looks on your faces. Pat, what are you doing talking about this? Notice that most cases of stigmata have been debunked as trickery.

Some cases have also included reportings of a mysterious chalice and visions being given to stigmatics to drink from. Or the feeling of a sharp sword being driven into one's chest. Now, with all that said, what does this have to do with Galatians chapter six?

Well, I don't think it has to do anything with Galatians chapter six. But Rome, in seeking biblical support, they appeal to this statement by the Apostle Paul in verse 17 when he says, From now on, let no one trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.

You know, like it or not, when you teach the Bible, you have to teach what's true. And sometimes you have to address those false teachings that are associated with the text. So they would say, look, Paul experienced the stigmata.

He bore the wounds of Christ. Now, is that what Paul said? No. Did Paul say he had nail prints in his hands from Jesus? Did Paul say he had the crown of thorns appear, the marks on his forehead? No. Did he say he had wounds in his feet or he felt a sword thrust through his?

No. I mean, Paul did not say this. So what does he mean? Basically, Paul suffered for Christ. So if you met Paul, if you were around, Paul could probably tell you that one time I preached the gospel and the Jews got upset with me.

Look at this scar right here. That's what I got here. And look at this wound here. And he could show you the marks. He could show you the scars. He could show you the bruises, the things that he suffered for the Lord Jesus.

So Paul, as an apostle, he suffered like, quite frankly, no other man had suffered. So he bore those marks, those wounds, those scars in his own body. So really, it's that simple. And what's this statement where he says, from now on, let no one trouble me.

Basically, he's saying, you know, stop, these false teachers need to stop giving me grief. Because the false teachers were speaking against Paul, casting doubt on his authority as an apostle. So the false teachers, did they suffer for Christ's sake?

Did they suffer like Paul? No. They escaped persecution by teaching what people wanted to hear. They escaped persecution by teaching the law. Salvation through the law, which is what was popular. So Paul is appealing to the wounds and scars on his body as proof of his commitment to the Lord Jesus.

We talked about this, I think, last week, that Jesus warned his disciples that they would have to suffer for his namesake. He said, if a man is not willing to take up the cross and carry the cross, he cannot be my disciple.

So Paul preached the cross. And that was not a popular doctrine. Today, we're so used to the cross, right? Here it is, it's right in our church. The cross is the symbol of Christianity. People see it and they don't think much of it because we're so accustomed to it.

Do you realize 2 ,000 years ago it wasn't like that? When people saw a cross, some people have compared the cross to like if a church today had a symbol or a picture of the electric chair as the symbol of their church.

You would say, why? This is kind of strange. It's grotesque. It's a sign of death. So the cross was an offense to people. But Paul preached the cross. And because he preached the cross, he was persecuted.

The Judaizers, on the other hand, they didn't preach the cross. They preached that salvation came through what? Works. Right, the works of the law. So that's a popular message. And, you know, it's still a popular message today.

These would be like preachers today who tell people what they want to hear. Hey, you're a good person. You're saved because of all the good things that you do. You know, you're a champion. You're a victor.

You're going to succeed. People like that. Yeah, I am a pretty good person. Yeah, I am going to succeed. Yeah, I am going to get that promotion at work. So when people preach that and sprinkle in a little Jesus on top of it, call it Christianity and there you go.

That's essentially what the false teachers were doing. Salvation through the law is based on what you do. People like that. But preaching Christ and his suffering and the crucifixion, friends, that's not something people wanted to hear about.

So some of the Jews could even make room for Jesus. Typically we think of the Jewish people, either they accepted Jesus or they did not. But there was a lot of Jews that could maybe make room for Jesus as a prophet.

Salvation through the law, faith in Jesus, okay. But a crucified Messiah is the one thing they could not handle. The message was what? To the Jews it is a stumbling block. To the Greeks it is just foolishness.

So the true gospel has always been an offense. But the message of the false teachers was palatable. And let's not forget what Jesus said in Luke 6, 26. He said, Beware when all men speak well of you, for so did their fathers to the false prophets.

So when unsaved people love listening to a Christian preacher, there is a problem. Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website, MorrisCornickChurch .com.

And we'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett. Until next time, may the grace of God be with you.