14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation.
What is so impressive about Paul's statement here is that it sets the gospel in a true perspective. We have seen in this epistle, and elsewhere, the challenge of the gospel of the cross, we have seen that that gospel summons men to a terrific discipline, to a personal crucifixion. But here, in these words, we see that this is not something to shrink from, or fear, but something to glory and exult in. How can this be? The answer is that, strict and demanding as the discipline of the cross may be, and costly, it provides such a glorious overplus of the blessing of God that any cost it might involve is abundantly worth it. Paul gives two reasons for his glorying in the cross - on the one hand, it brought him deliverance from the world, and on the other it brought him deliverance from his sinful self. What he means is that 'the world' - whether in the general sense of this present evil world with all its seductive charm and fascination, or his own particular religious world which meant so much to him, and which he counted loss for Christ - was 'crossed out' of his life by the cross of Christ; and likewise that the 'I', the sinful self which made him cry out in despair, 'O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?' was cancelled out by the cross. Crucifixion to Paul was not so much something to endure as a liberation, a 'way out' into a 'new creation' (15). Is it any wonder that he gloried in the cross?