July 3

But as for me, may I never boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. — Gal 6:14 BSB

Paul’s personal experience of being crucified with his Lord gave him the authority to preach the cross—not only as the power to save, but also as the power to sanctify. Just as in Paul’s time, so it is today: the message of the cross, not just as the foundation of salvation, but also as the means of sanctification, is “foolishness to those who are perishing.” People have found other ways to seek salvation apart from the blood of the cross, just as they’ve discovered other paths to holiness that bypass the power of the cross. They have dismissed the need for obedience, fruitfulness, self-denial, the mortification of sinful desires, and the crucifixion of the flesh and the world.

It is said that extremes often meet, and indeed, people with opposing views may unite in their rejection of the cross. The Arminian disregards the cross for justification, while the Antinomian dismisses it for sanctification. To the latter, the call to “Believe and be holy” is as strange as “Believe and be saved” is to the former. Yet the Scriptures are clear: “Without holiness, no one will see the Lord,” is just as true as “By grace you have been saved through faith.” Through the cross, through communion with the One who suffered upon it, we find not only a fountain opened for sin but also for cleansing from all impurity. Blood and water flowed from Jesus’ side when pierced by the Roman spear.

“This fountain so dear, he’ll freely impart; Unlocked by the spear, it gushed from the heart, With blood and with water; the first to atone, To cleanse us the latter; the fountain’s but one.”

“All my springs are in you,” said David, the man after God’s own heart, and we can echo his words. All our springs—whether of pardon, peace, acceptance, justification, or of happiness, holiness, wisdom, strength, victory over sin, or mortification of our sinful nature—all flow from our crucified Lord. Every revival of hope, every new prayer or praise, every fresh desire for God—all these springs of spiritual life, hidden with Christ in God, come from the cross. Thus, Christ crucified is “the power of God” to those who are being saved. It is at the cross that we are made wise to salvation, declared righteous, made holy by his Spirit, and redeemed from sin, Satan, death, and hell.