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but in any case we have an emphatic personal summary here dealing with circumcision,
the cross of Christ, the crucifixion of self, the new creation and canon (rule).
"Those who want to make a good impression outwardly are trying to compel you to be
circumcised. The only reason they do this is to avoid being persecuted for the cross of
Christ. Not even those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they want you to be
circumcised that they may boast about your flesh. 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" (6: 12-16, N.I.V.).
The Judaizers chief object in stressing the rite of circumcision was to make a good
showing before men. Numbers of converts were what they were after to give an
impression of success and in doing this they avoided all persecution for the cross of
Christ. The very thing they wanted to avoid, was the truth that the Apostle Paul gloried
in proclaiming, namely the fullness that was in Christ through the cross and resurrection
which made all such distinctions meaningless. This broke the connection with the
outward world system with its empty show and Satanic domination. As he wrote to the
Corinthian church:
"Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has
come" (II Cor. 5: 17, N.I.V.).
There was no possibility of blending these two opposites. God's answer to all the
problems made by man's sin and fall from grace is His new creation, a completely fresh
start in Christ. This was the rule or guide that all who rejoiced solely in Christ Jesus
walked by as day succeeded day. Upon them was peace and mercy:
"Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God" (Gal. 6: 16,
N.I.V.).
Is the "Israel of God" a covering title for all those who were saved during the period
covered by the Acts of the Apostles? To judge by the way some use this title, one would
judge that it was a frequent occurrence in the N.T. epistles to describe the church. The
fact is that this is the only occurrence of the phrase in the N.T. There is no need here to
render the Greek kai as "even". Its normal meaning of "and" is sufficient.
Bishop Ellicott's comment on this verse is:
"It is doubtful whether kai is explicative, namely, upon the Israel of God . . . . . it is
doubtful whether kai is ever used by St. Paul in so marked an explicative force . . . . . and
it seems still more doubtful whether Christians generally could be called `the Israel of
God'. St. Paul includes all in his blessing, of whatever stock or kindred; and then, with
his thoughts turning (as they ever did) to his own brethren after the flesh (Rom. 9: 3), he
pauses to specify those who were once Israelites according to the flesh, but now are the
`Israel of God', true spiritual children of Abraham."
This we believe to be correct. There is no clear Scriptural foundation for using this
title as a general title for the church of God today. The stigmata or brand marks which
Paul bore in his body, from the lashes of the Roman whip and the gashes from stoning,
were definitely associated with fellowship with the sufferings of Christ, and for ever