Galatians 6:17

SHOWING THE MARKS

‘The marks of the Lord Jesus.’

Galatians 6:17

In the literal sense these were marks of bodily suffering, and St. Paul gloried in them. ‘I bear,’ ‘I wear’ these ‘marks’ as badges—a slave branded with the Master’s mark. Some may now ‘bear the marks’ literally, sick, worn, saddened, constitution undermined, vital powers exhausted, worn out in Master’s service. But there is something better, higher, more blessed than this. The spiritual marks—the Christ-like face, aspect, and body. What are the spiritual marks of the Lord Jesus?

I. Prayer.—The root and ground of all—likeness to Christ, must be won upon our knees. Oh! to be like Jesus in prayer.

II. Meekness.—A grace despised by the world, honoured of heaven. He was ‘as a sheep before her shearers is dumb.’ How soon we are offended and lose our temper at provocations. Where are the ‘marks’?

III. Love.—Jesus is love because He is God. His love was patient, pitying, tender, forgiving, generous. All giving, no receiving. It was disappointed love to those who rejected Him and would not receive Him, but still loved on.

IV. Self-sacrifice.—‘He gave Himself.’ His life and death was one long self-sacrifice. Dare we lay our lives down by His and compare them together? Let us ask ourselves, ‘Where, in all I look upon, are the “marks of the Lord Jesus”?’

Bishop Walsham How.

Illustration

‘However dim might be the firelight of their turf cabins, the Apostle was determined they should be able to read at any rate the postscript of the Epistle. It should not be the fault of his handwriting if they did not. His amanuensis had written so far in small, cursive hand, but at the eleventh verse of this sixth chapter St. Paul takes up the reed pen and begins, “Ye see with what large letters I have written unto you with mine own hand”—as much as to say, whatever else of the letter escapes your eyes, at least you shall see what I think of the insincerity of these Judaising Christians. At least they shall hear that I at any rate have my mind made up on the question in dispute between us, and am careless of what all the world may say against me. “Henceforth let none trouble me, for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.” What a triumph there is about these words, and how the echo of that brave saying from the first chapter of this same Epistle, “For if I yet pleased men I should not be the servant of Christ,” sounds in this final declaration of the Apostle’s truest liberty! “Henceforth let no man trouble me,” for I bear in my body the marks of the Master Whose I am, Whom I serve, the brand of the Lord Jesus.’