The Brand of the Cross
The Brand of the Cross
by A.B. Simpson
From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. (Galatians 6:17)
The word marks in this text is translated … “brand marks.” The word describes a mark that has been branded into the flesh and suggests the idea of the cruel practice of certain nations in branding political offenders in the face with a badge of dishonor which never could be erased. The Greek word literally means “a stigma,” and suggests a mark of reproach and shame. The Apostle [Paul] says that he bears in his body the branded scar which identifies him with Christ and His cross.
The kind of mark which he refers to is made plain by the verse almost immediately preceding. “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world” (6:14). It is the cross of Christ which is the object at once of His shame and His glory. Let us look first at the marks of the Lord Jesus and then at their reproduction in His followers.