The Owner's Brand Text: Galatians 6:17
Introduction: The Cost of a Free Gospel
The book of Galatians is a bare-knuckle defense of the gospel. It is not a polite theological treatise for a quiet seminar; it is a firefight in the church hallway. False teachers, the Judaizers, had infiltrated the churches in Galatia and were telling these new Gentile believers that faith in Jesus was a good start, but not enough. To be truly right with God, they said, you needed to add something to the finished work of Christ. You needed to be circumcised. You needed to adopt the works of the Mosaic law. In short, you needed to put on the uniform of the old covenant to be a soldier in the new.
Paul's response is a categorical, thundering, apostolic "No." He is astounded that they are so quickly deserting the one who called them by grace for a different gospel, which is no gospel at all. Throughout this letter, he has argued passionately that justification is by faith alone, in Christ alone. To add any work, any ritual, any human effort to the cross of Christ is to nullify grace. It is to say that the cross was insufficient. It is to trade the glorious liberty of the sons of God for the miserable slavery of rule-keeping.
The Judaizers were peddling a cross-less Christianity. Or rather, a cross-lite Christianity. They wanted to avoid the offense of the cross. Paul says in the preceding verses that they "want to make a good showing in the flesh" and their primary motive is "so that they will not be persecuted for the cross of Christ" (Gal. 6:12). Their theology was tailored to avoid trouble. It was a man-pleasing, persecution-avoiding, comfort-seeking religion. It was all about external marks in the flesh, circumcision, that cost them nothing in the world's eyes and in fact gained them a measure of religious respectability.
Now, at the very end of his letter, having written the closing in his own large letters, Paul draws the ultimate contrast. The Judaizers point to their mark of circumcision, a mark of ethnic and religious pride. Paul, in response, points to his own marks. They are not marks of religious ritual, but of brutal reality. They are not marks of conformity to the world, but of collision with it. And they are not his marks at all. They are the marks of Jesus.
The Text
From now on let no one cause trouble for me, for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.
(Galatians 6:17 LSB)
An End to the Arguments (v. 17a)
Paul begins with a weary but resolute command:
"From now on let no one cause trouble for me..." (Galatians 6:17a)
There is a tone of finality here. Paul is saying, "The argument is over. The case is closed." He has laid out the gospel with unassailable logic and fierce passion. He has defended his apostleship. He has rebuked, exhorted, and pleaded. Now, he is drawing a line. The incessant harassment from the Judaizers and the vacillation of the Galatians must cease. The word for "trouble" here is kopos, which means trouble that leads to weariness. It's the kind of trouble that wears you down, a constant, nagging opposition.
Paul is not being petulant. He is not saying he is unwilling to suffer for the gospel. The second half of the verse will make that abundantly clear. Rather, he is saying that the debate over the core of the gospel is settled. There is nothing more to add. To continue challenging his authority and his message is to cause trouble for the sake of trouble. It is to be contentious for the sake of being contentious. The evidence he is about to present should silence all further challenges from those who claim to be believers.
This is a necessary stance for every faithful pastor and every grounded Christian. There comes a point where debate over foundational truths must end. We are to be gentle and patient, but we are not called to endlessly entertain challenges to the gospel itself from within the church. The foundation has been laid, and it is Jesus Christ. Any other foundation is sand. Paul is saying that his life's work, his very body, is the final exhibit in the trial. "Look at the evidence," he says, "and let this be the end of it."
The Brand of the Master (v. 17b)
Paul now presents his concluding evidence, the seal of his ministry and the source of his authority.
"...for I bear on my body the marks of Jesus." (Genesis 6:17b LSB)
What are these "marks?" The Greek word is stigmata. In the ancient world, this word had a few primary meanings. It could refer to the marks tattooed or branded on a soldier, identifying him as belonging to a particular general. It could refer to the brand on a slave, showing who his master was. And it could refer to the marks pricked into the skin of a devotee of a pagan god, signifying their religious devotion. In every case, the meaning is the same: ownership, allegiance, and identity.
Paul is not talking about some mystical, supernatural wounds that appeared on his body, like the later medieval legends. The context makes it plain. He is talking about his scars. He is referring to the literal, physical, ugly wounds that decorated his body from years of apostolic service. "Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned..." (2 Cor. 11:24-25). These were not theoretical hardships. They left their mark. The Judaizers were boasting in a mark they put in their own flesh through a religious ritual, circumcision. Paul boasts in the marks that the world, in its hatred of the cross, put on his flesh.
This is a direct, polemical contrast. The Judaizers' mark was a mark of avoiding persecution. Paul's marks were the receipts of having received persecution. Their mark was about belonging to a particular ethnic club. Paul's marks showed that he belonged to Jesus Christ. He was a slave of Christ, and the scars were his master's brand. He was a soldier of Christ, and the wounds were the price of his loyalty on the front lines.
Think of it this way. If a man claims to be a veteran of a fierce war and has no scars, you might question his story. But if another man, making the same claim, shows you the shrapnel wounds and the healed gashes, his body becomes his credentials. Paul is laying his body on the table as Exhibit A. His suffering for the gospel authenticates his preaching of the gospel. The Judaizers talked a good game about the law, but Paul bore in his own body the cost of grace. The world does not persecute a religion of self-effort. It persecutes the gospel of a crucified and risen King who demands total allegiance.
Application: Our Own Stigmata
Now, we must bring this home. What does this mean for us? We live in a culture that, like the Judaizers, is obsessed with making a good showing in the flesh. Our world prizes comfort, avoids pain, and despises suffering. And the Western church has, for the most part, bought into this completely. We want a Christianity that is safe, respectable, and comfortable. We want the crown without the cross. We want the resurrection without the crucifixion. We want a faith that costs us nothing.
But Paul shows us that a faith that costs nothing is worth nothing. The true gospel will always bring us into conflict with the world. Jesus said, "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you" (John 15:18). And, "A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you" (John 15:20). A mark of authentic Christianity is that it is marked by the world's opposition.
What are our marks? For most of us, they will not be the physical scars of stonings and beatings, though for many of our brothers and sisters around the world, that is precisely what they are. But the principle remains. Do you bear any marks of allegiance to Jesus? Have you been "unfriended" for speaking the truth about sexuality? Have you been passed over for a promotion because you refused to cut ethical corners? Has your family ostracized you because you refuse to bow to their idols? Have you been mocked for holding to the authority of Scripture? Have you sacrificed financial security to be generous to the church and the poor? Have you spent your time and energy in thankless service to others? These are the stigmata of Jesus in the 21st century.
The choice before the Galatians is the same choice before us. Will we follow the Judaizers, who seek the approval of men and want to make a good showing in the flesh? Theirs is a religion of outward conformity that avoids the offense of the cross. Or will we follow the Apostle Paul, who boasted in nothing "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)?
To be crucified to the world means the world looks at you like a dead man, a criminal hanging on a tree. And it means you look at the world, with all its threats and promises, as a dead thing, unable to intimidate you or entice you. When you live this way, you will collect scars. You will collect the marks of Jesus. But these marks are not a brand of shame. They are a brand of ownership. They declare to a watching world, and to the principalities and powers, whose you are. You belong to the Lord Jesus, who bought you not with silver or gold, but with His own precious blood, and with the marks in His own hands, and feet, and side.