Paul and the Cross of Christ

"For Paul the cross of Christ became the focal point of everything. He defines the gospel message as 'the word of the cross' (1 Cor. 1.18). In Galatians he interrupts the usual words of greeting with 'from Christ who sacrificed himself for our sins' (Gal. 1.4). In 1.9 he exclaims : 'if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that one be accursed!' He tells the church in Corinth: 'In Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them' (2 Cor. 5.19). Paul declares, 'May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ' (Gal. 6.14). Odysseus may glory in his cleverness, but Paul glories only in the cross of Christ."

Anthony C. Thiselton, The Living Paul: An Introduction to the Apostles Life and Thought (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2009), 82.