When Paul says the false teachers are seeking to avoid persecution for the sake of the cross, he reminds us that it is the cross that makes people antagonistic toward Christianity. The cross tells the man on the street that he is not basically good, that his guilt demands a sacrifice that he himself cannot offer, that he needs a substitute, eve the perfect Son of God. The cross tells proud people that they had better humble themselves, confess their total failure and profound guilt, and place all their hope in the blood of Jesus Christ.
- Richard D. Phillips, Turning Back the Darkness: The Biblical Pattern of Reformation, (Crossway Books, Wheaton, Il, USA, 2002), p. 162
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