This verse is connected to the immediate context. It makes very little difference whether the connection is to verses 14 and 15, as some argue, or whether the connection is to only verse 15. The thought and purpose of verse 16 remain the same. In verse 14 the apostle shouts the battle cry of the believer: “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.” This is Paul’s trumpet blast that put all on notice that he glories only in the cross of Christ, by which the world is crucified to Paul and he to the world. This is the saving separation of the believer from his damning connection to the world in which he was conceived and brought forth. This saving separation happened at the cross of Christ, so that at the cross the believer was separated from the world. He was dead and buried with Christ and died to sin and the world. The believer is dead to the law, so that it cannot curse him. He is dead to sin and unrighteousness, so that they cannot dominate and control him. He was also raised with Christ to newness of life, an everlasting life untouchable by sin and evil.

The world to which the believer dies is both the ungodly world and the apostate church world. In the context of the false teachers and false Christians who plagued the church in Galatia, especially the false church is meant. The false teachers who came into the church taught their false doctrine lest they should suffer persecution. They rejoiced in the number of their followers, and they persecuted the church.

The antithesis, then, is not only do not listen to the world’s music, do not watch the world’s shows, and do not be friends with the world, but the antithesis is also come out from among the false church. What concord has the temple of God with the synagogue of Satan? The elect child of God was separated from these things at the cross, and he must be separate from them in his life, or he must give up his claim to glory in the cross of Christ. Instead of friendship with the world and the false church, the elect child has friendship with God in Christ. To be a friend of God is to be an enemy of the world, and to be a friend of the world is to be an enemy of God. That happened at the cross. That is the spiritual reality of the elect child of God.

When God brings that reality of the cross into the life of the elect child of God, a new creature avails (Gal. 6:15). In the heart of the child of God, God makes his child what Christ made him at the cross. The power of the cross and of the blood of Christ shed at the cross is to make the elect child of God a new creature in Christ.

In Christ is the crucial term. The elect child of God is in Christ; Christ represents the child of God. The elect child of God is in Christ in such a way that there is a close, spiritual, and an organic, inseparable connection between the elect child of God and Christ. Because the elect child of God is in Christ, he is already in heavenly places; in principle all things are become new. The child of God loves God and hates sin, loves Christ and hates the world.

You can try to overcome this reality, but you cannot. This is what your sin is. Your sin is trying to overcome the reality that in you a new creature avails. But you cannot overcome that. The new creature overcomes and is victorious in you; the new creature avails. In Christ the new creature has power, not power of himself but because he is in Christ. And the new creature avails until the perfection of your salvation in heaven. So you see that verses 14 and 15 are intimately related; they cannot be separated. In Christ the child of God is crucified to the world and the world to him, and a new creature avails in Christ.

And whoever walks “according to this rule, peace be on [him], and mercy, and upon the Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16). The word “rule” in this verse is a translation of the Greek word canon. The canon is a life principle, a life principle out of which the Christian lives his whole life. Indeed, the canon is a life principle that dominates in the Christian, so that the Christian in all his life—in his thinking, willing, and acting—is conformed to and lives according to that life principle.

Our English word canon is most often used in connection with the canon of scripture.

First, the canon of scripture is all the books that carry the evidence in themselves that they are from God, and thus they impress themselves on the church by the work of the Holy Spirit as being from God. The rule is that the books must carry the evidence in themselves and that they must impress themselves on the church as being from God. If books are going to be considered for that list, they must impress themselves on the conscience of the church as being from God. Then the church lists those books. They are the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament and the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. That list of sixty-six books became the canon of scripture.

Second, the word canon as used in connection with scripture means that these books form the only rule of faith and life. All things are judged by that standard, that rule, of the word of God. All must conform to that standard. It is the final judge, and it cannot be judged by any other book or person.

But only in the loosest sense is this the meaning of the word “rule” in Galatians 6:16. When the apostle speaks of this “rule” or canon, he is speaking about the Bible. He is speaking about what the Bible teaches. He is speaking about the heart of all divine revelation as it pertains to the salvation of men and women and as that truth brings peace and mercy on them and causes them to live in that peace and mercy. You can simply say that when the apostle mentions the canon, he means the truth as it is in Christ Jesus, our Lord.

What specifically is this canon, this rule, this truth, this life principle?

The apostle points to it by the word “this.” This rule is what he taught in verse 15: in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails nor uncircumcision avails but a new creature. This is the rule. This is “this rule” that brings peace and mercy on all who walk according to it. This is the rule that conforms men and women to it, so that from the depth of their hearts they have entirely new lives with entirely new directions. This is the rule by which all who are Israel must and do walk. This is the rule that brings peace on souls and hearts and causes all who are Israel to understand the mercy of God.

Throughout history man has come up with all kinds of rules and regulations by which to live. The Pharisees had their rules. Their descendants, the monks, had their rules. Every order of monks had its own rules and judged that the rules of the other orders were inferior. There are rules about fasting, praying, structuring one’s life, what to do, when to do it, what to eat, and when to eat it. Rules upon rules. Every strange sect and religion has its rules. You can really summarize all the rules this way: do this to live; do this to be blessed; do this to increase your blessing. This is the rule by which man lives. Man’s rule about blessedness, life, and salvation is do! There is no peace, joy, or salvation in any of these rules.

But this is the rule: in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature!

To avail means to be strong, to have power, or to be of use. The opposite is that something is nothing, has no power, or is useless.

You must understand that rule because that rule utterly abolishes man’s works and deeds from consideration in the work of his salvation.

Circumcision and uncircumcision were the two great divisions of the human race from Abraham until Christ. Circumcision made man a debtor to do the whole law. Circumcision stood for doing. If you did not do and if you did not do perfectly, then you were damned. Circumcision also marked the circumcised person as being separate from the world and as consecrated to God. Circumcision obliged one to forsake the world, to crucify his flesh, and to cleave unto God.

Where did circumcision get Israel? Exiled! She could not be what circumcision demanded that she be. Circumcision did not avail for salvation, blessedness, joy, or peace. But circumcision brought with it condemnation.

Circumcision had to become nothing!

For circumcision to become nothing, the reality to which circumcision pointed had to be fulfilled. Circumcision was a shedding of blood that pointed to the great shedding of blood in Jesus Christ. Then the righteousness to which circumcision pointed was fulfilled. Then circumcision as a sign had to be abolished and become nothing. When circumcision became nothing, that pointed to the fact that the law was wholly fulfilled and kept and that there was no more doing for salvation. You do not have to try to do better for salvation! That circumcision does not avail means that all the work for salvation is finished.

Indeed, that circumcision became nothing meant that there was a better righteousness than the righteousness of the law. The righteousness of the law, such as it is, is that you must do the law to live. But the law can never bring you higher than this life. The law can only speak to one who is living and alive to the law. And the law can only say, “Do this, and I will not kill you.” The law can never bring anything but a continuation of a life already received. The law never brings with it a greater blessedness, more favor, or a higher happiness. The law belongs to the beggarly elements. The law has no power to lift one up, to restore, to redeem, or to bring one beyond this life.

For circumcision to become nothing, the righteousness to which circumcision pointed had to be brought to light. That righteousness is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. His righteousness made the righteousness of the law obsolete. It is the righteousness of the Lord from glory, who became flesh, who took on himself the sins of his people, who loved God with God’s own love, and who in love for God made satisfaction to God for all the sins of his people. That righteousness is beyond the power of sin and death; it is a righteousness that brings with it the power of an endless life; it is a righteousness that is worthy of the re-creation of all things—of the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all the creatures—and the re-creation of God’s elect people too.

Christ’s righteousness made circumcision nothing. With the obsolescence of circumcision went all works because circumcision stood for the obligation to obey, to do this or that to live, and to do this or that to have the favor of God. Whatever you must do to have the favor of God, whatever you must do to have the assurance of God, and whatever you must do to have the blessing of God are all assaults on and denials of the righteousness of Jesus Christ as the only ground of all your blessedness, grace, and glory.

But circumcision does not count in Christ. No works or activities of man in Jesus Christ count for man’s blessedness.

Circumcision does not avail! Neither does uncircumcision avail. That is the apostle’s thought. Circumcision does not avail. Uncircumcision does not avail.

Ah, yes, uncircumcision is the sign of all the filthiness of the Gentiles! The uncircumcised are the dirty and filthy, the unwanted, and those who are aliens from the covenant of promise. God suffered the Gentiles to wander in their own ways and to fulfill all the lusts of their flesh. That uncircumcision does not avail either. It is nothing in Christ! None of those sins and none of that filthy background can keep the uncircumcision out of Christ and out of his kingdom. Uncircumcision does not avail to overcome, to wreck, or to destroy the works of God.

That uncircumcision does not avail is true also because of the righteousness of Christ, a righteousness in which perfect satisfaction to God was made for all sin—sins that you commit now, sins that you have committed, and sins that you will commit. Sins—big sins and little sins—cannot destroy the work of God and abolish the righteousness of Jesus Christ. The righteousness of Christ is above the power of sin, the power of death, and the power of the grave. Christ’s righteousness overcomes all guilt and makes one worthy of eternal life, the adoption of children, and happiness.

A new creature avails. The righteousness of Christ demands a new and an everlasting creation. In the heart and the life of the one united to Jesus Christ by a true and a living faith, Christ’s righteousness is worthy of and brings with it the new creature. Not circumcision avails; not uncircumcision avails; not your works avail; not your will avails; not your sins and iniquities avail; but a new creature avails. The new creature is strong, has power, and is what counts.

The new creature is the coming in of the first part of the new creation, the earnest of the eternal inheritance. The new creature consists of a new heart and thus of a whole new way of thinking and acting for those who are in Christ. The new creature is not such a creation that everyone is the same. No, the branch that is brought into communion with Jesus Christ was created by God a unique branch with its own personality, its own mind, and its own will. But that was all corrupted. Now in Christ all things become new.

Oh, yes, you must be reminded that the new creature is in principle, a small beginning of the new obedience. But it is a new and irresistible creature who loves God and hates sin. Against that creature nothing—not Satan; not hell; not the grave; not death; not your own sins, weaknesses, shortcomings, and failings; not the whole world; and not your flesh either—can prevail against the new creature to overcome it or to destroy it. And your works do not add to the new creature.

Yes, yes, through the old man you easily fall into sin. But the new creature prevails. He certainly prevails. He does not prevail in that you become more holy during your life; so, for instance, you were a big sinner when you were a teenager, and now you are less of a sinner. No, the new creature prevails in that you sorrow for sin, you turn from sin every day, and your love for God can never be overcome in you.

This is precisely because the creation of the new creature rests on another, higher, divine, and glorious righteousness. Christ’s righteousness cannot be abolished, and so the new creature cannot be abolished. Your new creature does not depend on you. Your new creature depends on Christ.

And this rule establishes the absolute sovereignty of God in salvation, for who can join himself to Jesus Christ? To know this rule and to live by this rule and to love this rule, you must first be one with Jesus Christ. That only God can do; that only God does. According to his sovereign good pleasure, he chose the members of Jesus Christ, and he excluded others from being members of Jesus Christ. God joins dead branches to Jesus Christ, so that Christ is in them, and they are in Christ. This rule says that salvation is of the Lord. This rule says that salvation is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. This rule absolutely abolishes human works in salvation. This rule absolutely establishes divine sovereignty in salvation.

It is a rule for life. Yes, that is true, and I will get to that.

But it is a rule that marks the people of God. All who walk by this rule are revealed in their walk to be the Israel of God. And all who abandon this rule are shown thereby to be merely of Israel and not Israel at all. You abandon this rule by unbelief in the word of God. You abandon this rule when you add to Christ or displace Jesus Christ as the only ground of your righteousness.

In Christ are the Israel of God. The Israel of God are the objects of the promise. They are the heirs of salvation. They are the ones whom God calls a holy and peculiar people. They are the true children of Abraham. This is the rule that marks them out and distinguishes them from all others. Not circumcision any longer, but this rule distinguishes who are of God’s covenant and who are not.

Oh, many there are who feign to be children of Abraham. They feign to be part of Christ. They feign that they love God and that they seek heaven. But they are easily detected by the application of this rule: in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails but a new creature! Never would God’s Israel in Christ say, “Christ is not enough!” They would not say that and maintain that position. Never would God’s Israel in Christ add to Christ something that man must do for salvation. Never would God’s Israel stay in their sins.

God’s people can fall into sin; they can fall deeply into sin. But there they cannot stay, for in Christ nothing avails save a new creature. The Lord will bring out his people, the Lord will cause them to walk again in the way of his precepts, and the Lord will cause them to stand again over against the world as those who are crucified to the world and the world to them.

All of this is true because of Christ’s righteousness!

There is no peace on those who try to overthrow this rule. A curse to them, and that out of God’s everlasting hatred of them. When one adds to Christ, does not rest on Christ alone, and does not live by faith in the gospel, that one has no peace.

And do not leave yourself out of this. Surely the mercy of God always rests on his people. But when they do not rest in Christ, then there is no peace on them. But God does not let his people stay there. He wills peace for them, and he brings them certainly and infallibly to be conformed to this rule and to rest in the righteousness of Jesus Christ alone.

To as many who walk according to this rule, peace be on them.

There will not be an earthly peace on them. If you walk according to this rule, you will have war with the world, for you have been separated from the world and separated unto God. And that can never be undone. That can never be bridged. If you are able to bridge that gap, then you do not walk according to this rule. And if you stay in that course, then you are not the Israel of God, but you are the world. In the world the Israel of God will not have peace. You will have warfare: warfare with friends, warfare in the church, warfare with family, and warfare with the ungodly world. That is always true of the church. You cannot have peace in the world where the gospel comes; you cannot have the gospel and peace in the world. Peace in the world is a dangerous thing. You think that you have arrived, and you let down your guard. No, no earthly peace on you!

What did the apostle say about his whole life after his conversion? “I have fought a good fight!” That is because in Christ nothing avails but a new creature. You too have been separated in the very depth of your being from the world and are now made a participant in the great war that God started in the garden of Eden. You are of heaven. Those of the world are of the earth. You are of God. They are of the devil. You are God’s temple. They are the synagogue of Satan. You are God’s sons and daughters. They are the generation of the serpent. And that cannot ever be overcome because Christ and his righteousness cannot be overcome.

Oh, you will say to me that I am being too harsh, too black and white, and too judgmental. And I say to you that there are only two kinds of people in the world: those who walk according to this rule and those who do not. The two kinds of people are clearly known and distinguished from one another because the one holds to the truth of this rule and the other does not but seeks to corrupt this rule in order not to suffer sorrow and persecution in the world and from the world.

But if you walk according to this rule, you will not have earthly peace. Your mother will hate you and your sister will hate you and your acquaintances will hate you. You will be hated of all men for Christ’s sake. You can never have peace with the false church. Never again. The false church has shown itself to be the world. God has separated you from the false church not only in an outward way but deep in your heart. He has made you profoundly different, a new creature. That is why there is warfare, antithesis, and hostility.

Rather than earthly peace, what the apostle means by “peace” is all the blessed assurance, knowledge of salvation, joy in God, and hope in eternal life.

Peace with God!

Better war with the whole world and peace with God than war with God and peace with the whole world. Peace with God is salvation. It is to have God as your God and to be his child. And God will be with you and for you, and you will have the blessed assurance of your eternal inheritance in the glory of the new age and of the new heavens and new earth, where there is righteousness and pleasures forevermore.

There is no peace outside this rule. Outside this rule you have no sure way forward. You have no sure standing ground. You have no assurance. You will look to something else for peace, or you will look for some other peace. Then there is only a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries.

But to those who walk according to this rule, blessed peace on them and on the Israel of God both now and forever. For Christ’s righteousness through which that peace comes can never be abolished.

And the deep, motivating power of that peace is the mercy of God. Yes, the mercy of God that chose the Israel of God as his people in eternity. It was not because they were mightier, holier, or had some quality in them that commended them to God. But it was because of God’s love and his sovereign good pleasure that out of the whole human race he would have mercy on whom he would have mercy. The mercy of God that chose his people also established this rule at the cross of Christ through his atoning death that they might have everlasting righteousness and eternal life.

The same mercy of God—mercy upon mercy—is upon the Israel of God daily and gives to them peace by this rule. Do not misunderstand; the apostle does not mean in the text that you achieve your own peace by walking in this rule. This rule, this principle, this power, lays hold on you. God brings this rule to you, and he conforms you to this rule. You can try to walk contrary to it, but you will have no peace, and God will bring you back to this rule: nothing avails in Christ but a new creature, for the sake of Christ’s righteousness alone.

And conforming you to it, God causes you to walk by it. This is not difficult to understand. This means that every day you live out of your righteousness in Jesus Christ. It means that every day it is not circumcision that avails and it is not uncircumcision that avails, but a new creature avails. You subject your whole life to this rule. By this rule all your sins are forgiven. By this rule you are separate from the world. By this rule you walk with God. And you will walk in peace all the days of your life until you enter everlasting peace in heaven. The new creature avails through the everlasting and indestructible and perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ received by faith only through the gospel.