“But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world”

by whom the world has been crucified to me,

The Greek tense [perfect] indicates God crucified Paul at the point Christ died on the cross, and he stands crucified with Christ. This is our status quo before God eternally. Sin is no longer an issue with God because Christ’s cross dealt with it completely.

“For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain” (Galatians 2:19-21)

“And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires” (Galatians 5:24).

and I to the world

The word “world” is that which is against God, the satanic order. Paul died to the world system when Christ died on the cross. Those without Christ are victims of Satan’s distorted worldview. Those with Christ have changed their worldview. Although they may fall to temptations within Satan’s order, their status is in a new order, a perfect status with God.

This does not mean the Christian is free from the influence of Satan’s order. It does mean, however, the believer is no longer under the authority of his system. The believer is no longer under bondage to that system because he changed lords when he became a Christian.

“I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth” (John 17:14-19).

“Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations— “Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle,” which all concern things which perish with the using— according to the commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh” (Colossians 2:20-23).

Principle:

The greater the cross looks to us, the less the world can lure us.

Application:

Paul looks at the world as if he were on the cross, and that is the way the world looks at him.

Paul looks at the world as though he were dead to his aspirations. The greater the glory of the cross looked to him, the less the world attracted him. When our soul feeds on the cross, it closes down our hearts for the world. The more our heart feeds on the world, the less our hearts care about the cross.