The Offence of the Cross
by Ray Prinzing

"And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution?  Then is the offence of the cross ceased." (Galatians 5:11)

It is with the sincere desire that the Spirit of God, our Illuminator, shall open this great truth to every heart and mind; that these things shall not be as the presentation of one individual, but rather that every one reading this shall feel the anointing of the same Spirit of Truth guiding them into an understanding of these timely and precious truths.  Thus we begin writing on this subject, may God bless it to every heart.

Circumcision was a part of the LAW, or the first covenant; it was one of those symbolic ordinances Israel received as a "figure for the time then present - that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience; Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and CARNAL ORDINANCES, imposed on them until the time of reformation (a making thoroughly right)." (Hebrews 9:9,10).

Circumcision was a symbolic ordinance, it was a sign in the flesh under the first covenant, but it contained a deeper meaning which was to be fulfilled in that Second Covenant which was to follow in due time.  But before we can get unto the second covenant, the "NEW" covenant which Jesus Christ opened up when He came to begin the TIMES OF REFORMATION, beginning the work of making everything THOROUGHLY RIGHT, we find that this all BEGINS WITH THE CROSS.  The cross is the gateway into the New Covenant, and THE WAY OF THE CROSS is a period of transition from the old into the new, from the fleshly into the spiritual.  And since many cannot conceive or comprehend what the life in the Spirit is in its realities, therefore they are repulsed by this medium of transition, not knowing of the joy "that is set before them," and so the cross is an offence unto them.  But the cross is the converging point for both the OLD an the NEW, and when Jesus came He opened up a new and living way into the glory of the spiritual.  There's a distinct difference between the first covenant and the second one, the first being written upon tables of stone and the second one is to be inscribed upon the tables of the heart and the mind.  One was a fleshly allegory, the other a spiritual reality.  Now the scripture goes on to say that Christ "through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God." (Hebrews 9:14).

Now as we pursue this subject we are going to find an amazing truth- we have been far too much involved in A SYSTEM OF DEAD WORKS that could not make us perfect as pertaining to the conscience.  Many outward ceremonies and rituals, and the churches are still filled with them today, outward fleshly ordinances IMPOSED.

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