Galatians 2:21 - The Cross Is Not a Joke

. . . if justification were through law, then Christ died in vain. -Galatians 2:21

Luther comments:

Are we to allow this horrible blasphemy that the divine Majesty, not sparing his own dear Son, but giving him up to death for us all, should not do all these things seriously but as a sort of joke? I would rather see all the saints and holy angels thrown into hell with the devil. My eyes will see only this inestimable price, my Lord and Savior Christ. He ought to be such a treasure to me that everything else is as rubbish in comparison. He ought to be such a light to me that when I have apprehended him by faith I should not know whether there is any law, any sin, any righteousness, or any unrighteousness in the world. For what are all things that are in heaven and earth compared with the Son of God, Christ Jesus my Lord and Savior, who loved me and gave himself for me?

--Martin Luther, Galatians (Crossway, 1998), 114