“Stigmata”

The word marks in Galatians 6:17 is from stigmata, and means the brand which the slave bore on his body which showed that he was the property of a certain slaveowner. It was usually the initial letters of the owner’s name or his name in full. You read the name of the owner on the body of the slave. What lies in this metaphor is this, that the Christian as belonging to Christ has the name of God written upon him. “I will write upon him the name of my God.”* (Revelation 3:12) You can read Christ in the life of a saint. The name he bears in this life is “Christ.” That is his brand—his stigmata. The saint glories in bearing this stigmata. The very passion of his life is to see that nothing obliterates this brand. He is thoroughly decided that neither the world, nor sin, nor the devil, nor the years of time will be able to have these marks overgrown. They must stand out clear and distinct so that all may read. For him to live is Christ. Christ is to be seen in every word and deed. The intensity, the passion, the fixed resolution of the true saint is to bear these marks in life and in death, so that Jesus shall be magnified in the body while living and when dying (Philippians 1:20).