<p>3:18 <i>For many walk, of whom I told you often and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ</i>- The 'walking' is that of :16, walking according to our current understanding of the mind of Christ, and open to being taught further of Him (see on :15). Those who did not walk like that, in the context of this chapter, were the legalistic Judaizers. Legalism requires that all jump the same bar; the idea of each individual being on a personalized journey, being progressively led by the Spirit ever closer towards the full mind of Christ, is all anathema to legalism. Such Judaizing requires that each have an identical understanding and position at the same moment. Growth is thereby disallowed. And Paul wept tears on the parchment, as it were, because he saw that such attitudes were robbing the cross of Christ of its power in men.</p><p>The cross of Christ is personified here as if to show that the Lord's whole being and life was crystallized in His cross. He could take the bread and wine with the comment that <i>right then</i> His body was being broken and His blood shed (note the present tenses).<br />We can be active <i>enemies</i> of the Lord's cross unless we carry it, no matter how soporific and unaggressive our lifestyles may be. &nbsp;</p>