What Does it Mean to be Crucified with Christ?

As we have been drawing closer to Resurrection Sunday this year, the Scripture that has been playing and replaying in my mind are Paul’s words to the Galatian church from Galatians 2:20:

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20 NIV

Crucified with Christ

On the cross, Jesus sacrificed His life in our place so that we could receive forgiveness of sins and be reconciled to God.

I am eternally grateful and thankful for Jesus’ sacrifice because without Him, I would still be held captive to sin and darkness and on my way to Hell.

Jesus gave His life up as a payment for the sins of the whole world, but His sacrifice has not been accepted by everyone (John 3:16-18, Matthew 20:28).

However, anyone who acknowledges that they are a sinner, repents, and wholeheartedly receives Jesus’ sacrifice as payment for their sins becomes born-again!

So, Paul’s words, “I have been crucified with Christ,” means that when we make Jesus’ death on the cross personally applicable, the moment we pray the sinner’s prayer, our old sinful spirit is put to death with Christ, thus receiving His sacrifice as payment for our sins.

Christ Lives in Me

Paul goes on to say, “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”

Our old sinful spirit died at the point of salvation, but we are not left with a vacuum. We receive Jesus’ life – eternal life. God gives us a new spirit created after His righteous nature and causes His Holy Spirit to take up permanent residence within our spirits. (1 Corinthians 3:16, 2 Corinthians 6:16, Galatians 4:6, Romans 8:9, Ezekiel 36:26).

Who we were before committing to Christ ceases to exist, and we receive a new life with a new identity rooted and built on the foundation of Christ Jesus.

Jesus died before He was resurrected. The same is true for us. Our old self died, and a new person in Christ is resurrected to live a life that pleases God, empowered by the Holy Spirit.

My old stubborn, rebellious, low self-esteem-ridden self no longer lives. That person died when the new and true me met Jesus.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV

Living by Faith

Paul continues by saying, “The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God.”

As born-again believers, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, lives in us and is forever available to empower and help us. However, we do have a part to play in whether we consistently live in a Christlike manner.

Even though we are new creatures and Christ lives in us, we are not robots. We still have free will and the capacity to decide if we will choose to live like Christ or choose our natural selfish tendencies, referred to as the “flesh” in the New Testament.

The flesh is a mindset—a way of thinking, feeling, and behavior that opposes the Spirit and the Word of God.

As we yield to Christ through faith, we learn to say “no” to the flesh and “yes” to the Spirit so that we can reflect His glory to the world around us.

We cannot do this on our own strength or willpower but by faith in Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit, which remains effective as we stay rooted in the Word of God and prayer.

Crucifying the Flesh By Faith

By faith, we trust and believe in Jesus to help us no longer think, believe, behave, and act based on the world’s standards or our former experiences and attitudes before Christ.

By faith in Christ, we reckon ourselves dead to sin and the pull of sinful desires. We refuse to allow worldly convictions and the attitudes we indulged before Christ to rule over us.

“In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Romans 6:11 NIV

This means that we must surrender wholeheartedly and align ourselves and our desires with the truth of the Word. But if we constantly go against the grain of the Word, we stifle the work of Spirit.

By faith, we become free to express our new identity in Christ fully. We become willing and obedient to take up our cross daily, die to our selfishness, and follow wherever Jesus leads us (Matthew 16:24).

Embracing Perseverance as We Crucify the Flesh

By faith, we persevere because dying to self is not a one-day-and-done experience. It is a daily and sometimes moment-by-moment choice to sacrifice our needs, wants, and desires in favor of Christ. Dying to self takes time, especially in areas where we were previously conditioned to behave contrary to God’s will. Just like Jesus suffered pain as He hung on the cross, dying to self can be sacrificial and painful.

We will still face temptations, and we may need to resist for a long time. But as we consistently yield to God in the areas we are tempted, the pressure lessens until we become dead and non-reactive. Similar to how a dead man does not respond to any stimuli.

And, as we gain victory in one area, the Lord may reveal another thought pattern or attitude that we need to surrender to Him.

If we find that we do sin, it causes us great discomfort in our souls because sin no longer has mastery over us. Because we are “crucified with Christ,” we identify with Christ’s death on the cross in such a way that it profoundly impacts our lives.

Motivated by the Love of Christ

Going back to Paul’s statement in Galatians 2:20, we see that Paul was motivated by the love of Christ.

“…The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20b NIV

In context, Paul wrote this letter to the Galatian church because they were departing from faith in Christ and relying on the law for righteousness. They were losing sight of the love Jesus demonstrated by sacrificing His life on the cross.

We may or may not be tempted by legalism. But we must guard ourselves against anything that detracts us from living by faith motivated by the love of Christ displayed on the cross of Calvary.

Because Jesus died on the cross and resurrected on the third day, we must reckon ourselves as dead to sin and alive to righteousness. Sin no longer has dominion over us, so let’s resolve to stay on the side of righteousness.

Personal Experience

Personally, God is bringing this Scripture alive to me in the area of relating with difficult people. The re- re- re- repeat offenders who trip me up emotionally.

Before I gave my life to Christ, I had no qualms with cutting people off and erecting high walls of defense to protect myself.

But being crucified with Christ and living by faith in the love of Christ calls for a different approach. I can choose to continue to erect fortresses of frustration and offense, or I can choose love.

So, I bring these relationships to Christ. I ask and continue to ask for His help and power to overlook offenses, confront when necessary, and live as a peacemaker.

Questions for Reflection

What aspects of your life from before Christ are you still holding on to?
What attitudes or thought patterns do you need to bring to the cross for crucifixion?

Let us Pray

Heavenly Father, thank You for the cross of Jesus Christ through which You have brought me from death to life.

I pray that through the Holy Spirit, the power and blessings of the cross of Jesus Christ will be evident in my life. Help me to walk by faith and yield completely to Christ even if it means suffering for Him. May I be a vessel through which the people in my world encounter Your love. In Jesus name, Amen!

10 Scriptures to Meditate on

^“Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?” Matthew 16:24-26 NIV

“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.” Galatians 5:24-26 NIV

”For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.“ Romans 6:6-7 NIV

“Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.” Romans 8:12-13 NIV

“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” 2 Corinthians 5:14-15 NIV

“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.” Galatians 6:7-8 NIV

“For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority. In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.” Colossians 2:9-12 NIV

“Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.” 1 Peter 4:1-2 ESV

“I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” Philippians 3:10-12 NIV

“For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.” Romans 6:5 NIV

Footnotes

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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.

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