Crucified With Christ
© 10.18.23 By David Eric Williams
I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So the life I now live in the body, I live because of the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20).
After discussing the folly of seeking justification by any means other than faith in Jesus Christ, Paul sums up his position. He has been crucified with Christ. That is why it is wrong to try to keep the old ways alive. The temporary dispensation of Mosaic ritual is over. It can only produce death. On the other hand, Jesus’ death on the cross has rescued Believers from the present evil age characterized by the Mosaic dispensation.
If Paul were to try to find justification before God apart from Christ, it would be like a dead man trying to exist in the land of the living. Even the thought of it is absurd! That is the contrast Paul is making throughout the letter. An attempt to be right with God in the environment of the Mosaic Dispensation makes no sense.
Instead, Paul has been reckoned alive in Christ. It is Jesus who lives in and though Paul. His God honoring behavior is the result of the power of the risen Lord Jesus being present in him. It is Jesus who accomplished all that God had intended for His people. Faithful Jesus secured the blessings of God and through Him they are distributed to His people. Indeed Jesus, the Son of God, loved Paul so much he died to secure the covenant blessing on his behalf. Followers of Jesus in the modern age have also been crucified with Christ. In other words, your old life – the old man - has been put to death. Your life apart from Jesus is dead and buried. It is foolishness to continue to live in it. Having been crucified with Christ, you have become a new creation. Everything is new. Why sully it with the death and decay of the past?
Now, Jesus Christ lives in you. By the power of the Holy Spirit you are able to express your identity in Christ Jesus. By His power your desires change. The things once attractive are no longer. In addition, to the degree you struggle with ungodly desire, the Holy Spirit gives you the strength to overcome temptation and show the results of your salvation (Philippians 2:12-13). None of this is accomplished in our own strength.
You see, we are able to live a Christlike life because the one who has saved us has accomplished all God had called us to do. Everything God required of His people – everything God’s people failed to accomplish – faithful Jesus completed. Therefore he is worthy of the blessings of the covenant. And we, in Him, enjoy those blessings as well.
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