Crucified with Christ
Crucified with Christ
3/16 Reading Portions: Exodus 27; John 6; Proverbs 3; Galatians 2
Online Bible Audio/Readings Links (ESV)
3/16 Reading Portions: Exodus 27; John 6; Proverbs 3; Galatians 2
Listen to the audio devotional above, and/or read the written devotional below.
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Galatians 2:20
FAITH
Surely, Paul was not literally crucified with the Lord Jesus as the two thieves were. Paul presents an important and very real spiritual truth here. First, because Jesus was crucified in Paul’s place as a sinner, he is crucified with Christ in the spiritual sense, just as the apostle was buried and raised with Christ (Rom 6:4). Paul’s old sin nature was also crucified with Christ since Jesus bore his sins and iniquities when He hung upon the cross (Isa 53:6, 11; 2 Cor 5:21). Moreover, because Paul belongs to Christ, his flesh has been crucified along with his passions and desires (Gal 5:24). Yet, Paul did not intend for this statement to be true only of him as an apostle called of God. No, he made this statement as a doctrinal truth for all believers saved by God’s grace. We are crucified, just as we have been buried and raised with Christ (Rom 6:4). All who belong to Jesus Christ have also crucified the flesh with its affections and lusts (Gal 5:24).
What I was once made up of before Christ saved me no longer exists (It is no longer I who live). Instead, the crucified, risen, and ascended Savior lives within my changed life (but Christ who lives in me). Life, true living in this sinful world, cannot exist apart from the real presence of Christ living in the believer. The reality of Christ’s presence is directly proportional to our embrace of the biblical truth we have been crucified with Christ. This is the power and reality of faith. Faith is a grace of God, hence its power to live for Christ; and at the same time, it is a command of God, as was told the Philippian jailor, “Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 16:31), hence our responsibility to obey God’s truth (And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God).
I’m crucified with Christ, my Lord,
Who truly lives in me;
I live by faith upon His Word,
For Christ has set me free.