I Have Been Crucified with Christ

by Mike Ratliff

1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7 for he who has died is freed from sin.
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13 and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. Romans 6:1-14 (NASB) 

The Doctrine of Regeneration tells Christians that the life they live now will not be as it once was, but will take on the characteristics of regeneration. The Christian is a new creation. The attributes of this pertain to spiritual quality rather than physical substance, however, the evidence of it will become manifest in how the Christian walks through each day and deals with the circumstances of life.

20 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. Galatians 2:20 (NASB) 

God’s ways are not man’s ways. His ways, while always right, will appear to the spiritually immature or the unregenerate as bizarre or wrong, or incomprehensible. Christ’s victory at the Cross was won by laying His life down as an acceptable sacrifice for the sins of His elect. The natural man cannot comprehend this. I know of Christians who still believe that Christ’s crucifixion was a great tragedy. No, while horrible and unjust according to the person of Christ Himself, it was all according to God’s plan and accomplished exactly what the Father willed.

The Lord Jesus Christ acted in what He did as a great public representative person, and His dying upon the cross was the virtual dying of all His people. Then all His saints rendered unto justice what was due, and made an expiation to divine vengeance for all their sins. The apostle of the Gentiles delighted to think that as one of Christ’s chosen people, he died upon the cross in Christ. He did more than believe this doctrinally, he accepted it confidently, resting his hope upon it. He believed that by virtue of Christ’s death, he had satisfied divine justice, and found reconciliation with God. Beloved, what a blessed thing it is when the soul can, as it were, stretch itself upon the cross of Christ, and feel, “I am dead; the law has slain me, and I am therefore free from its power, because in my Surety I have borne the curse, and in the person of my Substitute the whole that the law could do, by way of condemnation, has been executed upon me, for I am crucified with Christ!”

But Paul meant even more than this. He not only believed in Christ’s death, and trusted in it, but he actually felt its power in himself in causing the crucifixion of his old corrupt nature. When he saw the pleasures of sin, he said, “I cannot enjoy these: I am dead to them.” Such is the experience of every true Christian. Having received Christ, he is to this world as one who is utterly dead. Yet, while conscious of death to the world, he can, at the same time, exclaim with the apostle, “Nevertheless I live.” He is fully alive unto God. The Christian’s life is a matchless riddle. No worldling can comprehend it; even the believer himself cannot understand it. Dead, yet alive! crucified with Christ, and yet at the same time risen with Christ in newness of life! Union with the suffering, bleeding Saviour, and death to the world and sin, are soul-cheering things. O for more enjoyment of them! – C.H. Spurgeon from his Evening by Evening Devotion for December 14^th.

At salvation, each Christian participates spiritually with the Lord in His Crucifixion including His victory over sin and death. Because of this, each believer’s “Old Self” is dead, having been crucified with Christ as you read in Romans 6:3 and Romans 6:5 above. As new creations in Christ each believer has the privilege of the indwelling Christ empowering him or her and living through them (Romans 8:9.10). This walk described by Paul here is possible only by the grace of God, but Christians have responsibility.

16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. 19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Galatians 5:16-24 (NASB) 

The desires of the flesh are contrary to the fruit of the Spirit. Walking by the Spirit implies both direction and empowerment. I pray for wisdom and discernment each morning before I go to work. I pray for direction and the ability to make choices according to the will of God. This walking will produce fruit that will reveal a pattern of conduct that is under the control of the Holy Spirit. The believer walking this way will do so only as their flesh is crucified. That means that the ordinary desires of the fallen human nature are denied. Notice also, that those who profess to be Christians, but whose walk is not marked this way, but will be lived according to the desires of the flesh, will not inherit the kingdom of God. There are some today who preach that this is not so. They deny Sola Scriptura by placing their own experiences and feelings over the truth of God’s Word.

There is a strong delusion coming into the Church right now that attempts to nullify all teachings about the exclusivity of the Gospel. It says that those who do not receive Christ as their Lord and Saviour are going to be with Christ in eternity as well as the Christian. Why? Because they teach that Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross was meant to redeem all people and has done so regardless of what they believe or if they repent of their sins or not. Those who teach this take a few passages out of context and isolate them to the point that they are making them say what they want, while they ignore the rest of Sacred Scripture, such as Galatians 5:16-24, above, which teaches that those who will inherit the Kingdom of God will have lives marked by a pattern of the fruit of the Spirit, which is impossible for the unregenerate. Also, those who have been deceived by this delusion teach that even those who hate God and the Lord Jesus Christ will still be saved even if they die unrepentant. It is almost as if these people are attempting to open wide the narrow way and include everyone into the Kingdom, even those who hate the real Jesus Christ.

This is fallacy and absurd, but the unregenerate love it. Why? They do not have to repent. They can remain conformed to the world and its ways while still believing in their make-believe Jesus who simply wants everyone to be prosperous and happy in their sins and greed and selfishness. Let us pray for one another for God to give us wisdom and discernment and opportunity to share the Gospel with those all around us who have believed the lies of the enemy. Perhaps He will save them unto glory.

Soli Deo Gloria!