Crucified = Dying

Galatians 2:17-21

In these Scriptures, the apostle is addressing the concept of dying and being crucified to the churches at Galatia.  He is not talking about physical death as stated in Hebrews 9:27, “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.”  No, the apostle is talking about a death to “Self” to your desires, to running your life as you please, to doing it your way, to being the king of your kingdom.  Often, I find such clarity in other books of the Bible and 2 Corinthians 5:15 is one of them; “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.” 

How often have we used examples to make a point, and they sound good on the surface, but they project a false concept.  One such teaching, that I have heard in Baptist churches, is the “White dog and the Black dog” and it goes this way, “ You have two dogs living inside of you and one is good and the other is bad and the one you feed is going to win.  I understand what the teacher is attempting to teach, but it has one thing wrong, it is not true.  Galatians 2:20, states the following; “I have been crucified with Christ. (He did not say I am going to be crucified) 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.”  Folks, something died when you entered into Christ, and I believe Scripture is clear it was the old you, many call it your “sin nature” and it died the day you entered into Christ. Romans 6:6, “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.”

Your flesh did not die, it is the battleground, it has been programmed from birth on how to get it’s needs met.  My friend Bill Gillham made this statement in “Life Time Guarantee”; “Have you ever seen a baby that had a wet diaper and thought, ‘mom needs her sleep so I will wait until she wakes up’.  Wrong, it is not going to happen, that baby is only thinking of number one, and that is our problem with the flesh.  We are told often in Scripture that we must subdue our fleshly lusts, Romans 13:14 gives this insight; “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. (Note the NIV uses “sinful nature” but the word is translated flesh)  Galatians 5:16, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”  The war that is going on is with our flesh, 1Peter 2:11, “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against you soul.”

It we still had the “old self” living in us and we had the Spirit of Christ living in us we would have a Civil war going on in our spirit.  In Colossians the third chapter, we are told in verse one that we have been raised with Christ, and to seek the things above.   In verse two we are commanded to set out minds on things above and not on things on the earth.  But verse three tells us why;” For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

From verse five on, we are being instructed on the battle plan against our flesh.  If you were crucified with Christ, then the old man, the one who answered only to Satan, died.   Scripture is clear that darkness and light cannot be in the same place, where there is light, darkness is removed, that’s what happened when you were crucified with Christ, the control of sin was removed and the goal is to renew your mind on the ways of God, so that the flesh does not render you ineffective.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice