Part 3: We were Crucified With Christ: Gal 2:19-20

“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” Gal 2:19-20

This is the main message in Galatians. Paul is answering Peter by saying that when we believed, we died to the Law. In his explanation, he emphasizes: the moment you believed, you were crucified with Christ—you are dead.

I Died? But I’m here

At first, this might be confusing—you might wonder what exactly was crucified with Christ. To understand this, let’s do a flashback to the garden of Eden.

A Flashback to the Garden of Eden

You see Adam and Eve in the garden, before sinning.

Now where are YOU in this?

You are in the loins of Adam (Heb 7:9-10). Yep!

That means when Adam sinned, you sinned with him. Now, what about the other side? When you were born again, you were placed in Christ, and hence when Christ died, you died with Christ (Col 3:3), the same way you were in Adam the day, Adam sinned. This is the truth that Paul tried to underscore in Rom 6:6-7:

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; for he who has died is freed from sin.

What is this “Body of Sin”?

It talks about a body of sin, what is that?

In the verse it clearly says a characteristic of this body- that body of sin is a slave to sin. So when it says we had a body of sin, what it means is that Sin had a direct influence and power over us before we came to faith in Christ.

I like to think of our body as this huge building, super secure with no one allowed in. The guy in charge, Mr. Owner, is in this secure office room. But, he is only in charge from the looks of it. In reality, he is forced by Mr. Sin to do his bidding, and he cannot break free. Why? Because he is Mr. Sin’s slave.

One day Mr. Owner, says enough is enough, I am going to stand up to this guy and I am not going to do his bidding, he makes a list of rules and principles that he is going to follow and thinks all is well.

But soon, outside, the building, some cars pull in, and a shady figure emerges from one of the cars, Mr. Sin, they call him. He comes to the entrance of the building, which is usually heavily armed, and just by one glance, these guards squirm in fear and let him in. Then, he walks to the secure room, opens the door and stands there, leaving Mr. Owner shell shocked. He reminds Mr. Owner of control he has over him, and Mr. Owner gives in. 

This is a picture of our situation before Christ. We, Mr. Owner, were slaves to Mr.Sin, and was being controlled by Sin, and having had enough (repentance), we decided to get into law based living, hoping that it would help. But the problem was that since we were enslaved to sin, no amount of law-keeping would help us, even if it was possible.

Struggle mentioned in Romans 7

Paul’s description in Romans 7 reflects this inner struggle of Mr. Owner. You will see the plea of cry of someone who wants to break free but just can’t, the plea of Mr. Owner.

“For we know that the Law is spiritual, but I am of flesh, sold into bondage to sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate. But if I do the very thing I do not want to do, I agree with the Law, confessing that the Law is good. So now, no longer am I the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I want, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me. I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” (Rom 7:14-23)

This is the cry of someone who desperately wants to break free but finds himself trapped.

The cry echoes:

Who will set me free from the body of this death?

Christ’s Liberation

Then came Christ, and he set us free. How? By including us in Him, so that when He died, we died with Him.

Hallelujah!

The only thing we really had to do was believe. By believing, you’re totally IN CHRIST. So when he got crucified, we were right there with him, and we died with him too, which means the whole “body of sin” situation is taken care of. This means Mr. Owner is free from that slavery nonsense. He’s not a slave anymore. His guards outside don’t need to let in Mr. Sin. Mr. Sin’s been kicked out of the building and has no say around here.

For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. (Rom 6:14)

This means that sin has no jurisdiction over us. Mr. Sin has been kicked out of the building, and we are set free from the bondage of sin. The Bible is very clear about that. Do not believe the lies that are perpetuated from the pulpits saying that we still have a body of sin, and that we need to crucify the flesh. These are all incorrect and we will discuss this in upcoming blogs. 

More readings here.

Conclusion

So when Paul says,  I have been crucified with Christ, it is a declaration of victory. It is his freedom declaration! Then he says, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Remember the building example and Mr. Owner. Mr. Christ has rescued Mr. Owner, and he has been set free. But Mr. Owner says Mr. Christ, sit with me, you run the whole business, the whole building. That’s living by the Spirit. When Paul says it is no longer, I who live means “live by the Spirit, and you shall not gratify the desires of the flesh”. Living by the Spirit, or through Christ living in me, is the full potential I of my whole being. That is not bondage, but that is freedom.