S. Michael Houdmann Supporter Got Questions Ministries

In his letter to the Galatians, the apostle Paul wrote that he had been "crucified with Christ," and, as a result, Paul no longer lived. Does this mean that Paul hung on the cross with Jesus and wa...

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July 01 2013 • 5 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Andy Mangus Supporter I am a Christian since October 1979 & devoted truth seeker.

My simple and 'easy' answer is that, as a Child of God, we "deny ourselves, by 'dying to self' and then allowing God's Holy Spirit to be our guide every single day, seeking His righteousness every single day and being more like Jesus every single day". This is how we allow God's Holy Spirit to teach us and be our 'teacher- guide' every single day! This is what scripture is talking about when we read verses that instruct us to "stay on that narrow path of His righteousness". For He-The Holy Spirit- will guide us unto all Truth in righteousness!

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, with all your mind and all your strength and He will direct your every pathway". 
AMEN!
--Andy--

March 03 2016 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Grant Abbott Supporter Child of Father, Follower of Son, Student of Spirit

Being crucified with Christ is clearly explained in Romans 6:6 "We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. " The moment we come to faith in Jesus as our personal saviour, our sinful nature is crucified with Christ on the cross and Christ's divine nature is given to us. We are immediately justified and made right in God's sight. When God looks at us he sees Jesus. Before we came to faith in Jesus we were spiritually dead in our trespasses and sins. Once we believe, Jesus gives us his Holy Spirit who breathes new life into our spirits and restores the gift of eternal life.

All these wonderful changes initially take place in the spiritual world. It is now the Holy Spirit's work to sanctify and make us holy. He does this work so that the divine nature of Jesus will be revealed in the way we think, feel, talk and act. Our old way of life controlled by our sinful nature will be gone and our new way of life controlled by our divine nature will flourish for the glory and will of God.

So why do we continue to struggle with sin. In my view, there are 2 primary reasons, as follows: 

1) The desires of our flesh
2) The corrupt world we live in

The desires of our flesh are those "habitual behaviours" that developed when our sinful nature was in control. Our patterns of thought, feelings, words and actions. We all recognise the power of habits in our lives. Even though we have been born again by the Spirit of God we may continue in "some" or "many" of these habits. For some people their conversion experience is so powerful that some serious sinful habits are broken immediately by the power of God. For others, dropping sinful habits can take much longer. I believe we often fail by focusing on the negative instead of on the positive. When we try to stop a sinful habit we don't replace it with a good habit. We first need to pray and ask God to give us the wisdom to select a good habit that will take away the desire we have to indulge the sinful habit. Then we need to faithfully practice the good habit, at least 21 times according to research, until the new habit becomes second nature (or should I say divine nature). This process of replacing sinful habits with godly habits is what the bible calls "crucifying the desires of our flesh". Over time these desires will have less and less impact on our lives as we continually form new godly habits.

The second issue is the corrupt world we live in. This world and its culture is controlled by our spiritual enemy, Satan, and his demonic hordes. Everything about the "ways of this world" is opposed to God's will. Satan uses the culture to enslave people in sin. His strategy is to steal, kill and destroy everything that God considers good. We human beings have bought into these cultural influences which can have very powerful holds on our lives. Sometimes we are not even aware of these influences. The bible says we are "in this world" but not "of this world". If we claim to love God then we must hate the ways of this world and the corruption it has brought into people's lives.

As Christians, we first need to be cleaned up from the corruption or pollution that is plaguing us today. The cleansing agent is the blood of Jesus. We need to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to show us how our new robes have been stained by this pollution and then apply the blood of Jesus to cleanse us. Going forward, our best defence against this corruption is the "Armour of God". We need to put this armour on every day. In my view, the best way to do that is by having a thorough knowledge of the scriptures and by spending concentrated time in prayer engaged in spiritual battle.

it is God's will that we succeed in this battle. Then his kingdom is expanded upon the earth and his will is expressed through us for his honour and glory.

February 17 2017 • 2 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Bryan Naidoo Supporter Post graduate and pastor

To be crucified with Christ simply means that "Self" is dead. You as a person live no more. You are a new creation with a new nature belonging to a new family.

Only when one is crucified with Christ would be able to call jesus "My lord" because self is dead. When one is dead to self, than only he is taken to the Race Track to run his race looking into jesus the author and the finisher of the race. This is the race when one pick up his cross doing the perfect will of his lord.
One can either be dead with Christ or alive with self.. Death leads to life eternal.

July 01 2017 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

James Kraft Supporter 74 year old retired pipeline worker

Colossians 3:3. We are dead and our life is hidden with Christ in God. 

God could have just taken us to heaven the second we believed the gospel. First Corinthians 15:3-4. But he left us here to be a witness for him so others could receive the free gift of eternal life.

And as the children of God by faith alone, if we continue in the sins named in Colossians 3:5 He may take us home before our time. The wrath of God comes on the children of disobedience. 

We cannot lose eternal life, or that would make God a liar. John 6:47. John 3:18. So He chastens us as a good Father. 

And their are rewards in heaven for the faithful in Christ Jesus. First Corinthians 3:11-15. 

The blood of Jesus covers us from all sin. John 3:18. John 5:24. First John 2:2. Romans 4:5. Faith is not a work. It is FAITH apart from works. And faith is not the gift. Eternal life is the GIFT, not faith. Acts 16:31. Period. John 10:28-29. Once you believe it you are saved forever.

July 18 2022 • 2 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Jack Gutknecht Supporter Arizona Bible College graduate and Dallas Seminary graduate

First, see the big picture: 

II. THE REBUKE BY PAUL IN ANTIOCH (Galatians 2:11-21)
A. The need for Paul's rebuke (Gal 2:11-13): Peter was refusing to fellowship with saved but
uncircumcised Gentiles.
B. The nature of Paul's rebuke (Gal 2:14-21)
1. The contents (Gal 2:14-18): He reminded Peter that it is faith, not circumcision, that saves both
Jews and Gentiles.
2. The conclusion (Gal 2:19-21)
a. All believers have been crucified with Christ (Gal 2:19-20a).
b. All believers are to live by the faith of the indwelling Christ (Gal 2:20b-21). H. Wilmington 

The rare compound verb “I have been crucified with Christ” (συνεσταύρωμαι) [= "I HAVE BEEN CRUCIFIED"] appears in Paul only here and in Romans 6:6 (in the Gospels the simple verb σταυρόω is used for the literal crucifixion: Matt 27:44; Mark 15:32; John 19:32).

Paul is explaining how a believer can “die to the law” through the law itself. The logic runs like this: Christ was crucified as one who had become “a curse” under the law (see Deut 21:23, quoted in Gal 3:13), so in the eyes of the law Jesus died as an accursed, condemned, ritually impure criminal. When Paul, or any believer, is united to Christ by faith, he is legally and covenantally identified with that crucified, accursed One. Consequently, the law itself pronounces the believer “dead” and “unclean” right along with Jesus; the believer is therefore an outcast from the old covenant community and is released from the law’s jurisdiction, just as a corpse is no longer under legal obligation.

In short, the law killed Christ as a law-breaker; by joining myself to that executed criminal, the law has, by its own verdict, killed me too. That is exactly how I “died to the law through the law” (Gal 2:19).

A Jewish opponent would instantly retort, “If the law executed Jesus, it proves He really was a transgressor—and if you identify with Him, it proves you are too!” That is the very charge Peter was implicitly accepting when he withdrew from table-fellowship with Gentiles (Gal 2:11-14). Paul is reminding Peter: “You yourself believe Jesus is the Messiah, not a cursed sinner, so stop acting as if uniting with Him makes us unclean instead of set free.”

Ethically and existentially, this co-crucifixion is lived out daily: the believer’s old self is crucified with Christ (Rom 6:3-11), we share His sufferings (Phil 3:10), we die daily (1 Cor 15:31), and we carry around the dying of Jesus in our bodies (2 Cor 4:10). The legal reality of justification and the spiritual reality of sanctification both flow from the same union with the Crucified One.

(Adapted and updated from Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament, vol. 4 [1887], pp. 107–108; cf. Also the similar insight in C. C. Everett, The Gospel of Paul [1883], p. 147, which Vincent found helpful.) Vincent's Word Studies is one of my favorite reference books which I began using in seminary.

“Rock of Ages” – Augustus Toplady (1776) :

Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress,
Helpless, look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly –
Wash me, Savior, or I die.

While I draw this fleeting breath,
When mine eyelids close in death,
When I soar to worlds unknown,
See Thee on Thy judgment throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.

The image of hiding in the cleft side of the crucified Christ beautifully pictures the believer as legally and spiritually identified with the Crucified One.

2 days ago • 1 response • Vote Up • Share • Report