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Galatians 2:20. "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.".
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Galatians 2:20 "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."
Crucifixion was a death reserved for slaves & the Roman Empire’s “low-life” The word for “to crucify” (stauroō) was not spoken in polite company – it was considered profanity Crucifixion made pain & simple 1st century Jerusalem* Modern reconstruction *Jehohanan son of Hagalgol
Key word in Galatians 2:20 • crucified:sustaurow,sustauroō = sun + stauroō = together + crucified • This word refers to the action of together crucifying - when Christ was crucified we were crucified together with Him • The very same Greek word is used in Romans 6:6, “…our old man was crucified with…” • The word is a perfect passive indicative verb
Perfect passive indicative? • Perfect: completed past action with ongoing results into the future; the perfect tense implies completeness & permanence • Passive: we are the receivers of the action; God is the one who has carried out this action on our behalf & not ourselves • Indicative: it is a statement of fact; it is not simply a possibility or a hopeful outcome
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Galatians 2:20 "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." • People who were there didn’t see that • We don’t remember being there • Nobody around us can look at us & tell we were there that day
We do not know on the basis of anything we can sense, arrive at by reason, or feel We know this only by revelation from God in the New Testament Scriptures So how do we know we’ve been crucified with Christ? Chester Beatty papyrus – about 180 AD - Revelation
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OK, but what does it mean? • “our old man was crucified with Him” Romans 6:6 • “died to sin” Romans 6:2 • “you also were made to die to the Law” Romans 7:4 • “I died to the Law” Galatians 2:19 • “the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Galatians 6:14
The old man – who we were before faith in Christ – was crucified together with Christ When the old man died, so did our identity & history in the old man Our old man was crucified with Him? 1st Adam Me Me Me Me
OK, but what does it mean? • “our old man was crucified with Him” Romans 6:6 • “died to the sin” Romans 6:2 • “you also were made to die to the Law” Romans 7:4 • “I died to the Law” Galatians 2:19 • “the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Galatians 6:14
We have died in relationship to… • “the sin” - Romans 6:2 • As unbelievers, we were in unbreakable bondage to the sin nature (Romans 6:16-19) • The inevitable outcome of that slavery to the sin nature was death (Romans 6:20-23)
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Every Roman soldier would receive his pay that was due him & for which he had worked hard (earned wages: opsonia) But on special occasions, such as when a new emperor came onto the throne, the soldiers might receive additional pay by the grace of the emperor (free gift: charisma) It’s about a Roman soldier’s pay
Romans 6:23 as Roman soldiers understood it For the wages* of sin is death, but the free gift* of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. *opsonia = earned wages for which every Roman soldier worked very hard *charisma = unearned bonus pay, given only by grace from someone much higher in authority
We have died in relationship to… • “the Law” - Romans 7:4; Galatians 2:19 • Since the time of the apostles, there have been groups within Christendom who have tried to sell people on the idea that a Law principle of one kind or another will allow them to earn life • Our having been crucified with Christ on the cross, in contrast, caused us to be dead in relationship with the Law
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Resurrection Sunday - April 11, 2004 Galatians 2:20 Oh good! I died! – page 2 of 4
“So how do you like this ministry”?” • The Law is a ministry of death (2 Corinthians 3:7) • The Law is a ministry of condemnation (2 Corinthians 3:8) • The Law is a curse (Galatians 3:13) • No one will be justified by works of the Law (Romans 3:20; Galatians 2:16)
We have died in relationship to… • “the world” - Galatians 6:14 • In order to understand what Paul means by “the world”, substitute “the culture” • One anthropologist said, “Culture is what we do without thinking”, & that’s probably a good way to understand it • It is the system of false assumptions, viewpoints, values & perspectives that are “built in” to the society around us
“Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism* into death”, Romans 6:4 “having been buried with Him in baptism*”, Colossians 2:12 *baptizo simply means “to be placed into” something Buried…isn’t that a bad thing?
Our having been crucified with Christ focuses upon the action of dying & the changes in personal identity, personal history & the relationship to the sin nature, the Law & the world Our having been buried with Christ switches the focus from one of dying to one of confirmation & recognition of death There is also one more purpose which we will see shortly So why is being buried so important?
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“having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead.” Colossians 2:12 “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...” Romans 6:4 Now the one more reason for our having been buried with Him
Galatians 2:20 "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." • The “I” that has been crucified is my old man (Romans 6:6) • So it is the old man (“I”) that no longer lives (Galatians 2:20)
But rather than simply being identified with Christ in His death, burial & resurrection, His resurrected life is the life in me! Hey! What’s going on in there?
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Resurrection Sunday - April 11, 2004 Galatians 2:20 Oh good! I died! – page 3 of 4
Galatians 2:20 "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." • The first half of the verse describes what is true of every believer • The second half describes the moment by moment (now) basis for living
The unbeliever is entirely enslaved to the Sin Nature The believer is indwelt by the resurrected Christ A Galatians 2:20 Timeline Sin Nature Sin Nature Christ Christ Sin Nature
Galatians 2:20 expanded & explained “By God’s doing, who I was prior to believing in Christ has been positionally & irreversibly crucified with Christ, so as to separate me positionally from the sin nature; and who I was prior to that point is no longer the “me” who lives, but ever since that point in time the resurrected person of Jesus Christ is resident in me; and the living which I am now doing each moment in this human body is by means of faith in the Son of God – His life - who loved me regardless of my prior state and identity and gave Himself up for my eternal benefit."
By my faith in the resurrected living person of Christ, His life is the very life expressed in this body…right now…every moment in which my trust is placed in Him And Galatians 2:20 makes clear that this Christ is not just some hypothetical Jew who lived 20 centuries ago, but the very one who loved me to the point that He gave His life for me I’m not just waiting until I die for the resurrection of Christ to impact me
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Right in line with the way in which God has determined to work in the lives of those who believe in Him God’s working entirely by His power, by His love, entirely by His resources God asking nothing more of me than to believe Saying that I don’t earn anything, work harder of my own resources or contribute anything to the process And the resurrection is also…
“…and I give eternal life* to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand.” John 10:28 * present active indicative: “I am constantly giving them life eternal” His life
Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. Colossians 3:1-4 His life
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