Galatians 2:20 I
am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me:
Romans 8:7
Because the carnal (fleshly, independent, Adamic) mind is enmity against
God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
1 Cor. 12:13 For
by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, …
Romans
6:3‑4 Know ye not, that so many of us as were
(immersed) baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized (immersed) into
his death? 4Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that
like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even
so we also should walk in newness of life. How
does God see us as Christians? God knows our personal frame subjectively,
and yet objectively, He sees the finished result of our being “in
Christ”, crucified with Christ on the cross, and risen in newness of life
“with and in Christ”.
Why did the
Father crucify us “in Christ”? It is because the Father had, and still
has, no hope in us as the fallen offspring of Sinful Adam. Our bodies are
still corrupted by indwelling Sin (Rom 7:17‑23) and thereby our
unrenewed self is still sinfully self‑loving. Paul describes the
frustration of being bound by Sin in Rom 7, “the things I want to do I
cannot, and the things I do not want to do I do.” Apart from Christ’s
life in us, God considers us as being hopeless; and that’s how we as
Christians should view ourselves when we consider solving our problems,
making choices, and otherwise living and acting apart from a dependent trust
in the Christ who is our indwelling life and Lord.
The flesh (our
fallen, old, Adamic self) is corrupt to the uttermost, and there is no
remedy for it except death. You see, the work of the Lord Jesus Christ does
not and will not change our flesh. God's power cannot change our flesh.
Reading the Bible and prayer cannot change our flesh because “that which
is born of the flesh is flesh” (John 3:6). Now, in this age of grace,
God’s way is not to change things as by a magical “shazam;” no it is
by bringing us to experience Christ’s life out of our death to
self‑rule. Of course, according to our blessed hope in the future, we
will one day “exchange” this corrupt, mortal, fallen body, for a new
spirit body that is immortal. Till then, in this age of grace, God’s way
is the cross, the place of … termination of the old, and … germination
of Christ as the seed of life. The cross is the place of “life born out of
death”.
There is no hope
in our fleshly self, and the flesh can never change. God considers death as
the rightful destiny of our flesh, intending that His life in Christ may
then come to flow from our spirit, out through our soul, as us. Our newness
is borne out of Christ’s sin‑purging death to of old man, and His
life‑giving regeneration to our once dead spirit, … now flowing
through our soul’s mind, emotoin and will, as the new us. Galatians 2:20 I
am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth
in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the
Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
The Father’s
plan, purpose, and way, was to first make us sin‑cleansed recipients
of His Son’s life by the washing of the blood of Christ (Titus 3:5). Then
also He made available His eternal life in the person of His seed, Christ
(1Pet 1:23, Gal 3:16, seed in Greek is “sperma”). The Father’s Son is
now the life‑giving Sprit (2Cor 3:17a, 1Cor 15:45), made available to
“as many as receive Him” (Jn 1:12); to thereby birth the Father’s
Spirit (Jn 4:24) of life (Psa. 36:9) into them. 2Cor 3:6b “the spirit
giveth life.”
The effectual and
life changing thing that God does for us is to place us, whelm or or immerse
us into Christ’s body, the body that bears His death and life, as our
death and life. We are baptized into His death and into His resurrection
life (Rom 6:2‑3). In the grace dispensation for today, this is a
waterless or dry, baptism, as taught by the Apostle Paul. This baptism is by
the Spirit placing us into the medium of Christ’s body. This in itself
also a declaration that God has no hope in us and so he has crucified us;
that we would then also become partakers of new of life “in Christ” (Gal
2:20). This all is objective, all qualify, God did this for all us; such
that all we need to do is open our heart and “receive” Christ. John 1:12
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of
God, even to them that believe on his name:
You might then
say, “I’ve been born anew, but I still sin” and “I am still allured
by some things of the flesh”. Yes, every rebirthed Christian has
objectively received Christ and what He did for them objectively, but most
have yet to surrender theri SELF‑life, that He might be Lord of their
living. This then moves us concern for obeying outer laws, rules, and
precepts … to obeying the inward speaking of the articulate Christ who
indwells our spirit – this is walking according to the inward Law of the
Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:2).
In practicality,
we need to personally and individually come to see and acknowledge our
hopelessness in defeating sin via our self‑effort. This requires
failures that push us to see our inability to live the Christian life; and
then coming to see the answer. The answer is coming to see our hopeless
state, and then our co‑death with Christ; to the point that we
willingly let go of self‑effort, to simply trust Christ in us as our
righteous new life?
Paul says in Rom
8:13 that the “deeds of the flesh” maybe mortified, (not modified) by
the spirit. Romans 8:13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if
ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
This is a mortification accomplished as we live according to the
spirit – happening spontaneously, as we depend upon Him who now is our
life (Col 3:3). This is according to the LIVING Law … of the Spirit of
Life, not laws written on tables of stone. This life‑giving law
empowers us to live righteously, as the law of the bird life easily makes it
possible to overcome the law of gravity to fly. To live according to the
spirit requires that we come to know our utter hopelessness and come to see
our only hope, which is Him who indwells our spirit and our necessary
relationship of dependence upon Him.
Perhaps you’ve
noticed that in this paper I’ve used the phrase “come to see” several
times. This phrase acknowledges that we do not immediately see these
important aspects of our condition, and what God had done for us in Christ,
on both sides of the cross – dying, and rising in newness of life. To
“come to see” is a Strong’s Concordance definition for the word,
“know”, when the Greek word is “ginosko, meaning, “to come to see,
know, understand”. This is a revelatory knowing that comes to us by the
hand of God our Father that we might see what He wants us to see, when He
wants us to see it. This coming to see often comes to us as the outcome of
the everyday crisis, situations, and circumstances of our life. It is the
Father who is at work behind these situations and in us that we might know
who we are, being already “in Christ”, and to live accordingly. Philip.
2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good
pleasure. Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to
them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
We must come to
see that the work that God the Father did in Jesus Christ for us was to
crucify us with Jesus. Our co‑death with Christ is effectual because
indwelling Sin then is thereby robbed of our old person, whom Sin heretofore
ruled (Rom 6:7, “He that is dead is freed from Sin”). Sin can no longer
rule us now, as dead persons. We are freed from the power of Sin’s
tyrannical rulership over us.
Objectively, we
have died with Christ, but in practicality we must subjectively come to see
and accept our death to self‑rule. You would think it easy to let go
of this failing self, who is impotent to defeat Sin – but it only comes
via revelation. In seeing, we give up our independence, that He might be the
Lord of our lives. Next we must see that we cannot live our life apart from
personally trusting Him and His leading us, moment by moment. This moving on
to live by His life is the working out of our dying to our self‑rule.
One thing we must learn is to abandon all other voices, and listen only to
His still small voice as He guides, and more often than not, as He limits or
restricts us in our choices. This is in itself the functioning of Christ’s
Lordship in our lives. This is Christ living through us, as He wills. END
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