Walking in the Freedom of the Gospel

Sunday, August 25, 2024

 Galatians 2:20

 Introduction

 The Gospel: Death is Life

 The Gospel: Death is Life

“I have been crucified with Christ…”

‘crucified with’ - means to crucify, affix or nail to a cross with another (2 thieves crucified with Jesus). It also signifies that the believer has been crucified with Christ at a specific point in time in the past and that the effects of this this crucifixion persist or continue into the present.

 I am crucified with Christ. I identified with the Lord Jesus Christ. I view myself as so connected with Christ, as that when He was crucified, I was crucified. I am redeemed from the law and its curse, because Jesus became a curse for me.

 “So, you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Romans 6:11

 “And those how belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” Galatians 5:24

 “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” Galatians 6:14

 “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me…”

Paul is describing the nature of our union with Christ in which our Lord obviously remains Christ and the believer retains his or her personality and physical nature. He is saying that a mysterious union has taken place, one that we cannot completely comprehend in this life, a union in which Jesus Christ is now living in and through the believer.

 Christ is the principle of my life; from His fullness I live—as the branch lives from the root.

 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much 

fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

“And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God…”

The "I" described here is not the same "I" who was crucified with Christ. That old "I", the rebellious, unbelieving self died with Christ on Calvary.

 The "I" who lives is the new "I" of faith. The new creation lives (2 Corinthians 5:17). The believer lives. The old self died on the cross with Jesus. This new "I" lives by faith.

 The believer’s past participation “with Christ” in His crucifixion is the basis for his present life of faith “in Christ.”

 “who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Loved means to love unconditionally and sacrificially reflecting the love that God Himself is. 

 Gave himself - means to give alongside. The basic idea is to give over from one's hand to someone or something with particular reference to a right or an authority.

 "the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." Matthew 20:28

 "Walk in love, just as Christ also loved you, and gave Himself up  for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.” Ephesians 5:2

 “(Jesus) gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony borne at the proper time.”

1 Timothy 2:6

 (Jesus) gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.” Titus 2:14

 Conclusion

“The new self is a Christ-inhabited, Christ-sustained, Christ-strengthened me.”

John Piper