Eternal Approach

“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.” (Galatians 2:20)

The truths of this verse can set a person free.

I have repeated this verse in my mind a thousand times. Even so, a thought often nags at me when I think on it.

It is a doubt that is commonly associated with the idea of being crucified with Christ.

The doubt centers around the fear that this is not yet a completed process. That it is still ongoing. Meaning that I might not be fully crucified yet.

Which is what many in Christian circles commonly teach.

But, something wonderful occurred to me the other day. And it has to do with the simple words, “with Christ“.

With the Lord

This verse says that I am “crucified with Christ“.

Which indicates that the crucifixion spoken of here is not some lonely or separate thing I must continue to endure apart from the Lord Himself.

It also occurred to me that I am in the same state that Christ is in right now. Meaning, that I am not only already crucified, but I am also already dead.

And, get this, that I am also now already risen again!

Think of that!

Just as the Lord was fully crucified, so am I.

And just as He died upon Calvary, so did I.

And just as He rose from the dead, so did I.

In other words, I do not travel a separate road from Him. I am not going through some separate process from Him.

My “road” IS the Lord.

He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life for me now. I am not engaged in some separated process that He expects me to go through and endure by my own spiritual strength, discipline, and determination.

And, all of this is the same for you if you have trusted the Lord as your Savior!

A Done Deal

We enter into this blessed “rest”, as it says in the book of Hebrews, by faith. By believing what the words of God say.

By faith, I know that the Law cannot make any more demands upon me. The price of all my sins has already been paid at the cross.

It is a done deal. There is nothing more I can add to what Jesus did for me.

And the Father looks at me as having paid the full price for all my sin.

This is no small blessing.

Because it runs full speed against the thinking of many Christian groups that teach that we are still in the process of crucifixion as far as sanctification goes. Or that we must crucify ourselves. Or put our own flesh to death by some spiritual discipline.

Or by some unspecified spiritual or mystical process. Regardless how Orthodox or Conservative or good that process may seem to be.

Which keeps believers in bondage to endless torment in trying to bring their flesh under control by some spiritual form of “crucifixion”.

Without understanding that this has already been done. Done and completed. Finished!

Keeping Christ on the Cross

It is also interesting to note that Catholicism perpetuates the crucifixion of Jesus. They surround themselves with crucifixes (where an image of Christ is still on the cross).

They keep Him up there on a cross when He is no longer there. Because they are trusting in some mystical power that the priests supposedly have to dispense salvation; a power they gain by the daily crucifixion of the Lord, endlessly repeated, in the mass.

They continue to trust in the “un-bloody sacrifice” of the mass; while ignoring the total sufficiency for forgiveness and salvation offered through His one sacrifice, for all sins, forever.

They trust in sacrifices that can never take away sins. While disregarding what has already been accomplished by the Lord Himself. By the Great High Priest, who sat down after offering Himself as the totally-sufficient sacrifice to the Father.

“He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities. ” (Isaiah 53:11)

A Resurrected People

Christians must cast off their own self confidence and embrace the wonderful blessings that the Lord has already provided for us. Which we may enjoy by faith.

He has given us this wonderful truth that we are now risen with Christ. We must learn to rest upon the truths of scripture rather than the religious traditions of the world.

We are a resurrected people. Who now have Christ as our Life. And whose lives are now hidden “with Christ in God“.

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