Crucified with Christ Meaning
Crucified with Christ Meaning
In Galatians 2:20, the apostle Paul writes, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live.” What does that mean? Was it just Paul that was crucified with Christ, or is that something that happens to all believers when they put their faith in Jesus for salvation?
Understanding what it means to be "crucified with Christ" reveals some of the most profound benefits believers receive because of Jesus’ finished work on the cross. While most focus centers on Jesus dying for our sins and the benefit of going to heaven—which is indeed good news—it's not the only good news.
The apostle Paul declared this remarkable truth in Romans 6:3-4:
"Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death..."
"Baptized" here means "immersed" or "taken into." We aren't talking about water baptism, but rather the spiritual reality that whatever happened to Christ happened to us. To be crucified with Christ encompasses several profound truths about what died when this happened.
First, Your Old Self Died
Obviously, you aren't physically dead, so which part of you died with Christ? Your "old self." Paul continued in Romans 6:6, "For we know that our old self was crucified with him."
Your old self is the one who was in Adam. All people are either in Adam or in Christ. Our old self inherited a sin nature that left us separated from God. Our "self" at that time was the only thing left to be the source of our life since we were cut off from The Source of Life.
As Dan Stone explains in The Rest of the Gospel:
"The source of that life (the one in Adam) had to die. You can't put Band-Aids on it. It had to die. It had to be cut off. It's like the dandelions in the field next to my house. I used to break them off at the ground and hope for the best. But dandelion roots are very long. I didn't realize how long until I finally pulled one out. You have to get them out by the root, or they'll grow right back. God had to cut off the old man at the root or he would continue to produce his sinful fruit. So, God crucified you with Christ." (Dan Stone, The Rest of the Gospel)
What This Practically Means
So many Christians are trying to "die to self," attempting to get rid of the part of us that we don't like or that acts out sometimes. But the problem is that we are trying to kill someone that God already killed! We get confused because of our emotions, thoughts about ourselves, or occasional sinful behavior. We think this means our old self still exists and we must kill him or her.
But just because you act a certain way occasionally doesn't mean that's who you are. I can act like a chicken all day long, but that will never make me a chicken. Maybe we act like our old self sometimes because many of us believe that our old self is still alive.
When we come to know the truth, we may experience thoughts, feelings, or emotions that seem to align with our old self, but now we can renew our minds to the truth: "THAT IS NOT WHO I AM ANYMORE!"
Second, You Died to Sin
When you were crucified with Christ, your sin nature was crucified as well. Paul taught this clearly in Romans 6:6-7:
"For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been set free from sin."
You inherited a sin nature. Having a sin nature didn't mean you couldn't do anything good at all, but it did mean that you were by nature a sinner. That nature was going to produce sins in your life. In order to be able to be in union with a holy and perfect God and to produce fruit of eternal value, He had to kill that nature and give you a new nature.
Sin is no longer your master. It is no longer part of you at the spirit level. You have new wants and new desires that God has given you in Christ.
Dealing with Sin in This World
But sin is still in this world, and Satan will tempt you to sin from time to time. He will try to deceive you into thinking that your sin nature is still very much intact. He will try to convince you that it is part of who you are and that you don't have a choice.
That is why it becomes so important to know what has truly happened to you. Just because you have thoughts or feelings that seem to indicate that you really want to do what Satan is tempting you with does not mean that you really want to do them. When you understand that you died to the power of sin, you can recognize Satan's lies and renew your mind to the truth that you don't really want to do what he is tempting you to do.
As Frank Friedman writes in Stunned by Grace:
"Since we died with Christ, our sin nature is gone... When you discover that you died with Christ on the cross, you have the potential to experience unbelievable freedom from sin; however, that freedom is not automatic. There is a key to laying hold of that freedom. You have to believe that you have died to sin and that you are a brand-new person. You have to believe that sin is no longer your master and that it has no power over you anymore." (Frank Friedman, Stunned by Grace)
To be crucified with Christ means that you died to the power of sin and live from a place of victory in this world.
Third, You Died to the Law
What? I thought we were supposed to live out God's laws! In our co-crucifixion with Christ, why would we die to the law?
The simple answer is that even though the law is good, it has fulfilled its function in our lives. The law was given to highlight our sin and point us to our need for a Savior. Paul reveals this in Galatians 3:24-25:
"Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor."
Because humanity could not live up to the standard of fulfilling the law, Jesus came to fulfill it for us (Matthew 5:17). Now that He has fulfilled it, we have been released from the law. We have died to law, and now Christ dwells in us and expresses His life through us.
Paul states this clearly in Romans 7:4:
"So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God."
Paul couldn't be clearer as he says, "you also died to the law." Jesus had to fulfill it for us, and separate us from it, so that He could unite Himself to us and produce His fruit through us.
Steve McVey writes in Grace Walk:
"The law can tell us what we ought to do, but it can't give us the ability to fulfill its demands. The only thing the law can do is give us a sense of condemnation (2 Cor. 3:7,9). We have died to a system of rules and have been born again into a supernatural relationship of grace!" (Steve McVey, Grace Walk)
Don't Try to Live by the Law
If we have died to the law, then we certainly should not try to live the Christian life by attempting to obey the law. If Jesus fulfilled it for us, and then put Himself in us, we have His life being expressed through us. He will lead us in His ways. He will empower us to carry them out.
To have been crucified with Christ means that you are dead to the law. Focus on Christ. Walk by faith that He is living in you and through you. Experience His Life and His fruit being produced through you that could never be produced on your own by following the law.
Conclusion: Crucified with Christ Meaning
Understanding what it means to be crucified with Christ transforms how we live the Christian life.
We are not trying to kill what God has already killed, not trying to overcome what we have already died to, not trying to fulfill what has already been fulfilled for us, and not trying to be the source of what God has already sourced in us.
Instead, we rest in the finished work of the cross and walk in the reality of who we now are in Christ—dead to our old selves, dead to sin, dead to the law, yet alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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