Crucified with Christ is the apostle Paul’s description of the believer’s spiritual union with Jesus in His death on the cross.
When Christ died, those who are united to Him by faith died with Him to sin, to the law as a means of justification, and to the world.
This co-crucifixion is a completed fact that becomes the foundation for a new life lived by faith in the Son of God.
The old self was crucified so that the body of sin might be brought to nothing and the believer might walk in newness of life.
Paul’s declaration, “I have been crucified with Christ,” is not mere metaphor or emotional language. It expresses the deep reality of union with Christ in His death. In the death of Jesus the believer’s old self was crucified with Him so that the dominion of sin might be broken. The law’s condemning power over the sinner was satisfied. The world’s claim on the heart was severed. Because this death has already taken place in Christ, the believer is now free to live a new life — no longer the old self living for itself, but Christ living in the believer by faith. The same truth appears in Romans 6: those who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death and were buried with Him so that, just as Christ was raised, they too might walk in newness of life. Crucifixion with Christ is therefore both a past event and a present identity. It is the ground of freedom from sin’s mastery and the starting point of a life of faith and obedience.
- Crucifixion with Christ is a real spiritual union accomplished in the death of Jesus and applied by faith.
- The old self was crucified so that sin might no longer reign and the believer might belong wholly to God.
- This co-crucifixion ends every attempt to be justified by the law or to live by self-effort.
- The world has been crucified to the believer and the believer to the world.
- The result is a new life: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”
- The Christian life is lived by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us.
- Freedom from sin’s dominion flows from this union, not from human willpower alone.
- Union in Death – Believers share in Christ’s death; what happened to Him is counted as having happened to them.
- Death to Sin – The old self was crucified so that the body of sin might be brought to nothing and sin might no longer enslave.
- Death to the Law – Released from the law as a covenant of works and from its condemnation.
- Death to the World – The world’s value system and claims lose their mastery over the heart.
- New Life – The crucified life is followed by resurrection life; Christ Himself lives in the believer.
- Faith as the Present Means – The life now lived in the flesh is lived by faith in the Son of God.
- Ongoing Reckoning – Believers are to count themselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
- Galatians 2:20 – “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
- Romans 6:3-7 – “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life… We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin.”
- Romans 6:11 – “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
- Galatians 5:24 – “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”
- Galatians 6:14 – “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.”
- Colossians 2:11-12, 20 – “In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism… If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations…”
- Colossians 3:1-3 – “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above… For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
- 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, 17 – “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised… Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.”
- Romans 7:4, 6 – “Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead… But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.”
- 1 Peter 2:24 – “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.”
- Galatians 2:19 – “For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God.”
- Romans 8:13 – “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”
“I have been crucified with Christ.” These words are the foundation of Christian identity and freedom. The old self that was enslaved to sin, condemned by the law, and bound to the world has been crucified. The death has already occurred in the death of Jesus. Now the life that is lived is no longer the old self living for itself, but Christ living in the believer by faith. Reckon it true. Live from that reality. When sin claims mastery, answer with the cross. When the world beckons, remember that it has been crucified to you. When self rises up, remember that you no longer live, but Christ lives in you. The same Son of God who loved you and gave Himself for you now lives in you to form His life in yours. Walk in that freedom. Live by that faith. The crucified life is the true Christian life.
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