Crucified with Christ

                                               "For through the law I died to the law,
                                                so that I might live to God.

                                                I have been crucified with Christ.  It is
                                                no longer I who live, but Christ who lives
                                                in me.  And this life I now live in the flesh
                                                I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved
                                                me and gave himself for me."
                                                                              Galatians 2:19-20


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          Paul's message here, is that Jesus paid for his sins with His death on the cross,
     and he is a new creation in Christ, because Christ gave up His life to save him.
     This vicarious sacrifice was not only for Paul, but also for all who trust in Him for
     their salvation.
          Jesus Christ paid the penalty for all the sins of everyone who believes in Him.
     God the Father is satisfied with His Son's perfect sacrifice on behalf of His people.
     Jesus was their substitute, giving His life for them, and those who are in Him are
     considered right with God because of what Jesus did for them.


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          John MacArthur writes:

                        "When a person trusts in Christ for salvation, he spiritually
                          participates with the Lord in His crucifixion and His victory
                          over sin and death.
                          The believer's old self is dead, having been crucified with Christ.

                                                     (" ... to put off your old self, which
                                                       belongs to your former manner of
                                                       life and is corrupt through deceitful
                                                       desires, and to be renewed in the
                                                       spirit of your minds, and to put on
                                                       the new self, created after the likeness
                                                       of God in true righteousness and
                                                       holiness").
                                                                                       Ephesians 4:22-23

                        
                          The believer's new self has the privilege of the indwelling Christ
                          empowering him and living through him.  [Jesus showed] His love
                          for the believer through His sacrificial death on the cross."


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          Paul can rightly say, along with every other believer, that, "I have been crucified
     with Christ," but can the person who has spent years in hell justly say, "I have
     been crucified with Christ?"

          No!  Only those redeemed (Galatians 3:13b-14a), and reconciled with God
     (Romans 5:11b).  Those for whom Jesus propitiated (satisfied the Father's holy
     wrath against sin -- Romans 3:24-25a), and those for whom Jesus was a substitute
     (2 Corinthians 5:21), can rightly say, "I have been crucified with Christ."


          Jesus was not the substitute for those in hell, because His sacrifice atoned only
     for those who believe.  If He died for those in hell, then God is punishing
     Jesus and the sinner for the same sins.

          Jesus atoned for those who are "in Him," and not for those who will never believe.
     Those who are in Him, have the Holy Spirit living in them.


                                                     "Those who are in the flesh (unbelievers)
                                                       cannot please God.

                                                       You (believers), however, are not in the flesh
                                                        but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God
                                                        dwells in you.  Anyone who does not have
                                                        the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him.

                                                        But if Christ is in you, although the body is
                                                        dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because
                                                        of righteousness.

                                                        If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the
                                                        dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus
                                                        from the dead will also give life to your mortal
                                                        bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you."
                                                                                           Romans 8:8-11


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          Jesus knows who belongs to Him (because He laid down His life to save them),
     and they know Him.


                                                        "[Jesus said], 'I am the good shepherd.
                                                          I know my own and my own know me,
                                                          just as the Father knows me and I know
                                                          the Father; and I lay down my life for
                                                          the sheep.' "
                                                                                     John 10:14-15


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          Everyone for whom Jesus died, shares in His crucifixion, life, death, and
     resurrection.  They are freed from sin and receive eternal life because He died 
     for them.


                                                         "We were buried therefore with Him
                                                           by baptism (metaphorically) 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.

                                                           For if we have been united with Him in
                                                           a death like His, we shall certainly be
                                                           united with Him in a resurrection like His.
                                                           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.

                                                            Now if we have died with Christ, we
                                                            believe that we will also live with Him.
                                                            We know that Christ, being raised from
                                                             the dead, will never die again; death no
                                                             longer has dominion over Him.

                                                             For the death He died He died to sin,
                                                             once for all, but the life He lives He
                                                             lives to God.  So you also must consider
                                                             yourselves alive to God in Christ Jesus."
                                                                                               Romans 6:4-11