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.”
Paul is responding to the Judaizers’ criticism that the gospel of grace is a license to sin. Paul makes the point that the claim of the Judaizers reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of what it means to be a Christian. When we are united to Christ by faith, we are first united to his death and then we are united to his life. We die to sin and live to a life of faithful obedience to the Lord.
The apostle Paul spells this out very clearly in Romans 6.
“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it? 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.” (Romans 6.1-4)
When we trust in Christ, we “die” to our old sinful nature and are “resurrected” to newness of life. Paul continues to explain this transformational truth.
“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. For one who has died has been set free from 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 dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6.5-11)
Do you see the truth? If you trust in Jesus, you have died with him and you also live with him. Through union with Christ, you are dead to sin and alive to God. And that happens by means of God’s grace, not human effort.
Here is Paul’s final statement in this Romans passage:
“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” (Romans 6.12-14)
What a powerful admonition for every Christian: Do not let sin have any power in your life. Instead, present yourself to God as someone who has been moved from death to life. Make yourself fully available to the Lord as “an instrument of righteousness.”
