crucified with Christ – Moment to Moment (Bible blog)

Bearing the marks of Christ

Those who want to make a good impression in the flesh are the ones who would compel you to be circumcised—but only to avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ.

For even the circumcised don’t keep the law themselves, and yet they want you to be circumcised in order to boast about your flesh.

But as for me, I will never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world has been crucified to me through the cross, and I to the world…

From now on, let no one cause me trouble, because I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.” (Galatians 6:12-14, 17)

I was chewing on those last few words of Paul, “I bear on my body the marks of Jesus.”

The word “marks” usually carried the idea of a slave being branded, identifying who their master was.

For the Jews, circumcision was the sign they belonged to God. As a Jew, Paul had received circumcision, but for him, he wasn’t pointing to that as his identifying mark.

Rather, Paul pointed to the scars he bore for faithfully preaching God’s gospel of grace.

Many times, the Jews persecuted him for preaching a salvation based on the cross instead of a salvation based on circumcision and on keeping God’s laws.

He had gone through many other hardships as well for preaching that gospel. (2 Corinthians 11:24-29)

And so he tells those preaching a false gospel to the Galatians, “Stop bothering me and hindering the work that I’ve done among the Galatians. You aren’t true servants of Christ. You’re only preaching circumcision because you want to avoid persecution.

“But my scars, not my circumcision, prove that I truly belong to Christ.”

I can’t help but wonder, though, if he was also trying to tell the Galatian Christians something else.

“Circumcision isn’t what marks you as belonging to God. You already carry the ‘marks’ of Christ which he received on the cross. You have been crucified with Christ and died to the law and its condemnation of you.

“More, you’ve died to the sin that once enslaved you and you’re no longer living for the things of this world. Rather, you live for Jesus who loves you and gave himself up for you. That’s what marks you as a child of God.”

So let us walk each day as children of God, proudly wearing the marks of our crucified Lord whom we love.

I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

That we might be made righteous

We talked yesterday about how the Judaizers were basically accusing Paul of preaching a gospel that would make Christ out to be a promoter of sin.

That whenever they saw Paul or any other Christian fall in any way small or great, they would be quick to say, “See, this is the result of your gospel of grace. You’ve become just like the sinners of this world.”

But Paul pointed out that even if he brought back the law and preached that people must keep it in order to be saved, it wouldn’t stop people from sinning.

The law has never produced any perfect people, aside from Christ. All the law can do is point out that we are sinners in need of a Savior.

How then can we be made righteous before God, if not by the law? Paul tells us in these next two verses.

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

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:19-20)

What is Paul saying here? What does it mean that through the law, I died to the law? And why is that important?

In Romans 7, Paul talks about how the law has power over a person only as long as that person is alive (Romans 7:1).

As long as I live, for example, I have to pay taxes. I am under tax law. But the moment I die, I am dead to that law.

Now I’m sure the government will come after my wife to get any taxes I owe from her. But the government can’t come to my corpse and demand taxes to me. I am dead to that law. It has no power over me.

Paul then says in verse 4 of Romans 7, that we died to the law through the body of Christ. This is parallel to what Paul says in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ.”

What does this mean, though?

The law required a penalty for our sin: death. But when Jesus came to this earth, he lived as a man under the law and he fulfilled it perfectly, never doing anything wrong.

And then he did something more. Though he did nothing wrong, he paid the penalty for our sin on the cross. When he died there, God put all of our sins on him. (Isaiah 53:5-6, 2 Corinthians 5:21)

When God saw Jesus on that cross then, he saw everyone that Jesus was dying for.

When he saw Jesus on the cross, he saw me there, and said, “That’s Bruce. He is now dead. The law has put him to death for his sin.”

When he saw Jesus, he saw my wife and said, “That’s Satoko. She is now dead. The law has put her to death for her sin.”

That’s what it means by “I have been crucified with Christ.”

But what happened once we died there with Christ? The law lost power over us. We are dead to it.

We no longer have to worry, “I have to keep the law or God will nail me to the wall.”

We no longer have to strain under our own efforts to keep God’s law, only to fail time and again, coming under its condemnation.

Rather, we start to see Christ living his life in us. As the days go by, we start to see him directing our steps, whispering through the Holy Spirit the way to go, and not only that, but also giving us the power to do so.

And so living each day is no longer a matter of us changing ourselves, but rather learning to hear his voice and trusting him day by day.

And as we do, we start to find that we’re living lives pleasing to God. We in short, start to actually live the righteous lives the law requires.

How about you? Are you still trying to become righteous before God by keeping a bunch of rules? Are you getting discouraged because you keep failing?

Or do you know the love of Jesus who gave his life for you? Are you able to relax before God, enjoying his company, and learning each day to walk in relationship with him, trusting and loving him?

That’s the Christian life. Is it yours?