I HAVE BEEN CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST: Christo sunestauromai (1SRPI) : (Gal 5:24; 6:14; see notes on Romans 6:4, 6:5, 6:6; see notes on Ro 8:3, 8:4; see notes on Col 2:11-13; 2:14)

Rob Morgan introduces his sermon on this verse with these comments...

If you could have one verse of Scripture engraved onto your tombstone, what would it be? Or if you could have one verse and only one scripted and framed to hang in your living room or kitchen, which verse would you choose? Or, to put it a little differently, if someone were to write a biography of your life and put one verse on the title page, what verse would best summarize your aspirations and experiences as a Christian?

I'd like to suggest that out of the 31,102 verses in the Bible, you'd have a hard time coming up with a better choice than the verse I'd like to use as a text today--Galatians 2:20. It says:

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me (KJV).

This is a verse I memorized during my college days; I've been mulling over it for twenty-five years, but I have yet to plumb its depths. In simplest fashion, it seems to present three configurations to the Christian life. (Rob Morgan goes on to discuss this verse in three categories "The Relinquished Life", "The Exchanged Life" and "The Trusting Life" - See his full sermon Galatians 2:20 This Is The Life).

This is undoubtedly one of Paul's most profound statements so the reader is well advised to approach its study with an attitude of prayer and dependence on the teaching of the Spirit...

Lord please "Open (our) eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Thy law." Amen. (Psalm 119:18) (See Spurgeon's comments)

Most writers feel that Galatians was Paul’s earliest letter, written to the churches of South Galatia around AD 49-50.

Keep the context in mind (you might go back and read the entire book if you have time) as you study and meditate on this great verse. Specifically remember that Paul has been addressing an audience who has been seeking to be justified through the works of the Law. This group, who many think were the so-called "Judaizers", were promoting righteousness through a slavish adherence to the Law’s demands. Paul is saying that attainment of righteousness in this manner (by human effort) is impossible and cannot happen. In fact he is saying that it need not happen, writing that

"through the Law I died to the Law, that I might live to God." (Galatians 2:19)

In other words, what he is leading up to with this declaration is that when Jesus died, I died. He is saying that the Law has no more claim on me, nor do I have make futile attempts to keep the Law for the purpose of justification. Why do I need to labor endlessly trying to satisfy the Law’s demands when I satisfied them in Christ when I died with Him?’ This is the context in which Paul makes one of the most profound statements in all of Scripture.

The Phillips paraphrase emphasizes this context rendering it...

As far as the Law is concerned I may consider that I died on the cross with Christ. And my present life is not that of the old "I", but the living Christ within me. The bodily life I now live, I live believing in the Son of God, who loved me and sacrificed himself for me (Phillips: Touchstone) (Bolding added)

Spurgeon explains that Paul as...

the apostle of the Gentiles delighted to think that as one of Christ’s chosen people, he died upon the tree in Christ. He did more than believe this doctrinally, however, he accepted it confidently, resting his hope upon it. He believed that by virtue of Jesus Christ’s death, he had himself paid the law its due, satisfied divine justice, and found reconciliation with God. Beloved, what a blessed thing it is when the soul can, as it were, stretch itself upon the cross of Christ, and feel

“I am dead; the law has killed me, cursed me, slain me, and I am therefore free from its power, because in my Surety I have borne the curse, and in the person of my Substitute the whole that the law could do, by way of condemnation, has been executed upon me, for I am crucified with Christ”

[Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vol. XIII, 642].

Expositor's Bible Commentary introduces Galatians 2:15-21 commenting that...

The verses that conclude this chapter contain capsule statements of some of the most significant truths of Christianity. In particular, Paul clearly states the doctrine of justification by grace through faith and defends it over against the traditional objection that justification by faith leads to lawlessness. The words "justify" and "justification" occur in these verses for the first time--the verb, three times in v.16 and once in v.17; the noun, in v.21 -- as Paul now begins to develop the message that is central to the letter, to his gospel, and indeed to Christianity generally...(Paul emphasizes in Gal 2:20 that) He has died to law so that he might live for God, but this is true only because he has been joined to the Lord Jesus Christ by God the Father. (Gaebelein, F, Editor: Expositor's Bible Commentary OT 7 Volume Set: Books: Zondervan Publishing)

Note that in the Greek sentence, with Christ is placed first, this order throwing special emphasis on Christo. In other words Paul's personal union with Christ became from that time the focal point of His life, entailing a fellowship with Christ's crucifixion, a very real, albeit spiritual crucifixion of Paul's heart and will. In fact to be technically accurate, it should be noted that the original Greek manuscripts (both the Nestle-Aland = NASB and the Textus Receptus = KJV) the sentence begins in Galatians 2:19 with the phrase "with Christ I have been crucified" present at the end of that verse. This explains why some versions such as the NLT seem have "deleted" the phrase "I have been crucified with Christ". (see NLT above)

"I" (1473) (ego) is the first person singular pronoun. This personal pronoun when used with a verb (as in this verse) intensifies and emphasizes the subject of that verb. Paul is clearly conveying the truth that this work of crucifixion with Christ is personal, for the Apostle changed from his use of the first person plural to multiple uses of the first person singular, “I” and “me.”

Crucified with Christ - This describes a our spiritual death with Christ some 2000 years ago, a very real supernatural, albeit somewhat "mystical" event that occurred in the past in the eyes of God. The "I" that begins this verse is the old self (= the old man), the evil "I" who was crucified and therefore no longer has a valid claim on our life, for we are no longer in Adam but in Christ. This is now our position before God and it should be reflected in our daily practice. When we became a believer by grace through faith there was a decisive death to the old (unbelieving, rebellious) self. Now in newness of life we are to work out our salvation (see notes Philippians 2:12; 2:13) moment by moment by faith in Christ Who loved us and gave Himself for us.

S Lewis Johnson writes that Paul's phrase crucified with Christ

cannot refer to a physical death with Christ...It, therefore, refers to a spiritual death by identification with Him. He is Paul's (and our) representative, who has borne the penalty of God's Law in our place. In this death with Him, then, we and Paul are freed from the reign of the Law (cf. Matt. 27:51; Ro 7:1-6). The perfect tense, which includes an emphasis upon the abiding results of an action, stresses the fact that His death and our death with Him have abiding results. (Read his full message on Galatians 2:15-21)

Wil Pounds writes that Galatians 2:20 reads literally...

With Christ I have been co-crucified." When I believed on Christ I was so united with Christ, so linked with Him, that I am now so much a part of Him that His crucifixion positionally becomes my crucifixion. A part of me died at the cross. My old carnal nature was slain at the cross. Yet, I don't live in that death. The life I now live, I live in resurrection power. Christ's resurrection has become my resurrection. The life I now live, I live in faith in the Son of God who gave Himself for me.

Crucified with (4957) (sustauroo from sun = together with, speaks of an intimate union + stauróo = to crucify from stauros = cross) means to crucify, affix or nail to a cross with another. Only the worst criminals suffered crucifixion in Paul’s day.

This same verb was used of the 2 thieves who were "crucified with" Christ although only one was "vicariously" or "spiritually" crucified with Him, specifically the one who "was saying (imperfect tense = over and over again)

Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom! (Luke 23:42)

As alluded to above, the preposition sun (see discussion) speaks of a believer's union or identification with Christ (see "Union With Christ"). The use of the perfect tense is very instructive, signifying that the believer has been crucified with Christ at a specific point in time in the past and that the effects of this this crucifixion persist or continue into the present. Stated another way, the perfect tense speaks of a past completed action having present finished results.

AN INSEPARABLE, ETERNAL,
TRANSCENDENT SPIRITUAL UNION

To digress for a moment on the concept of a union keep in mind that this word “union” is defined as two or more people or things joined together as one. For example, marriage is a union of one man, with his unique personality, and one woman, with her distinct personality, joined together with one another. The husband and wife maintain their unique personalities, but now there is a mysterious new relationship designed by God in which the two "become one  flesh" (see notes Ephesians 5:31ff). So here in Galatians 2:20 Paul is describing the nature of our union with Christ in which our Lord obviously remains Christ and the believer retains his or her personality and physical nature. And yet, when Paul says we have been "crucified with Christ", he is saying that a mysterious union has taken place, one that we cannot completely comprehend in this life, a union in which Jesus Christ is now living in and through the believer. This mystical union does not mean that I no longer have any responsibilities in the Christian life. Paul is saying, ‘Yes, I still live, but there is something so different about life, for Christ now lives in me. It is not me, alone, facing the demands of life. It is not me, alone, trying to work out my salvation, living out the demands of the gospel. It is Christ in me, living in me, living through me His glorious life".

Martin Luther described this union writing...

thou art so entirely joined unto Christ, that He and thou art made as it were one person: so that thou mayest boldly say, I am now one with Christ, that is to say, Christ’s righteousness, victory, and life are mine (Commentary on Romans)

John Calvin explains it as follows...

The word death is always hateful to man’s mind. Having said that we are nailed to the cross along with Christ, he adds that this makes us alive. At the same time he explains what he meant by ‘living to God’. He does not live by his own life but is animated by the secret power of Christ, so that Christ may be said to live and grow in him...For, as the soul quickens the body, so Christ imparts life to His members (Galatians 2)

Phil Newton adds that because of our crucifixion with Christ...

All of life is lived with the strength and presence of Jesus Christ united with us. We are to live with this consciousness of Jesus Christ in us! Those who were trying to justify themselves through the Law were working and scratching to meet the demands of that impossible task-master. So Paul contrasts that scene with the reality of the believer. By faith, in union with Jesus Christ, we have died to the Law and all its demands; and Jesus Christ, our Righteous Lord, is now living His life through us. That is a radical life. That is real Christianity. (The Sweet Fruit of Justification)

Bruce writes that...

“The perfect tense…emphasizes that participation in the crucified Christ has become the believer’s settled way of life.” (Bruce, FF: Epistle to the Galatians (New International Greek Testament Commentary. Erdman, 1982)

In other words, Paul is saying that he was identified with Christ at the Cross in the past and the spiritual benefits of that identification are a present reality in his life (and also the life of all the redeemed). In the context (too often this famous verse is quoted out of context) of his discussion (Gal 2:19 "For through the Law I died to the Law, that I might live to God." - - Paul had based his hope for righteousness on strict observance of the Law but Christ paid the penalty for sin that the law demanded) about his death to the Law, he is explaining that this transpired when he died with Christ Who died under its penalty as the sinless sacrificial "Lamb". In this eternal transaction, the demands of the Law were satisfied and therefore no longer had a hold on Paul. As discussed more below, crucifixion with Christ also means death to self. When  Paul died with Christ, Saul the self-righteous, self-centered Pharisee (the "I" of Gal 2:19) died and so did all that he had "accomplished" up to that time (see Phil 3:7 "But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ." cf notes on Phil 3:3; 3:4; 3:5; 3:6; 3:7; 3:8; 3:9) All he had accomplished was in a sense buried with Saul along with his old life in Adam. And best of all, the power of Sin over Saul (in Adam) was broken and no longer had any right to dominate the new Paul (in Christ).

Note crucified with is passive voice which indicates action produced upon one from an outside agent.

The 4 other NT uses of sustauroo are recorded below for study (note the first 3 uses are literal and the last metaphorical)...

 (Mt 27:44) And the robbers also who had been crucified with Him were casting the same insult at Him.

(Mk 15:32) "Let this Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe!" And those who were crucified with Him were casting the same insult at Him.

 (Jn 19:32) The soldiers therefore came, and broke the legs of the first man, and of the other man who was crucified with Him;

 (Romans 6:6)  knowing this, that our old self (old man) was crucified with (aorist tense = past completed action) Him, that our body of Sin might be done away with (aorist tense = past completed action), that we should no longer be slaves  (present tense = continually) to sin; (see note Romans 6:6) (Comment: Note how God deals with the old self  - He does not change it or transform it. What He did was crucify him with Christ. God condemned the old self and poured out His wrath on our Sinless Substitute, Who in turn poured out His blood and gave up His life on our behalf on the Cross. Note the that "was crucified" means "It was done! It was finished!" We do not need to crucify the old self! As Dr Walvoord  discusses below, crucifixion is not something that we do, but is something that Christ has accomplished for us! "Crucified" is not a command to obey but a fact to be believed! The old self has been decisively dealt with on the Cross! Those who try to conquer the old self in their own strength will only experience futility and will never win the battle! Christ has won the battle for us. Our role now is to yield our will to His Spirit and moment by moment walk out in faith from the victory Christ has already achieved for us at Calvary. A life filled with resurrection power comes only out of death. In view of the principle that resurrection can only come after death, as believers we must continually reckon ourselves as dead to sin (see note Ro 6:11) with Christ in order to experience His victorious life and His resurrection power, walking by faith and not by sight. Resurrection comes only out of death.)

To fully understand Paul's teaching in this great verse, one must understand the meaning of our union with Christ as Paul expounded in Romans 6:1-10 (consider memorizing this passage that you might to able to call it to mind - then the word which you have treasured in your heart will keep you from sin, cf Psalm 119:9-11. Take some time to meditate on each verse before you read the notes).

1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? (see note Romans 6:1)
2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? (see note Romans 6:2)
3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? (see notes Romans 6:3 - this describes our identification with Christ)
4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. (see notes Romans 6:4)
5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, (see notes Romans 6:5 - this describes our union with Christ)
6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; (see notes Romans 6:6 - this describes our death with Christ and our liberation from the domination of indwelling sin)
7 for he who has died is freed from sin. (see notes Romans 6:7)
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, (see notes Romans 6:8)
9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. (see notes Romans 6:9)
10 For the death that He died, He died to sin, once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. (see notes Romans 6:10)
11 Even so consider (present imperative) yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (see notes Romans 6:11 - Paul commands us to continually take all of the truths he has stated in the preceding 10 verves and put them in the "calculator" of our mind. Think about them frequently so that we continually come the conclusion that we "been crucified with Christ and it is no longer we who live but Christ Who lives in us" -- then let that truth daily affect the way we live, the choices we make, the shows we watch, the things we buy, the way we respond to pressure and disappointment, etc)

Thomas Constable explains it this way...

When a person trusts Christ, God identifies him or her with Christ not only in the present and future but also in the past. The believer did what Christ did. When Christ died, I died. When Christ arose from the grave, I arose to newness of life. My old self-centered life died when I died with Christ. His Spirit-directed life began in me when I arose with Christ. Therefore in this sense the Christian’s life is really the life of Christ. (Tom Constable's Expository Notes on the Bible)

M R DeHaan explains that Paul is saying...

I died in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, through faith I was identified with Him, so that God imputes (Ed: puts on my "spiritual account") to me everything that happened to the Saviour in Whom I have put my trust; and since He met all the demands of the law, paid the penalty and died under its curse, I (because I was represented in Christ through grace) suffered the same penalty and God today considers me as though I actually, personally, hung on the Cross myself, and met the full penalty of the law, which is eternal death. That is Paul’s testimony, and every believer who is in Christ can truly say, I too am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. (De Haan, M. R. Studies in Galatians: Kregel Publications)

Alexander Maclaren writes that...

We have a bundle of paradoxes in this Galatians 2:20. First, ‘I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live.’ The Christian life is a dying life. If we are in any real sense joined to Christ, the power of His death makes us dead to self and sin and the world. In that region, as in the physical, death is the gate of life; and, inasmuch as what we die to in Christ is itself only a living death, we live because we die, and in proportion as we die. The next paradox is, ‘Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.’ The Christian life is a life in which an indwelling Christ casts out, and therefore quickens, self (Ed note: the new self). We gain ourselves when we lose ourselves. His abiding in us does not destroy but heightens our individuality. We then most truly live when we can say, ‘Not I, but Christ liveth in me’; the soul of my soul and the self of myself. And the last paradox is that of my text, ‘The life which I live in the flesh, I live in’ (not ‘by’) ‘the faith of the Son of God.’ The true Christian life moves in two spheres at once. Externally and superficially it is ‘in the flesh,’ (Ed note: referring to in the physical aspect of flesh, not the evil flesh) really it is ‘in faith.’ It belongs not to the material nor is dependent upon the physical body in which we are housed. We are strangers here, and the true region and atmosphere of the Christian life is that invisible sphere of faith. (Read his full message Galatians 2:20 From Centre to Circumference)

J Vernon McGee notes that in this verse Paul...

states a fact which is true of every believer. We are not to seek to be crucified with Christ...There are many people today who talk about wanting to live the “crucified” life. That is not what Paul is talking about in this verse. We are not to seek to be crucified with Christ. We have already been crucified with Him. The principle of living is not by the Law which has slain us because it found us guilty. Now we are to live by faith. Faith in what? Faith in the Son of God. You see, friend, the death of Christ upon the cross was not only penal (that is, paying the penalty for our sins), but it was substitutionary also. He was not only the sacrifice for sin; He was the substitute for all who believe. Paul declares, therefore, that under the Law he was tried, found guilty, was condemned, and in the person of his Substitute he was slain. When did that take place? It took place when Christ was crucified. Paul was crucified with Christ. But “nevertheless I live.” How do I live? In Christ. He is alive today at God’s right hand. We are told that we have been put in Christ. You cannot improve on that. That ought to get rid of the foolish notion that we can crucify ourselves...There are many ways to end your life, but you cannot crucify yourself. When you nail one hand to the cross, who is going to nail your other hand to the cross? You cannot do it yourself. You must understand what Paul is talking about when he says, “I am crucified with Christ.” Paul was crucified with Christ when Christ died. Christ died a substitutionary death. He died for Paul. He died for you. He died for me. (McGee, J V: Thru the Bible Commentary:  Thomas Nelson or Logos)

Galatians 2:20 therefore is Paul's testimony that he was now free from the demands of the Law, a truth beautifully brought out by the old hymn below (take a moment and sing the words as an offering of praise to our Father in Heaven)...

Free from the Law
By Philip P Bliss (bio)

Free from the law, O happy condition,
Jesus has bled and there is remission,
Cursed by the law and bruised by the fall,
Grace hath redeemed us once for all.

Now we are free, there’s no condemnation,
Jesus provides a perfect salvation.
“Come unto Me,” O hear His sweet call,
Come, and He saves us once for all.

“Children of God,” O glorious calling,
Surely His grace will keep us from falling;
Passing from death to life at His call;
Blessèd salvation once for all.

Refrain:
Once for all, O sinner, receive it,
Once for all, O brother, believe it;
Cling to the cross, the burden will fall,
Christ hath redeemed us once for all. (Play)

Paul refers to the concept of crucifixion later in Galatians writing...

(Galatians 5:24 - see note) Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Comment:  In this verse Paul describes a definite event in the past which every believer has experienced. Paul said we, not God, have crucified the flesh. We have crucified the flesh in the sense that when we trusted Christ God broke the domination of our sinful nature (flesh). While we still have a sinful human nature, it does not control us as it did before we trusted in Christ. Note that Paul is not saying self-crucifixion or self-mortification is something believers should practice. At the time of our crucifixion with Christ, God brought about a separation from the dominion of our sinful nature inherited from Adam -- flesh -- by virtue of our unbreakable union and eternal identification with Christ Jesus in His substitutionary, sacrificial death. As Donald Campbell observes in the The Bible Knowledge Commentary the truth of co-crucifixion with Christ "does not mean that [our] sin nature is then eradicated or even rendered inactive but that it has been judged, a fact believers should reckon to be true (cf. see note Ro 6:11; 6:12). So victory over the sinful nature’s passions and desires has been provided by Christ in His death. Faith must continually lay hold of this truth or a believer will be tempted to try to secure victory by self-effort.")

(Galatians 6:14)  But may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified (perfect tense = stands crucified, speaking of the permanence of the state) to me, and I to the world.  (Comment: Remember that in Paul's day the Cross was a symbol of shame and yet here he takes pride in that which the world loathes. In fact the word "crux" [cross] was unmentionable in polite Romans society! When Paul was crucified with Christ, he said in a manner of speaking "Goodbye" to the world. Thereafter he looked at the world as if it were on a cross [the cross conveying the idea of death] because of the fact that he had experienced the Cross of Christ when he was saved. The world lost its allure for him. Why? Because he had found the One Who Alone completely satisfies the soul's longings.  The world to Paul became spiritually dead, and he became dead to the world. All the things in this passing life which appeal to the “natural” man lost their attraction for Paul. The Cross became the great dividing line between the world and Paul as well it should in the experience of every child of God.)

When James Calvert (see biography) went as a missionary to the cannibals of the Fiji Islands, the captain of the ship sought to turn him back, crying out...

“You will lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among such savages”

Calvert only replied,

“We died before we came here.”

In short, James Calvert had appropriated and had put into practice the truth of Galatians 2:20 and had identified with the Cross of Christ. He had relinquished his life, having died to James Calvert, to the world, to the flesh, and to the devil.

John MacArthur explains the believer's death with Christ as it relates to the Law writing that...

If a man is convicted of a capital crime and is put to death, the law obviously has no more claim on him. He has paid his debt to society. Therefore, even if he were to rise from the dead, he would still be guiltless before the law, which would have no claim on his new life. So it is with the believer who dies in Christ to rise in new life. He is free forever from any claim of the law on him. He paid the law’s demand when he died in Christ. His physical death is no punishment, only a release to glory provided in his union with Christ. Legalism’s most destructive effect is that it cancels the effect of the cross... The old man, the old sell is dead, crucified with Christ, and the new man lives (see notes  Colossians 3:9; 3:10) (MacArthur, J. Galatians. Chicago: Moody Press)

J I Packer writes that this verse...

brings together both aspects of the Christian’s identification with Christ; acceptance of Christ’s cross as both the end of the old life and the pattern of the new one. (Packer, J I: Your Father Loves You. Harold Shaw Pub. 1986)

Our Daily Bread has a devotional adapted from Ethel Barrett's work "It Only Hurts When I Laugh"...

In her book It Only Hurts When I Laugh, Ethel Barrett tells how four outstanding servants of God died to self and sin.

George Mueller, when questioned about his spiritual power, responded simply, “One day George Mueller died.”

D. L. Moody was visiting New York City when he consciously died to his own ambitions.

And evangelist Christmas Evans, putting down on paper his surrender to Christ, began it by writing: “I give my soul and body to Jesus.” It was, in a very real sense, a death to self.

John Gregory Mantle wrote, “There is a great difference between realizing, ‘On that Cross He was crucified for me,’ and ‘On that Cross I am crucified with Him.’ The one aspect brings us deliverance from sin’s condemnation, the other from sin’s power.”

Recognizing that we “have been crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2:20), we should, as Paul admonished in Romans 6:11 (see note), consider ourselves “to be dead indeed to sin.” We still have sinful tendencies within, but having died to them, sin no longer has dominion over us. We die to our selfish desires and pursuits. But believers must also think of themselves as “alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:11). We should do those things that please Him. Victorious Christians are those who have died—to live! - R W De Haan  (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved) (Bolding added)

AND IT IS NO LONGER I WHO LIVE BUT CHRIST WHO LIVES IN ME: zo (1SPAI) de ouketi ego, ze (3SPAI) de en emoi Christos : (See notes on Ro 6:8; Ro 6:13; Ro 8:2; notes on Ephesians 2:4, Ephesians 2:5; see notes on Col 2:13; see notes on