Galatians 2 (KJ2000)
19 For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives 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.
Paul makes an astonishing statement. He does not merely say that Christ was crucified for him. He says, “I am crucified with Christ.”
That is union with Christ.
The New Testament teaches that what happened to Christ becomes part of your spiritual history because you are in Him. His death was your death. His burial was your burial. His resurrection was your resurrection.
You did not physically hang on the cross with Jesus. This is a metaphor describing a spiritual reality. God identifies you so completely with Christ that His death marks the end of your old life.
Paul explains this further in Romans.
Romans 6 (KJ2000)
3 Know you not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that just as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that we should no longer serve sin.
Notice Paul’s language.
You were crucified with Him.
You were buried with Him.
You were raised with Him.
These are different pictures describing different parts of the same reality.
You Were Crucified With Him
The cross tells you what happened to your old man.
Paul says, “our old man is crucified with him.”
God did not set out to repair the old man. He crucified him.
This matters because many believers still define themselves by who they were before Christ. They say, “I have always been like this.” “This is just my nature.” “People from my family are like this.”
But the Gospel gives you another way to describe yourself.
Your old man was crucified with Christ.
That does not mean temptation disappeared. It means sin no longer has the same claim over you. The person you were in Adam is no longer the person who defines you before God.
You Were Buried With Him
Paul goes further.
He says you were buried with Christ.
Burial speaks of finality.
We do not bury someone because we expect him to return to his former life. Burial says that an old chapter has ended.
Colossians 2 (KJ2000)
11 In whom also you are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:
12 Buried with him in baptism, in which also you are risen with him through the faith of the working of God, who has raised him from the dead.
13 And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, has he made alive together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses;
Your old life is not something God expects you to keep dragging around.
It has been buried.
You may remember your past. Other people may remember it too. But your past is no longer the final authority on who you are.
God says something happened to you in Christ.
You died.
You were buried.
You Were Raised With Him
The Gospel does not stop at death and burial.
You were raised with Christ.
Ephesians 2 (KJ2000)
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, has made us alive together with Christ, (by grace you are saved;)
6 And has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
You are not merely the old person with your sins forgiven.
You have been made alive with Christ.
This is why Romans says you should “walk in newness of life.”
Your behaviour should begin to reflect your new history.
You died with Christ, so sin should no longer rule you.
You were buried with Christ, so you should stop digging up the old man and introducing him as your true identity.
You were raised with Christ, so you should expect to live differently.
Learn To Think From Resurrection Ground
Many Christians spend their lives trying to become what God says they already are.
They are trying to kill the old man.
God says he was crucified.
They are trying to bury their past.
God says they were buried with Christ.
They are trying to obtain a new life.
God says they were made alive together with Christ.
Faith begins by agreeing with God.
When temptation comes, remember that the old man was crucified.
When your past tries to define you, remember that he was buried.
When you feel powerless, remember that you were raised with Christ.
These metaphors tell you how God wants you to see yourself.
Your story did not merely change when you believed in Jesus. In God’s reckoning, you became part of Christ’s story.
He was crucified.
You were crucified with Him.
He was buried.
You were buried with Him.
He was raised.
You were raised with Him.
Now walk in newness of life.
Continue in grace!