The Christian's Crucifixion with Christ
Bishop Hall. Galatians 2:20-21 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me… I. CHRIST CRUCIFIED. 1. A great mystery. 2. The way to glory. (1) For Christ. (2) For us. 3. The ground of our highest glorying. II. PAUL CRUCIFIED. 1. Sin has a body (Romans 7:24; Colossians 3:5.). 2. Sin and grace cannot co-exist any more than life and death. 3. Kill your runs or they will kill you. 4. And this not only in the matter of notorious crimes, but in the whole carriage of your lives. 5. Thus to be a Christian is a serious thing. 6. Afflict not so much your bodies as your souls. III. PAUL CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST. 1. Many are crucified, but not with Christ. (1) The covetous and ambitious man with the world. (2) The envious man by his own thoughts: Ahithophel's cross. (3) The desperate man with his own distrust: Judas's cross. (4) The superstitious man. (5) The felon and justly: the cross of the two malefactors. 2. Paul was crucified with Christ. (1) In partnership. Christ s crucifixion is re.acted in us. (a) In His agony, when we are afflicted with God's displeasure against sin. (b) In His scourging, when we tame our flesh with holy severity. (c) In His crowning with thorns, when we bear reproaches for His name. (d) In His affixion, when all our powers are fastened to his royal commandments. (e) In His transfixion, when our hearts are branded with Divine love. (2) In person. (a) As in the first Adam all lived and then died, so in the second Adam all die and are made alive. (b) Our real union with Christ makes His Cross and Passion ours. (c) Every believer may comfort himself that having died with Christ he shall not die again. (Bishop Hall.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. WEB: I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.