What It Means to Be Crucified with Christ

Hi friends,

When we look at the Cross, we naturally think about Jesus dying for us.

And He did.

He bore our sins.
He took our punishment.
He paid the price we could never pay.

But Scripture teaches us something even deeper.

When we trusted Christ, we were united with Him.

His death became our death.

His resurrection became our new life.

The Cross is not only where Jesus died.

It is also where the old life that was ruled by sin was put to death.

 

We died with Christ

2 Timothy 2:11 (KJV) says:

“It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him.”

That is such an important truth.

The believer is spiritually united with Christ in both His death and His life.

So what does it mean to be “dead with Him”?

It means the old self, the life that was dominated by sin, was crucified with Christ.

This goes beyond simply being forgiven.

Forgiveness removes the guilt of sin.

But union with Christ means the old life no longer has to rule us.

 

The old man was crucified

Paul explains this in Romans 6:6 (KJV):

“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.”

That phrase matters:

We should not serve sin.

Before Christ, sin ruled.

We followed its desires.

We lived according to the old nature.

But at the Cross, something changed.

We were joined with Christ in His death.

The old man was crucified.

And because of that, sin no longer has the right to be our master.

 

Reckon yourself dead to sin

Romans 6 does not stop with what happened at the Cross.

It tells us how to live because of it.

Romans 6:11 (KJV) says:

“Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

That word reckon is important.

It means to count something as true.

To believe it.

To live according to it.

We are not pretending sin does not exist.

We are recognizing that sin no longer owns us.

When temptation comes, we can remind ourselves:

“I am no longer a slave to this.”

“This does not have authority over me.”

“I belong to Christ.”

 

Should this change how we face temptation?

Absolutely.

We often approach temptation as though we are powerless.

We think:

“I hope I can resist.”

“I always fail here.”

“This is just my weakness.”

But Scripture gives us a completely different starting point.

We begin from what Christ has already accomplished.

The old life was crucified.

Sin’s dominion was broken.

We are alive unto God.

That does not mean temptation disappears.

It means we no longer have to surrender to it.

 

He bore our sins so we could live differently

1 Peter 2:24 (KJV) says:

“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness…”

Notice the purpose.

Jesus bore our sins not only so we could be forgiven.

He did it so we could live unto righteousness.

The Cross changes the direction of our lives.

Think about a butterfly.

The caterpillar does not simply become a better caterpillar.

It becomes something new.

That is a beautiful picture of the Christian life.

We are not called to decorate the old life.

We are called to walk in the new one Christ has given us.

 

Your life is hidden with Christ

Colossians 3:3 (KJV) says:

“For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”

What a beautiful promise.

Your true life is now found in Christ.

You were united with Him at the Cross.

United with Him in death.

United with Him in resurrection.

And now, united with Him in life.

You are not trying to create a relationship with God through your own effort.

Christ has brought you into fellowship with the Father.

 

Jesus drank the cup of death so we could receive life

2 Corinthians 5:21 (KJV) says:

“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

Jesus entered fully into what belonged to us.

Our weakness.

Our sin.

Our judgment.

Our death.

So that we could receive what belonged to Him.

Righteousness.

Life.

Fellowship with God.

Freedom.

He became death’s prisoner in order to set us free.

 

One with Him

In John 17:20–23, Jesus prayed that His followers would be one with Him and with the Father.

That union is not distant or symbolic.

We belong to Him.

Our lives are hidden in Him.

Our identity is found in Him.

And because of that, we do not have to live according to the old self anymore.

We can walk in our new Christ-life.

 

Reflection

Take a quiet moment today and ask yourself:

• Is there a sin or lie I need to reckon dead today?
• Am I approaching temptation as though I am powerless?
• Do I truly believe that my old life was crucified with Christ?
• What would it look like to live more boldly in my new life with Him this week?

 

A Word of Encouragement

Friend, the Cross did more than forgive you.

It changed who you belong to.

You died with Christ.

You were raised with Christ.

And now your life is hidden with Christ in God.

The old life does not have to rule you.

Sin does not have to define you.

You are alive unto God.

“Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” — Romans 6:11 (KJV)

This is Part 5 of our 12-week series, What It Means to Be Crucified with Christ. Join us next week for Part 6: The Believer’s Road to Victory.