Scripture Reading: Gal. 3:1, 3:13; 1:4; 19, 2:20, 2:21; 5:24; 6:14-15
In the foregoing message we considered the grace of God. In this message we come to Christ crucified. Christ crucified has a great deal to do with our enjoyment of God’s grace. The enjoyment of the grace of God is altogether dependent on the crucifixion of Christ.
In 3:1 Paul says, “O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was openly portrayed crucified?” The crucifixion of Christ indicates that all the requirements of the law have been fulfilled by the death of Christ, and that Christ through His death has released His life that it may be imparted into us in His resurrection to free us from bondage under the law. This was fully portrayed before the eyes of the Galatians in the word of the gospel. How could they neglect this and be bewitched, drifting back to the law? How foolish!
Before the eyes of the Galatians, Christ had openly been portrayed crucified. Paul wondered how the Galatian believers could forget such a portrait. Those who go back to the law have nothing to do with such a crucified Christ. If God wants us to keep the law and if we are able to keep it, then there was no need for Christ to be crucified. For this reason, Paul declares in 2:21, “If righteousness is through law, then Christ has died for nothing.” Galatians 3:1 is the direct continuation of 2:21. Christ certainly was not crucified without cause. On the contrary, He was crucified for a very great cause. In fact, the cross is the center of God’s operation in His economy, just as Christ Himself is the center of God’s economy. In the carrying out of God’s economy, the cross is the center. Without Christ, God’s economy has no center, and without the cross of Christ the operation of God’s economy is without a center. Thus, the carrying out of God’s economy wholly depends on the cross of Christ. The cross is the center of God’s operation in the universe to carry out His economy.
This is the reason that in such a short book Paul many times refers to the cross. He constantly brings us back to the cross. In 2:21 Paul points out that Christ was not crucified for nothing. Then in 3:1 he goes on to remind the Galatians that the crucifixion of Christ was openly portrayed before their eyes. When Paul came to Galatia, he preached a crucified Christ. In order to be righteous, we need such a Christ. If we could have righteousness through keeping the law, then we would not need a crucified Christ. If this had been the case, there would have been no reason for Christ to die.
In 3:1 Paul brought the Galatians back to the cross. He wanted them to have a thorough look at the crucified Christ. In this message I am burdened that we also have such a view of Christ crucified. Therefore, let us consider the verses in Galatians which refer to the cross or to the death of Christ on the cross, and let us see all the important points in these verses.
In 1:4 Paul says that Christ “gave Himself for our sins, that He might rescue us out of the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father.” Here we see that in His crucifixion Christ gave Himself for our sins. How foolish were the Galatians, and how stubborn and rebellious were the Judaizers! In returning to the law, they had no way to deal with their sins. In this book Paul seems to be saying, “You have committed many sins. What will you do about them? Apart from the death of Christ on the cross, there is no way to be redeemed from your sins.”
Although Christ was crucified for our sins, the goal of His crucifixion was to “rescue us out of the present evil age.” Sins are devilish, whereas this age is satanic. We have pointed out that the present age is the present section of Satan’s cosmos, his world system. As the Devil, God’s enemy is involved with sins; and as Satan, he is involved with the evil age. Even if the Galatians and the Judaizers could have been successful in keeping the law, how would they have dealt with the Devil, Satan? Can you overcome Satan? He is subtle, lurking behind sins and the evil age. Apart from the crucifixion of Christ, we have no way to deal with sins, behind which the Devil hides, or the evil age, behind which Satan hides. Christ was crucified for our sins that He might rescue us from this evil age. This indicates that only Christ can save us from the Devil and Satan. Both sins and the evil age have been dealt with by Christ crucified. He gave Himself for us on the cross according to the will of God.
Christ was crucified in order to give Himself for us that He might impart life to us. This is altogether positive, whereas dealing with sins and rescuing us from the evil age are negative. On the positive side, Christ crucified imparts the divine life to us so that He might live in us in resurrection to free us from bondage under law (2:20). Through His death on the cross, Christ released His divine life and imparted the divine life into us. This makes it possible for Him to live in us in resurrection.
If Christ had not been crucified, it would not be possible for Him to come into us. A “raw,” unprocessed Christ cannot dwell in us. Before Christ could come into us and live in us, He had to deal with our sins and with our fallen nature. The old “I,” the “I” without God, had to be dealt with. To deal with sin and with our fallen nature, Christ had to be crucified. Dealing with these negative things opened the way for Christ to impart Himself into us as our life and thereby to live in us. Thus, Christ’s living in us is based upon His death on the cross.
Furthermore, the Christ who lives in us is a Christ in resurrection. If Christ had not been crucified, how could He have been resurrected? This would, of course, have been impossible. And if Christ were not in resurrection, He could not live in us. The only Christ who can dwell in us is a resurrected Christ, a processed Christ, a Christ who has passed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. The process through which Christ has passed affords Him the ground and the way to enter into us and to live in us in His resurrection life. A “raw” Christ could never be life to us. The Christ who is our life and who lives in us is the processed Christ. Through His crucifixion He dealt with our sins and with our fallen nature. Now, based upon the work accomplished in His crucifixion, He lives in us in resurrection. This indicates clearly that the cross is the center of God’s operation for the carrying out of His economy.
Galatians 3:13 says, “Christ has redeemed us out of the curse of the law, having become a curse on our behalf; because it is written, Cursed is every one hanging on a tree.” Christ as our substitute on the cross not only bore the curse for us, but also became a curse for us. The curse of the law issued from the sin of man (Gen. 3:17). When Christ took away our sin on the cross, He redeemed us out of the curse.
The Galatians surely were foolish in going back to the law. What did they expect to do about the curse of the law? As descendants of Adam, they were under the curse like everyone else. If we read Romans 5, we see that Adam brought us all under the curse. But the curse was not altogether official until the law was given. But the law now declares that all the fallen descendants of Adam are under the curse. In Galatians 3:13 Paul seemed to be telling the Galatians, “The law is not good to you, for it has made the curse official. The curse brought in by the fall of Adam has been made official by the law. You are very foolish to return to the law. The law condemns you and makes your curse official. But through His crucifixion, Christ has redeemed us out of the curse of the law. On the cross He was even made a curse for us.”
Sin, the evil age, and the curse were all serious problems. Without the cross of Christ, how could God deal with these problems and carry out His economy? We certainly need Christ crucified. We need the Christ who has died on the cross to solve all these problems.
Galatians 2:21 says, “I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness is through law, then Christ has died for nothing.” This verse indicates that Christ died to fulfill the requirements of the law that we may have righteousness in Him. In Adam we do not have righteousness; rather, we have a sinful nature. But Christ was crucified on the cross to fulfill all the requirements of God’s holy and righteous law. Now we may have righteousness in Christ.
Some Christians have seen only that Christ died on the cross for our sins. They have not also seen that He died to become our righteousness. Dying for our sins is related to redemption, whereas dying to become our righteousness is related to justification. Redemption is on the negative side, but justification is on the positive side. The cross of Christ is both for redemption and justification. Through His death we have been redeemed from our sins, and through His death we have also obtained righteousness in Him.
In 2:19 Paul says, “For I through law have died to law that I might live to God.” Apart from the crucifixion of Christ, there is no way for us to die to the law. Christ was crucified to make us dead to the law. Even if we in ourselves could die to the law, that type of death would not count in the eyes of God. The only death that matters in His eyes is the death of Christ. Death in Adam is horrible, but the death of Christ is lovely and even lovable, for it accomplishes a great deal for us. Through Christ’s death, we have become dead to the law so that we might live to God.
Through the crucifixion of Christ we have been crucified with Christ. This enables us to crucify our flesh with the passions and lusts (5:24). In other words, we have been crucified with Christ so that we may be able to crucify our flesh.
We all are troubled by the old man, the self, and the flesh. Romans 6:6 says that our old man, not our flesh, has been crucified with Christ. Galatians 5:24 says that those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh. This verse does not say that those who belong to Christ have crucified their old man. However, there is no verse which tells us that the self has been crucified with Christ. The “I” in 2:20 does not refer to the self; it denotes the old man, the person without God. Thus, our old man, not our self, has been crucified with Christ. Furthermore, according to 5:24, it is our flesh which must be crucified. Christ has crucified the old man, but we who belong to Christ must crucify the flesh. Our crucifying the flesh with its passions and lusts is based upon the fact that our old man has been crucified with Christ. Could we crucify our flesh if Christ had not been crucified? Certainly not!
We need to have a clear understanding concerning the old man, the self, and the flesh. There is no need for us to deal with the old man, for the old man has already been crucified with Christ. However, day by day we need to crucify our flesh. The problems in our daily living do not come from the old man, but from the flesh with its passions and lusts. Therefore, based upon the fact that our old man has already been dealt with through the death of Christ, we must go on to crucify our flesh in a practical way.
It is crucial to see the difference between Romans 6:6 and Galatians 5:24. In 5:24 Paul does not say that those who are Christ’s have crucified the old man. He says that they have crucified the flesh. Furthermore, we need to see that no one can crucify himself. It is not possible to commit suicide by crucifixion. For this reason, it is not possible for us to crucify our old man, our old “I.” Although we cannot crucify the old man, we can crucify the flesh. This is not suicide. The crucifixion of the old man had to be accomplished by someone else, but the crucifixion of the flesh must be carried out by us.
How then shall we deal with the self? We must deny the self through bearing the cross. The self is already on the cross. Let us leave it there and not allow it to come down. To cause the self to stay on the cross is to bear the cross.
Now we can see that if Christ had not been crucified, we would not have any basis or foundation for the crucifixion of our flesh. Furthermore, if Christ had not been crucified, we would have no place to leave the self. But since Christ has died on the cross, we can crucify our flesh, based on the fact that the old man has been crucified. Also, we have a place to leave the self. Whenever the self rises up, we need to say, “Pitiful self, go back to the cross and stay there. I do not allow you to come down from the cross and make proposals to me. Your place is the cross.” This is the proper way to deny the self.
The cross of Christ is the basis both for the crucifixion of the flesh and the denial of the self. By means of Christ’s resurrection life we can crucify the flesh and keep the self on the cross. When Christ was crucified, we were crucified also. Now in His resurrection life He lives in us, and we live in Him. With His crucifixion as the foundation, we are now able in Christ’s resurrection life to crucify the flesh and deny the self.
Finally, Christ was crucified to have the world crucified to us and us to the world. This especially refers to the religious world. In 6:14 Paul declares, “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world.” The following verse indicates that the world in verse 14 refers mainly to the religious world. This religious world is the evil age from which we have been delivered through the cross of Christ.
To go back to the law is to turn away both from Christ and from the cross. To do this is to nullify the grace of God. It is of vital importance for us to see what the cross of Christ has accomplished for us. Through the cross Christ redeemed us from our sins, rescued us from the present evil age, and redeemed us from the curse of the law. Through the cross Christ has fulfilled the requirements of the law so that we may be righteous, and He has enabled us to be dead to the law so that we might live to God. Through Christ’s crucifixion we now have the ground to crucify the flesh and the way to be separated from the world.
As we consider all these matters, we see that not one of them could be accomplished through keeping the law. Because the Galatians were endeavoring to keep the law, Paul considered them foolish and told them that they had been bewitched. In this Epistle Paul was bringing them back to the cross and encouraging them to behold Christ crucified. If we have a clear vision of Christ crucified, we shall never go back to the law. On the contrary, we shall put the law under our feet and remain with Christ who was crucified for us. This Christ is the center of God’s economy, and the cross of Christ is the center of God’s operation to carry out His economy. Today we have no need of the law. What we need is Christ and the cross.
