Galatians 5:24 says, “They who are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts.” “They who are of Christ Jesus” refers to those who have believed into Christ and have been baptized into Him. Therefore, they belong to Christ and are of Christ. As saved ones, we are now of Christ.
According to Paul’s word, those who are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh. The crucifixion of the old man in Romans 6:6 was not accomplished by us, but here it says that we have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts. The old man is our being; the flesh is the expression of our being in our practical living. The crucifixion of our old man is a fact accomplished by Christ on the cross, whereas the crucifixion of our flesh with its passions and lusts is our practical experience of that fact. Through the crucifixion of Christ we have been crucified with Christ. This enables us to crucify our flesh with the passions and lusts. In other words, we have been crucified with Christ so that we may be able to crucify our flesh. Our crucifying the flesh is based on the fact that our old man has been crucified with Christ.
We need a clear understanding concerning the old man 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. It is impossible to commit suicide by crucifixion. For this reason, it is not possible for us to crucify our old man. Although we cannot crucify the old man, we can crucify the flesh. 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.
In speaking of the crucifixion of the flesh Paul uses the perfect tense. He says not that we are crucifying the flesh, nor that we shall crucify it, but that we have crucified it. He speaks of this as if it were an accomplished fact. Concerning the crucifixion, there are two aspects. The first is that when Christ was crucified, He crucified our old man. The other aspect is that we have crucified our flesh. Based upon the fact that Christ has crucified the old man, we have crucified the flesh. Hence, the second fact, our crucifixion of the flesh, is the application of the first fact, Christ’s crucifixion of the old man. In our experience we need to apply Christ’s crucifixion to our flesh. Paul’s use of the perfect tense to describe this indicates that such should be the normal experience of the believers. All believers should be those who have applied Christ’s crucifixion to their flesh. As those who belong to Christ, who have been put into Christ, we have done this. Here Paul is speaking according to the principle. If we have never crucified our flesh, our experience is abnormal. If our experience is normal, then we who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh.
It is by the Spirit (Gal. 5:16) that we crucify the flesh. The cross of Christ gives us the standing, or the basis, to deal with the flesh. Our whole being-the entire fallen tripartite man-was crucified with Christ. Not only do we have this base objectively, but we have the Spirit subjectively to enable us to execute the cross of Christ upon our flesh. In order to walk by the Spirit, we must apply Christ’s crucifixion to our flesh. If we apply the cross to our flesh by the indwelling Spirit, our flesh will be nailed to the cross. This is to crucify the flesh. When the flesh is on the cross, only the Spirit remains, and we experience the Spirit as everything to us. Experiencing the Spirit in this way, we walk by the Spirit and are led by the Spirit. The more we experience the Spirit in this way, the more we are transformed and conformed to the image of Christ as the firstborn Son of God.
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