In Galatians 5:24 Paul says, “They who are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and its lusts.” Here the expression 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 believers in Christ, we are now of Christ.
The crucifixion of the old man in Romans 6:6 and the crucifixion of the “I” in Galatians 2:20 were not accomplished by us, but 5:24 says that we have crucified the flesh with its passions and its lusts. The old man and the “I” are our being; the flesh is the expression of our being in our practical living. The crucifixion of our old man and the “I” is a fact accomplished by Christ on the cross, whereas the crucifying of our flesh with its passions and its lusts is our practical experience of the fact. This practical experience must be carried out through the Spirit by our executing of the crucifixion that Christ accomplished. This is to put to death by the Spirit the practices of our lustful body with its evil members (Rom. 8:13b; Col. 3:5).
There are three aspects of the experience of the cross: (1) the fact accomplished by Christ (Rom. 6:6; Gal. 2:20); (2) our application of the accomplished fact (5:24); and (3) our experience of what we have applied, by bearing the cross daily (Matt. 16:24; Luke 9:23).
Based upon the fact that Christ has crucified our old man and the “I,” we who are of Christ Jesus “have crucified” the flesh. In our experience we need to apply Christ’s crucifixion to our flesh. Paul’s use of the perfect tense to describe this in Galatians 5:24 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. Here Paul is speaking according to principle. If we have never crucified our flesh, our experience is abnormal. If our experience is normal, we who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh.
The cross of Christ gives us the standing, the basis, to deal with the flesh. Our whole being—the entire fallen tripartite man—was crucified with Christ on the cross. Now we have not only this base objectively but also the divine life and the Spirit subjectively to execute the cross of Christ upon our flesh. If we apply the cross to our flesh by the indwelling Spirit, our flesh will be nailed to the cross. Now that the flesh is on the cross, only the Spirit remains. We need to exercise the spirit by the divine life to apply the cross to our flesh. In so doing, we apply what Christ has accomplished by crucifying our old man with Him on the cross.
In the eyes of God, all those who believe in Christ have already crucified their flesh, but when in our actual experience we execute the crucifixion of Christ by applying the cross to our flesh, we are immediately uplifted to the heavenlies and experience the Spirit as everything to us. Experiencing the Spirit in this way, we walk by the Spirit and are led by the Spirit.
Galatians unveils that the law misused is in opposition to Christ (2:16) and that the flesh lusts against the Spirit (5:17). The cross has nullified the “I,” which inclines to keep the law (2:20), and the flesh, which lusts against the Spirit, that Christ may replace the law and the Spirit may replace the flesh. God does not want us to keep the law by the flesh; He wants us to live Christ by the Spirit.
In summary, as the Emancipator, Christ has set us free from the slavery of the law, bringing us into grace by the Spirit and out of faith operating through love. Although we were called to this freedom in grace, we should not misuse this freedom. Rather, we should serve one another as slaves through love. Moreover, we must walk by the Spirit, not fulfilling the lust of the flesh but living a life of one who is of Christ by executing the cross of Christ on our flesh.