When we have really seen the difficulty of the flesh in the light of God and realize that there is absolutely no way for us to deal with the flesh by ourselves, we are totally in despair in ourselves. The Holy Spirit will then give us a revelation concerning the deliverance of the cross as mentioned in Romans 6:6, “Our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin.” The Spirit will show us that this old man of the flesh has been crucified with Christ and that our body of sin has already been done away and has lost its function; then why should we still be under its bondage? In Romans 6 it is mentioned again and again that we have died to sin, that we have been released from sin, and that sin can no longer have dominion over us; hence, we have already been freed from sin. Once we come to the light of God’s word and receive this fact through faith, this word becomes the declaration of our emancipation and the song of our triumph. We can then reckon ourselves as dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. What a glorious grace!
After we see and receive the fact that our old man has been crucified with Christ, we should allow the Holy Spirit to execute this fact within us. Christ has accomplished the objective fact for us, but we must be responsible for the subjective experience through the Holy Spirit. All the experiences of dealing with the flesh will not be real unless they are experienced subjectively. Whoever merely believes the fact that we have died with Christ on the cross does not have the real experience of dealing with the flesh. When the Lord died on the cross, the veil was rent in two. That veil was His flesh. He had put on our flesh and was nailed to the cross. This fact was to Him a subjective experience, but to us it is an objective fact. We must let the Holy Spirit execute this within us, so that it will become our practical, subjective experience.
Galatians 5:24, “They that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof.” This passage reveals that we, those who are saved and are of Christ Jesus, are the initiators of crucifying the flesh. It does not say here that the Lord crucified our flesh, but that we ourselves have crucified the flesh. From this we see that we have the responsibility to take the initiative in crucifying the flesh. Crucifying the old man is the responsibility of God, but crucifying the flesh is our responsibility.
What Galatians 5:24 speaks about, therefore, is the subjective experience that we have crucified the flesh, not the objective fact that Christ has crucified our old man, as is the concept of many. The reasons are, first, that the crucifying of the flesh mentioned here is an act of our own initiative, not what Christ has done for us. Second, what is mentioned here is crucifying the flesh, not crucifying the old man. We have said that the old man refers to the objective aspect, while the flesh always refers to our subjective experience. Moreover, the same verse also mentions the passions and lusts, which are matters of our practical daily living. Third, all the verses preceding and following this verse speak about the work of the Holy Spirit; thus, the crucifying of the flesh mentioned in this verse must be something which we experience through the Holy Spirit. Hence, it refers to our subjective experience. With these three points in view, we can see that this verse speaks entirely of our subjective experience.
Why then does it say here that all that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh? Why is the crucifying of the flesh an accomplished fact? How can this correspond to the experience of many? Don’t the majority of Christians still live by the flesh? The answer is that the Apostle was speaking according to the normal working of the Holy Spirit. Normally, all that belong to Christ Jesus should have already crucified the flesh through the Holy Spirit. If anyone belongs to the Lord and has not crucified the flesh by the Holy Spirit, he is abnormal! Many of the saints in Galatia were in such an abnormal stage. Even though they were saved and belonged to Christ, yet they lived by the flesh and did not crucify the flesh by the Holy Spirit. The Apostle told the Galatians that according to the normal way, all that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh. “Since you, the Galatians, are of Christ, how can you still live by the flesh? Since God has already crucified your old man with Christ, you also should have crucified the flesh by the Holy Spirit. Therefore, you should not live by the flesh any longer and fulfill the lust of your flesh.” This is the meaning of the Apostle in Galatians 5:24.
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