Some people think that the “crucified...with” in this verse means crucified with Christ. But if we read the words of the Apostle carefully, we will realize that this means the crucifying of the flesh with “the passions and the lusts thereof.” Here the Apostle is not dealing with the objective fact that we have been crucified with Christ, but with the subjective experience of crucifying the flesh through the Holy Spirit.

The main purpose of discerning the correct meaning of this verse is that we may see that in this matter of dealing with the flesh we must bear our responsibility. It is not enough that we merely believe our old man has been crucified with Christ; we must take the initiative to crucify the flesh through the Holy Spirit. The Bible never says that we must crucify the old man, because this is an accomplished fact in Christ. Nor does the Bible say that Christ has already crucified our flesh, for this is our responsibility through the Holy Spirit.

Even our experience tells us this. It may be that half a year ago we definitely realized the fact that our old man was crucified in Christ. But if we do not put the flesh to death by the Holy Spirit, then to this very day we are still living by the flesh. When we see the fact that our old man was crucified on the cross, we still need to use the cross through the Holy Spirit as the knife to slay our flesh. We need to put our flesh to death daily through the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus, we shall have the real experience of dealing with the flesh.

We have to put the flesh on the cross; but, of course, this cross is not ours. In the whole universe, there is only one cross that is considered effective by God. This the cross of Christ. Therefore, our subjective dealing is based on the objective crucifixion. When we realize that our being, the old creation, the old man, has already been dealt with by the cross of Christ, and that this old man is still being lived out again in the flesh, we should let the Holy Spirit apply the cross of Christ to us step by step in our daily life. Thus, step by step we put our flesh to death through the Holy Spirit. This is the practical experience of the Holy Spirit’s crucifying work within us. Once we have seen that Christ has solved all our problems on the cross, we must immediately allow the Holy Spirit to make this fact effective in us. This effectiveness is our subjective experience.

When God commanded Saul to kill the Amalekites, God Himself would not do the killing; Saul was the one to go to execute the Amalekites. Yet the power through which Saul killed the Amalekites was not of himself, but of God. When the Spirit of God descended upon Saul, He gave him the power by which he was to kill all the Amalekites. Today, in dealing with the flesh, the principle is the same. On one hand God Himself does not deal with our flesh; we ourselves must be responsible to deal with the flesh and put it to death. On the other hand, it is absolutely through the power of God that we are able to deal with the flesh. Our dealing with the flesh is not at all like the religion of the Gentiles, which uses human effort to bring the flesh under subjection. In other words, we must bear the responsibility to deal with the flesh through the power of the Holy Spirit.

In summary, the crucifying of the “I,” our “being,” is an accomplishment in Christ. But the crucifying of our flesh is an accomplishment in the Holy Spirit. To put the cross upon the “I,” upon the “old man,” was the objective fact accomplished by the Lord Jesus at Golgotha. It is when the Holy Spirit puts this cross upon our flesh that it becomes our subjective experience. This is what Galatians 5:24 says, “Have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof”; Romans 8:13, “By the Spirit ye put to death the deeds of the body”; and Colossians 3:5, “Put to death therefore your members which are upon the earth.”
Home | First | Prev | Next