Jesus Christ.

I Am Crucified With Christ.

Galatians 2:20 is a well-known passage with profound implications:

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” This declaration of identity underscores the reality of all who have placed their trust in the Son. We must understand what Paul meant in this passage and its relevance in the 21st century.

First, let’s consider the context. The book of Galatians emphasizes salvation by grace through faith and rejects salvation by works. The argument extends beyond justification and addresses the Christian way of life. The early church faced a significant conflict as some Judaizers insisted that Gentile Christians must be circumcised to be fully accepted by God ( Acts 15).

Apparently, some Gentile believers were succumbing to the pressure, prompting Paul to write this letter. In chapter 2, Paul recounts his visit to Jerusalem to meet with the church leaders. Following this, he confronts Peter for hypocrisy, and then comes Galatians 2:20.

The statement “Christ lives in me” holds profound theological significance. When we are born again, we become united with Christ in His life, death, and resurrection. Understanding our union with Jesus eliminates the need to rebuild the old system of law-keeping. Paul describes this union in his letter to the Romans:

“It is one thing that Christ was crucified, but it is quite another thing that we are crucified, just as it is one thing that He did God’s will, but quite another thing that we should do it. His purpose in being crucified for us was not so that we could avoid being crucified, but rather that we should be crucified with Him.”

Crucified with Christ.

That this very thing may become a reality for many. May it be so for you, dear reader.” The bible goes on to write about what it means for us to be crucified with Christ. That it is more than a symbol of the work that Jesus did for us. It means that our own flesh, with its passions and desires is nailed to the cross (Galatians 5:24), so that sin does not come forth from us any longer, as the flesh has effectively died.

This means that our old nature is put off as we put on the life of Christ. Faith in this crucifixion of our flesh gives us victory over sin wherever we have light over it in our own life. This life – a life crucified with Christ – produces powerful results in those who choose to live it. They experience God’s promises in their lives. They experience a victorious life, rest in God, personal spiritual growth, and the growth of the body of Christ.

Christ was crucified according to the canonical gospels.

Crucifixion is a brutal death sentence involving nailing or tying hands and feet to a wooden beam. Jesus endured additional suffering, including a crown of thorns, beatings, and humiliation. The ultimate reason for his crucifixion was to earn salvation for sinners, reveal God's love, and conquer evil . The Sanhedrin demanded his crucifixion, and he was publicly beaten and led to Golgotha.

Several places in the Bible speak of being crucified with Christ or having died with Christ: for example, Colossians 2:20; 3:3; and 2 Timothy 2:11. An extended discussion on the subject is found in Romans 6:3–14. Since no believer was literally crucified with Christ, the phrase crucified with Christ is symbolic for a spiritual truth.

Galatians 2:20 is a key passage: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

The context of Galatians 2 is how the believer is made right with God. False teachers were telling the Galatian churches that faith in Christ was not enough. To be saved, they said, believers must also be circumcised and become “Jewish.”

Only then would they be wholly right with God. In Galatians 2:15–16 Paul counters that idea: “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.”

Paul says, “Through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God” (Galatians 2:19). While Paul was trying to please God by keeping the Law, he was not really living for God. The more he tried to keep the Law, the more he saw how much he failed.

It was only when he gave up trying to achieve righteousness on his own and accepted the righteousness of God by faith in Christ that he truly began living for God. Justification by faith actually makes it possible to live for God.

Being crucified with Christ means that we are no longer under the penalty of the Law. That penalty was paid by Christ on our behalf. When Christ was crucified, it was as if we were crucified with Him. The penalty was fully paid—just as surely as if we had been crucified for our own sins.

When Christ rose from the dead, we rose, too. Now the risen Christ empowers us to live for Him in a way that pleases God. We used to seek life through our own works, but now we “live by faith in the Son of God” (Galatians 2:20).

Being crucified with Christ means that we are new creations. “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). The old life is dead and gone. We walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4).

Being crucified with Christ means that we have a new love. The lusts of the flesh and the love of the things of this world have been crucified (Galatians 5:24). Now we love Christ, though we have not seen Him (1 Peter 1:8).

Being crucified with Christ means that we have a new commitment. We are dedicated to the service and glory of the Lord, and that dedication destroys selfishness and surpasses ties to family and friends. We have taken up our cross to follow Him (Matthew 10:38).

Being crucified with Christ means that we have a new way of life. At one time we “followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient” (Ephesians 2:2). But that way of life was nailed to the cross. Now we follow Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, and we seek to please Him in every way (Hebrews 12:2).

The idea of being crucified with Christ emphasizes our union with Him and His death on our behalf. We trust in Christ’s crucifixion as payment for our sin penalty, and we rely on His power to live in a way that pleases God. The emphasis is on what He has done for us, not what we have to do for God.

Too often, “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is Christ who lives in me” becomes “I need to crucify my sinful desires and try harder to live for God.” When this becomes our perspective, we have slipped out of grace-living and back into law-living, and we minimize the power of Christ’s death for us.

We are relying less upon the power of Christ and more upon our own power—and that will never work out well!

In short, Galatians 2:20 tells us how we escaped the penalty of sin to live a life that pleases God. Knowing that we are “crucified with Christ” should give us great encouragement in our Christian walk. We have the power to say “no” to sin and “yes” to God.