Christ died for me, and I died
in Christ.
Pascal said, “Everything which
happened to Christ should come to pass in the soul
and in the body of each Christian.”
The apostle Paul declared, “I
am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet
not I, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). Again,
he wrote, “You died, and your life is hid with
Christ in God” (Col. 3:2).
Who died? I died.
In God’s reckoning we are even
now delivered by our vital union with Christ. That
vital, intimate relationship filled the mind of the
great apostle.
“I have been crucified with
Christ.” “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to
sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 6:11).
What was true of Paul is true
of every believer because we are “in Christ.” Our
spiritual union with Christ is entirely independent
of all conditions of time and space. And in depth of
intimacy there can be no difference between the
believer of today and those who knew our Lord on
earth, since "by one Spirit we are all baptized into
one body" (1 Cor. 12:13).
Paul writes, “As many of us as
were baptized into Christ were baptized into His
death” (Rom. 6:3). The water baptism by immersion is
a symbolic picture of an even greater spiritual
baptism when we were placed in the body of Christ
when we first believed on Him as our Savior.
“In Christ.” “I am crucified
with Christ.”
Have you gone back to the cross
of Jesus and conceived of yourself so identified
with Him in His death and obedience unto death that
when He died you died? Jesus Christ paid your death
penalty in full. You are now free to live the
Christian life.
The Apostle Paul’s one
obsession was Christ. “That I may know Him.”
Is your one obsession to know
Christ in His suffering, His death, His resurrection
and glory?
Our spiritual union with Christ
is entirely independent of all conditions of time
and space. Since we are one with Him by faith then
our death in Him was real.
Martin Luther wrote, “Believing
in Christ, I am by faith crucified with Christ; so
that all these things are crucified and dead with
me.”
Paul is not referring to the
atonement because no one including the believer can
atone for his own sins. It took the sinless blood of
Jesus to pay our debt. There is nothing in us worthy
of making atonement for sin. It is Christ alone,
never Christ plus anything in or of ourselves that
makes us right with God. However, there is for the
believer a fellowship that can be entered into
Christ through identification with His death.
The apostle Paul tells us to
“reckon” upon the fact that we died in Christ. The
word means “to take into account, to calculate, to
estimate.” The work of Christ is imputed to our
account. We are to believe that it really is true in
our lives. Christ has put His righteousness to our
account, and furthermore, the power of sin no longer
has dominion over us.
Paul doesn’t tell us to feel as
if we were dead to sin, but act on God’s Word and
claim it as a fact. Reckoning is a matter of faith
that results in action. Reckoning is not claiming a
promise; it is taking God at His word and acting on
a fact. God does not command us to become dead to
sin. He tells us that we are dead to sin and alive
unto God. Therefore, He commands us to act on that
truth. Even if we do not act on it, the facts are
still true. Because sin and death have no dominion
over Christ, and we are "in Christ" sin and death
have no dominion over us. Jesus Christ not only died
"for sin," but He also died "unto sin." That means
Christ not only paid the penalty for my sin, but He
broke the power of sin in my life. Sin no longer is
the master of our lives. It no longer controls us.
We are dead in Christ, and alive to His
righteousness.
Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006
Anyone is free to use this material and distribute it, but it may not be sold under any circumstances whatsoever without the author's written consent.
Unless otherwise noted "Scripture quotations taken from the NASB."
"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE" © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NET) are from the NET Bible copyright ©1996-2006 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://www.bible.org/. All rights reserved.
Wil is a graduate of William Carey University, B. A.; New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Th. M.; and Azusa Pacific University, M. A. He has pastored in Panama, Ecuador and the U. S, and served for over 20 years as missionary in Ecuador and Honduras. He had a daily expository Bible teaching ministry head in over 100 countries from 1972-2005. He continues to seek opportunities to be personally involved in world missions. Wil and his wife Ann have three grown daughters. He currently serves as a Baptist pastor and teaches seminary extension courses in Ecuador.
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