‘For I through the Law died to the Law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. Yet I live, and yet no longer I, but Christ lives in me. And that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith which is in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.'
Paul points out that the Law crucified Christ. He died as a supposed lawbreaker. But the wonderful thing is that when He died Paul, and all those who are in Christ and believe in Him, died with Him. His crucifixion counts as their crucifixion. For because they are in Christ they were crucified with Him. Thus they are made dead to the Law by the body of Christ (Romans 7:4). For in Him the Law has carried out its verdict and its execution, not only on Him but on all who are His. He had done no sin, but He was made sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21). So once we have become members of His body what happened to Him is also counted as having happened to us. And as our sins are placed on Him, so His righteousness covers us (2 Corinthians 5:21), and we are made the righteousness of God (as righteous as God) in Him. The Law has done its worst by condemning and punishing our sin at the cross, and is now therefore rendered powerless, for full punishment for all breaches of it have been exacted on Him. Even the Law cannot punish again a dead man who has already died for his sins. For then justice has been satisfied with the ultimate penalty. The result is that those who are His, and have been crucified with Him, are no longer under the law. The law has condemned them and has done its utmost. It can do no more. They have faced their punishment in Christ. And now the law cannot touch His people any more for they are ‘dead' in Christ, justly punished for all their sin, whether past or future.
But he then stresses that those who are His have died to the law for a purpose. And that is so that they may live to God (compare Romans 7:6). There is to be no complacency here. There is to be no suggestion that therefore sin does not now matter. Rather there is to be experienced a divine compulsion. Those who have been crucified with Christ now recognise that it is because they are in Christ and Christ is in them that they are acceptable to God. Yes, it is because the risen Christ now lives in and through them. So they recognise that they are now responsible for Christ's reputation, for Christ lives in them. Thus they are deeply aware that they must live the Christ life, that they must manifest Christ in their lives. To genuinely say that I have been crucified with Christ and so have died to the law and its condemnation, and not then to let Him live through me is not possible, says Paul. The tree is known by its fruit.
‘I through the Law, died to the Law.' The Law had condemned Paul and had sentenced him, and had carried out his execution ‘in Christ'. So that was the end of the old Paul. There was no coming back from crucifixion! And the same is true for all who put their trust in Christ and what He has done for them on the cross.
‘That I might live unto God.' And the purpose of this is not to free us to do whatever we like, but so that we might live ‘unto God'. So that we might live as in the presence of God. So that all our hopes and aspirations may be to serve and please God. That is what salvation is all about. It is not an easy way into Heaven, it is the way back to God that we might live to and for Him. It is to allow Him to work in us to will and to do of His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13).
‘I have been crucified with Christ.' The verb is in the perfect tense, ‘I have been and therefore now am, crucified with Christ'. It is a continuing experience, for once having been accomplished in us, it has permanent results down to the present time. Paul speaks of himself as an individual and of all Christians as individuals. All who have believed in Him were ‘crucified with Him' and are now in the state of being ‘crucified ones'. This is true firstly because He acted as our substitute. When He died it was in our place. As Jesus Himself said, ‘The Son of Man came --- to give His life a ransom instead of many' (‘lutron anti pollon' - Mark 10:45 - ‘anti' is unquestionably substitutionary). As man He was the true Mediator (the one who acts between two parties) giving Himself ‘as a ransom on behalf of all' (1 Timothy 2:5-6). It was something offered as a benefit open to all. But in the end it would only be effective in the ‘many' who responded in faith. For the ransom was ‘in the place of' many. The whole point of a ransom is that it takes the place of those who are ransomed, it pays the price for their deliverance. Thus once we truly believe in Jesus Christ we can say that we ‘are bought with a price' (1 Corinthians 6:20; 1 Corinthians 7:23).
Although sinless Himself Jesus Christ took the place of each believing sinner, and of all believing sinners, and it was so that the believing sinner may be ‘ransomed', freed from sin, wholly forgiven and reconciled with God. As Paul puts it elsewhere, ‘He was made sin for us, He Who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him' (2 Corinthians 5:21), and ‘He gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for Himself a people of His own, dedicated to good works' (Titus 2:14).
For this is ‘the redemption that is in Christ Jesus', that ‘God set Him forth to be a means of propitiation (removing the threat of His judgment), through faith, by His blood (His death accepted as a sacrifice)' (Romans 3:25). The meaning of propitiation is that God's antipathy against sin is fully satisfied by the death that takes place, because the requirement of the Law has been met. And this is because He was ‘delivered up for our acts of law breaking and was raised for our justification' (Romans 4:25). This is why we can be ‘justified (counted as righteous) by faith'.
But secondly it is true because He acted as our full representative, not only in our place but actually ‘as us'. Once we have truly believed we are ‘in Him' and become ‘members of His body' (Ephesians 5:30; 1 Corinthians 12:27). As all men are summed up in Adam, for they all come from him, so all redeemed men are summed up in Christ, ‘the second man' (1 Corinthians 15:47), ‘the last Adam' (1 Corinthians 15:21-22; 1 Corinthians 15:45), for as a result of believing they are all in Him. Even the term ‘Son of Man', which Jesus emphasised for Himself, also represented His people (Daniel 7:13-14 with 18, 27), for Jesus is One with His people. He said to Paul when he was persecuting Christians, ‘why do you persecute ME' (Acts 9:4). Thus when He died, all Who are His died with Him. We have been crucified with Christ, and it is an ongoing situation. All who become His have been crucified with Him, and all who are His are crucified with Him.
When considering the mystery of ‘the atonement' we must recognise that one picture alone cannot do it justice, as we have seen here. It is substitution, it is representation, it is propitiation, it is reconciliation, it is expiation, it is atonement. It is all these and more. It is ‘God in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them' (2 Corinthians 5:19). And who can fully understand it?
But one thing is clear. This could not have been accomplished by a mere man. Although He died as man, representing all who are His, it was because He was God, and only because He was God, that His sacrifice was sufficient. Only the Creator could substitute for His creation. God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, because none other could do so.
And this crucifixion is personal. Once I come by faith to Christ and ‘am crucified with Him' my old life ceases. I recognise that I am dead to all that has gone before. I recognise that I no longer have any right to live my life as I want to. For that is why I have been crucified.
‘Yet I live, and yet no longer I, but Christ lives in me.' Having ‘died with Christ' Paul recognises that he is still alive. But no longer now as the same person. Rather as a Christ indwelt person. The old Paul has died, with all his views, hopes and beliefs. He has become Christ indwelt through faith (Ephesians 3:17), and it is Christ Who holds the reins and must be allowed to control the thoughts of his heart. It is He Who now lives in and through Paul. It is His views and hopes and beliefs that must be followed. And as He dwells in him by responsive faith Paul has the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:15). And the same is true for all who believe in Him.
‘And the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, which is in the Son of God Who loved me and gave Himself for me.' Every believer lives in a fleshly body, but he lives ‘in faith', faith in the Son of God Who loved him and gave Himself for him. He therefore does not follow the desires and aims of the flesh, but follows the desires and aims of the Spirit, for that faith is in the One Who sacrificed Himself for him, the Son of God. With Christ indwelling him he puts his faith not in his flesh but in Christ, recognising that the dynamic power of the One Who lives within him is to be expressed through him. He is to live Christ. Christ has superseded the Law. And paradoxically by this he himself will be able to fulfil the essence of the Law (Galatians 5:13-14), for no one could fulfil the Law as He did.
‘The Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.' In this is expressed the incredible thought, that the Son of God Himself gave Himself up for us. Well did the hymnwriter say, ‘Tis mystery all, the immortal dies'. Who can understand it? The Son of God, He Who was before all worlds and created all things (John 1:1-3; Hebrews 1:2), He Who upholds all things by His powerful command (Hebrews 1:3; Colossians 1:17), He Who rules over the hosts of Heaven (Matthew 26:53; Revelation 19:11-16), has so loved me that He gave Himself for me, that He might live out His life through me. How can I believe that and ever be the same again?
Notice in this whole section the ‘I'. While Paul would have immediately agreed that it was true for all Christians, and that that was what he meant, he applied it to himself as an individual. For the message is not only that Christ died for all, but that He died for me. I have been crucified with Christ. And each of us can take this personally for ourselves. We can then say, ‘All I have been has gone. It has been put to death in Him. I have begun anew.' So while salvation is of the whole body of Christ, it is also a very individual thing, it is my salvation.
All the world has not been crucified with Christ. It is an individual thing demanding individual response. It is only those who have come to the crucified Christ in responsive faith who have been crucified with Him. It is ‘the many', but not all. And it is ‘the many', the believers, who are now to live out His resurrection life.