Crucified and dead, yet you live!

“You were crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20); “You died…” (Colossians 3:3). Extraordinary truths that require explanation and understanding, otherwise these statements seem absurd!

Right now, if you are reading this, you are alive and breathing. So, what do these truths mean? Are you dead, but living at the same time? And why is this important?

1 Thessalonians 5:23 describes you as having a spirit, soul and body. When Scripture confirms that you were crucified with Christ and that you died, it is referring to your spirit. When you were born, your spirit had a sinful nature. In order for that nature to change, and allow you to be in fellowship with God, it had to become a sinless nature. Jesus, miraculously by the work of the cross, caused the opportunity for your nature to be just like His, if you believe in Him as Christ, Messiah, Savior, God’s Son. Believing in Jesus caused this death to the old nature, and supernaturally made your spirit, just as if you never sinned! The fancy word for this is justification. By Jesus action, His finished work of the cross, and your belief in His finished work, your spirit has been made holy by His power. Additionally, your spirit was sealed, just like you would vacuum pack something so nothing could contaminate it. Sounds great, but what impact does this have upon you, your life, your thinking, your actions etc., because you still sin, you mess up, you are far from perfect? (John 3:3,6; Romans 5:12; Romans 5:17-19; Romans 6:2-11; 2 Corinthians 5:17; Romans 8:9,10; Romans 8:29,30; Hebrews 10:14; Hebrews 9:24-26; Romans 8:1-4; Ephesians 1:13; 1 John 4:17; 2 Peter 1:4; Galatians 4:6)

Accepting this truth by faith, that you have a new nature, the nature of Jesus Christ, establishes a foundational truth about what it means to be a child of God, and the potential that you have within you. Immediately, you may think that it allows you to get into heaven. That is absolutely correct, but WOW, there is so much more! Understanding ‘the more’ helps you to live the amazing life that you were destined to live. Here is some truth from the Word of God about ‘the more’.

You no longer have a spirit that is from this world, that was your sinful nature. You have a new spirit (2 Corinthians 5:17). That new spirit is the Spirit who is from God (1 Corinthians 2:12). The Father gave you the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Galatians 4:6). Because of this, you may know the things that have been freely given to you by God (1 Corinthians 2:12). One of the things freely given to you is His divine nature; all the qualities of God Himself lives in your spirit, because it is His Spirit (2 Peter 1:4). God explains that you have His qualities living in you, and that they increasingly abound in you (2 Peter 1:8). These qualities of His that live in you include: faith, excellence, knowledge, self-control, patience/steadfastness/endurance, godliness, brotherly affection and Christ-like love. You possess resurrection power; power that is immeasurable and unlimited (Ephesians1:19). This power makes you an overcomer, more than conqueror (1 John 5:4,5; Romans 8:37). Your spirit is now one with the Spirit of the Father and Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:5,6; Colossians 2:9,10), who are the treasury of all wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3). So, if you are so complete and powerful in your spirit, why do you seem so ordinary in this world?

The Bible gives instruction about what you must do, in order to live in the fullness of what is in your spirit; be transformed by the renewal of your mind, to the newness of who you are and what you have according to the Word of God (Romans 12:2). By this process of renewal, you will be able to understand, to prove God’s will for you; to know His intention about who He created you to be in order to live from your new holy nature, perfectly equipped (Romans 12:2). This is actually what Paul was praying for the Ephesians in the first chapter: “…may the Lord grant you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, by having your understanding enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints…” (Ephesians 1:17,18). This is all about you! May you understand your newly created spirit that is one with His Spirit; may you understand your inheritance because of this change; may you understand the riches of His glory for you as His child! Your hope is the magnificent potential that is available to you because you are a new creation in Him because of Jesus! This change has already occurred in your spirit. Now, your mind, which is part of your soul, needs to be renewed to all of His benefits for you. As your mind is renewed, you are able to live out of the marvelous gift of His grace, which is the transformation of your spirit, now filled with all that He is.

This is why God is able to say to you, you lay hands on the sick and they will get well. You cast out demons. You speak to the mountain (circumstances, problems, symptoms) and you move it! In Jesus’ name you do these things. You preach the Gospel. You have the backing of the Holy Spirit, the complete resurrection power of God Almighty, fully intact within your spirit to be mighty. This is why you are an overcomer and more than a conqueror! This is why you can do all things because you possess the strength of Jesus to do them. This is why you have the mind of Christ, and you know the things of God. This is all the potential that is within you now, so that you might live from this place, a place of perfect unity with God Almighty!

So, don’t resurrect what is dead, what was crucified with Christ, the part of you that died. Don’t evaluate who you are by natural circumstances, your action or your thinking. Instead, mine the treasures of the Word of God in order to discover the fullness of the divine that lives in you as a born-again child of God. Galatians 2:20 states that “you no longer live, but it is Christ in you”. Now that you died with Christ, “your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3).