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Peter and rebuked him for not walking in line with the gospel, he crowned his argument
against the flesh and its works by his own personal testimony:--
"I have been crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in
me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God. Who loved
me and gave Himself for me" (Gal. 2: 20).
If verse 19 be noted, the following will become apparent:--
(a) To the law Paul had died, that he might live unto God.
(b) With Christ He had been crucified, that the life he lived in the flesh,
Christ living in him, was lived by the faith of the Son of God.
The crucifixion bears particularly upon the "life in the flesh", the death to the law
bears more particularly upon the question of justification. Paul could not have more
completely repudiated the flesh, and have set forth his utter dependence on the risen
Christ, than he did when he said, "I have been crucified with Christ".
In Rom. 6: 6 we meet the expression again. Note particularly that it is not met with
in Rom. 1: - 5: There, where the question of justification by faith is the great theme, the
death of Christ, faith in His blood and faith in Him Who raised Him from the dead, are
prominent. Rom. 6: turns, however, to the question of "continuing in sin". The apostle
meets the insinuation by using such strong terms as, "we that are dead to sin"; "baptized
into His death"; "buried with Him"; "knowing that our old man is crucified with Him,
that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin". In
Col. 2: 11 we have already noted, "the putting off of the body of flesh", and now in
Col. 3: 9 we may read, "that ye have put off the old man with his deeds". There is a
marked consistency of teaching here. The old man crucified, the body of sin destroyed,
the body of the flesh put off, the old man with his deeds put off, speak of a power, a
nature that would dominate us if it could, that would attempt to compel us to "serve sin".
In this sphere of truth there is such a thing as "yielding your members servants to
righteousness unto holiness", which the apostle amplifies in Rom. 12: 1, 2, and declares
to be our "reasonable service". The book of the Revelation makes one reference to the
crucifixion (Rev. 11: 8):--
"And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called
Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified".
It is a case of witness against the world, the flesh, and the devil. For their witness'
sake these two were eventually killed. The city wherein this shall take place is not only
named Sodom and Egypt (fit symbols of the flesh and the world), but is stated to be
where also our Lord was crucified. It was the flesh, as represented by the religious
leaders of Israel, and the world, as represented by the religious leaders of Israel, and the
world, as represented by the policy of Pilate, that took up and obeyed the cry, "Away
with Him, crucify Him". That cry was the verdict of the flesh and the world upon the
Faithful Witness, the Son of God. Rev. 11: 8 links the suffering of the two witnesses
with the crucifixion of Christ, thereby showing us the meaning that is attached to
crucifixion in the Word.