WE come to our Part 2 reading of Chapter 49– Reckoning in Galatians 2:20.
THE writer of Hebrews says in 6:1, Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection [maturity], not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God… . Prior to this “Therefore” statement he writes:
For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Heb. 5:12-14
READ and consider those words carefully. The study of Hebrews presents a pastoral letter that is prodding the recipients forward beyond the elementary principles of Christ in their mature Realization of Spiritual Growth and Christian walk. Paul wrote elsewhere, As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. (Col. 2:6) Note the key phrase, rooted – built up in Him – established in the faith. All this is to say, established in a healthy, vibrant, mature and blessed Christian life that does not just happen. For the “Therefore” of Heb. 6:1 to become a reality, one must Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker [a craftsman] who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing [understanding and applying] the word of truth (2Tim 2:15).
WITH that introductory thought, let us continue our reading were it left off.
In the inexorable riches of Christ,
Joe
Neh. 8:10, Isa 30:15, Jas 1:2; Prov. 21:30
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Chapter 49—Reckoning in Galatians 2:20 – Part 2
“I have been crucified with Christ.” The identity of this “I” is clearly disclosed in Romans 6:6: “Our old man was crucified with him.” Our sinful, Adamic source of life was crucified in Christ on Calvary. In our daily walk this self-life is not slain, but crucified—held in the place of death, rendered inoperative by the work of the cross.
“And it is no longer I that live.” “I” as the old creation, my history in Adam, ended at the cross. For me as a new creation in Christ, the death of the cross constitutes full separation from the reign of the old life.
“But Christ liveth in me.” This refers to “me” as newly created in the risen Lord. “I am the Vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and I in him …” (John 15:5). When our Father identified each of us with the Lord Jesus on the cross, all the life that came from the fallen Adam source was crucified; we, as individuals, were taken down into His death and raised as new creations in Christ. “For if we have become united with him in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection” (Rom. 6:5, ASV).
Think for a moment of 2 Corinthians 5:17: “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature [creation]: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” This speaks of our position, not our condition. Our condition will develop from this completed position by means of our reckoning faith. When we arose from the dead in Christ, we were created anew, cut off from the old source of life by the cross and joined to the new Source in the “power of an endless life.” “Old things are passed away”: the old man is passed away, as far as the new life is concerned—separated by the death of Calvary. “All things are become new”: everything is new in Christ, for we are a completely new creation. It is not that the old life is changed, but crucified, and exchanged for the new life.
“And that life which I now live in the flesh [body] I live in faith.” This is the newly created “I” as a born-again believer in Christ risen; and I now live by faith. “The faith which is in the Son of God.” I count upon Him, not upon self. “Who loved me and gave himself up for me.” The Lord Jesus did not love the old man; He took him to the cross! I am also to hate my (old) life, and count it a crucified thing held in the place of death by the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus loves the new “me,” the branch in the True Vine.
The subject of our reckoning may be further clarified by separating the three parts of the one heart-attitude: …. To be continued
