What Does It Mean to be Crucified with Christ?

“We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin” Romans 6:6.

“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” 2 Corinthians 12: 9.

When we reckon ourselves crucified with Christ, having our hands and feet nailed to the cross like Jesus, we are rendering ourselves weak.

Death Is the Ultimate Weakness

To be dead is the ultimate weakness. To read these passages for context, click here and here.

We’re saying in effect because I’m dead and crucified with Christ, and my hands and feet are nailed to the cross, I’m helpless to sin. I can’t meet my own needs, or take care of myself. I give up my life.

We’re helpless, we’re weak, we’re dead.

And it’s when we have rendered ourselves weak by reckoning ourselves dead that Christ’s power is revealed in us.

When we reckon ourselves dead and crucified and powerless to meet our needs by sinning, Christ will then meet our needs by His power in us.

We Don’t Get Christ’s Power Until We’ve Given Up Our Own

But we don’t get the power of Christ until we give up own power. In other words, we don’t get it until we give up our lives and consider ourselves crucified with Christ.

Life is power. But we don’t get His life and power until we give up our own. When we become weak by reckoning ourselves dead and crucified with Christ, His power, which is His Spirit, comes to meet our needs. And give us back that life we’ve given up.

If we want to live powerful lives that reveal the presence of God, we must first give up our own power. And become weak and helpless. We do this by not trying to meet our own needs and take care of ourselves by sinning.

What Does It Mean to be Crucified with Christ? We Must Be Weak to Obtain Power

Power is perfected in weakness. Because of this, we must consider ourselves dead to sin and be crucified with Christ. That is, we must be weak in order to obtain the power of Christ.

We must die to trying to take care of ourselves and preserve our lives. We must consider ourselves helpless, weak, crucified in order to have Christ meet our needs and give us new life by His power.

To read another post related to What Does It Mean to be Crucified with Christ, see Saul and the Medium: When We Go Our Own Way.