Article

 Samuel Ferrell - August, 2025

Crucifixion is a harsh and bloody word that has been solely attributed to the death of Jesus Christ. Nobody enjoys thinking about the full context of the crucifixion, but the suffering that is involved in crucifixion can often cloud the meaning of some of the Scriptures we read where grace and mercy through faith is the subject in view.

The cruelty of Christ's punishment was ludicrous, but it was necessary to satisfy the wrath of God. It was the only acceptable form of punishment for the Father to atone for the sins of believers. Judgement was the payment for our sins, so why is it that Paul seems to be so wrapped up in us being “crucified” with Christ? This is a concept he lays out in several letters, but he does so more specifically in Galatians 2:20. 

Just as a quick note before we go there: not only does our view of the cruelty of the cross sometimes cloud the context of the passage, but our understanding of dying to the self — us decreasing so He can increase — sometimes clouds the understanding of being “crucified” with Christ. 

Sanctification and holiness are certainly in view, but in what way are they expressed in this passage?

For the sake of context, let's start at verse 15 and continue through the end of chapter 2:

Galatians 2:15-21 ESV — We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we too were found to be sinners, is Christ then a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I rebuild what I tore down, I prove myself to be a transgressor. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

Paul starts and ends this passage with faith and righteousness, which is why I think it’s also necessary to point out one of the most important doctrines of salvation: Justification by Faith.

Romans 1:17 KJV — For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

Romans 4:1-3 ESV - What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness."

Romans 5:1-2 ESV - Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

There is no single action, work, system, or ideology a person can cling to in order to be justified, except to be justified by faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God, and we cannot please God in the flesh, so it is the work and gift of God and Jesus our Lord, who is the author and finisher of our faith!

You can’t add anything to faith to make it more pleasing to God: it stands alone. Justification by faith alone is the way in which a person receives the spiritual blessings of union with Christ.

Now that’s a new term: union. Well, union in what? His blessings? His sufferings? His righteousness? His holiness? In what way are we united to Christ? Here is what I think Paul is intending show us here in saying He is crucified with Christ:

Union with Christ, by faith, is laying hold of Christ’s record of perfect righteousness and applying it to our lives as the means to achieving peace with God and access into His grace.

Dead in Christ, yet Alive in Christ as well: all by Faith.

Galatians 2:20 ESV — I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 

You can easily see the conflict of reality in Paul’s statement here: he’s dead, then alive, then dead, then alive! It’s like he can’t make a decision about who he is anymore. So it should be the same with us, right? Our lives are so related to Christ: His death and resurrection. We are still ourselves, but He clothes us and lives within us. Uniquely, we are mortal yet immortal in Christ.

Paul is belaboring the point of faith and justification.

I am dead to the law, and I am alive to God: I am Justified. Yet, the reason for this is not what I have done, but what Christ has done for me. I have faith in what he does for me, and that’s the only thing I can live by. None of the works of the law can justify me. In fact, righteousness from the law cannot be attained by dead men. Dead, fleshly men cannot please God, and only faith can please God (Rom. 8:8, Heb. 11:6). We base our whole eternity upon a gift from God. That's called living by faith.

Horatius Bonar said it like this:

Upon a life I did not live,

Upon a death I did not die;

Another's life, another's death,

I stake my whole eternity.

Christ’s righteousness and holiness becoming our record through faith includes his perfect life, his blessings, his sufferings, his death, and his resurrection. His righteous life is credited to us. That is our record, yet it isn’t, yet it truly is: this is by faith. This is how God sees you now. Faith creates this mystical union that applies Christ’s account to our account.

Colossians 2:11-14 ESV - In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

You can see how being “in him” makes you “with him” on the cross, yet you weren’t there: He did it for you.

2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV - For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

He received the record of our sin, and we received the record of his righteousness. This is unheard of. Who would do such a thing, except the one who loves us so deeply?

Now let me ask you: does this application of Christ’s record onto our lives leave us changeless? Do these Scriptures imply that Christ’s righteousness on our account means we do not show any change? No, that’s not what’s being said at all. In fact, union with Christ’s righteousness is also a promise to be a holy and separate people.

Ephesians 1:3-6 ESV - Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

Being chosen in Christ is a promise in itself that we will be holy and blameless, yet it is all rooted in the fact that we are the children of God. Justification necessitates Sanctification. You cannot have a Christian without change, but you cannot have change unless a person is first justified. 

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said it best: “Holiness is not something we are called upon to do in order that we may become something; it is something we are to do because of what we already are.”

Your justification is the basis of your sanctification, not the other way around. Who you are is what determines what you do. Because you are justified, sanctification is inevitable. Knowing Christ becomes your heart’s desire, but it comes at a cost:

Philippians 3:8-11 ESV - Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith-- that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Would this sound desirable to anyone except a justified person? Paul laid out the groundwork for why he wants to know Christ and the power of His resurrection. It was his Justification by Faith — the righteousness which comes by faith. Don’t ignore it! Don’t miss it!

Do you really want to know Christ? How much? The deeper the knowledge, the deeper the suffering. There’s a cost to knowing Him fully for who He is, and Paul never failed to testify of His thorns and weaknesses that came with knowing Christ fully. Knowing God hurts your flesh. That’s the point.

There is change within the Christian life that knows Christ, but there is an abundance of comfort to weary pilgrims. Listen closely:

Philippians 1:6-7 ESV - And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel.

Faith makes you a partaker. In fact, it places the record of his sinless life on your account and makes you a child of God. Christ in me and Christ in you is not merely a statement of indwelling, but a statement of His perfect life recorded on our account. 

It is our hope:

Colossians 1:27 ESV - To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Christ’s perfect record rests on us. That’s the only hope we have: that He loved us and gave Himself for us.

Paul’s own record would have warranted Him nothing, but Christ’s record granted Him entrance into an everlasting Kingdom, being greeted by the very ones he persecuted and killed. Yet not Him, but Christ. Isn’t that a thought?

That’s the Gospel. He took our sins, and we received His righteousness. The Law can’t do that:

Galatians 2:21 NLT - I do not treat the grace of God as meaningless. For if keeping the law could make us right with God, then there was no need for Christ to die.

Paul's Gospel:

I’ve been a sinner, yet not I, but Christ.

I killed a man, yet not I, but Christ.

I deserve judgement, yet not I, but Christ.

Christ suffered my judgement, so I enjoy His blessings.

That’s forgiveness. That’s the substitutionary atonement.

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

The Just shall live by Faith.

Do you need forgiveness?

Where is your faith today

You can trust in the righteousness of Christ.