I Am Crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20)
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Galatians 2:20 (NIV)
What It Means to Be Crucified with Christ
Galatians 2:20 is one of the most theologically dense and personally transformative verses in all of Paul’s writing. He declares that his old self has been co-crucified with Christ. The person who lived for self, who was enslaved to sin, who was governed by the flesh, that person died with Jesus on the cross. What lives now is not an improved version of the old Paul. It is Christ Himself, living through Paul by faith.
This is not poetic language. It is a statement of spiritual reality with enormous practical implications. The old self that was defined by its past, its failures, its patterns, and its independence from God no longer has the last word. You are not trying to manage and improve a broken old nature. You are living from an entirely new one, animated by the life of Christ Himself. A person who understands they have been crucified with Christ stops feeding what is dead and starts living from what is alive in them.
Hebrew Meaning
karath (כָּרַת): to cut off, to cut down, to make a covenant; used throughout the Old Testament for both the cutting off of something that must be removed and the cutting of covenant agreements. The crucifixion concept in the New Testament carries this Hebrew depth: what was cut off in Christ was not just a behavior pattern but the old covenant relationship with sin and death. The believer’s co-crucifixion with Christ is the most decisive cutting that could ever happen to a human life.
Greek Meaning
systauroō (συσταυρόω): to crucify together with, to be co-crucified; used in Galatians 2:20 and Romans 6:6, where Paul says the old self was crucified with Christ so that the body of sin might be rendered powerless. The prefix syn means together with, indicating that the believer’s crucifixion was not separate from Christ’s but simultaneous with it. What happened on the cross to Christ also happened, spiritually and completely, to everyone who is in Him.
Bible Verses on Being Crucified with Christ
Romans 6:6-7 (NIV): “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin, because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.”
Romans 6:11 (NIV): “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
Colossians 3:3 (NIV): “For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”
Philippians 3:10-11 (NIV): “I want to know Christ, yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.”
Romans 8:13 (NIV): “For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.”
Luke 9:23 (NIV): “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.”
How to Practice Being Crucified with Christ
Reckon Your Old Self as Dead. Romans 6:11 calls believers to count or reckon themselves dead to sin. This is not wishful thinking. It is a declaration of what is spiritually true. When old patterns or temptations arise, remind yourself: that person died. I live from something new.
Stop Feeding What Has Already Died. You cannot keep a dead thing alive unless you keep feeding it. Identify the habits, relationships, and inputs that are feeding your old nature and make deliberate decisions to starve them rather than sustain them.
Live by Faith, Not by Feelings. Paul says the life he now lives is lived by faith in the Son of God. On the days when you do not feel crucified with Christ, when the old nature feels very alive, choose to live from what you know rather than what you feel.
Take Up Your Cross Daily. Jesus calls His disciples to take up their cross daily. The crucified life is not a one-time event. It is a daily choice to die to self, to surrender control, comfort, and reputation, and to live for something greater.
Let Christ’s Life Show in Your Choices. If Christ lives in you, His character should increasingly shape your decisions. Ask in practical moments: what would love do here? What would patience look like? What would Christ living through me choose right now?
Declare It
My old self was crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in and through me.
Prayer
Lord, thank You for the reality of my co-crucifixion with Christ. Help me to live from it, not just believe it. Where the old self is trying to reassert itself, remind me that it has already died. Let Christ live so fully in me that what people encounter when they meet me is not just a better version of who I used to be but the life of Your Son made visible. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Reflection Question
What specific area of your life is the old self still most active in, and what would it look like to reckon it dead and live from the new life Christ has placed in you instead?
