I've Been Crucified with Christ – Paul, the Apostle

A dispute was threatening the foundation of the newborn church, and he was committed to reversing this. He was Paul, the once-accuser, now-fervent believer, who wrote the words of a letter to a group of straying Christians to express dismay and denunciation, and to underscore his allegiance to the One he defended by saying “I’ve Been Crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20). Though he was probably elsewhere, the Apostle who wrote no less than 13 messages contained in 21^st Century bibles was thinking of a place called Galatia (see the map) in a time when the 1^st Century was around 50 years old. Today, we would say it was in central Turkey (in Paul’s time, known as the Roman province of Asia Minor), where Paul had visited and first converted some to unadulterated faith. He was saying, for effect, ‘how dare you!’

This apostle usually didn’t hold back his thoughts, did he? As a persecutor, he was rabid in his methods to chase, capture, and condemn to death many Christians. And then, he had his own fanaticism stood on its head while on a road to Damascus, causing him to sacrifice a very promising Jewish status, perhaps even leadership of people. But, he gave it all up, putting himself in harm’s way multiple times, and walking a path that would eventually get himself killed. So, undoubtedly Paul was sincere in the purest sense as he stressed to these people in Asia Minor how much he believed – he knew his faith was a dangerous one, that he was ‘crucified with Christ’, in effect. If he put himself out on this spiritual limb, he wasn’t about to be dismissive of what he saw as gross error in their morphed beliefs. They were still pinning down people with outmoded Jewish practices – circumcision, chief among them. Particularly galling for Paul were the hypocritical actions of a brother – Peter. Paul’s words are vivid straight out of the box as the letter begins…’astonished’ (Gal. 1:6), ‘…pervert’ (1:7), ‘…eternally condemned’ (1:8). It’s therefore not likely a mis-print when he addresses with an exclamation mark this group as ‘You foolish Galatians!’ (3:1) Christ is supreme, and loyalty to Him requires nothing else to save the believer, period. Toss the old law aside, Paul emphasized, and focus on Christ’s gracious sacrifice. Paul’s own life was subsumed in the Divine One, according to the words of this one-verse song. Paul lived, even if crucified; he was still fleshly, but with a consecration to the spiritual One who had sacrificed for him, the still-fleshly.

So, stop counting on one’s own effort, because it will never get you within eyeshot of the Holy One. Only His own sacrifice has meaning in God’s throne room. Twenty centuries after Paul’s original words, an anonymous music-writer fused the notes with the words that he read in the King James Version of the bible, creating a memory tonic for Paul’s meaningful words first penned for a people committing grievous error. What does one do to underscore a commitment to another? Paul knew what to do. He lived it, and died for it. He crucified his old life for it.        

The only resource used for the above story is the KJV version of the bible for the original words used in the song verbatim; and the New International Version of the bible for background information on the letter to the Galatians.