Galatians 2:17-20 :

But if, while we sought to be justified in Christ, we ourselves also were found sinners, is Christ a servant of sin? Certainly not! For if I build up again those things which I destroyed, I prove myself a law-breaker. For I, through the law, died to the law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.

I believe that what we read here today is the key to Christian living. If you are struggling with sin, please pay close attention to these words of scripture for they are what help me even now.

Christians recognize and accept that Jesus died in their place for their sins. This is very true, but this verse tells us something even more and it is extremely important for us to not miss it. Not only did Jesus die that day, but I did too. If you are a believer, then you also died. In fact, you were crucified.

I have found it crucial in my Christian walk to recognize this fact! I died.

This is important for more reasons than I probably understand right now but I want to mention two. First, it explains why the law is dead and powerless to us. If you read the law, you will see that it is only good for those who are living because the ultimate punishment for failure is to die. If we have already died, then the law has lost its power over us. Attempting to re-cover the law also results in bringing up our corpses and walking around in them in order to, somehow, start being good in them. We would essentially be building up what we destroyed and in doing so, immediately start law breaking.

When I say that the law is dead to us, I don’t mean to say that it doesn’t express and define what righteousness is, I just mean that it doesn’t apply to us now, because, we died. This also explains why we eat pork don’t keep the Sabbaths and feasts, and especially why we don’t offer sacrifices. The law still stands against anyone who dares to live within its reach. If you are not a Christian, and don’t think you are that bad, you obviously haven’t read the law and definitely haven’t understood it’s interpretation given by the Messiah when He talked to the Jews here on earth.

Second, the fact that we died means that we are living in a different way now. We were raised in Christ and now He is living His life in us. We need to maintain this recognition in order to understand the issues that are really going on inside of us as Christians. We still have this body, but when we recognize it to be dead and that we are only alive by Christ, we start to live differently by this faith. It is actually Jesus who lives in us because of our faith in Him.

When you become a Christian, it is by faith. When you live as a Christian it is also by faith in the life of Jesus. Jesus is alive and active in you right now! That is the blessing of being a Christian. That is what will cause us to overcome evil. This is what will make life worth living. This is what you already have if you accept it by faith.