Are You Crucified With Christ? Galatians 2:20

Galatians, New Testament, Sermons

* Memorize 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.”

The cross of Christ is the most revolutionary thing ever to appear among men. The cross of old Roman times knew no compromise; it never made concessions. It won all its arguments by killing its opponent and silencing him for good. It spared not Christ, but slew Him the same as the rest. He was alive when they hung Him on that cross and completely dead when they took Him down 6 hours later.

The radical message of the cross transformed Saul of Tarsus and changed him from a violent persecutor of Christians to a tender believer. Its power changed bad men into good ones.
All this it did and continued to do as long as it was permitted to remain what it had been originally–a cross. Its power departed when it was changed from a thing of death to a thing of beauty. When men made of it a symbol, or hung it around their necks as an ornament, then it became at best a weak emblem. As such it is revered today by millions who know absolutely nothing about its power.
A. W. Tozer. The Radical Cross.
  1. What is it to be “crucified with Christ” (Rom 6:6; Col 3:3)? Does this change your identity? Change your view of sin (Rom 6:2, 10-13)? What else may need to be crucified (1 Cor 6:12; 10:23)?
  2. How does “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” affect you daily (2 Cor 5:17; Col 3:8-10; Jn 15:4-5)?
  3. How do you live “by faith in the Son of God” (Prov 3:5-6; Rom 1:17; Jn 14:1; 2 Cor 4:18; 5:7)?
  4. How does Jesus “who loved [you] and gave himself for [you]” change how you live (Mt 6:33; Gal 5:6; 2 Cor 5:15)?
  • How is this a summary of the gospel and of Christianity (Jn 3:16; Jer 31:3; Ps 136:1-26–all 26 verses!)?
* Memorize Galatians 6:14: “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. 15 Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation.”
  1. Why should Christians not boast in anything but the cross of Christ (2 Cor 5:21; Gal 3:13; 1 Cor 15:3; 1:30-31; Jer 9:23–24)? How do you do this in life, friendships, and ministry?
    • Do we like to boast about our achievements, good works, and personal accomplishments?
  2. Why do the false teachers in Galatia boast in outward signs like circumcision (Gal 6:12–13)? Are they virtue signaling? Do we?
  3. What does it mean that “the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Phil 3:7-8; 1 Jn 2:15-17)? How will this affect your desire for:
    1. comfort,
    2. convenience,
    3. control,
    4. conformity to culture,
    5. security,
    6. worldly pleasures, and
    7. hardships, trials, tribulations?
    8. How does this challenge your view of success, security, and purpose (1 Cor 1:18)?
  • What does it mean personally to be both “crucified with Christ” (Gal 2:20) and “crucified to the world” (Gal 6:14)?
  • How does this stress the centrality of the cross in a Christian’s identity and life (Phil 1:21; Ac 20:24)?

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