1195. The Place of the Cross in Paul's Experience

The Place of the Cross in Paul's Experience

"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me: and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself up for me" (Gal_2:20, A. S. V.).

The Apostle Paul practiced what he preached. He preached the Cross and he stepped outside the camp with Christ and suffered with Him in His reproach.

There are four things which Paul said that are well worthy of notice.

1. "God forbid that I should glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Gal_6:14).

Paul realized that it was the world which crucified the Lord Jesus Christ, and he knew moreover that the Lord Jesus Christ died to the world. Thus, he put himself on the Cross with Christ. He was nailed there by the world, and the world was nailed there by him.

This is the only passage in Scripture where there is a double crucifixion.

It is only as we crucify the world that we are crucified by the world. It is only as we take a stand with Christ that we are put outside the camp with Him. The world would not have our Lord, and the world will not have us if we follow our Lord fully.

The little cross that dangles on the chain tied around one's neck may be a matter of human pride, but when we, in shame, are nailed to the Cross, it is a matter of Divine glory.

When Jesus Christ was approaching His Cross, He told the disciples, "The Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners." He told them how He must go into Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed. Peter took Him and began to rebuke Him, saying, "Be it far from Thee, Lord; this shall not be unto Thee." Christ said unto Peter, "Get behind Me, satan, thou art an offence unto Me." Then Jesus said unto the disciples, "If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me."

If we do not bear the offense of the Cross, we will become an offense unto Him Who died upon the Cross. We have often thought of Simon of Cyrene bearing the Cross behind the Lord, as He trod the weary way to Calvary. This is a picture of every true disciple. We too should take up the cross and follow our Lord.

2. "I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me" (Gal_2:20, A. S. V.). The Apostle Paul not only saw himself crucified with Christ, but he saw a new life begotten in Christ Jesus.

Christ had said, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth fruit."

Paul emphasized the same truth; "I have been crucified * * I live."

3. "I die daily" (1Co_15:30). The Apostle Paul not only saw that he should die with Christ, but saw that his death should be a daily matter. Some of us may desire to come down from our cross before the sun has set, but to do this is to lose our crown. There is just one attitude that the believer can afford to take toward everything that partakes of the world, the flesh, or the devil, that attitude is, "I die daily."

If we live to the things of the flesh, we shall indeed die; of we die to the things of the flesh we shall live. This is clearly taught in Romans 8. "Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh; for if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live."

4. "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake * *. So then death worketh in us, but life in you" (2Co_4:10-12).

In this fourth passage Paul does not speak so much of his personal attitude of "dying," as of the fact that he is "delivered unto death." Here we see rough hands laying hold upon him, and putting him where they put his Lord–upon the Cross of Calvary.

We need not marvel at this. "If they called the master of the house 'Beelzebub,' how much more they called them of his own household. If they hated Christ they will certainly hate Christians.

But the world gains nothing by its delivering the believer unto death, because as the believer dies the life also of Jesus is made manifest in him. Christ shines forth within us, only as we are dead to the world. Our life becomes a potent factor in working life in others, when death works in us.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR