Freedom

 September 10, 2021

When in Galatians 2:20 Paul said, “I am crucified with Christ,” he wasn’t (as I have believed for many years) speaking of his attitude towards his sins, but of how he viewed the good works upon which he had been depending for acceptance with God. He relates all the things he had been doing to prove his devotion, and says, “they were as rubbish” (Philippians 3:8). The original is much more earthy and expressive. The Cross of Christ was to him the ultimate proof that all his good works were worthless; after all, if God anything less than offering his only Son to die on a cross would suffice to reconcile us to him, he certainly would have chosen that route. 

What Paul is saying here in Galatians is that the best he could offer was insufficient; therefore, he laid all his good works behind him as surely as if he were burying a loved one. The Cross puts an end to any form of justifying ourselves except by grace through faith. It isn’t only my sins that need to be crucified; it’s my goodness, too. The Good News in all this is that it releases us from the endless cycle of guilt that goes with trying to measure up and continually failing to do so. 

It can be hard letting go of my self-image as a basically good, moral person—so hard that that old self has to be forcibly nailed to a cross. It can be excruciatingly painful; after all, most of us have spent a lifetime trying to make others approve of us. But laying that self-righteousness to rest in the grave of God’s judgment and grace is incredibly freeing, which was the whole point of Paul’s letter to the Galatians. As he said in 5:1, Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.”