Category Archives: Theology

July 8, 2012 · 22:04

Crucified With Christ

Two malefactors were crucified along with Christ, but only one went on to live with Him.

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

(Galatians 2:20)

The danger in being saved “by grace … through faith” as a “gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8) is that it can easily become “cheap grace.”  It is true that salvation is “Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Ephesians 2:9).  It is also true “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved” (Romans 10:9).  Salvation is all the work of God and none of our own doing.  Far too often this is mistaken to mean that we are absolved of any responsibility.  “What shall we say then?  Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?  God forbid” (Romans 6:1-2).

So there is now this tension between the grace-gift of salvation and the Christian’s responsibility to “continue in the faith grounded and settled, and [to] be not moved away from the hope of the gospel” (Colossians 1:23).  Paul says, “I am crucified with Christ.”  The Greek verb, sunestauroomai, is a perfect, passive, indicative verb indicating that this action, which was done to Paul, occurred in the past with continuing effects into the present, and the action was certain – a fact.  Paul was not literally crucified along with Christ, but by the fact he has placed his faith in the resurrected Christ, he considers himself dead, having taken upon himself the crucifixion of Christ.  He is now not only “dead to the law” (v. 19), but he is also dead to himself.

Dying to oneself is not easy.  “For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I” (Romans 7:15).  Even though he considers himself “crucified with Christ” Paul says, “nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.”  Just as salvation is solely the work of God, so the Christian life is solely the work of Christ.  The Christian life is impossible to live in one’s own strength.  The Christian’s responsibility then is to “live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” – crucified with Christ, dead to self, but alive through the power of Christ within us.

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June 24, 2012 · 17:58

Known of God

Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee … (Jeremiah 1:5)

O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. (Psalm 139:1)

Psalm 139 is a beautiful theological treatise on the attributes of God.  The first six verses expressing His omniscience begin with an emphatic declaration: “thou hast searched me, and known me” (v. 1).  This truth statement emphasizes the intimacy with which God is acquainted with us, even in the minutest details of our being.  The same intimacy applies to our every act, our “downsitting” and our “uprising” (v. 2), and furthermore, He knows the motives behind our actions before the thought even crosses our mind: “thou understandeth my thought afar off” (v. 2) “and art acquainted with all my ways” (v. 3).  Not only is God aware of our present, but He is equally knowledgeable of our past and of our future: “Thou hast beset me behind and before and laid thine hand upon me” (v. 5).

God is ever present with us. “Whither shall I go from thy spirit or wither shall I flee from thy presence?” (v. 7).  There is nowhere we can go to escape God’s presence – nowhere in the vastness of heaven (space) nor in the abode of the dead (Sheol) (v. 8).  There is no darkness deep enough to hide us from His presence (v. 11-12).

God’s omnipotence, His unlimited power, is demonstrated in His creation, especially in the creation of the human body.  “I am fearfully [awesomely] and wonderfully [lit. uniquely] made” (v. 14).  The human body is composed of over 30 trillion (30,000,000,000,000) cells, each of which is a marvel of design and complexity.  What is more amazing is the fact that evolutionists examine a single human cell and attribute it to time and chance.  It is no wonder that God’s Word proclaims: “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (Psalm 14:1).

These days the word “awesome” is used to describe anything from a really juicy hamburger to a thrilling ride on the Texas Giant rollercoaster.  What a sorry devaluation of the word!  “Awesome” can truly only be said of God.  If we would but take the time to wonder at the awesomeness of God, surely we would not have the words that God gave to David in this Psalm.  Surely, we would be left speechless – without words.  Surely, the revelation should move us from the realization that we are intimately known to the desire to be better known and to be re-formed more into His image. Surely, we should fall on our faces before Him and plead, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (vv. 23-24).  What else would there be for us to do!

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