Gal 2:20 - I am crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
For a long time as a youngster this verse seemed to me to be a "mindset to put on". It was only as I came into reformed understanding of the Scriptures that I began to see it a bit differently, especially in light of Particular Atonement and Paul's copious use of the term "in Christ".
This is a fairly concise outline of where my views fit right now.
1. The elect were placed in Christ before the world began.
2.The elect fell in Adam, and sin reigned in them historically in their own lives for a time.
3. Sin can only end in death
4. Christ carried the elect, and the reign of sin in their life, to death in his person.
5. Therefore, the reign of sin must necessarily end for all those who died in Christ, and at God's appointed time, they will pass from death to life.
Now today I was considering Romans 6 and the need to be BAPTIZED INTO the death of Christ, and it brings up some questions for me.
Is that referring to the Holy Spirit's work on the elect person described by point 5?
Were the elect in Christ at the time of his crucifixion, so they were all crucified in him in a more literal sense?
When he talks about "we who died to sin" in 6:2, is he referring to the actual death of Christ, through which the reign of sin was ended in the life of the believer; or is he talking about an act of faith by the believer (wrought by God of course)?
Gal 2:20 implies a union with Christ and his crucifixion, and I guess I am wondering if that is referring to being in Christ at the time of his crucifixion (Christ carried all those who would be in him to the death that sin demanded of them, in his person) or being baptized into the work of his crucifixion. (The death of Christ is applied to the elect after the fact, which effectually brings and end to sin.) or perhaps in some other sense (crucified with Christ in the eternal scheme of things??)
Apologies if these questions seem a bit convoluted; I hope that you are able to decipher what is going on in my head here. Correct me wherever I seem off.
For a long time as a youngster this verse seemed to me to be a "mindset to put on". It was only as I came into reformed understanding of the Scriptures that I began to see it a bit differently, especially in light of Particular Atonement and Paul's copious use of the term "in Christ".
This is a fairly concise outline of where my views fit right now.
1. The elect were placed in Christ before the world began.
2.The elect fell in Adam, and sin reigned in them historically in their own lives for a time.
3. Sin can only end in death
4. Christ carried the elect, and the reign of sin in their life, to death in his person.
5. Therefore, the reign of sin must necessarily end for all those who died in Christ, and at God's appointed time, they will pass from death to life.
Now today I was considering Romans 6 and the need to be BAPTIZED INTO the death of Christ, and it brings up some questions for me.
Is that referring to the Holy Spirit's work on the elect person described by point 5?
Were the elect in Christ at the time of his crucifixion, so they were all crucified in him in a more literal sense?
When he talks about "we who died to sin" in 6:2, is he referring to the actual death of Christ, through which the reign of sin was ended in the life of the believer; or is he talking about an act of faith by the believer (wrought by God of course)?
Gal 2:20 implies a union with Christ and his crucifixion, and I guess I am wondering if that is referring to being in Christ at the time of his crucifixion (Christ carried all those who would be in him to the death that sin demanded of them, in his person) or being baptized into the work of his crucifixion. (The death of Christ is applied to the elect after the fact, which effectually brings and end to sin.) or perhaps in some other sense (crucified with Christ in the eternal scheme of things??)
Apologies if these questions seem a bit convoluted; I hope that you are able to decipher what is going on in my head here. Correct me wherever I seem off.