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 death, burial, and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ are the critical elements of salvation. The key truths of the gospel are believing that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. Jesus was born into the race that He, Himself, created, in order to pay the price for our sin…a price we could never pay. Our deaths in Christ means that the old us, our old selves, died at Calvary when Jesus died on the Cross. By faith, we are part of a new creation in Christ which means that death no longer has power over us…and neither does sin, nor Satan. While we live in these fallen bodies, our sinful nature fights against our new lives in Christ. However we are no longer slaves to sin. This is the biggest mystery revealed to believers. The moment we trust in the Son of God as our Savior, our new lives in Christ are born and the old sinful nature are nailed to the Cross. However, the nature of that old, fleshly, self-life, will remain throughout our entire lives. The root of the old sin nature sucks its strength from worldly desires and fleshly ego. Oh how dearly do our new lives need to grow in grace. But, how impossible in our own strength is it to combat the pride of life. The more we die to self, the more we live for Him, until we will be able to say, “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.”
Spiritual Steve 