Crucified With Christ

My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20

I love cross jewelry. I have a few necklaces with crosses. They are pretty and fancy and filled with precious metal and different gemstones. I wear them as a statement of my faith in the crucified and resurrected Jesus Christ Son of God. I’m serious about the symbolism of my cross jewelry. But none of them in any way resemble a true crucifixion.

I did some studying on Roman crucifixion. I will not share what I found out. It is ugly, demeaning, humiliating, gory, and the worst form of punishment the Romans of that day could think of. People didn’t talk about it. People absolutely didn’t wear it as a symbol. People avoided conversations about it. It was a visible torture for the community to see what may happen to them if they crossed the line of Roman law.

And yet the Apostle Paul, not so long after Jesus’ crucifixion, said that he proudly stood with Jesus and shared in His crucifixion. He said the hushed up word out loud. And those that heard knew what crucifixion looked like. They had some experience in the tyrannical Roman government and use of force to compel people to conform to their standard. And Paul just put it out there for all to hear.

It must have been a little shocking. Non-believers in Christ must have thought it was crazy. New believers must have known the stand they would have to take in aligning themselves with this crucified Christ.

And now all these years later that ugly picture of crucifixion has become to Christ followers all over the world, a beautiful thing. We spiritually crucify ourselves daily and trust in our Savior Jesus and live for Him. The cross has been transformed because of Christ into a lovely thing. We, as Christ followers today, take the same stand and align ourselves with the crucified Christ.

We proudly wear our crosses.

We proclaim,

“I am crucified with Christ.

I don’t live for myself anymore.

Christ lives in me.”