“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. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (Galatians 2:20-21)

It was the one command God gave to Adam. If he failed to follow the command, the result would be catastrophic. “And the LORD God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.’” We know this command was broken because death will come to all of us. This is why we will struggle with sin. The reason Jesus Christ came to earth is to take our death and provide a way to life, life that will never end.

When we come to faith in Jesus Christ, we have joined Him in death, which He died because of our sin. This is Paul’s point when he writes, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live.” (Galatians 2:20a) My sin-filled self has died with Christ. Paul would add, “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us.” (2 Corinthians 5:21a) Our sin was with Him when He died.

Since we died with Christ, we were also united with Him in His resurrection. He gives us life which comes to us by way of God’s grace and received by our faith in what God has done. There is absolutely no way that we could earn our salvation. If we could then the cross of Christ is useless. Paul states, “if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” (Galatians 2:21b) Salvation and new life comes to us by grace. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)

The only way we receive this grace and join with Jesus on the cross and rise with Him from the tomb is by faith. This is the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ. “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” (Romans 1:16-17) We now have a right standing before God and we are to live each day in God’s righteousness. As we live in righteousness we are also to seek after God and His righteousness. “I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” (Philippians 3:9-12)

Seeking God and His righteousness today is with a look forward when we will be in His presence, completely remade and have become like Christ. “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:2) This will come because we are united with Christ through His grace which we have received by faith.

In the Love of Jesus,

Michael Block