And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires – Gal.5:24
This verse reads combatively and dramatically – we are to crucify our corrupt and fallen flesh, which is tormented by ungodly desires. We see before us the brutal Roman soldiers putting completely helpless people to death using one of the most terrible methods. We are to deal with our passions and desires in the same way. Of course, this is complete nonsense, because not even the Lord Jesus Christ could crucify himself – let alone us. Such nonsensical translations of the Word of God result from ignorance of the most central mystery of Scripture, the mystery of Christ.
What did the apostle Paul really write and mean? First, he addresses a very specific group of "believers": those who belong to Christ Jesus (Gal. 5:24a). In Paul's terminology, this does not refer to believing, pious, religious "Christians," but to people whose life is Christ (Phil. 1:21). In order for Christ to become our life, we need several substantial experiences of faith: a genuine spiritual awakening; divine regeneration from water, Spirit (and blood) (John 3:3 ff.); the real experience of being crucified with the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 6:6), and finally the real experience of being raised with the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph. 2:6). All of this can be gleaned from the epistles of Paul and John, for example.
Those who belong to Christ Jesus, that is, who have become one flesh and bone with Him (Eph. 5:30 – Luther), no longer live for themselves or themselves (2 Cor. 5:15). He (i.e., the old man or the old self) has been crucified with Jesus, and therefore the Lord Jesus Christ (i.e., the new man) lives in him (Gal. 2:20). Such a person is a person in Christ – and not a "Christian," for this term has no divine reference (> brochure: The Difference Between a Christian and a Man in Christ pdf). Those who belong to Christ Jesus logically consists of Him. He is from God (1 John 4:4). Such a person is thus completely embedded in the life, nature, and work of Christ. The eternal God recognizes him as His child and as His son. He is in the same status and position as His Son Jesus Christ – equally holy, righteous, pure, and perfect.
When the Lord Jesus Christ was nailed to the wood (specifically: to the stake) and crucified, the eternal God placed us humans in Christ and thus in His work. From God's perspective, i.e., objectively speaking, every (old) human being was crucified with Him, every (old) human being died and was buried with Jesus, and in three days was raised with Him as a new human being. God identified us totally with His holy and righteous Son and placed us in the same position and all the rights of His Son. But let us remember both the Lord Jesus Christ and the person identified with Him were crucified with Him (passive). The Romans did it with the body of Christ, and the eternal God did it with us in and through His Son Jesus Christ. Our old self has been crucified with Him (Rom. 6:6) – it was and is therefore a passive act of God upon us. The Romans did it to Jesus Christ – the eternal God did and does it to us.
When an awakened person accepts the Lord Jesus Christ after recognizing Him and thus the gospel or the mystery of Christ, he is effectively placed in Christ through the workings of the Holy Spirit. He experiences the real crucifixion of his old self and thus, among other things, the effective disempowerment of sin with all its destructive passions and desires. If someone is truly in Christ, then the indwelling Christ keeps sin, the flesh, and all passions and desires in the state of his death. They are inactive. As long as the Lord Jesus Christ can live unhindered in such a person, He keeps sin, the flesh, etc., in death through His presence. Thus, Christ in us is not only the hope of glory (Col. 1:27), but also, for example, the basis of victory over sin. He is the "seed" (1 John 3:9) that prevents us from committing sin. He is the Spirit in us, and as long as we are and remain in Christ, we cannot possibly fulfill the desires of the flesh – because we walk in the Spirit (Gal. 5:16).
This brings us closer to the correct translation and meaning of our thematic verse in Galatians 5:24. None of us can crucify our flesh ourselves, defeat sin, keep the wrong members in check (Romans 6:3 ff.; Colossians 3:5 ff.), etc. But there is something we can do: to be and remain in Christ. That was the great commandment that the Lord Jesus Christ gave to His disciples: Abide in Me (John 15:4)! The Lord Jesus Christ took care of everything else through His work on the cross. The key words are knowledge, understanding, and faith. We must recognize the Lord Jesus Christ, that is, know what the Lord Jesus Christ has made us (1 Cor. 1:30) and what we are in Christ. For example, in Christ, our flesh, our passions, and our desires have been crucified with us. Whoever accepts the Lord Jesus Christ in faith also accepts in faith his crucified status. Faith proclaims I am in Christ since Calvary; my old self has been crucified with Jesus Christ since Calvary; my passions and desires, and thus my flesh, have been crucified with Jesus Christ and have died, been buried, and been put to death.
As people who truly belong to Jesus Christ, we do not crucify (or kill) our wrongful members, but rather, in childlike faith, we consider them to be crucified with Jesus Christ and thus done away with, disempowered, etc. Likewise, consider yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus (Rom. 6:11), Paul wrote to the Romans. A person in Christ knows that his passions and desires are crucified with Jesus Christ and thus done away with. He remains in faith in this position – in this triumphant position of victory that Jesus Christ has won for us (1 Cor. 15:57). We are in Christ, and He is in us. So, He keeps our passions and desires in the state of His death. This is the dying or killing of Jesus (2 Cor. 4:10-11).
So far, so good. But now comes everyday life. Neither our sin, nor our flesh, nor our passions and desires have been truly eradicated, i.e., they no longer exist. They remain within us until the "redemption of our bodies" (Rom. 8:23). So, they can stir again at any time. The real presence of Jesus Christ is our only safeguard. When lusts, desires, sin, the works of the flesh (Gal. 5:19-21), etc. stir, we immediately hand them over to the indwelling Lord Jesus Christ, who then keeps them in check through the effects of the Holy Spirit and His blood and deprives them of their destructive power. The effects of His death on the cross (for and over sin) take effect. Our flesh and our desires, etc., are immediately disempowered and rendered inactive by the death-defeating power of the blood of Christ. As "slaves of Christ," we are no longer slaves of Satan and sin. We have been set free to the liberty of Christ (Rom. 8:1; Gal. 5:1).
So, what would be the correct wording for Galatians 5:24? The verse needs to be paraphrased because it contains the Greek aorist form, which cannot be translated directly into English. It also contains the passive form. "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified their passions and desires (since Golgotha)." So, whenever passions and desires arise, we, as people who have been crucified with Christ, surrender them to the Lord Jesus Christ who dwells within us, who immediately disempowers them through the power of the Holy Spirit and His blood. The powers of His death and resurrection take effect, and we live in the freedom of the glory of the children of God (Rom. 8:21). Our task is to be and remain in Christ and to immediately surrender everything that is wrong to the Lord Jesus Christ. Then we "crucify" our passions and desires. Or we "kill" the deeds of the body through the Spirit (Rom. 8:13). The Lord Jesus Christ is responsible for the rest! A wonderful mystery!
You can read, download, forward, or print this text as a PDF file:
You can listen to or download this topic in a detailed lecture as an MP3 audio file: Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires – Gal.5:24 (MP3-Audio)
The lecture was filmed afterwards and is available to watch and study on Bruno Schaer Ministries' YouTube channel: 
