Already crucified
The flesh sentenced
Paul makes a statement about the death of self that is, surprisingly, in the past tense: those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Not will crucify, not should crucify, but have crucified. At the cross, in our union with Christ, a decisive sentence was already passed on the old self. The flesh is not merely an enemy we are fighting; it is a condemned criminal already nailed up.
This changes the whole posture of the battle. We often fight the flesh as though the outcome were in doubt, as though we were trying to defeat an enemy who might yet win. Paul says the decisive verdict has already been rendered: in Christ, the flesh has been crucified. Our daily mortification is not an attempt to achieve a victory still uncertain, but the working out of a sentence already passed. We are not trying to kill what is alive and thriving; we are enforcing the execution of what has already been condemned.
Our old self, Paul says elsewhere, was crucified with Christ, so that the body of sin might be brought to nothing. There is the foundation. The death of self is grounded in a death that has already happened — Christ's, and ours in him. So we put the flesh to death daily not in our own strength, fearing it might overpower us, but as those enforcing a verdict already secured. Reckon it true: in Christ, your flesh is already crucified.
“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.”
— Paul, to the Galatians — Galatians 5:24 (WEB)
Put the flesh to death as one enforcing a verdict already passed at the cross — fighting from a victory already secured in Christ, not toward one still in doubt.
“Our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin.”
Fear changes how a battle is fought, and we fight the flesh afraid — bracing against an enemy we secretly suspect could still win. That dread is the lie; the verdict is already in. The interior work is to let Paul's past tense land: in Christ the flesh has been crucified, so each act of putting it to death is not a gamble on the outcome but the calm enforcement of a sentence the cross already passed.
This week, when the flesh asserts itself, fight from the verdict: remind yourself it is already crucified with Christ, and put it to death as one enforcing a settled sentence, not as one fearing an enemy who might overpower you.
The flesh stages a convincing show of strength precisely to keep you fighting as though everything were still at stake. But the one who reckons it already condemned in Christ fights downhill, from a verdict secured, and cannot be cowed into surrender by an enemy whose execution was signed at the cross.
We tend to fight the flesh as though the war's outcome were still undecided — as though the old self were a powerful enemy who might yet defeat us, and our daily struggle a desperate attempt to win a victory still in doubt. Paul corrects the timeline: in Christ, the flesh has already been crucified. The decisive sentence has been passed; the criminal is already condemned and nailed up.
This transforms our mortification from anxious striving into confident enforcement. We are not trying to kill what is thriving and might overpower us; we are putting to death what has already been sentenced at the cross, enforcing a verdict already secured. The old self was crucified with Christ — that is the settled fact beneath the daily fight. So put the flesh to death not in fear, as though it might win, but in faith, as one carrying out a sentence Christ has already passed. Reckon it true, and fight from the victory, not toward it.
- Do I fight the flesh as though the outcome were still in doubt?
- Can I reckon it already crucified with Christ?
- What would change if I fought from the cross's verdict rather than toward it?
Lord, I fight the flesh in fear, as though it might yet defeat me. But in Christ it is already crucified, the verdict already passed. Help me reckon it true, and put the old self to death as one enforcing your settled sentence, fighting from your victory. Amen.