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- Jan 31, 2018
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Popular Christian ideas like ?I need to die to self? and ?I die daily? misrepresent the simple fact that we already died with Christ and should instead just count on that death (and resurrection!) as being true in every moment.
Realizing our death with Christ as a finished work is very different from the idea of trying to ?take up our cross? and somehow ?die to self.? The die-to-self theology would have us buy into the idea that we?re dirty, sinful people who must rid ourselves of our selves, little by little. That way, we can display Christ to the world. Essentially, we must progressively be removed from the equation.
This martyr-like religious philosophy ignores a simple fact: at salvation, we have already been crucified (past tense) with Christ (Gal. 2:20; Rom. 6:6; Col. 3:3). Not only that, but the phrase ?die to self? is nowhere to be found from Genesis to Revelation.
Despite its absence, it seems to be choice theology for today?s Christians to explain their current fight with temptation. An analogy often given involves a black dog and a white dog?two selves within us. We need to feed the white dog (the new self) and starve the black dog (the old self). Another popular way to put it is that we keep putting our old self on the altar to be sacrificed, but it keeps crawling off!
While these analogies are creative, they send the wrong message. They don?t teach the truth of who we are as new creations in Christ. We weren?t put on an altar. We were crucified on a cross. Interestingly, crucifixion is a type of death that you cannot bring upon yourself. God could have planned for Jesus to die by any means. I believe he chose this particular death for Jesus (and for our old self) so that we would see the futility of trying to crucify ourselves.
Imagine trying to crucify yourself! You nail one hand up?then what? We didn?t play a role in our crucifixion, and we cannot add to what God has already accomplished on our behalf.
Whether it?s Romans telling us ?our old self was crucified? (Rom. 6:6) and that it was ?once for all? (Rom. 6:10?11), or whether it?s Galatians communicating that we were ?crucified with Christ? (Gal. 2:20), or whether it?s Colossians telling us that we ?have taken off [our] old self? (Col. 3:9), the message is the same. It is finished!
Realizing our death with Christ as a finished work is very different from the idea of trying to ?take up our cross? and somehow ?die to self.? The die-to-self theology would have us buy into the idea that we?re dirty, sinful people who must rid ourselves of our selves, little by little. That way, we can display Christ to the world. Essentially, we must progressively be removed from the equation.
This martyr-like religious philosophy ignores a simple fact: at salvation, we have already been crucified (past tense) with Christ (Gal. 2:20; Rom. 6:6; Col. 3:3). Not only that, but the phrase ?die to self? is nowhere to be found from Genesis to Revelation.
Despite its absence, it seems to be choice theology for today?s Christians to explain their current fight with temptation. An analogy often given involves a black dog and a white dog?two selves within us. We need to feed the white dog (the new self) and starve the black dog (the old self). Another popular way to put it is that we keep putting our old self on the altar to be sacrificed, but it keeps crawling off!
While these analogies are creative, they send the wrong message. They don?t teach the truth of who we are as new creations in Christ. We weren?t put on an altar. We were crucified on a cross. Interestingly, crucifixion is a type of death that you cannot bring upon yourself. God could have planned for Jesus to die by any means. I believe he chose this particular death for Jesus (and for our old self) so that we would see the futility of trying to crucify ourselves.
Imagine trying to crucify yourself! You nail one hand up?then what? We didn?t play a role in our crucifixion, and we cannot add to what God has already accomplished on our behalf.
Whether it?s Romans telling us ?our old self was crucified? (Rom. 6:6) and that it was ?once for all? (Rom. 6:10?11), or whether it?s Galatians communicating that we were ?crucified with Christ? (Gal. 2:20), or whether it?s Colossians telling us that we ?have taken off [our] old self? (Col. 3:9), the message is the same. It is finished!