Rightly Dividing Man - The Flesh Part 6
And they that are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof. (Galatians 5:24, RV)
Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:24, NASB)
In this verse, the Word establishes a redemption fact that has escaped the Church’s notice. First, like a lawyer, Paul establishes a specific body or class of people - “they that are of Christ” or “those who belong to Christ.” From Romans 8:8(b), we understand that when Paul says, “those that are of Christ,” he is speaking specifically of born-again Christians, i.e., those who possess the Spirit of Christ. This categorization applies to all Christians, no matter what level of maturity that they may or may not have attained. For example, Galatians 5:24 even applies to the “carnal” Christians that Paul addressed in I Corinthians 3:1 (“I could not speak to you as spiritual, but as carnal”).
In speaking to this specific class, Paul flatly states that they have “crucified” their flesh with its desires (evil) and cravings (inordinate). The word “crucified” is in the aorist tense which means the action occurred in the past and that it is not a continuous process. In effect, Paul states that the flesh is crucified at the juncture of becoming born-again or “of Christ.” The Christian, then, is not required to continually crucify the flesh as some ministers, such as those of old Pentecostal times, preach.
The word “crucified” is an idiom specific to the time of the Greeks. The same word is used in John 19:18 for Jesus’s crucifixion: “where they crucified him and two others.” So how does the word play out in Galatians 5:24? One nuance of the meaning is found in Colossians 2:14, 15:
having blotted out the bond written in ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us: and he hath taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross having put off from himself the principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly triumphing over them in it.
Just as Jesus was crucified just once, so is the flesh. By being born-again, the Christian’s flesh’s cravings and desires are disarmed and held subject to the “new man.” This is where Jesus’s statement, “Whom the Son sets free is free indeed,” becomes striking. It is not an emotional freedom as some preach, but rather is a redemption reality.