No I In Jesus

Minnesotas Sam Bradford (8) leads his team into the huddle.

6knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6: 6 - 11 NKJV

What if I were to ask you your opinion of Jesus?  What would your answer be?  Is He your savior, your heavenly Father or the cleanser of your lifetime of sins?  What are the limitations you put on this man you see as Jesus?  Many is the christian who recognizes the sacrafice of Jesus yet fails to see the flip side of Christ at His empty tomb.  For Jesus is much more than the blood He shed to wash away the sin which we were all born into {Romans 3:23}.  While it's true that Jesus was made to become sin on our behalf {2 Corinthians 5: 21}, the truth of the Jesus of today happened after His crucifiction.  As the apostle Paul tells us in Romans 6, our old man was crucified with Jesus on that cross.  Why is this truth so hard to comprehend?  Why is this the truth which Paul refered to as the "Mystery among the gentiles" {Colossions 1:27}?  Well, for one thing, I really don't recall ever dying.  However, in my heart I know that it is Christ Jesus who lives through me.  Why did our old man need to be put to death?  As Paul tells us, "That the body of sin might be done away with."  Yes, each one of us has  sinned and fallen short of the glory of a holy God.  It is that life of sin which we were once born into which Jesus took upon Himself to be put to death on the cross.  The sin spirit we once carried is no longer within us, having been replaced by the Spirit of Christ Jesus.  As Dennis likes to tell it, our former occupier has been evicted, replaced now with that original spirit which we now share with Adam and Eve.

20“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."
Galations 2:20 NKJV

We are assured of this new spirit within us by Pauls words in Galations 2:20.  It is no longer "I" who live, but Christ lives in me.  There is a popular motivational phrase out there which touts that there is no "I" in team.  The meaning, of course, is that it takes a team to compete and win, not just a individual.  Knowing this, I submit that there is also no "I" in Jesus.  For if indeed Jesus is within us, then everything that we do we do as Christ.  It is no longer we who live, but Christ lives in us.  Everything that we see, touch and experience we do AS HIM.  Are we struggling in our marriages?  Then it is Christ who is struggling.  Are we entering a new chapter of our lives?  Then it is Christ Jesus who is walking this new life path.  If indeed Paul tells us in Galations that it is no longer we who live but that Christ lives in us, then it is Jesus Himself who enters into all that we experience.  We now live as Jesus who is in us.  It is no longer we but He.  Therefore, we can say with the utmost confidence that there is no "I" in Jesus.  We are certainly not independent as so many have falsely believed, but one in Christ.  Dennis, my unofficial editor, has often pointed out that I mistakingly use the word "I" in my writings.  To not see the error in this thinking is to not see Christ living through us.  Old habits die hard.

~Scott~