20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
1 What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? 2 By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer? 3 Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin-- 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. 9 For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. 10 The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. 11 In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
9 You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you. 12 Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation--but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14 because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10 and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. 11 In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
23 Then he said to them all: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it. 25 What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit his very self?”
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
“George Muller, when asked the secret of his work, replied, ‘There came a day when George Muller died, utterly died! No longer did his own desires, preferences, and tastes come first. He knew that from then on Christ had to be all in all.’” Robert J. Morgan
“If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him.” C. T. Studd
“I once asked a prominent minister how he remained so visionary and passionate. ‘I execute myself every day with 220 volts,’ he said. ‘Galatians 2:20 – I am crucified with Christ.’” Robert J. Morgan
“When God calls a man, He bids him come and die.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“Christianity is more than going to heaven when you die; it’s about dying with Christ now — so you can live now. Christianity is more than performing a good life —- it’s about Christ performing an entirely perfect life for you — so you can live the abundant life in its entirety. Christianity is more than going through the motions — it’s about letting about Christ touch the heart of your emotions — and going through life with Him. It’s time to check behind the cheap frame of things — because it turns out: A life of faith may not be what you think — or what most people live. It’s infinitely more.” Ann Voskamp
“It is the great moment in our lives when we decide that sin must die right out.” Oswald Chambers
“All the graces of a Christian spring from the death of self.” Madam Guyon
“It costs much to obtain the power of the Spirit: It costs self-surrender and humiliation and a yielding up of our most precious things to God; it costs the perseverance of long waiting, and the faith of strong trust. But when we are really in that power, we shall find this difference, that whereas before, it was hard for us to do the easiest things, now it is easy for us to do the hard things.” A. J. Gordon
“Many Christians focus on the joys of the New Life and forget about the obligations of the New Death.” Robert J. Morgan
“Something happens when we come to God for His grace and mercy--something that is so radical and so amazing that it can only be described as death to our old selves. It is the overwhelming desire to please the One who has loved us with such amazing and unconditional love...I may not get better overnight; I may not be the fine, upstanding, and wonderful Christian I thought I was, but I now have a desire to please the One who loved me (and gave Himself for me). That desire is the soil in which goodness grows--not perfectly, by any means, but it does grow.” Steve Brown
“If I really love God, my innate and persistent selfishness will have received its death blow.” Alexander Smellie
“What are believers saved from? From their former position under the wrath of God, the dominion of sin, and the power of death; from their natural condition of being mastered by the world, the flesh and the devil; from the fears that a sinful life engenders, and from the many vicious habits that were part of it. How are believers saved from these things? Through Christ, and in Christ. Our salvation involves first, Christ dying for us and second, Christ living in us and we living in Christ, united with Him in His death and risen life. This vital union, which is sustained by the Spirit from the divine side and by faith from our side, and which is formed in and through our new birth, presupposes covenantal union in the sense of our eternal election in Christ.” J I Packer
“Moralism, whether it takes the form of denunciation or pep talks, can ultimately only create awareness of sin and guilt or manufactured virtues built on will power. A ministry which leads to genuine sanctification and growth, on the other hand, avoids moralism, first by making clear the deep rootage of sin-problems in the flesh so that the congregation is not battling these in the dark, and then by showing that every victory over the flesh is won by faith in Christ, laying hold of union with Him in death and resurrection and relying on His Spirit for the power over sin. Presented in this context, even the demand for sanctification becomes part of the Good News...Ministries which attack only the surface of sin and fail to ground spiritual growth in the believer’s union with Christ produces either self-righteousness or despair, and both of these conditions are inimical to spiritual life.” Richard Lovelace
“Though we now see but a poor reflection as in a mirror, we hold the certainty of the hope of glory in our hearts. And what does that entail? As believers, we are presently objects of Divine approval and blessedness because of the blood of Jesus and His righteousness and we presently possess this glory in spirit by the Holy Spirit. One day – either upon Jesus’ return or our death – we will be transformed outwardly as well into this glorified beautiful condition. It is a state into which one is accorded the fullest enjoyment of the admiration of God as objects of His highest regard and praise and further the enjoyment of fullness, satisfaction, joy, righteousness and ceaseless delight. It encompasses outward splendor, grandeur, pomp, elegance, magnificence, beauty, excellence of appearance, impressiveness, brilliance, illustriousness and eminence (Hebrew-Greek Key Word Study Bible – New Testament Lexical Aids). Therefore, encourage one another with these words!” BHY
“Resurrection is every moment when we grasp hope and let go of despair. Resurrection waits for us on the other side of death. On the other side of fear. On the other side of the great, flying leap into the unknown. Resurrection is our return to life. Resurrection is our homecoming.” Christie Purifoy
“Our Lord Jesus, by His death, didn’t purchase a right to only a part of us, but to the entire person. In His passion, He contemplated our sanctification in its entirety, spirit, soul, and body, so that, in this triple kingdom, He Himself might reign supreme without a rival. It is the business of the newborn nature which God has given to the regenerate to assert the rights of the Lord Jesus Christ. My soul, inasmuch as you are a child of God, you must conquer all the rest of yourself which yet remains unblessed; you must subdue all your powers and passions to the silver scepter of Jesus’ gracious reign, and you must never be satisfied until He who is King by purchase becomes also King by gracious coronation, and reigns in you supreme.” Charles H. Spurgeon