Identified or Simply Interested?

I have been crucified with Christ . . . —Galatians 2:20

The inescapable spiritual need each of us has is the need to sign the death certificate of our sin nature. I must take my emotional opinions and intellectual beliefs and be willing to turn them into a moral verdict against the nature of sin; that is, against any claim I have to my right to myself. Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ . . . .” He did not say, “I have made a determination to imitate Jesus Christ,” or, “I will really make an effort to follow Him”-but-”I have been identified with Him in His death.” Once I reach this moral decision and act on it, all that Christ accomplished for me on the Cross is accomplished in me. My unrestrained commitment of myself to God gives the Holy Spirit the opportunity to grant to me the holiness of Jesus Christ.

“. . . it is no longer I who live . . . .” My individuality remains, but my primary motivation for living and the nature that rules me are radically changed. I have the same human body, but the old satanic right to myself has been destroyed.

“. . . and the life which I now live in the flesh,” not the life which I long to live or even pray that I live, but the life I now live in my mortal flesh-the life which others can see, “I live by faith in the Son of God . . . .” This faith was not Paul’s own faith in Jesus Christ, but the faith the Son God had given to him (see Ephesians 2:8). It is no longer a faith in faith, but a faith that transcends all imaginable limits-a faith that comes only from the Son of God.

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一己的權益還是與主同死？

我已經與基督同釘十字架。 （加二20）

屬靈上的一個迫切需要，就是向罪宣判死亡。就是在一切感情上、理智上，有一個新的信念，遂向罪下判決。這罪就是為自己的權益所持的主權。保羅說：[我已經與基督同釘十字架。]他不是說：[我決定效法基督。]或[我努力跟隨基督。]而是[我已經自視與他同死了。]每逢我作這屬靈的抉擇，並付諸實行；那末基督在十架上為我成就的，便在我裡面成全了。我自願的順服神，讓聖靈把耶穌基督的聖潔，加在我身上。

[但 我如今活著……]我依然存在，但生命的主流－－那支配我性情的，卻急劇地改變了。人的肉身依然，可是昔日撒旦的主權已毀掉了。[我如今在肉身活著……]這不是我想望中的生命，或祈求要得的生命，而是現金活著的，這個別人可見的生命，[是因信神的兒子而活]。這信心不是保羅對耶穌基督的信心，而是神兒子所分與他的信心。

[信神的兒子（或作神兒子的信）。]不再是相信信心，乃是超越一切觀感的規限，如同神兒子的信心。

◆噢，主啊，我讚美你，透過基督耶穌我們的主，我們所走的路都滿有憐憫、恩慈、恩典和奇蹟；但願我對你和你的作為更加敏銳，我那感恩的心也更像基督。