2 Cor. 4:10 We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
What does it mean to be dead in Christ? We see that the pathway to life in Christ is through His death. But in what does this death consist of?
There is a natural life force and a spiritual life force in the one who is born again by the Spirit. As a rule, when our natural life force is spent...then we die. So then death has to do with a termination of the natural life in us....our strength. Unless a person has another KIND of life force that kicks in after the natural life ebbs away...we have a physical death. But one who is born again...one with another life in him...has this other kind of life...the spiritual life that is of Christ... as a "back-up." But before a spiritual life force can take over in the body, a spiritual death force must deal with the natural life strength that has sustained the body until then. These, then, go hand in hand. Death and life.
So then while we can have a spiritual life force in us even while we yet have a natural life, our own strength can't bring out the spiritual life in us. It's in the way. Even applying all our faith and every faculty we know of...these still have no effect on the outcome. No, rather, the natural life force (the old man) needs to become weak in us so that the spiritual life force in us, which is Christ in us, may be made strong. The weaker we are in the natural man, the stronger we can become in the new spiritual man. And death brings in the full measure of Christ in us.
The power of the cross.
Can we put ourselves to death? No. We are not talking about what a man can do through self-discipline as in the eastern religions. The natural man can do a lot of things...but being in Christ means a power outside (but now inside) of ourselves accomplishing the task. Grace must do it's continuing work in us. Having been given life, we must now go to God for the further grace of a deeper work of the power of the cross over our lives. God will never force this step on us. he will not impose the death of His Son on us. We must choose this way for ourselves and come to God with the willingness to "leave all" in order to be joined to Him.
New Life in Christ
The only way to bring out this power (grace) of a new life in Christ is by getting out of the way. The death of Christ is a great gift from God for those who are serious about being pleasing to God: for they who wish for Christ to live through them. So then we must go to God and offer ourselves as a living sacrifice so as to separate us from the carnal power of the natural man...and become a conduit for the life that is according to the power of God (grace).
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