Galatians 5:24

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Paul has a wonderful way of expressing the tenets of the Christian life, both in positive as well as in negative terms. The Fruit of the Spirit is an uplifting look at what is possible through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit in our lives…but then Paul splashes us with a cold reminder that there is still plenty of work left for us to do…namely, to crucify our fleshly passions and desires.

First of all, this passage is speaking about a present imperative rather than what has been done in our past. Yes, as Believers, we have been “crucified with Christ” and we are one with him as a result of our salvation (Gal 2:20), but Paul is speaking of something that is an on-going commandment, and his use of the word “crucify” is packed with meaning. He could have used the word “kill,” but when you kill something, it is actually dead. Our sin nature, sadly, is not dead. The “old you” is still lurking about, which I’m sure you have noticed.

Crucifying our sinful desires speaks of many things.  It reminds us of what Jesus did for us on the cross. It reminds us that we are called to take up our cross and follow Him (Mt 16:24). It reminds us that the death of the flesh is often painful and that it must be dealt with decisively. The overall problem of our flesh will not be finally dealt with until we are resurrected…and oh, what a wonderful day that will be!  Until then, we are to constantly “nail it to the cross,” so that it hangs there, alive yet powerless over us. Martin Luther captured this well when he said, “To resist the flesh… is to nail it to the Cross. Although the flesh is still alive it cannot very well act upon its desires because it is bound and nailed to the Cross.”

A chicken with its head cut off?

 I actually laughed out loud when I read Pastor John MacArthur’s thoughts on this passage: “Meanwhile, the flesh with its passions (or affections) and desires is dead in the sense of no longer reigning over us or of holding us in inescapable bondage. Like a chicken with its head cut off, the flesh has been dealt a death blow, although it continues to flop around the barnyard of earth until the last nerve is stilled.” I really like that visual. F.F. Bruce said, “What has been effected once for all by the cross of Christ must be worked out in practice.” So, picture each and every temptation to sin as yet another chicken in the barnyard that needs to be dealt with decisively. Nail it to the cross where it will writhe and spit, but thank God that when you do, it is powerless over you.