God Without Religion_ Can It Really Be This Simple_ - Andrew Farley [37]
Thank God the truth is better than that!
Black Dog on the Altar?
Realizing our death with Christ as a finished work is very different from the idea of trying to “take up our cross” and somehow “die to self.” The die-to-self theology would have us buy into the idea that we’re dirty, sinful people who must rid ourselves of our selves, little by little. That way, we can display Christ to the world. Essentially, we must progressively be removed from the equation.
This martyr-like religious philosophy ignores a simple fact: at salvation, we have already been crucified (past tense) with Christ (Gal. 2:20; Rom. 6:6; Col. 3:3). Not only that, but the phrase “die to self” is nowhere to be found from Genesis to Revelation. Despite its absence, it seems to be choice theology for today’s Christians to explain their current fight with temptation. An analogy often given involves a black dog and a white dog—two selves within us. We need to feed the white dog (the new self) and starve the black dog (the old self). Another popular way to put it is that we keep putting our old self on the altar to be sacrificed, but it keeps crawling off!
While these analogies are creative, they send the wrong message. They don’t teach the truth of who we are as new creations in Christ. We weren’t put on an altar. We were crucified on a cross. Interestingly, crucifixion is a type of death that you cannot bring upon yourself. God could have planned for Jesus to die by any means. I believe he chose this particular death for Jesus (and for our old self) so that we would see the futility of trying to crucify ourselves.
Imagine trying to crucify yourself! You nail one hand up—then what? We didn’t play a role in our crucifixion, and we cannot add to what God has already accomplished on our behalf. Whether it’s Romans telling us “our old self was crucified” (Rom. 6:6) and that it was “once for all” (Rom. 6:10–11), or whether it’s Galatians communicating that we were “crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2:20), or whether it’s Colossians telling us that we “have taken off [our] old self” (Col. 3:9), the message is the same.
It is finished!
Death by Wild Beasts?
But doesn’t Paul say “I die daily,” and doesn’t that mean we should too? Although the phrase “die daily” is often used to justify a die-to-self theology, this passage has nothing to do with the old self or our struggle with sin:
And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I die every day—I mean that, brothers—just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? (1 Cor. 15:30–32)
This is Paul defending his apostleship. He reminds his readers that he and the other apostles endanger themselves every hour, even fighting wild beasts in Ephesus. The apostles were doing whatever was needed to spread the message. When it came to Paul’s commitment, he literally faced physical death daily.
Wow! The context for the phrase “die daily” sure sheds light on the misconception many of us have had about needing to die daily.
Taking Up Your Cross
But doesn’t Jesus say that we should take up our cross and follow him? And doesn’t taking up our cross imply that we need to die to self or at least die further to sin? It’s true that Jesus tells his audience to “take up your cross.” And that’s part of the salvation message:
Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it. What good is it for a