The Theology of Death to Self

From Crucifixion to Resurrection

The Central Paradox

Christians, followers and believers of Jesus Christ have been blessed by and in and through Jesus’ death. Jesus’ death is the key to eternal life, being born again from the will and good pleasure of God. No death, no life. Jesus does not die, we don’t live. Jesus justified humanity, paying the full debt, nothing left to pay. Faith is all He asks of us after giving us His full faith and faithfulness. Remember He’s the originator, owner, and sustainer of all faith.

Jesus did all this on our behalf out of love for the Father and His Children, us. We are to believe He paid the full debt and live set free, enslaved to righteousness because He died. He’s asking us to follow Him into death, into His death and be crucified in Him, with Him, our single focus being His death and the gift of life that comes from it.

It would seem that the greatest gift Jesus gave humanity was death, His death on the cross. He’s asking us to fully trust Him (Ephesians 3:20, John 1:12-17, Ephesians 2:1-10, Romans 8, Romans 5, Romans 12:1-2) and by His strength, power, wisdom, and might by Grace follow Him into death, dying to all forms of self while resting in the transforming work of the Word of God through the Holy Spirit dwelling within as a seal to His promise.

It’s His death and our death that allow His life to manifest through love. There can be no self in eternal life. We are one with Christ in His death and resurrection and being transformed into His image as a consequence.

Death and Love: The Supreme Demonstration

What Scripture Teaches About Love and Death

Jesus’ own words are definitive: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15:13). Here, the greatest love is expressed through self-sacrificial death—not death as an abstract concept, but death as the ultimate act of self-giving.

The scriptural testimony consistently shows:

Love is the motivation; death is the means. “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). The love existed first; the death proved and accomplished it.

Death conquers death. Through dying, Christ destroyed “him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil” (Hebrews 2:14). His death wasn’t the goal itself, but the narrow gate to resurrection life.

We’re called to die because we’re loved. Romans 6 and Galatians 2:20 describe our co-crucifixion with Christ—but this death-to-self flows from being loved, not as the love itself.

The Greatest Form of Love

Scripture’s clearest answer to “What is the greatest love?” points to God Himself: “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16). The greatest form of love is not death per se, but:

Self-giving sacrifice (which required death in our fallen state)

The Person of Christ who embodies perfect love

The Triune God whose eternal nature is self-giving communion

Christ’s death is the supreme demonstration and accomplishment of love in human history—the instrument through which divine love rescued, reconciled, and transformed us. But even that death points beyond itself to the resurrection and the eternal life of love in God’s presence.

Self-sacrificial death is the greatest act of love possible in a fallen world, and Christ’s death is the perfect fulfillment of that love—but God’s own nature as Love remains the ultimate reality into which that death brings us.

The Comprehensive Scope of Death to Self

Beyond “Big Sins” to the Subtle Self-Life

The radical scope of what it means to be crucified with Christ includes dying to:

- Reputation and being right
- The need for respect, appreciation, or recognition
- Self-ambition, personal dreams and desires
- Personal growth (as self-achievement)
- Admiration from people
- Self-preservation
- Self-promotion
- Self-protection
- Self-sufficiency

Scriptural Foundation for Comprehensive Death

Paul’s testimony embodies this:

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20)—not just “sinful” self, but the entire self-referenced life

“I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:7-8)—reputation, achievement, identity, all of it

“We who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body” (2 Corinthians 4:11)—ongoing, daily death

Jesus Himself taught this total surrender:

“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23)

“Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life” (John 12:24-25)

Specific Deaths Scripture Affirms

Dying to reputation and being right: Christ “made himself nothing…he humbled himself” (Philippians 2:7-8). He didn’t defend His reputation before accusers. He was “despised and rejected” (Isaiah 53:3). When we’re insulted for His name, we’re blessed (Matthew 5:11; 1 Peter 4:14).

Dying to need for respect, appreciation, recognition: “How can you believe since you accept glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?” (John 5:44). Paul and the apostles were treated as “the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world” (1 Corinthians 4:13), yet rejoiced.

Dying to self-ambition and personal dreams: “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit” (Philippians 2:3). James warns that “bitter envy and selfish ambition” are “earthly, unspiritual, demonic” (James 3:14-15). Our ambitions must die so Christ’s purposes can live through us.

Dying to self-preservation, self-promotion, self-protection: “Whoever tries to keep their life will lose it” (Luke 17:33). Jesus didn’t save Himself—and calls us to the same. Paul didn’t shrink from chains, shipwrecks, beatings. The martyrs “did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death” (Revelation 12:11).

Dying to self-sufficiency: “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Paul learned, “When I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10). The entire posture of prayer, dependence, and “Not I, but Christ” dismantles self-sufficiency.

Why These Deaths Matter

These aren’t peripheral—they’re where the rubber meets the road in crucifixion with Christ. It’s often easier to die to “big sins” than to these subtle forms of self-life. Yet these are precisely where:

Our idolatry hides (we worship our reputation, our competence, our story)

Our independence from God manifests (we’re still the center, just a “Christian” version)

Love becomes impossible (because love requires complete emptying)

When Jesus is “the originator, owner, and sustainer of all faith,” then even our spiritual progress, our growth, our understanding—all of it must be received, not achieved. Grasped at, it becomes another form of self. Received in death-to-self, it becomes His life in us.

The Transformation That Follows

Here’s the stunning paradox: these deaths liberate us into true life. When we die to:

- Reputation → we’re free to love courageously without fear

- Being right → we can listen, learn, reconcile

- Recognition → we can serve hidden, sacrificial, joyfully

- Self-ambition → God’s purposes flow unobstructed through us

- Self-sufficiency → His power perfects our weakness

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free” (Galatians 5:1)—freedom from self, freedom for love.

There can be no self in eternal life. And eternal life begins now, as we “follow Him into death” daily. This is the narrow way, and few find it (Matthew 7:14)—not because God makes it exclusive, but because we cling so desperately to these very things.

Lazarus: The Pattern of Pure Grace

The Story of Divine Timing

The Bible presents that Lazarus loved Jesus, and Jesus loved Lazarus. Lazarus did nothing to earn or deserve Jesus’ love. Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead after four days in the tomb. Jesus allowed Lazarus plenty of time and space to die, doing nothing to save him from the fatal illness.

Jesus had a plan from before the foundation of the earth, and even though Lazarus was dying, Jesus was coming to visit him but took extra time getting there. He agreed to go, then took extra time delaying His arrival on purpose to glorify God. Jesus had no SELF (no sin) so everything He did was to glorify His Father.

Grace and Divine Timing

The grace dynamic:

- Lazarus did nothing to earn Jesus’ love—it was freely given

- Lazarus did nothing to be raised—he was completely passive, dead, unable to contribute

- His only “qualification” was being loved by Jesus (John 11:3, 5, 36)

The delay was intentional and purposeful: “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it” (John 11:4). Jesus explicitly waited “so that you may believe” (John 11:15). The four days ensured no one could doubt Lazarus was truly dead (Jewish belief held the soul lingered for three days).

Fighting vs. surrendering: The text doesn’t tell us whether Lazarus fought his illness or surrendered to death. But Martha and Mary clearly expected Jesus to prevent the death (“Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died” - John 11:21, 32). They were grieving what they saw as tragedy, not recognizing it as divine orchestration.

Jesus had a plan that required Lazarus’s death—and no amount of human effort, medical intervention, or even prayer changed that. Sometimes God’s will includes our death (to self, to plans, to physical life) precisely so His resurrection power can be displayed.

What did Lazarus do?

- What did Lazarus do to receive Jesus’ love? Nothing.

- What did Lazarus have to do to love Jesus? Believe He is the Son of God, the Savior and Messiah, the LORD YHVH.

- What did Lazarus do to be raised from the dead? Nothing. He was weak in the flesh and died against his will.

- Did Lazarus cooperate and assist Jesus, or did he fight the illness and struggle to live? We don’t know, but Martha and Mary were fighting against God’s
will, intentional or not.

- No one wanted Lazarus to die except Jesus.

Lazarus as Type and Shadow

Lazarus as a forerunner of the Rapture/Resurrection:

Similarities:

- Dead, then raised by Christ’s command alone (“Lazarus, come out!” - John 11:43)

- Powerless participation—the dead cannot raise themselves

- Public demonstration of Christ’s power over death

- Faith of others was strengthened by witnessing it (John 11:45)

- Emerging from the tomb still bound in grave clothes, needing to be “loosed” (John 11:44)—perhaps picturing our ongoing sanctification after spiritual resurrection

The greater reality: If Lazarus is a shadow, the substance is even more glorious: “The Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command…and the dead in Christ will rise first” (1 Thessalonians 4:16). Just as Jesus called Lazarus by name, He will call His own.

Application: Total Death, Total Dependence

The Lazarus account illuminates this:

- Lazarus had to completely die before resurrection came

- No partial death, no lingering life—four days in the tomb

- Then Jesus spoke, and death had no choice but to release him

- Lazarus contributed nothing but his death; Jesus contributed everything—the call, the power, the life

Applied to us:

- We must die completely to self (not improve self, not manage self, not “crucify” self while keeping control)

- We rest in His sovereignty, His timing, even when it looks like He’s “delayed” and we’re dying

- His love precedes our death and guarantees our resurrection

- Our role: believe, surrender, die, and wait for His call

We must hate our life and love His life, die to self and rest in Him as LORD and Savior, mighty King.

Lazarus didn’t cooperate with his resurrection because he couldn’t. Neither can we. That’s the point. His death was complete; his resurrection was pure gift. Ours must be the same—total death to self, total dependence on Christ’s life-giving word.

John’s Unified Testimony: Love as the Key

The Question of Sequence

Did John write Revelation after the Gospel of John? Had John already experienced the Rapture vision (Revelation) before he wrote his Gospel and three letters?

The historical evidence suggests:

- Revelation was likely written around 95-96 AD during Domitian’s persecution

- John’s Gospel was likely written 90-100 AD, possibly slightly before or after Revelation

- The three letters of John were likely written in the same general period

So yes—it’s quite possible John wrote Revelation before (or concurrently with) his Gospel. This means:

- John had already seen the heavenly throne room, the Lamb who was slain, the wedding supper

- John had already received Jesus’ message to the churches emphasizing overcoming, faithfulness unto death, and love

- John had already been given the vision of New Jerusalem where God dwells with His people eternally

Love Throughout John’s Writings

If John wrote with Revelation’s visions already in his heart, consider how it illuminates his Gospel and letters:

In the Gospel:

- “God so loved the world…” (John 3:16)

- “As I have loved you, so you must love one another” (John 13:34)

- “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life” (John 15:13)

- “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am” (John 17:24)

In the letters:

- “God is love” (1 John 4:8, 16)

- “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son” (1 John 4:10)

- “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19)

- “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear” (1 John 4:18)

In Revelation:

- “To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood” (Revelation 1:5)

- “You have forsaken the love you had at first” (Revelation 2:4)—the warning to Ephesus

- “Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown” (Revelation 2:10)

- The Lamb receives worship because He was slain (Revelation 5:9, 12)

The Unified Message

Love is indeed the key—not our love generating resurrection, but His love accomplishing it, and our love responding in grateful, self-emptied devotion. Love so radical it looks like death. Death so complete it can only be followed by resurrection. Rest so total we stop fighting God’s will and trust His greater plan—even when it includes our tomb.

“BE Ready” and “GET Ready”: Two Aspects of One Reality

The Pattern in Scripture

In the Bible we see a consistent pattern in “Be Ready” and “Get Ready.”

“BE Ready” - Positional Truth (The Finished Work)

“BE ready” is to know I am dead like Lazarus. I’m no different. According to the Bible I am dead IN CHRIST. And I’m alive IN CHRIST and He did it all. To “be” ready is to know I’m dead and He has the perfect predetermined plan to transform me into His image. My part is to believe with the faith He gave me as a gift.

Scriptural foundation:

- “You have died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3)—past tense, done

- “I have been crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20)—completed action

- “You were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him” (Colossians 2:12)—already happened

- “God made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions” (Ephesians 2:5)—His work, not ours

Like Lazarus: you ARE dead, and you ARE alive—both realities secured by Christ alone. Your part? Believe it. Receive it. Rest in it. The faith to believe is itself His gift (Ephesians 2:8-9, Philippians 1:29).

This is your foundation, your identity, your security. It cannot be earned, improved, or lost. “It is finished” (John 19:30).

“GET Ready” - Practical Transformation (The Ongoing Work)

“Get Ready” means I am practicing His death, which is my death, dying to all forms of SELF which is SIN. Getting ready is like practicing medicine, law, or plumbing. I’m not dead yet, but I’m “getting” there. This is the confession: I am very weak and I am terrible at dying to self. I’m desperate for more practice to grow in Grace, Peace, and Truth all through love, which is to die to self.

Scripture equally emphasizes the present, progressive dying:

- “Take up [your] cross daily” (Luke 9:23)—ongoing action

- “We are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18)—continuous process

- “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature” (Colossians 3:5)—active participation

- “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you” (Philippians 2:12-13)—we work because He works

This is sanctification—the lifelong practice of dying to self. Not to become dead (you already are), but to live out what’s already true. Not earning resurrection, but cooperating with the Resurrector as He conforms you to Christ’s death and life.

The Confession of Weakness: Where Grace Thrives

“I Am Terrible at Dying to Self”

This is exactly where you need to be. Listen to how the apostles described themselves:

Paul: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst” (1 Timothy 1:15)—present tense, after decades of ministry

Paul again: “I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do…What a wretched man I am!” (Romans 7:15, 24)

Peter: Denied Christ three times, even after walking with Him for years

Your weakness isn’t disqualifying—it’s qualifying. It’s the soil where grace grows. “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

How the Practice Actually Works

Here’s the beautiful tension:

You cannot die to self by your own strength. Every attempt to “kill self” by self-effort is just self in disguise—self-improvement, self-discipline, self-righteousness. It’s the snake eating its tail.

Yet you must actively participate. “Put to death” (Colossians 3:5), “flee” (1 Timothy 6:11), “deny” (Luke 9:23)—these are commands, not suggestions.

The resolution? It’s HIS strength working through your yielded weakness:

- “I can do all this through him who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13)

- “By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10)

The practice looks like:

- Confessing your inability—this is actually progress, not failure

- Asking Him to work in you what you cannot work (Philippians 2:13)

- Yielding moment-by-moment when self rises up (“Not my will, but yours” - Luke 22:42)

- Fixing your eyes on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2), not on your performance

- Receiving His love and grace fresh each day (Lamentations 3:22-23)

The Progression of Practice

Amateur practitioner: “I must die to self. I’m working so hard at it. Why am I failing?”

- Still centered on self’s performance

Journeyman practitioner: “I’m terrible at dying to self. I need Jesus desperately.”

- Shifting from self-reliance to Christ-dependence

Master practitioner: “I die daily—and it’s Christ’s life manifesting, not mine. I decrease; He increases.”

- Self-awareness dissolves into Christ-awareness (John 3:30)

The final stage: “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20)

- So united with Christ in death that self-consciousness evaporates into love

Weakness Is the Way

The confession—“I am very weak and terrible at dying to self”—is actually the doorway:

- Lazarus was completely weak, utterly unable to resurrect himself. Perfect candidate for resurrection.

- You are completely weak, utterly unable to crucify yourself. Perfect candidate for transformation.

Paul learned: “I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses…For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10).

Stop fighting your weakness. Embrace it. Present it to Him:

- “Lord, I cannot die to my reputation—but You can crucify it in me.”

- “Lord, I cannot surrender my self-protection—but I yield to Your work.”

- “Lord, I am failing at love—pour Your love through me.”

The Practice Continues Until…

It IS like practicing medicine or law: ongoing, imperfect, learning through failure, growing in skill over time. But with this difference: the Great Physician is performing the surgery, and you’re both patient and apprentice.

The practice ends when:

- “We shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2)

- “When the perfect comes, the partial disappears” (1 Corinthians 13:10)

- The Rapture/Resurrection completes what the cross began

Until then:

- BE ready (you ARE dead and alive in Christ—settled)

- GET ready (you’re BECOMING practically what you already are positionally—process)

- Stay desperate (this keeps you dependent)

- Practice dying (through His strength, not yours)

- Grow in grace (which means growing in receiving, not achieving)

Conclusion: The Exchange

Your awareness of your inability is evidence of the Holy Spirit’s work. The self-sufficient don’t see their need. The dead (to self) recognize they’re alive only by His breath.

Keep practicing. Keep failing. Keep confessing. Keep receiving. That’s not failure—that’s faith. That’s not weakness—that’s the precise condition where “His strength is made perfect.”

You’re not terrible at dying to self. You’re terrible at dying to self by yourself—and that’s exactly the point. Now you’re positioned for Him to do in you what you cannot do for yourself.

“He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6)

The Final Exchange:

- Our death for His life
- Our emptiness for His fullness
- Our nothing for His everything
- Our weakness for His strength
- Our inability for His sufficiency

You BE ready (in Him). He’ll help you GET ready (through Him). And one day, like Lazarus, you’ll hear your name called—and step fully into the resurrection life that’s already yours.

The Rapture will be the ultimate fulfillment: “The dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). We won’t cooperate. We won’t ascend by effort. We’ll simply hear His voice—just as Lazarus did—and death will have no power to hold us.