I have been crucified with Christ.
Paul describes the heart of the Christian life in one verse.
The episode in a glance.
- 01'Crucified with Christ' — the old self has been put to death.
- 02'It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.'
- 03Faith is the channel through which Christ's life flows.
- 04He loved me and gave himself for me — personal, not abstract.
Read along.
Galatians 2:20 — 'I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.'
'Crucified with Christ.' Paul says when Jesus died, in some real sense, the old Paul died too. The version that lived to impress, to perform, to earn — that man was put to death on the cross.
'It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.' What's alive in him now isn't self-effort with a religious flavor. It's the actual life of Jesus, flowing through him.
'The life I now live I live by faith.' Faith is the channel. Day by day, choice by choice, Paul keeps trusting Jesus to live through him.
And the last line is personal: 'who loved me and gave himself for me.' Not the world generically. Me. Paul. Faith works because it rests on a love that's particular.