Galatians 2:20 – Christ lives in me!

With Christ have I been crucified, yet I am living; no longer I but living in me is Christ.

The imagery of “crucified together with Christ” or “died together”, “buried together”, “roused together” etc. we encounter in almost every epistle of Paul. The thought behind this imagery is identification with Christ, i.e. we are included in what happened to Him. It’s important to get that straight. It is known that Christ died for us. But in Paul’s mind, we also died with Him. In fact, for him the latter follows logically from the former. In 2 Corinthians 5:14 we read, “…one died for all, so all died.”

The truth behind this is that Christ died for all precisely to take all into his death and resurrection. Christ did not die vicariously so that we would not have to die again. On the contrary, Paul writes: “I have been crucified with Christ…”. Christ’s death and resurrection is all-inclusive: He will cause all mankind to share in His vivification. Believers are already witnessing this. And the rest will follow, “each in his own class” (1 Cor.15:22,23).

Paul reckons as God sees him: I have been crucified with Christ and yet I live… because Christ lives in me! This is LIFE beyond the grave. Perfect! The ‘old’ me no longer counts. Christ lives… in me!

Delen: