Crucified with (4957) (sustauroo from sun = together with, speaks of an intimate union + stauróo = to crucify from stauros = cross) means to crucify, affix or nail to a cross with another. Only the worst criminals suffered crucifixion in Paul’s day.
This same verb was used of the 2 thieves who were "crucified with" Christ although only one was "vicariously" or "spiritually" crucified with Him, specifically the one who "was saying (imperfect tense = over and over again)
Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom! (Luke 23:42)
As alluded to above, the preposition sun (see discussion) speaks of a believer's union or identification with Christ (see "Union With Christ"). The use of the perfect tense is very instructive, signifying that the believer has been crucified with Christ at a specific point in time in the past and that the effects of this this crucifixion persist or continue into the present. Stated another way, the perfect tense speaks of a past completed action having present finished results.
AN INSEPARABLE, ETERNAL,
TRANSCENDENT SPIRITUAL UNION
To digress for a moment on the concept of a union keep in mind that this word “union” is defined as two or more people or things joined together as one. For example, marriage is a union of one man, with his unique personality, and one woman, with her distinct personality, joined together with one another. The husband and wife maintain their unique personalities, but now there is a mysterious new relationship designed by God in which the two "become one flesh" (Ep 5:31-note). So here in Galatians 2:20 Paul is describing the nature of our union with Christ in which our Lord obviously remains Christ and the believer retains his or her personality and physical nature. And yet, when Paul says we have been "crucified with Christ", he is saying that a mysterious union has taken place, one that we cannot completely comprehend in this life, a union in which Jesus Christ is now living in and through the believer. This mystical union does not mean that I no longer have any responsibilities in the Christian life. Paul is saying, ‘Yes, I still live, but there is something so different about life, for Christ now lives in me. It is not me, alone, facing the demands of life. It is not me, alone, trying to work out my salvation, living out the demands of the gospel. It is Christ in me, living in me, living through me His glorious life".
Martin Luther described this union writing...
thou art so entirely joined unto Christ, that He and thou art made as it were one person: so that thou mayest boldly say, I am now one with Christ, that is to say, Christ’s righteousness, victory, and life are mine (Commentary on Romans)
John Calvin explains it as follows...
The word death is always hateful to man’s mind. Having said that we are nailed to the cross along with Christ, he adds that this makes us alive. At the same time he explains what he meant by ‘living to God’. He does not live by his own life but is animated by the secret power of Christ, so that Christ may be said to live and grow in him...For, as the soul quickens the body, so Christ imparts life to His members (Galatians 2)
Phil Newton adds that because of our crucifixion with Christ...
All of life is lived with the strength and presence of Jesus Christ united with us. We are to live with this consciousness of Jesus Christ in us! Those who were trying to justify themselves through the Law were working and scratching to meet the demands of that impossible task-master. So Paul contrasts that scene with the reality of the believer. By faith, in union with Jesus Christ, we have died to the Law and all its demands; and Jesus Christ, our Righteous Lord, is now living His life through us. That is a radical life. That is real Christianity. (The Sweet Fruit of Justification)
Bruce writes that...
“The perfect tense…emphasizes that participation in the crucified Christ has become the believer’s settled way of life.” (Bruce, FF: Epistle to the Galatians (New International Greek Testament Commentary. Erdman, 1982)
In other words, Paul is saying that he was identified with Christ at the Cross in the past and the spiritual benefits of that identification are a present reality in his life (and also the life of all the redeemed). In the context (too often this famous verse is quoted out of context) of his discussion (Gal 2:19 "For through the Law I died to the Law, that I might live to God." - - Paul had based his hope for righteousness on strict observance of the Law but Christ paid the penalty for sin that the law demanded) about his death to the Law, he is explaining that this transpired when he died with Christ Who died under its penalty as the sinless sacrificial "Lamb". In this eternal transaction, the demands of the Law were satisfied and therefore no longer had a hold on Paul. As discussed more below, crucifixion with Christ also means death to self. When Paul died with Christ, Saul the self-righteous, self-centered Pharisee (the "I" of Gal 2:19) died and so did all that he had "accomplished" up to that time (see Phil 3:7 "But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ." cf Php 3:3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9-see notes on 3:3; 3:4-6; 3:7-8; 3:9) All he had accomplished was in a sense buried with Saul along with his old life in Adam. And best of all, the power of Sin over Saul (in Adam) was broken and no longer had any right to dominate the new Paul (in Christ).
Note crucified with is passive voice which indicates action produced upon one from an outside agent.
The 4 other NT uses of sustauroo are recorded below for study (note the first 3 uses are literal and the last metaphorical)...
(Mt 27:44) And the robbers also who had been crucified with Him were casting the same insult at Him.
(Mk 15:32) "Let this Christ, the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe!" And those who were crucified with Him were casting the same insult at Him.
(Jn 19:32) The soldiers therefore came, and broke the legs of the first man, and of the other man who was crucified with Him;
(Romans 6:6) knowing this, that our old self (old man) was crucified with (aorist tense = past completed action) Him, that our body of Sin might be done away with (aorist tense = past completed action), that we should no longer be slaves (present tense = continually) to sin; (see note Romans 6:6)
Comment: Note how God deals with the old self - He does not change it or transform it. What He did was crucify him with Christ. God condemned the old self and poured out His wrath on our Sinless Substitute, Who in turn poured out His blood and gave up His life on our behalf on the Cross. Note the that "was crucified" means "It was done! It was finished!" We do not need to crucify the old self! As Dr Walvoord discusses below, crucifixion is not something that we do, but is something that Christ has accomplished for us! "Crucified" is not a command to obey but a fact to be believed! The old self has been decisively dealt with on the Cross! Those who try to conquer the old self in their own strength will only experience futility and will never win the battle! Christ has won the battle for us. Our role now is to yield our will to His Spirit and moment by moment walk out in faith from the victory Christ has already achieved for us at Calvary. A life filled with resurrection power comes only out of death. In view of the principle that resurrection can only come after death, as believers we must continually reckon ourselves as dead to sin (Ro 6:11-note) with Christ in order to experience His victorious life and His resurrection power, walking by faith and not by sight. Resurrection comes only out of death.)
To fully understand Paul's teaching in this great verse, one must understand the meaning of our union with Christ as Paul expounded in Romans 6:1-10 (consider memorizing this passage that you might to able to call it to mind - then the word which you have treasured in your heart will keep you from sin, cf Psalm 119:9, 10, 11. Take some time to meditate on each verse before you read the notes).
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? (see note Romans 6:1)
2 May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? (see note Romans 6:2)
3 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? (see notes Romans 6:3 - this describes our identification with Christ)
4 Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. (see notes Romans 6:4)
5 For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, (see notes Romans 6:5 - this describes our union with Christ)
6 knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin; (see notes Romans 6:6 - this describes our death with Christ and our liberation from the domination of indwelling sin)
7 for he who has died is freed from sin. (see notes Romans 6:7)
8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, (see notes Romans 6:8)
9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. (see notes Romans 6:9)
10 For the death that He died, He died to sin, once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. (see notes Romans 6:10)
11 Even so consider (present imperative) yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (see notes Romans 6:11 - Paul commands us to continually take all of the truths he has stated in the preceding 10 verves and put them in the "calculator" of our mind. Think about them frequently so that we continually come the conclusion that we "been crucified with Christ and it is no longer we who live but Christ Who lives in us" -- then let that truth daily affect the way we live, the choices we make, the shows we watch, the things we buy, the way we respond to pressure and disappointment, etc)
Thomas Constable explains it this way...
When a person trusts Christ, God identifies him or her with Christ not only in the present and future but also in the past. The believer did what Christ did. When Christ died, I died. When Christ arose from the grave, I arose to newness of life. My old self-centered life died when I died with Christ. His Spirit-directed life began in me when I arose with Christ. Therefore in this sense the Christian’s life is really the life of Christ. (Tom Constable's Expository Notes on the Bible)
M R DeHaan explains that Paul is saying...
I died in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, through faith I was identified with Him, so that God imputes (Ed: puts on my "spiritual account") to me everything that happened to the Saviour in Whom I have put my trust; and since He met all the demands of the law, paid the penalty and died under its curse, I (because I was represented in Christ through grace) suffered the same penalty and God today considers me as though I actually, personally, hung on the Cross myself, and met the full penalty of the law, which is eternal death. That is Paul’s testimony, and every believer who is in Christ can truly say, I too am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. (De Haan, M. R. Studies in Galatians: Kregel Publications)
Alexander Maclaren writes that...
We have a bundle of paradoxes in this Galatians 2:20. First, ‘I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live.’ The Christian life is a dying life. If we are in any real sense joined to Christ, the power of His death makes us dead to self and sin and the world. In that region, as in the physical, death is the gate of life; and, inasmuch as what we die to in Christ is itself only a living death, we live because we die, and in proportion as we die. The next paradox is, ‘Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.’ The Christian life is a life in which an indwelling Christ casts out, and therefore quickens, self (Ed note: the new self). We gain ourselves when we lose ourselves. His abiding in us does not destroy but heightens our individuality. We then most truly live when we can say, ‘Not I, but Christ liveth in me’; the soul of my soul and the self of myself. And the last paradox is that of my text, ‘The life which I live in the flesh, I live in’ (not ‘by’) ‘the faith of the Son of God.’ The true Christian life moves in two spheres at once. Externally and superficially it is ‘in the flesh,’ (Ed note: referring to in the physical aspect of flesh, not the evil flesh) really it is ‘in faith.’ It belongs not to the material nor is dependent upon the physical body in which we are housed. We are strangers here, and the true region and atmosphere of the Christian life is that invisible sphere of faith. (Read his full message Galatians 2:20 From Centre to Circumference)
J Vernon McGee notes that in this verse Paul...
states a fact which is true of every believer. We are not to seek to be crucified with Christ...There are many people today who talk about wanting to live the “crucified” life. That is not what Paul is talking about in this verse. We are not to seek to be crucified with Christ. We have already been crucified with Him. The principle of living is not by the Law which has slain us because it found us guilty. Now we are to live by faith. Faith in what? Faith in the Son of God. You see, friend, the death of Christ upon the cross was not only penal (that is, paying the penalty for our sins), but it was substitutionary also. He was not only the sacrifice for sin; He was the substitute for all who believe. Paul declares, therefore, that under the Law he was tried, found guilty, was condemned, and in the person of his Substitute he was slain. When did that take place? It took place when Christ was crucified. Paul was crucified with Christ. But “nevertheless I live.” How do I live? In Christ. He is alive today at God’s right hand. We are told that we have been put in Christ. You cannot improve on that. That ought to get rid of the foolish notion that we can crucify ourselves...There are many ways to end your life, but you cannot crucify yourself. When you nail one hand to the cross, who is going to nail your other hand to the cross? You cannot do it yourself. You must understand what Paul is talking about when he says, “I am crucified with Christ.” Paul was crucified with Christ when Christ died. Christ died a substitutionary death. He died for Paul. He died for you. He died for me. (McGee, J V: Thru the Bible Commentary: Thomas Nelson or Logos)
Galatians 2:20 therefore is Paul's testimony that he was now free from the demands of the Law, a truth beautifully brought out by the old hymn below (take a moment and sing the words as an offering of praise to our Father in Heaven)...
Free from the Law
By Philip P Bliss (bio)
Free from the law, O happy condition,
Jesus has bled and there is remission,
Cursed by the law and bruised by the fall,
Grace hath redeemed us once for all.
Now we are free, there’s no condemnation,
Jesus provides a perfect salvation.
“Come unto Me,” O hear His sweet call,
Come, and He saves us once for all.
“Children of God,” O glorious calling,
Surely His grace will keep us from falling;
Passing from death to life at His call;
Blessèd salvation once for all.
Refrain:
Once for all, O sinner, receive it,
Once for all, O brother, believe it;
Cling to the cross, the burden will fall,
Christ hath redeemed us once for all. (Play)
Paul refers to the concept of crucifixion later in Galatians writing...
Galatians 5:24 (note) Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Comment: In this verse Paul describes a definite event in the past which every believer has experienced. Paul said we, not God, have crucified the flesh. We have crucified the flesh in the sense that when we trusted Christ God broke the domination of our sinful nature (flesh). While we still have a sinful human nature, it does not control us as it did before we trusted in Christ. Note that Paul is not saying self-crucifixion or self-mortification is something believers should practice. At the time of our crucifixion with Christ, God brought about a separation from the dominion of our sinful nature inherited from Adam -- flesh -- by virtue of our unbreakable union and eternal identification with Christ Jesus in His substitutionary, sacrificial death. As Donald Campbell observes in the The Bible Knowledge Commentary the truth of co-crucifixion with Christ "does not mean that [our] sin nature is then eradicated or even rendered inactive but that it has been judged, a fact believers should reckon to be true (cf. Ro 6:11, 12- see note on v11; v12). So victory over the sinful nature’s passions and desires has been provided by Christ in His death. Faith must continually lay hold of this truth or a believer will be tempted to try to secure victory by self-effort."
Galatians 6:14 But may it never be that I should boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified (perfect tense = stands crucified, speaking of the permanence of the state) to me, and I to the world.
Comment: Remember that in Paul's day the Cross was a symbol of shame and yet here he takes pride in that which the world loathes. In fact the word "crux" [cross] was unmentionable in polite Romans society! When Paul was crucified with Christ, he said in a manner of speaking "Goodbye" to the world. Thereafter he looked at the world as if it were on a cross [the cross conveying the idea of death] because of the fact that he had experienced the Cross of Christ when he was saved. The world lost its allure for him. Why? Because he had found the One Who Alone completely satisfies the soul's longings. The world to Paul became spiritually dead, and he became dead to the world. All the things in this passing life which appeal to the “natural” man lost their attraction for Paul. The Cross became the great dividing line between the world and Paul as well it should in the experience of every child of God.
When James Calvert (see biography) went as a missionary to the cannibals of the Fiji Islands, the captain of the ship sought to turn him back, crying out...
“You will lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among such savages”
Calvert only replied,
“We died before we came here.”
In short, James Calvert had appropriated and had put into practice the truth of Galatians 2:20 and had identified with the Cross of Christ. He had relinquished his life, having died to James Calvert, to the world, to the flesh, and to the devil.
John MacArthur explains the believer's death with Christ as it relates to the Law writing that...
If a man is convicted of a capital crime and is put to death, the law obviously has no more claim on him. He has paid his debt to society. Therefore, even if he were to rise from the dead, he would still be guiltless before the law, which would have no claim on his new life. So it is with the believer who dies in Christ to rise in new life. He is free forever from any claim of the law on him. He paid the law’s demand when he died in Christ. His physical death is no punishment, only a release to glory provided in his union with Christ. Legalism’s most destructive effect is that it cancels the effect of the cross... The old man, the old sell is dead, crucified with Christ, and the new man lives (see notes Colossians 3:9; 3:10) (MacArthur, J. Galatians. Chicago: Moody Press)
J I Packer writes that this verse...
brings together both aspects of the Christian’s identification with Christ; acceptance of Christ’s cross as both the end of the old life and the pattern of the new one. (Packer, J I: Your Father Loves You. Harold Shaw Pub. 1986)
Our Daily Bread has a devotional adapted from Ethel Barrett's work "It Only Hurts When I Laugh"...
In her book It Only Hurts When I Laugh, Ethel Barrett tells how four outstanding servants of God died to self and sin.
George Mueller, when questioned about his spiritual power, responded simply, “One day George Mueller died.”
D. L. Moody was visiting New York City when he consciously died to his own ambitions.
And evangelist Christmas Evans, putting down on paper his surrender to Christ, began it by writing: “I give my soul and body to Jesus.” It was, in a very real sense, a death to self.
John Gregory Mantle wrote, “There is a great difference between realizing, ‘On that Cross He was crucified for me,’ and ‘On that Cross I am crucified with Him.’ The one aspect brings us deliverance from sin’s condemnation, the other from sin’s power.”
Recognizing that we “have been crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2:20), we should, as Paul admonished in Romans 6:11 (see note), consider ourselves “to be dead indeed to sin.” We still have sinful tendencies within, but having died to them, sin no longer has dominion over us. We die to our selfish desires and pursuits. But believers must also think of themselves as “alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:11). We should do those things that please Him. Victorious Christians are those who have died—to live! - R W De Haan (Our Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved) (Bolding added)
AND IT IS NO LONGER I WHO LIVE BUT CHRIST WHO LIVES IN ME: zo (1SPAI) de ouketi ego, ze (3SPAI) de en emoi Christos : (Ro 6:8, 13, 8:2-See notes 6:8; 13; 8:2; Ep 2:4-note, 5" class="scriptRef">Ep 2:5-note; Col 2:13-note; Col 3:3, 4-notes) (Jn 14:19,20; 17:21; 2Cor 4:10,11; 13:3,5; Eph 3:17-note; Col 1:27-note;1Th 5:10-note; 1Pe 4:2-note; Re 3:20-note)
The "I" (ego) here is the old nature inherited from Adam (flesh). Under the old covenant of the Law, the “I” was prominent, it was that “I” of Paul that lived and strived to to keep the Law. But by depending on the Law Paul was placing emphasis on his own power and ability to do what the Law required, a goal which fallen flesh can never fulfill.
Eadie comments that...
This ego is my old self—what lived in legalism prior to my being crucified with Christ; it lives no longer. The principle of the old life in legalism has passed away, and a new life is implanted within me. Or, When I speak of my living, “I do not mean myself or my natural being;” for a change as complete is spoken of as if it had sundered his identity. The explanation of the paradox is—this new life was not himself or his own, but it was Christ living in him. His life to God was no natural principle— no vital element self originated or self-developed within him;—it sprang out of that previous death with His Lord in whom also he had risen again; nay, Christ had not only claimed him as His purchase and taken possession of him, but had also entered into him,—had not only kindled life within him, but was that Life Himself. When the old prophet wrought a miracle in restoring the dead child by stretching himself upon it so exactly that corresponding organs were brought into contact, the youth was resuscitated as if from the magnetic influences of the riper and stronger life, but the connection then terminated. Christ, on the other hand, not only gives the life, but He is the life—not as mere source, or as the communicator of vitalizing influence, but He lives Himself as the life of His people; for he adds—but Christ Who lives in me... Living is the emphatic theme of both clauses; the contrast is between ego and Christos in relation to this life; the one clause does not contradict or subvert the other, but the last brings out a new aspect under which this life is contemplated. The utterance is not, as might be expected, I live in Christ; but, “Christ liveth in me."... But Christ-life in us is a blessed fact, realized by profound consciousness; and the personality is not merged, it is rather elevated and more fully individualized by being seized and filled with a higher vitality, as the following clauses describe. (Eadie's Online Commentary on Galatians)
Literally this clause is quite expressive...
"and live no longer I, but liveth in me Christ"
Galatians 2:20 (47 kb)
Remove the Pentium processor from your computer and what's left? A useless contraption fit for the junkyard! What happens to the Christian if you remove "Christ" (i.e., you try to live the Christian life and perform Christian work without Christ living and working out His life through you)? You have 3 letters left, from which you can compose the acronym...
I
Accomplish
Nothing
(cf Jn 15:5, Phil 2:12, 2:13)
Therefore ‘it is Christ Who now lives in me’. It is from Him that I receive all my strength. In Him I trust completely. On His righteousness, imputed to me, I base my hope for eternity.
‘On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
(play hymn)
Phil Newton encourages us writing that...
When you find that you are having difficulty pressing on in the Christian walk, then pause to reflect upon the personal nature of this truth. God Himself came from Heaven, took on humanity, endured the opposition of men, and ultimately, bore His own wrath for you personally. When you came to faith in Christ, you did not come as part of the mass of humanity, but personally, individually. You cannot ride the group’s train to Heaven, but you come singularly to Jesus Christ by faith. (Galatians 2:20-21 The Sweet Fruit of Justification)
No longer (3765) (ouketi from ouk = absolutely not + eti = yet, still) is an adverb which negates an extension of time beyond a certain point and thus means no more, no longer or no further. Paul is not saying that like some of the mystics erroneously teach that the believer's personality is so merged with that of Christ's that in reality only one personality can be said to exist, namely, that of Christ. The next verse corrects such a false impression ("which I now live") and it is still Paul, the individual, who lives.
By way of practical application, Paul's strong negation indicates that his new life with Christ is no longer, like his former life, dependent upon the struggling efforts of a mere man seeking to draw near to holy God on the basis of his own works of righteousness. Christ Himself is the Source, as the vine is the source of life to the branches. Are you still struggling to draw near to God based on what you do (or don't do) for Him dear believer? Ask the Spirit of the Living God to lead you into the "rest" that is found in the glorious truth of your very real and very personal union with the Resurrected Lord Jesus Christ Who Himself invites you to...
"Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. "Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and YOU SHALL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. "For My yoke is easy, and My load is light." (Mt 11:28-30)
S Lewis Johnson explains the "I" here writing that...
in this case the person in view is the person as dominated by the evil principle of sin, or the flesh -- . This last sense is the meaning here, in the clause, "and it is no longer I who live." This is the "I" as under the domination of the sin principle. The apostle hastens to add, "but Christ lives in me"...It is in the same person, who formerly was dominated by the sin principle, that Christ lives by the Spirit, but the person has undergone a radical change of direction and domination (cf. 2Cor. 5:17), with new motivation and new desires now implanted by the Spirit through regeneration. The whole tenor of the life has been transformed. The present tense in the verb "lives" stresses that He will never leave us. (Read his full message on Galatians 2:15-21) (Bolding added)
No longer
SELF CENTERED
But now
CHRIST CENTERED!
A genuine Christian is a person who is able to say what Paul said in Galatians 2:20. Paul had a living, personal relationship with the Son of God! Do you have such a relationship? Can others see Christ living in and through your life?
Christ Who lives... Now only what Christ does in us and through us merits God's approval (See Mt 3:22-23 for Who pleased God! This very One now indwells us and by His Spirit enables us to live life in a way that pleases our Father!). This is one of the most difficult truths to learn in the Christian life because our culture has so ingrained in us that we have to work for the favor of others. If we work hard enough, we might gain their approval! And yet when it comes to pleasing God, we could never "do" or "work" enough to please Him. Paul learned the secret that only God's Son living and working through us via His Spirit could please the Father (See Jn 15:5 where "nothing" includes "nothing" that pleases God!). What God does desire and what is a manifestation of true faith is our (Spirit of grace [Heb 10:29] enabled) obedience, for "to obey is better than sacrifice" (1Sa 15:22). But even our obedience ultimately is initiated and empowered by the indwelling Spirit of Christ (Ezekiel 36:27). In is sad that undoubtedly much "Christian work" that has been done in the name of Jesus is going to burn because it has been carried out not by Christ Who lives in us but in the power and motives of the flesh.
Christ now lives in us as the Spirit of Christ overcoming our remaining bent to sinning, this work of the Spirit being referred to theologically as sanctification.
Christ is also stated as indwell believers in other NT passages...
John 14:23 "Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him."
Ro 8:10 (see note) And if (= since) Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
Col. 1:27 (see note) to (God's saints) God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
The indwelling of Christ is often associated with the ministry of the Holy Spirit
(As believers we now) are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if (since) indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him...11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you. (see notes Romans 8:9, 8:11)
1Cor. 3:16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
1Cor 6:19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?
2Ti 1:14 (see note) Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.
THE NEW PRINCIPLE:
THE HOLY SPIRIT MANIFESTING
THE LIFE OF THE LORD JESUS
Wuest comments that...
It is no longer a self-centered life that he lives, but a Christ-centered one. His new life is a Person, the Lord Jesus living in Paul. And through the ministry of the Holy Spirit the Lord Jesus is manifest in his life. The new life is no longer, like the former one, dependent upon the ineffectual efforts of a man attempting to draw near to God in his own righteousness. The new life is a Person within a person, living out His life in that person. Instead of attempting to live his life in obedience to a set of rules in the form of the legal enactments of the Mosaic law, Paul now yields to the indwelling Holy Spirit and cooperates with Him in the production of a life pleasing to God, energized by the divine life resident in him through the regenerating (Ed: And I would add sanctifying) work of the Spirit. Instead of a sinner with a totally depraved nature attempting to find acceptance with God by attempted obedience to a set of outward laws, it is now the saint living his life on a new principle, that of the indwelling Holy Spirit manifesting forth the Lord Jesus. That is what Paul means when he says: And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me. (Wuest, K. S. Wuest's Word Studies from the Greek New Testament: Studies in the Vocabulary of the Greek New Testament: Grand Rapids: Eerdmans)
TRUE CHRISTIAN
RIGHTEOUSNESS
Martin Luther who was well versed in trying to live a righteous life in his own power wisely wrote this warning...
Paul explains what constitutes true Christian righteousness. True Christian righteousness is the righteousness of Christ Who lives in us. We must look away from our own person. Christ and my conscience must become one, so that I can see nothing else but Christ crucified and raised from the dead for me. If I keep on looking at myself, I am gone. If we lose sight of Christ and begin to consider our past, we simply go to pieces. We must turn our eyes to the brazen serpent (Nu 21:4-7, 8, 9 > applied by Jesus to Himself = Jn 3:14-15), Christ crucified, and believe with all our heart that He is our righteousness and our life (Col 3:4, Jn 6:56, 20:31). For Christ, on Whom our eyes are fixed (Heb 12:1-2, Col 3:1-2, Titus 2:13, 1Pe 1:13), in Whom we live (See related topic: in Christ), Who lives in us (Col 1:27, Jn 14:20, 15:4, 17:23, Ro 8:9, 2Cor 13:5), is Lord over Law, sin, death, and all evil.
Jerry Bridges has an illustration of no longer I but Christ...
Before battery-powered watches were invented, wristwatches had to be wound every day. A watch’s stem was used not only to adjust the hands but also to wind up the mainspring. The gradual unwinding of the mainspring throughout the day drove the mechanism of the watch to keep time. The Gospel of justification by faith in Christ is the mainspring of the Christian life. And like the mainspring in old watches, it must be wound every day. Because we have a natural tendency to look within ourselves for the basis of God’s approval or disapproval (Ed: Beloved, does this not hit a nerve so to speak - it certainly does in life, even after 25 years of walking clothed with His righteousness!), we must make a conscious daily effort (Ed: But even this God pleasing "effort" I would submit is initiated and enabled by the Spirit [see Php 2:13, Heb 13:20-21] Who indwells us [1Cor 3:16, 6:19], whose goal is ever to glorify Christ [Jn 16:14] - so He will continually be drawing our hearts and minds back to the "Source" of righteousness - Jer 23:5, 1Cor 1:30, 2Cor 5:21, Ro 3:21-25, Php 3:7-9) to look outside ourselves to the righteousness of Christ, then to stand in the present reality of our justification. Only then will we experience the stability that the first bookend is meant to provide....
Paul’s resting in Christ’s righteousness rather than his own did not cause him to slack off in his pursuit of Christlikeness. Rather, it motivated him to press on and strain forward (Php 3:12-14). Now his zeal was motivated not by a desire to earn God’s favor but by love and gratitude for the righteousness of Christ that was his by faith. This is the motivating power of the Gospel....
The Christian life may now be more of a duty than a joyous response to the gospel. Consequently we may not experience the motivating power of the Gospel.
That’s why we need to intentionally bathe
our minds and hearts in the Gospel every day.
Remember, we need the Gospel not only as a door into an initial saving relationship with Christ, but also as the first bookend to keep our daily lives from becoming a performance treadmill. As we rely on Christ’s righteousness in this manner, far from leading to a license to sin, it actually motivates us to deal with the sin we see in our lives by presenting our bodies as living sacrifices to God. (The Bookends of the Christian Life - This book is highly recommended - But don't "speed read" it! In this book Bridges goes on to explain two other Gospel enemies besides [1] self-righteousness -- [2] Persistent guilt and [3] Self-reliance and then discusses in very practical manner the second bookend of the spiritual life = The Power of the Holy Spirit.)
Puritan John Owen adds that...
When we have our quiet times for the day, or when we have given a tithe, we are confident of God’s love toward us. But when our days become crowded and personal devotions end up neglected, we start to avoid God, sensing that we are under His wrath and anger. We imagine that God is waiting for us to get ourselves together (Ed: As if we could!!!) before we again enter His presence. Such thinking betrays our failure to grasp the security of our union (Ed: Oneness, Identification, Covenant) [with Christ] and the depth of God’s love and consequently disrupts our communion with Him.
Making God’s love contingent on our action
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