Live By Faith

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20 NIV)

What does it mean to be crucified with Christ?  It means we accept Christ’s sacrifice for our sins.  We are dead to sin.  We now live for Christ.  He lives in us because of our acceptance of Him.  We now have new life through faith in Jesus, our Savior and God.  He loves us so much that He died for us.  We now live by faith.

“I am crucified with Christ” (see notes on Rom. 6:2-6). When a person trusts in Christ for salvation, he spiritually participates with the Lord in His crucifixion and His victory over sin and death.

“Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me”: The believer’s old self is dead (see note on Eph. 4:22), having been crucified with Christ (Rom. 6:3, 5). The believer’s new self has the privilege of the in-dwelling Christ empowering him and living through him (see notes on Rom. 8:9-10).

“Gave himself for me”: The manifestation of Christ’s love for the believer through His sacrificial death on the cross (John 10:17-18; Rom. 5:6-8; Eph. 5:25-30).

To be “crucified with Christ” means the believer has been freed from the law (verse 19), and from the ruling power of sin that was aroused by the law. “Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” is interpreted, “And I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”

Since the believer has been freed from the law and sin, the old sinful life no longer asserts itself as formerly. Instead, “Christ liveth in me;” that is, Jesus cultivates within the believer (Paul), His own desires, virtues, character, and power, thus morally transforming him and working through him on others.

Paul lives his current Christian life “by the faith of” [in], “the Son of God,” that is, by depending on Him for strength and all necessities.

This tells exactly what happens to the believer in Christ. My flesh must be crucified that my spirit might live. That spirit took up a dwelling place in my body. The soul is the will. My spirit and my body are constantly fighting for control of my will. When I become a Christian and make Jesus Christ Lord of my life, my flesh loses this battle. The Spirit of the risen Christ takes up abode in me, and He is in control of me.

I have turned my will over to God. It is my faith in God which gave me the confidence to turn myself over to the will of God. Christ lives in me to the glory of God. There is no need for me to worry because He has everything under control. Temptations fade away because I have turned the decision making over to Him. Christ in me, the hope of glory.