I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Galatians 2:20
Notes
John Calvin puts it this way, “We who are dead to the law, live to God. Engrafted into the death of Christ, we derive a secret energy from it, as a shoot does from the root. Again, Christ has nailed the handwriting of the law, contrary to us, to His cross. Therefore, being crucified with Him, we are freed from all the curse and guilt of the law.” He also states, “Having said that we are nailed to the cross along with Christ, and he added that this makes us alive.”
What is the Law and what is its purpose? The central points of the Law are the 10 Commandments which you can find in Exodus 20. The commandments show us very directly what sin is and what is expected of us. Further still it shows what Christ’s sacrifice saved us from. Put a simpler way, the 10 Commandments are moral laws. Each of us has broken these laws and Christ has paid the fine so that we would not be punished for our failings.
For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
James 2:10
What is Paul not saying about the central points of the Law? Paul is not saying that the Law is dead, it is not. But it was Paul who died to the Law. Paul was well educated by the Pharisee rabbi Gamaliel. He was taught the law in and out. He was a Pharisee of Pharisees. He was the most well-known persecutor of Christians. Paul had to die to his old educated life and actions. He had to be reeducated to the truth, the truth of Jesus.
How is Christ’s sacrifice the same for Paul as it is for us? When Christ was hung on the cross at Calvary he died for us and Paul. On the cross, he paid for every sin we commit and will commit. This is Substitutionary Atonement in which Jesus Christ died as a substitute for sinners. Because of the sins that we commit, we deserve death but Christ loved us enough to die so that we in our natural, normal selves allow Christ to fill us with himself.
In our old selves, we live for our wants and desires. When we come to realize that those behaviors earn us eternal death, we then see our need for Christ. His salvation, His Substitutionary Atonement and His gift of eternal life become all the more vital. The world can never offer us such an amazing gift as this.
This verse shows us the progression of our changing from what we once were to a new life. When Christ died on the cross, we also died and we in ourselves are no longer alive, but Christ lives in us. Insomuch, we don’t live the same, we don’t see life in the same way and we see our sin as devastating. This is Christ living in us. We change from living for ourselves and we live by faith and trust in the Son of God. We need to love Him, grow close to Him, and receive Him as our Savior because He was beaten, spat on, and hung on the cross with such humility for us. His love was abounding with such love in His actions.
To die to our old nature is to receive Christ as Savior, LORD, High Priest and King. A. R. Fausset put it this way, ‘I am crucified with Christ and I no longer live meaning I am dead. But Christ lives in me; Our old man, our old nature is no longer alive. The life I now live in the body, this is going into the contrast of living as the old self and now, I live by faith in the Son of God.’
—P.D Deckard
MEMORY VERses
Max Klinger. Back into Nothingness, plate fifteen from A Life, 1884. The Art Institute of Chicago
Related Verses
More verses about a sacrificial life:
PRAYER INVITATION
“How does Christ’s death on the Cross demonstrate God’s wisdom? In this way: Through the Cross, our sin is judged, yet sinful men and women are forgiven precisely because God has judged that sin in Jesus Christ instead of in us.”
—Sinclair Ferguson
MANÁ 
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