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Galatians 2:20
Union with Christ
Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. That 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.
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Why it is worth knowing
- The Christian life involves a death: the death of the self-directed life
- Christ now lives in the believer: this is not metaphor but spiritual reality
- The flesh remains, but its direction has changed: now lived by faith
- The ground of this new life is deeply personal: “loved me and gave himself up for me”
Where it sits: Galatians 2:19-21
For I through the law died to the law, that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. That 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. I don’t reject the grace of God. For if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nothing!”
Hear the passage it sits in, sung word for word, on BibleDo's Galatians page.
Background
Paul is defending the gospel against those who insisted on adding law-keeping to faith in Christ. He argues that the law itself drove him to Christ, and in coming to Christ, he died to the law’s power to define him. This verse is one of the most intimate in all of Paul’s letters. The universal “God so loved the world” (John 3:16) becomes deeply personal here: he “loved me and gave himself up for me.”