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Galatians 2:20

The Pulpit Commentary on Galatians 2:20

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

Fellowship with Christ in his death and in his life.

"I have been crucified: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." The apostle is showing how he died to the Law and became released from legal bondage; it was through his becoming a partaker of the death of Christ.

2. FELLOWSHIP WITH CHRIST IN HIS DEATH. "I have been crucified with Christ."

1. Here is a true identity of position. I was one with him under Law and in suffering and death, so that when he died I died with him. I died in him when he died as my surety, satisfying Divine justice for me. Thus baptism for me signifies "baptism unto his death" (); "We are buried with him in baptism unto death." We are "planted in the likeness of his death." All this purports the interest of the believer in the merit of Christ's death.

2. It is a position involving a threefold change of relation.

II. FELLOWSHIP WITH CHRIST IN HIS LIFE. "Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." This a mystery to the world. The apostle is dead and is yet alive.

1. Our death with Christ involves our life with him. "If we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him" (). It is thus we realize "the power of his resurrection" (). Thus "we shall live with him by the power of God" ().

2. It is not a life which has its root in the apostle v himself. "Yet not I." We are by nature "dead" (), and cannot quicken ourselves. Our life is no natural principle. Neither can we sustain this life nor prolong its existence. This fact explains at once the backslidings, the fears, and the unfruitfulness of believers.

3. Christ is the very life of the soul. "Christ liveth in me."

4. The blessed fruits of this life.

5. It is a life of which the apostle was fully conscious. He does not say, "I am elected," or "I am justified," but "I live." He speaks the language of happy assurance. He knows he is spiritually alive. His confession is a rebuke to those who doubt the possibility of attaining to the "full assurance of hope."

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