Gal.2:20 – 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.
This verse can be life changing when the Holy Spirit makes the truth of this verse real to us and we grasp it by faith. Somehow not only my sins were nailed to the cross but I, the sinner, was also crucified with Christ. You see all of us were born with a problem so severe that it could not be fixed. Our nature was fallen and twisted so forgiveness alone could never make us whole. That’s why in the Old Covenant you were required to bring sin offerings continually to the priests at the temple. Forgiveness was one thing but our sinful nature could not stop sinning. The only way to rid ourselves of this problem was to die, I had to be crucified with Christ in order to be delivered. Like Paul, I have been crucified with Christ freeing me from the bondage that held me as its slave. Here is how Matthew Henry describes this.
“He is crucified, but he lives; the old self has been crucified, and the new self is alive. Sin is put to death, and grace is given life. I live, and yet not I. He has the strengths, encouragements, and triumphs of grace, but that grace does not come from himself, but from another. He is crucified with Christ, but Christ lives in him. He shares in the death of Christ, so as to die to sin, but also shares in the life of Christ and therefore lives to God. He lives in the flesh, and yet lives by faith; to all outward appearances he lives as other people do, but a higher and nobler principle supports him, that of faith in Christ. Those who have true faith live by that faith.”
Death is not the end, just as we were crucified with Christ we have risen from the dead with Christ. Because He lives I live, because He lives you live. I have been born again by the resurrection of Jesus Christ and now I am truly alive because the Spirit of the Lord lives inside of me.
