Scripture Reading: Gal. 2:19-20; Rom. 6:6a, Rom. 6:8; 2 Cor. 5:14-15; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17; John 6:57b; Phil. 1:21a
Galatians 2:20 is a familiar verse. In this verse is one of the basic items of God’s New Testament economy: no longer I, but Christ living in me. According to God’s economy, we should no longer live; rather, Christ should live in us. This is a basic aspect of the truth of the gospel. However, most Christians do not have the proper and adequate understanding of what it means to say no longer I, but Christ living in me.
Because this has not been made clear, some Christians, including certain Christian teachers, think that 2:20 speaks of what has been called an exchanged life. According to this concept, we are replaced by Christ. Christ comes in, and we go out. According to the concept of an exchanged life, our life is pitiful, and the life of Christ is far better. Therefore, we should exchange our life for Christ’s life. As we shall see, this concept is wrong.
Galatians 2:20 does not speak of an exchanged life. Here Paul says, “No longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” Then he goes on to say, “And the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God.” On the one hand, Paul says, “It is no longer I who live”; on the other hand, he says, “I live.” If you consider this verse as a whole, you will see that there is no thought of an exchanged life. Here what is presented is not an exchange; rather, it is a profound mystery.
We have pointed out that the book of Galatians reveals the basic truths of God’s New Testament economy. Among these basic truths, the most basic one is found in 2:20. Because the truth of no longer I, but Christ living in me is so basic, it is also mysterious; and because it is mysterious, it has not been properly understood by Christians throughout the centuries. Therefore, we look to the Lord that He would make this basic truth clear to us.
We have pointed out that in this verse Paul says, on the one hand, “no longer I” and, on the other hand, “I live.” How can we reconcile this? Once again I wish to point out that this is not an exchange of life. The way to interpret the Bible properly is by the Bible itself. This means that other verses are needed if we are to understand this verse. Romans 6:6 tells us that our old man has been crucified with Christ. This verse helps us to see that the very I who has been crucified with Christ is the old “I,” the old man. As regenerated people, we have both an old “I” and a new “I.” The old “I” has been terminated, but the new “I” lives. In Galatians 2:20 we have both the old “I” and the new “I.” The old “I” has been crucified with Christ, terminated. Therefore, Paul can say, “no longer I.” However, the new “I” still lives. For this reason, Paul can say, “I live.”
Now we must go on to see the difference between the old “I” and the new “I.” Because we are so familiar with 2:20, we may take this verse for granted and assume that we understand it. But what is the difference between the old “I” and the new “I”? According to the natural understanding, some would say that the old “I” is evil, whereas the new “I” is good. This concept of the difference between the old “I” and the new “I” must be rejected. The old “I” had nothing of God in it, whereas the new “I” has received the divine life. The old “I” has become a new “I” because God as life has been added to it. The “I” that has been terminated is the “I” that was without divinity. The “I” who still lives is the “I” into which God has been added. There is a great difference here. The old “I,” the “I” without God, has been terminated. But the new “I” still lives, the “I” that came into being when the old “I” was resurrected and had God added to it. On the one hand, Paul has been terminated. But, on the other hand, a resurrected Paul, one with God as his life, still lives.
Because of their rejection of God’s light many Christians are blind to this understanding of 2:20. If they heard such a word about the old “I” and the new “I,” they would reject it. Their rejection, however, would be completely without ground. As genuine Christians, they have been regenerated. When a person is regenerated, he is not annihilated or destroyed. To be regenerated means to have God added into us. In regeneration, we who once did not have God in us now have Him added to us. The very “I” who did not have God in it is over. This is the old “I,” the old man, who has been crucified with Christ. But from the time that we began to appreciate the Lord Jesus and the operating faith began to work in us, this faith brought the processed Triune God into us and added Him to our being. From that time onward, we have had a new “I,” an “I” with God in it. Hence, the new “I” is the old “I” which has become an “I” resurrected with God added to it. Praise the Lord that the old “I” has been terminated and the new “I” now lives!
In 2:20 Paul says, “Christ lives in me.” According to the concept of an exchanged life, our life is terminated and Christ lives. But we need a more thorough understanding of what it means to say that Christ lives in us.It is rather easy to understand that Christ lives. But it is difficult to understand how Christ lives in us. This does not mean that I have been crucified and live no longer, and that Christ lives instead of me. On the one hand, Paul said, “no longer I”; on the other hand, he said, “Christ lives in me.” The phrase “in me” is of great importance. Yes, it is Christ who lives, but it is in us that He lives.
In order to understand how Christ can live in us, we need to turn to John 14. Before His death and resurrection, the Lord Jesus said to the disciples, “Because I live, you shall live also” (v. 19). Christ lives in us by causing us to live with Him. Christ does not live alone. He lives in us and with us. He lives by enabling us to live with Him. In a very real sense, if we do not live with Him, He cannot live in us. We have not been altogether ruled out, and our life has not been exchanged for the divine life. We continue to exist, but we exist with the Triune God. The Triune God who now dwells within us causes us to live with Christ. Hence, Christ lives in us through our living with Him.
Once again the illustration of grafting helps our understanding. After a branch has been grafted into a productive tree, the branch continues to live. However, it lives not by itself, but by the tree into which it has been grafted. Furthermore, the tree lives in the branch which has been grafted into it. The branch now lives a grafted life. This means that it lives, not by itself, but by the life of the tree into which it has been grafted. Furthermore, this other life, the life of the productive tree, does not live by itself, but through the branch grafted into it. The life of the tree lives in the branch. Eventually, the branch and the tree have one life with one living. In the same principle, we and Christ also have one life and one living.
In John 6:57 the Lord Jesus said, “As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me shall also live because of Me.” The Son did not live by Himself. However, this does not mean that the Son was set aside and ceased to exist. The Son, of course, continued to exist, but He did not live His own life. Instead, He lived the life of the Father. In this way the Son and the Father had one life and one living. They shared the same life and had the same living.
It is the same in our relationship with Christ today. We and Christ do not have two lives. Rather, we have one life and one living. We live by Him, and He lives in us. If we do not live, He does not live; and if He does not live, we cannot live. On the one hand, we are terminated; on the other hand, we continue to exist, but we do not live without Him. Christ lives within us, and we live with Him. Therefore, we and He have one life and one living.
Galatians 2:20 explains how through law we have died to law. When Christ was crucified, we were included in Him according to God’s economy. This is an accomplished fact. We have died in Christ through His death, but now He lives in us through His resurrection. His living in us is entirely by His being the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). This point is fully developed in the following chapters of Galatians, where the Spirit is presented and emphasized as the very One whom we have received as life and in whom we should live.
“I,” the natural person, is inclined to keep the law that I might be perfect (Phil. 3:6), but God wants me to live Christ that God may be expressed in me through Him (Phil. 1:20-21). Hence, God’s economy is that “I” be crucified in Christ’s death and Christ live in me in His resurrection. To keep the law is to exalt it above all things in my life; to live Christ is to make Him the center in my life, even to make Him everything to me. The law was used by God to keep His chosen people in custody for Christ for a period of time (Gal. 3:23), and eventually to conduct them to Christ (3:24) that they might receive Him as life and live Him as God’s expression. Since Christ has come, the function of the law has been terminated; therefore, Christ must replace the law in my life for the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose.
In 2:20 Paul speaks both of Christ and of the Son of God. The title “Christ” mainly denotes Christ’s mission to carry out God’s plan. “The Son of God” denotes Christ’s Person to impart God’s life into us. Hence, the faith in which we live God’s life is in the Son of God, the life-imparting One. The Son of God loved us and purposely gave Himself for us that He might impart the divine life into us.
The life which we now live in the flesh is not bios, the physical life, not psuche, the soulish life, but zoe, the spiritual and divine life.
Paul says that the life we now live in the flesh we live in faith, the faith of the Son of God. We live the divine life, not by sight or by feeling in the way we live the physical and soulish life. The divine life, which is the spiritual life in our spirit, is lived by the exercise of faith stimulated by the presence of the life-giving Spirit.
In speaking of faith, Paul refers to “the faith of the Son of God.” What is the meaning of the little word “of” here? This word implies that the faith mentioned in this verse is the Son of God’s faith, the faith which He Himself possesses. However, in interpreting this verse, we and many others have said that this phrase actually means faith in the Son of God. Nevertheless, the Greek does not use the preposition “in” here. I have spent a good deal of time trying to understand this matter. After consulting the writings of a number of leading authorities, I have become fully convinced that here Paul is not speaking of the Son’s faith, but of faith in the Son. However, we still need to explain why in this verse, as well as in 2:16 and 3:22, Paul does not use the preposition “in.” We cannot gain a proper understanding of this simply by studying the Scripture in black and white letters. We also need to consider our experience.
Paul wrote the book of Galatians both according to truth and according to his experience. According to our Christian experience, the genuine living faith which operates in us is not only in Christ, but also of Christ. Hence, Paul’s meaning here actually is “the faith of and in Christ.” Paul’s thought is that the faith is both of Christ and in Christ.
We have pointed out that faith is our appreciation of what the Lord is and of what He has done for us. We have also pointed out that genuine faith is Christ Himself infused into us to become our ability to believe in Him. After the Lord has been infused into us, He spontaneously becomes our faith. On the one hand, this faith is of Christ; on the other hand, it is in Christ. However, it is too simple merely to say that this faith is Christ. We need to say that it is Christ revealed to us and infused into us. Faith is related not only to the Christ who has been infused into us, but also to the Christ who is infusing Himself into us. As Christ operates in us, He becomes our faith. This faith is of Him and also in Him.
Proof that the faith in 2:20 is both the faith of Christ and the faith in Christ is found in Paul’s words at the end of the verse. He concludes the verse by referring to the Son of God as the One “Who loved me and gave Himself for me.” In writing these words, Paul was filled with appreciation of the Lord Jesus. Otherwise, at the end of such a long verse there would have been no need for him to speak of Christ loving him and having given Himself for him. He could have concluded with the expression, “the faith of the Son of God.” But as he was speaking of the way he now lived, his heart was filled with gratitude and appreciation. Faith comes from such an appreciation of the Lord Jesus. The faith in Christ and the faith of Christ issues from the appreciation of Christ.
In 2 Corinthians 5:14 and 15 Paul says, “For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.” As we consider these verses, we can see that Paul’s faith came from an appreciation for the constraining love of Christ. The more we appreciate Christ’s constraining love, the more faith we shall have. This faith is not produced by our own ability or activity. Rather, it is produced by the working in us of the very Christ whom we appreciate. In our appreciation for the Lord Jesus, we shall say, “Lord Jesus, I love You and I treasure You.” As we speak such words to the Lord, He operates within us and becomes our faith. This faith brings about an organic union in which we and Christ are truly one.
I would like to tell you a true story which confirms the point that the faith which operates in us comes from our appreciation of the Lord Jesus. During the Boxer Rebellion in China, hundreds of Christians were martyred. One day in Peking, the old capital of China, the Boxers were parading down the street. Sitting in the back of a wagon was a young Christian woman who was being led away to be executed. She was surrounded by executioners with swords in their hands. The atmosphere was terrifying, filled with the shoutings of the Boxers. Nevertheless, her face was glowing as she was singing praises to the Lord. The stores were closed because of the rioting. However, a young man was observing this scene through a crack at the front of a store. Deeply impressed with the young woman’s glowing face, happiness, and songs of praise, he decided at that moment that he would find out the truth about the Christian faith. Later, he did learn the truth and became a believer in Christ. Eventually, he gave up his business and became a preacher. One day, when he was visiting my home town, he told me this story of how he had become a Christian.
The point here is that this young woman could be filled with praises in the midst of such a terrifying situation because faith was working within her. She was filled with appreciation of the Lord Jesus. Because she loved Him so much, He spontaneously became the faith within her. This faith produced an organic union in which she was joined to the Lord. This organic union is a basic and crucial aspect of God’s New Testament economy.
The Galatians had turned from God’s economy and had gone back to the law, which they were trying to keep by the efforts of the flesh. But when we endeavor to keep the law in this way, we are far off from God. God’s economy is not that we try to keep the law in the strength of our flesh. His economy is to work Himself into us. The Triune God has become the processed God. Through incarnation, Christ came in the flesh to fulfill the law and then to set it aside. Through His resurrection, Christ has become the life-giving Spirit, ready to enter into us. God’s New Testament economy is for the processed Triune God to be wrought into us to become our life and our very being. If we see this, we shall be able to proclaim that we have been crucified with Christ and that we live no longer. Nevertheless Christ lives in us, and we live by the faith that is in Him and of Him. Our old person has been crucified, but the new person, the new “I,” still lives. Now we live by faith in the Son of God and of the Son of God, a faith that produces an organic union in which we and Christ are one. There is no comparison between keeping the law and such an organic union.
Galatians 2:20 is a revelation of God’s economy. In His economy God’s intention is for the processed Triune God to be wrought into our being to make us a new person, a new “I.” The old person, the old “I,” the “I” without God, is over; but the new person, the new “I,” the “I” with the Triune God in it, still lives. We live with Christ and by Christ. Furthermore, we live by faith, which is the means to bring us into oneness with Him. In this organic union we are one with the Lord, for we have one life and one living with Him. When we live, He lives. He lives in us, and we live with Him.
I believe that now we can understand what it means to say that Christ lives in us and that the life which we now live, we live by the faith of the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself for us. The experience portrayed in this verse implies that God in His Trinity has been processed. After Christ was incarnated, He lived on earth and then was crucified, buried, and resurrected. In resurrection He became the life-giving Spirit. After His ascension, Christ was crowned, enthroned, and made the Lord of all. On the day of Pentecost, He descended as the Spirit upon His Body. From that time until now, He has been working and moving on earth, seeking those who will appreciate Him and call on His name. Whenever we call on the Lord Jesus out of our appreciation of Him, He comes into us and becomes the living faith which operates in us and brings us into an organic union with Him. In this union we can truly say, “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 in faith, the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.” This is God’s New Testament economy. I hope that this vision will be infused into all the saints.
I can testify that because I have seen this heavenly vision, nothing can move me. I am willing to give my whole life for such a vision of God’s economy. The old person has been crucified with Christ, and Christ now lives in me, the new person. The life I now live, I live by faith, the faith of the Son of God and in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. Here we have the mingling of the Triune God with the tripartite man. How wonderful!
