“I have been crucified with Christ; 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 for me.”
Galatians 2:20
To become all that one can and was designed to be requires genuine change. In God’s economy this change comes through transformation as opposed to mere self-governance or “turning over a new leaf.” This change arises out of the new life (regeneration) that God implants into the one who surrenders himself through faith to the Creator/Redeemer.
We see this progression in Paul’s statement: I have been crucified with Christ is the surrender of faith. More than mere knowledge of truth, it is life commitment to that truth with steadfast conviction as to it’s trueness. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me is the positional truth of the one committed to it. Therein resides the power and potential of transformation that goes beyond the limits of self-help.
The issue then becomes: How does one manifest this power and tap into the potential of genuine transformation? Here is the apostle’s answer: the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God. The element of this statement that cannot be overlooked is that I now live in the flesh. This means that newness exists within the context of that which is yet to be redeemed – the flesh.
It was Paul himself that lamented: I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, nothing good dwells. I (my flesh) am habituated in that which opposes the character and purpose of God. Simply put, I am naturally selfish and self-preeminent. It is natural for me to think that I am the greatest and most important reality. But living by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me rescues me from that plight.
The one who is in Christ must daily live habitually acknowledging that good exists in the one that has been justified by and reconciled to God. That “good” is Jesus Christ. The believer has been made partaker of His divine nature through the Spirit of God.
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