Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Galatians 2:20

"I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me: and that [life] which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, [the faith] which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me." — Galatians 2:20 (ASV)

This same point Paul now repeats in greater detail, with the name of Christ prominent. He has died to law so that he might live for God, but this is true only because he has been joined by the Father to the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus died; so did Paul. Jesus rose again; so did Paul. The resurrection life he is now living he is living through the presence of the Lord Jesus within him. By having died and come to life in Christ the believer actually participates in Christ’s death and resurrection, conceived on the basis of the mystical union of the believer with the Lord (cf. Romans 6:4–8; Colossians 2:12–14, 20; 3:1–4).

What does it mean to be “in Christ”? It means to be so united to Christ that all the experiences of Christ become the Christian’s experiences. Thus, his death for sin was the believer’s death; his resurrection was (in one sense) the believer’s resurrection; his ascension was the believer’s ascension, so that the believer is (again in one sense) seated with Christ “in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 2:6). When one died with Christ, one’s “old self” (cf. Ephesians 4:25) died with Christ. This was arranged by God so that Christ, rather than the old Paul, might live in him.

True, Paul is still living. But he adds that the life he lives now is lived “by faith.” It is a different life from the life in which he was striving to be justified by law. In another sense, it is not Paul who is living at all, but rather Christ who lives in him.