“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me…” – Galatians 2:20
LIGHT FOR NOW: Union with Christ means that the believer’s old life has been brought to the cross, while a new life is now lived from Christ. The Christian life is not self-improvement; it is Christ expressed through a new creation.
Galatians 2:20 gives us one of the clearest pictures of what it means to be united with Christ: “I am crucified with Christ”. Paul was not saying that he physically died on the cross. He was revealing that, through union with Christ, the old order of life under sin and self-rule has been judged in Christ. The Greek word translated “crucified with” is systauroo, meaning “to crucify together with”. Paul understood the cross as more than an event that happened to Jesus; he understood its implications for everyone who is in Christ.
This is why he says, “Nevertheless I live”. Something died, yet something new lives. The Christian message is not simply, “Jesus died for you.” It is also that those who belong to Christ have been brought into the reality of His death and resurrection. Romans 6:6 says, “Our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin”. Notice the purpose: “that henceforth we should not serve sin”. The cross broke sin’s dominion. It does not mean the believer never faces temptation or struggles again; it means sin is no longer the rightful master of the believer. Paul therefore says, “Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me”. This is the heart of Christian living. The goal is not simply to become a better version of yourself through human effort. The goal is that the life of Christ becomes increasingly expressed through you.
Your old identity is no longer the final authority over your life. Your past cannot dictate your future. Your former patterns cannot define your new nature. Your failures cannot cancel what Christ has accomplished. You now live from a new source. Paul continues, “And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God…” Notice that Paul still lived “in the flesh.” Union with Christ did not remove him from physical existence. He still had a body, responsibilities, challenges, and human experiences. The difference was his source of life. He was no longer living merely from himself. He was living by faith in Christ.
This is the practical meaning of union with Christ: Christ becomes the centre from which we live. When you face temptation, you remember that sin is not your master. When you face fear, you remember that Christ is your life. When you face weakness, you depend upon His grace. When you face uncertainty, you trust His faithfulness. The Christian life is therefore not an attempt to manufacture Christ-like life through human strength. It is learning to yield to the life we have received in Christ. The more we understand our union with Him, the more naturally our lives begin to reflect Him. Glory!
INSTRUCTION: Stop defining yourself by the person you used to be. Meditate on Galatians 2:20 today and consciously depend on Christ rather than your own strength.
CONFESSION: I have been crucified with Christ, and I live by His life. Sin is not my master, my past is not my identity, and fear does not define me. Christ lives in me, and His life is expressed through me daily, in Jesus Name. Amen!
FOR MORE LIGHT, get the message ‘Understanding Salvation’ by Prophet Dr John Linus.
QUOTE: The Christian life is not the old man trying to imitate Christ; it is the new creation learning to live from Christ.
DAILY BIBLE READING: MORNING: GALATIANS CHAPTER 2; EVENING: ROMANS CHAPTER 6
