“Nevertheless I Live”

By Tammy Lacock

“I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20 KJV)

In this week’s podcast, Warren Litzman explains the Apostle Paul’s Galatians 2:20 experience and how this knowledge is foundational to our understanding of what it means to be a born-again believer in Christ.

In Galatians 2:20, Paul tells us we are “crucified with Christ.” This means everything that has made us who we are before coming to Christ has died. Our old selves, our pasts, have died with Christ. We are no longer Jew or Gentile, male or female, black or white. No more labels telling us who we are.

Yet, Paul tells us we still live. By Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection, we arose, too, to a new life in Christ. Our old sin natures are exchanged by Christ’s nature, His seed planted in us by believing and by God’s Amazing Grace. This is what it means to be born again. We live now by the “faith of the Son of God.” Warren explains that faith is God’s knowledge in action. Therefore, we live now by the knowledge of Christ, who now “liveth in me.” Our old selves have been cancelled out, and Christ is our new life, literally living in us! The life we now live is Christ.

The problem lies in our minds. We must have a radical mind change, by the help of the Holy Spirit, in order for us to understand our new life in Christ. Our minds must get to a place where we can allow Him to break through into our souls and our outward expression. We must make up our minds to stop trying to be like Christ but rather focus on Him and who we are now with Him as our new life. It’s time to get to know Him!

Warren shares four very important things that make up Christ, who now lives in us. When we set our minds on these things, we will get to know Him more; and therefore, express Him the way God intended.

1. Christ was born to die. His death brought us new life. By Him living in us now, we too have it in us to die and be born again. This is the heart of Paul’s message in Galatians 2:20. We have the ability to die to our old lives and to anything that doesn’t align with Christ and God’s plan.
2. Christ in us lives without hang-ups. Again, it’s in our minds where we have our own hang-ups. The more we set our minds on Him, the more we will let go of the things that hold us back from knowing Him and expressing Him.
3. Christ in us is industrious. He’s not lazy. He works and earns his pay properly, fitting into His environment. He did this while on earth. And now He longs to work and be productive through us and through who God created us to be, one Spirit in Him.
4. Christ in us loves people. He’s a people-person. He wants to love people through us.

Throughout Paul’s epistles, He tells us Christ lives in us as believers. Galatians 2:20 lies at the heart of his gospel. By His death, we died too. We are dead to sin and our old selves, our old lives. Yet, he tells us, we live!

Christ is our new life, and by God’s grace, we now live by Him, through Him, and in Him.