A Former Life

“It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”

(Galatians 2:20 – Part 2, Preaching: Pastor Stephen Magee, March 18, 2018)

It is no longer I who live

All of us are alive today, just as the Apostle Paul was alive when he wrote these words to the churches in the region of Galatia. What could Paul mean by saying, “it is no longer I who live?” Who is this dead “I?” He answers the question himself by writing earlier in Galatians 1:13 about his “former life in Judaism.” Paul was dedicated to what I call “scribal Judaism.” Scribal Judaism came from the traditions of the rabbis over the centuries, obscuring the Word of God (Matthew 23:25-26).

Jesus had His own intense conflicts with scribal Judaism, and He administered the necessary indictment against this false Old Testament interpretation by quoting Isaiah 29:13, “This people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men.” He then summed up Isaiah's point by saying, “You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men” (Mark 7:8).

Why would people choose the tradition of men above the Word of God? They hope to establish their right standing through this man-made plan. That was once Paul's problem, and that old Paul had to go. In fact, the old Paul, with the old worldview that was so wrong, had to die. Paul was still biologically alive, but his old “heart” died.

Christ lives in me

What happened to the old Paul? He says in the first part of this verse, “I have been crucified with Christ.” Paul still had a life to live, yet He knew that Christ was living this new life of resurrection Judaism through Paul. Paul was still very much a Jew, but the King of the Jews, Jehovah in the flesh, Jesus the Messiah, was living in Paul. Amazing. (Genesis 2:7 and John 20:21-22)

Paul wrote about his own situation as an encouragement to his young protege, Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:12–17, “I thank Him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because He judged me faithful, appointing me to His service, [13] though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, [14] and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. [15] The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. [16] But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display His perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in Him for eternal life. [17] To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.”

Paul, New Creation in Christ, Christ in Him, Death-and-Resurrection.

The Galatians and Their Tumultuous Spiritual Struggle

This death and resurrection pattern was not only for Paul but for all who are in Christ. He wrote to the churches in Galatians 4:8, “Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods.” These words were not written to Jews but to Gentiles. They did not grow up with scribal Judaism, but with some other worldview big among Gentiles that enslaved them to idols. The resurrection grace of Jesus confronts every other life that people come up with to make themselves right or worthy to themselves, their people, or the powers of the universe. Here in Galatians, Paul wrote to those who once held to (1) a Gentile way of life, they then were (2) found by God and adopted into His household, only to be assaulted by people from Jerusalem teaching them about finishing their new life as Jesus-followers with a generous covering of (3) ceremonial OT Law/Jewish traditions. The final veneer had to be removed.

With all these worldviews flying around, not to mention our systems of establishing our own virtue, how can we simplify this teaching and make it more useful. Here it is: All false worldviews try to take us from our uncomfortable vice to our own manufactured virtue. All those old ways of living life have been crucified with Christ. Only Jesus living in us can bring us safely to the GRACE of God. That's where we want to be, where our virtue has come as a gift to us through the resurrected Christ.

Communion with Christ in Death and Life

Our union with Jesus in His death and resurrection gives us our status with God. That is the beginning of a lifelong adventure of communion with God, which is also a daily gift from the One who gave us life. The goal of that communion with Christ is that we would become like Him (Romans 8:29). Ephesians 4:22 says that you are “to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” Having problems with your new life in Christ? Could it be that you are trying to live two lives at once? The old one has to die so that the new one can flourish more and more.

Onesimus was a non-Christian slave serving a Christian master, Philemon. Onesimus ran away from Philemon, met Paul, and God claimed him as His beloved child. Paul then wrote to Philemon, and said about Onesimus, “Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.” The apostle urged Philemon to willingly free his slave, so that Onesimus could serve with Paul as a free man as a part of the Lord's gospel team. It was no longer Onesimus who lived, but Christ who lived in him.

History tells us that centuries later one Patrick of Britain was captured as a 16 year old by an Irish raiding party to serve as a slave in Ireland. After six years he escaped and made his way back home until he came to a greater life of faith and calling. He believed that God was sending him back to the land of his bondage to teach the Irish about the resurrected Son of God. It was no longer Patrick who lived, but Christ who lived in him.

And then there is you and me. If you cling to your old way of life, you are a slave to that former life. Instead, why not say “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me?” Put off the old man of the autonomous I, and put on the new man of the glorious Jesus Christ. What will God do if you give your life more fully and willingly to Jesus as Lord?

Old Testament Reading—Psalm 49 – Mount Zion and The City of Our God

Gospel Reading—Matthew 26:1-56 – The plot to kill Jesus / Jesus anointed at Bethany / Judas to betray Jesus / The Passover with the disciples / Institution of the Lord's Supper / Jesus foretells Peter's denial / Jesus prays in Gethsemane