I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me, and the life 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
Yes, this is one of my favorite verses in the whole Bible, I think maybe more than any other verse. It describes the Christian life, describes who we are in Christ.
Galatians 2:20 Teaches Us We Have New Life
We have been crucified with Christ. Even just that is awesome. We have died to sin and ourselves we have been crucified. It is no longer I who live. You and I don’t live anymore, our lives are totally different. It’s Christ who lives in us. The old David Platt is dead, new David Platt, Christ in David Platt is alive. The same thing true for your life. You are entirely new.
2 Corinthians 5, new creations. “It’s no longer I who live,” Paul writes, “But Christ who lives in me.” Even just that phrase, Jesus is living in you, through you, your life united with him, Christ in you. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God. This is how we live today. Live by faith. You just think about that with everything you do today. What does it mean to live by faith? To make every decision you make out of the overflow of faith in Jesus, you’re trusting in Jesus, you’re following Jesus.
Every single thing we think we desire, we say, we do, an overflow of faith in Jesus. The life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Oh, we live by faith in the one who loves us with an immeasurable, supernatural, indescribable love who gave himself for us, who laid down his life in love for you and me.
Even the way Paul makes that personal, not just he loved us and gave himself for us. Yes, that’s true. This is collective, but he’s just boasting in a good right way that we’ll see again in Galatians 6, and in God, and Jesus, and His love for him, for me, Paul says, “He gave himself for me.” Just let that soak in, in your life today, Jesus gave him himself for you. Jesus loves you personally.
Galatians 2:20 Reminds Us We Are Free to Live in Righteousness
Oh, God help us to live today a Galatians 2:20 life, and every day to live crucified with Christ. God help us today to die to ourselves to sin that we are tempted by. God, we don’t want to sin. We want to run from sin all day long. Live in righteousness and the righteousness you’ve made possible for us. We want to die to ourselves, our ways, we want to live according to your ways. We have been crucified with Christ.
It’s no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us. Jesus, we praise you for your life in us. Help us to experience your life in us today to the full. It’s whatever we’re walking through, God, where we’re walking through trials we pray for your strength in us. We are so thankful that the trials we’re walking through right now, we’re not walking through alone.
That Jesus, you live in us, and as a result, we can do all things through you who strengthen us, that we have peace from you that passes all understanding. To guard our hearts and minds today. We have wisdom from you by your spirit in us. We have joy that supersedes circumstances, even in the middle of trials. Romans 5, James 1, we praise you for your life in us, Jesus. So help us, we pray today with our life in the flesh, to live by faith in you.
God, we pray our every thought, our every desire, every word today, our every action would be the overflow of faith in you as the one who loves us and gave yourself for us. Jesus, we praise you for your love for us today.
Prayer for the Zarma People
Oh, help us to live in light of Galatians 2:20, and God help us to spread this good news. We pray, we pray for the Zarma people of Niger, five million of them, only a few followers of Jesus among them.
God, in a place where many Christians are suffering or have been persecuted, God, we pray for the spread of the gospel among the Zarma people, that they might hear the good news of the one who loves them and gave himself for them, that they might be crucified with Christ and experience the joy, and the peace, and the hope that come through life through Jesus living in them.
God, we pray that the Zarma people in Niger would be reached with the reality of Galatians 2:20. That you would raise up your church in our day to live out Galatians 2:20, dying to ourself in the ways of this world so that people like the Zarma and Niger might be reached through our lives, through our resources, through our praying, through our giving, our going. However, you lead us by faith in you. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
