Death and New Life

Greetings.

As we move further into Paul's defense of grace and his fight against legalistic righteousness, we come to an intersting comparison, even comparing the old life and new life in Christ to life and death, or rather death and new life.  Here is my translation of verses 19-20: 

19 For through the law, I am dead to the law, so that in God, I might live. 20 I have been crucified with Christ.  I no longer live, but now Christ lives in me. The life that I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself up for me.

Here, in verses 19-20, Paul clarifies his claim that rejecting the law and instead having faith in Jesus does not constitute sin.  As explained by Douglas Moo, Paul claims now that he has had such a reorientation of values as to compare it to “death and new life.” (Moo. 167.)  

("Death and new life"is what Paul is talking about. I believe Jesus talked about it as well, when he talked about the old and the new wineskins.  The old paradigm and the new paradigm are just not compatible. It is like a death, followed by a new life.)  

Paul says in verse 19 that he has died to the Law, and has had a radical transformation that comes through identification with Jesus’s crucifixion and death, saying that he was dead to the Law, so that in God, he might live. So, this is a metaphor of death followed by new life, with that new life being in God and for God.  He becomes the reason we are alive. His kingdom and His righteousness become the priority. (Matt. 6:33) 

Paul has been saying that we are no longer bound to the Mosaic Law, and we should not rebuild it in any form, since we cannot be justified by it. He further explains that the Law basically just shows us to be sinners.  We can never fulfill the Law, or in any way adequately keep it.  Only Jesus can do that and He did.

He carries that idea of death and new life into verse 20.  Paul says, “I have been crucified with Christ.”  Now, he is obviously speaking in metaphor, he had not been literally crucified, but he is declaring an end to his old life and its way of thinking.  

He continues, “I no longer live, but now Christ lives in me.”  His death and new life comparison continues, saying that yes, his body is still alive, but it is Christ, not Paul, that lives in that body. Because, while Paul is still alive, his life is lived by faith in Jesus. 

We often talk about spiritual formation, and we talk about having Christ formed in us.  (We will get to Gal. 4:19) That is what Paul is talking about now.  Jesus is living in him, and while he is still alive, he denies himself (basic discipleship) and walks by faith in the one who is living inside him. Thomas Schreiner puts it like this, “The new age of redemptive history is also marked by the indwelling of Christ in believers.” (Schreiner, 172.) The idea of Christ in us cannot be overstated. 

In verse 20, Paul uses the Greek verb ζῶ (zō) or “live” four times.  The verse is all about this new life that he lives in Christ, after he has put his old life to death, by association with the crucifixion of Jesus (death.) As we died with Christ, we now, like him, live in resurrection (new life.) Paul’s comparison of death and new life sounds a lot like Jesus in Luke 9:23.  He tells those who would follow him that they must deny self, and take up their Cross daily.  Paul echoes Jesus in the call to deny ourselves and live for Christ. 

As Paul continues, he describes Jesus as the one “who has loved and given himself up for me.”  The love and willing sacrifice of Jesus is why Paul is so willing to make such a radical transformation, from life to death and to a new and completely different  life. 

       Douglas Moo, Galatians, Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2013.

        Thomas Schriener, Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament: Galatians, Zondervan Academic, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2010.