If It Is No Longer I, Then Who?

Let’s begin our journey from the theological to the practical regarding “Christ in you” with a stop in Galatians chapter 2.  “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me” (Gal 2:20).

“I have been crucified with Christ…”  Since you are standing here alive, not dead, what part of you was crucified with Christ?  Who died?  The original version of you.  The sin-controlled version of you.  The old self lost in sin.  The old man living under the debt, the obligation, the power of sin.  “Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin” (Rom 6:6).

“… and it is no longer I who live…”  How can that be?  Who or what is the “I” that is no longer living in this body?  This still looks like me, both inside and out.  I have the same hair color and the same personality quirks as before.  So how can this be “no longer I who live” here?

Short answer and speaking personally, the original version of Jay no longer lives in this body.  As we saw above, the original Jay was crucified with Christ.  So it begs the question, if the original Jay is no longer here, who is?

“… but Christ lives in me…”  Ah, we are back to the “Christ in you” theme.  Let’s allow this to sink into our heads, and to drive deep into our hearts, and to literally saturate our being.  It is no longer the original “I” living inside, but Christ Himself has taken up residence in me.  And this is not just a piece or remnant of Christ living in us.  No, it is the full experience.

In Colossians chapter 1, Paul explains that Christ is the “fullness of deity” (Col 1:19); fully and completely God.  Paul follows this triumphant worship and identification of Christ as God with the truth that this “fullness of deity” lives in you (Col 1:27).  Does that make you a god?  No!  God is off the charts in His deity, His sovereignty, His power, His omniscience, and His holiness.  What it does make us is a vessel, a container, a repository of God’s righteous nature.  This is the Christ that “lives in me”.

We are halfway through Galatians 2:20 and ready for the next step; “… the life which I now live…”  We will see what that life looks like next time.