Christ Lives in Me

 Through the indwelling Spirit, Christ lives in me.

As I understand it, these two concepts in Paul’s thought—Christ lives in me (Galatians 2:20) and live by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16)—speak of the same reality. In the first reference, Paul was speaking of his own personal experience. In the second, he applied his experience to all who are followers of Christ—to us.

When we are led by the Spirit (Galatians 5:18, 25), the Spirit leads us to live the kind of life Christ lived. Thus, as we keep in step with the Spirit (Galatians 5:25 NIV), we participate in Christ’s life. As we live by the Spirit (Galatians 5:16), Christ lives in us and through us. 

Paul’s argument (Galatians 2:15—21) and instructions (Galatians 5:13—26) in his letter to the Galatians help us understand this Spirit-based way of living.

This Spirit-based way of living is the flip side of being crucified with Christ. “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:19b—20). It is the resurrection side of Christ’s pattern of death and resurrection (Philippians 3:10—11). We, like Christ, die to our ego-based self with its self-serving nature (Matthew 16:24—26). The Spirit leads us to make this choice to follow Jesus and them empowers us to live out of it. Through the power of the Spirit, we choose—over and over again—to not live out of our default what’s-in-it-for-me spirit. We die to this self-centered, self-serving nature in order that we might live to God (Galatians 2:19a).

This Spirit-based way of living moves us beyond the black-and-white, right-or-wrong thinking of the law (Galatians 2:19). The Spirit, not a set of rules or cultural-religious standard of expectations, guides our life. We live out of a servant spirit, following the path of love (Galatians 5:13—14) and discerning the Spirit’s guidance. Humility, grace, and forgiveness shape how we view and relate to others.

This Spirit-based way of living is living by faith. It is patterned after the kind of faith that Jesus had. “And the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God” (Galatians 2:20, alternate reading). The idea is not so much that we have faith in Christ as the Son of God—“by faith in the Son of God” (Galatians 2:20). Rather, it is that we trust God the way Jesus trusted God. We build our lives on the settled belief that God is who Jesus revealed God to be—a God of self-giving love who relates to us out of who God is, not who we are; a compassionate and merciful God who relates to us with grace and forgiveness rather than with judgment and condemnation. We trust God to accept us as we are (justification, Galatians 2:21). We trust God to walk with us through whatever life brings our way, working in it to conform us to the image of the Son (Romans 8:28—29). We trust God is committed to growing us up into emotional-relational-spiritual maturity that reflects the likeness of Christ. We trust God’s steadfast love will never waiver or falter. We trust God’s faithful love will never give up on us or abandon us. The Spirit nurtures this kind of faith in us so that we live with the confidence of a child of God who relates to God as “Abba, Father” (Galatians 4:6).

This Spirit-based way of living produces a transformed life. The Spirit leads us on a spiritual journey of inner transformation. As we keep in step with the Spirit’s guidance, the Spirit grows us up emotionally-relationally-spiritually, ingraining the character of Christ in the core of our being—the mystery the writer of Colossians identified as “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).

This Spirit-based way of living is like a divine dance. The Spirit leads; we follow. We keep in step with the Spirit’s guidance (Galatians 5:25). Thus, this Spirit-based way of living calls for intentionality from us. It calls us to cultivate the mind of Christ within us (1 Corinthians 2:16b). It calls us to cultivate a discernment of the Spirit in our lives. It calls us to cultivate self-awareness and self-management (Galatians 5:23) so that we can choose to follow the Spirit’s lead. It involves the conscious choice to rely upon the Spirit’s power as we seek to follow the Spirit’s lead.  

As we live by the Spirit, following the Spirit’s lead and trusting the Spirit’s power, Christ lives in us and through us.  And!!! the character of Christ is ingrained within us! The kind of life Christ lived becomes our life! Christ lives in us and through us!  

Thanks be to God!