19 For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. - Galatians 2:19-20.
What is Paul's main theme in Galatians 2:20, why was it written? The previous verse Paul says "by the law he was dead to the law." How was Paul dead to the law? Being in Christ on the cross when he died. When Jesus Christ died Paul could see that he died with him and all humanity was crucified in Christ.
All humanity is dead in Christ right now. All in Adam dead as Christ on Calvary. Wow that is mind blowing how God fixed it to where all a sinner has to do is believe! Glory!
So why do sinner's still have a sin nature? Because they have not believed. You believe unto salvation, that is what saves a sinner! They don't even need to confess they need to believe (they can confess it doesn't hurt anything but it is not necessary, they must believe). Believers confess when they have their moments but a sinner (a sinner is a non-believer) must believe unto salvation.
So it all humanity is dead in Christ why do they keep sinning? Simple; they have not believed. They are dead in Christ on the cross but the need to realize that will be something that is learned by believers. What happens to you the moment you believe? You are birthed in Christ, and Christ is birthed in you, born again. Do you really know why you are different from the world? Because a birthing has taken place the moment you believed.
The cross has done it's finished work and all the sinner must do is believe. I know that doesn't fit all the pride and pageantry of religion but it is that simple. Always keep in mind a child can understand our gospel because it is that simple. Now what goes on in life after Christ may not be as simple (it can be if not for me, the world, the flesh, the devil, and my unrenewed mind) because we will go through the school house of training son's to live in the father's house.
In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. - John 14:2.
I mentioned something in parentheses above. The world, the flesh, and the devil as being a hindrance to a believers understanding. It does not have to be that way, it is mentioned because most will come that way but it does not have to be that way. If a believer was to hear nothing but the pure unadulterated word of God taught like it was intended there would be a lot less confusion and alot more understanding of what the gospel is. The gospel is the road map for a believers life, following the road map will be your challenge as you move in God.
Very uplifting post. Thank you!
Because we live in a day when people are told to go dig up the carcass of the the old covenant and drag it along with the new covenant, I will say why I agree:
"On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, You shall love your neighbour as yourself." "(Matt 22:37-40).
"Owe no one anything, except to love one another;
for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For this: "You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, You shall not covet"; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbour as yourself. Love works no ill to his neighbour: therefore
love is the fulfilling of the law."" (Rom 13:8-10).
"No one has
greater love than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (John 15:13).
Jesus stated that He had not come to
abolish the Law, but
to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17-19)
and this He did - completely and finally - when He died for the remission of sins. Not surprisingly therefore, in Ephesians 2:15 Paul tells us that "the Law of commandments contained in ordinances"
has been abolished in the flesh of Christ. It died with the flesh of Christ but was never resurrected with Him.
The Old Covenant was based upon obedience of
God's elect to the Law:
Exo 24:7-8 "And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said,
All that the LORD has said will we do, and be obedient.
And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold
the blood of the covenant, which the LORD has made with you concerning all these words."
The covenant was considered God's marriage-covenant (marriage "contract") with Israel, because both parties made promises to one another; and God (the "husband") promised Israel (the "wife") abundance of blessing in the land IF they obeyed ALL that God had commanded through Moses - but curses and exile from the land if they disobeyed or became unfaithful to God. Over time, Israel disobeyed and broke the covenant - over and over again.
As a result,
in Israel's experience of their covenant-relationship with God, the covenant (which had its basis in the Law) repeatedly brought curses and death to the people, as well as permanent exile from the land in the case of ten of the twelve tribes.
Any marriage-covenant can only be considered "everlasting" until a spouse (or in this case, the 'wife') breaks the covenant, and as God said through Jeremiah, the "wife" had broken the covenant:
Jer 31:31-32 "Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that I will make
a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they broke, although I was an husband unto them, says the LORD."
"Though I was a husband unto them" is the same as saying that though God remained faithful to His vows, the "wife" had repeatedly (multiple times) been unfaithful, and had therefore
broken the covenant - and so their sacrifices, their new moons, sabbaths and feasts, which were required by the law, became utterly insulting to God - to the point that God, when mentioning this fact, even calls Israel "Sodom and Gomorrah" in Isaiah 1:10-14.
Obedience to the law contained in the old covenant was
impossible for the elect , because due to the sin inherent in Adam's fallen race, the elect are unable to do what their side of the deal in the old covenant required. Paul mentions this fact in Romans 7:13 and Galatians 3:19.
Jesus completely and finally
fulfilled the law when He died for the remission of sins; and the Old Covenant
is not brought along with the new covenant (Hebrews 8:13)
. It's abolished in the flesh of Christ and is not resurrected with Him. The old covenant has been replaced by the new covenant (as the wording in Jeremiah 31:31-33 states it would be, and as is reconfirmed many times by Paul and in the book of Hebrews).
