Galatians 2:20

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soul man

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Galatians 2:20,

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.

This could possibly be the most important verse in all of scripture that allows the believer to fully see what happened at the cross.
Even more importantly it shows what happened to the sinner the moment they believed.
You are taken out of Adam, and placed in Christ or Christ in you, same thing. Crucified with Christ in the twinkling of an eye.
Without the understanding of Galatians 2:20 spiritual growth becomes stagnant. It does not mean your not saved or going to Heaven or that you don't love God.
It does mean you are not growing up into Him, or knowing Christ who is your only life, Galatians 2:20.
From the moment you were born and were able to retain some kind of consciousness we have always felt that you had a life of our own.
We never realized that we were controlled by another, even the nature of humanity that entered in at the fall, Genesis 3:15

15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

The seed is what you should take note of.
Adam was created a living soul, he did not recieve a spirit-nature until he fell. That nature was the sin-nature, Satan-nature, death-nature, death-life.
That nature came about by a father, in this case the father of lies.
Adam was not possessed (demon possessed) as some suppose, but now Adam had a nature.
That nature is what has been passed on through generations of time.
When Jesus came to set humanity free it was the nature he crucified. All in Adam dead now by the cross. Humanity needs to believe in the resurrected Christ as God's ultimate sacrifice to end the rein of the sin-nature.
Our freedom is knowing Adam is dead, can you see the importance of spiritual growth.
Our minds takes time to catch up with facts.
Serveral very keystone points are brought out in Galatians 2:20.
Paul never minces words and is always very clear. He said the life we live is Christ, he also said we no longer live; Christ lives in us.
Because of the Christ life in you the old sin nature is killed out (all in Adam), and you have a new Christ in you nature.
Sins committed by Christians today come from mind only not spirit, hope you can see at this point that it is imperative that you divide soul and spirit, Hebrews 4:12

12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Humanity has been dependant on a nature since it entered in. The sin nature unto death and now the God nature unto life, 2 Peter 1:4

4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Do you understand the law was primarily introduced because of the sin nature.
The law was what helped humanity keep the sin nature from taking complete control of humanity, or as Paul said, becoming reprobate. We see what happened before the law with Noah's day, tower of Babel and so on.
The law became an obedience relationship with God and those that kept it, had a God to people relationship.
Spiritual growth comes as you are led by the HolySpirit into the understanding that the moment you believed God birthed in you the life of another, Galatians 2:20.
Footnote: their is nothing wrong with humanities creation, being created in the image and likeness of God. The fall distorted that creation, it was mishandled, misused, abused. but glory to God He has restored back to humanity the very image and likeness of God He intended before creation.
 
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Episkopos

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Paul is speaking of a profound surrender of himself to God...a surrender that was answered by God in the form that he describes. It is a huge mistake to think that everything Paul was and has is ours automatically by being a Christian. We write off his words and testimony by thinking it is all just a doctrinal position to take....rather than a depth of life to achieve.

When Paul says "I" it means something that he himself has attained to. Paul was also a Pharisee and a persecutor of the brethren. We are not those things either by just reading about them. The bible is describing real things.

Even when he says "we" ....concerning the believers at THAT time...we should not assume that this is just a doctrinal stance we are supposed to adopt for ourselves in every time and place. That is, unless we want to take on the warnings to the Laodicean church. In that case Jesus says "you."

It is a much safer bet that we can safely assume that the "you" means us.
 
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Dave L

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How do we arrive at this ideal state in everyday life? Any examples?
 

Episkopos

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What Paul is describing in Gal.2:20 costs us everything to have. Paul counted all things as loss that he might win Christ. To Paul the world was crucified to him. I don't think that many can comprehend the depth of what he is saying.

We are not getting the sense of scale here.
 
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Dave L

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What Paul is describing in Gal.2:20 costs us everything to have. Paul counted all things as loss that he might win Christ. To Paul the world was crucified to him. I don't think that many can comprehend the depth of what he is saying.

We are not getting the sense of scale here.
I agree but Paul also says without love as the motive, even burning at the stake is without value.
 

Episkopos

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How do we arrive at this ideal state in everyday life? Any examples?


Are you asking me?

This state is not ideal...but normative for the one who is fully surrendered to God.

It's like when Moses was confronted by a dead end...the Red Sea. People will do everything to avoid such a dead end. But to the saint a dead end is a new possibility for God to take us further.

So then one who is dead in Christ...in experience...has crossed over from living according to the flesh...to a life where Christ is fully engaged to empower everything we think and do.

It was Tozer that said...in each of us there is a cross and a throne. If we are on the throne, then Jesus is still on the cross. But if we want Jesus to be on the throne, then we must be on the cross.

So then there is an event...a visitation...that needs to take place whereby our living sacrifice is accepted by God so that we are able to be on the cross and Jesus is seated upon the throne in us.

This is how we are to seek first the kingdom of God. We are more than conquerors through ourselves being first conquered for Christ. After that, it is He that goes out into the world...through us. And we through Him.
 

Episkopos

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I agree but Paul also says without love as the motive, even burning at the stake is without value.


But the greatest love is that we lay down our lives for Christ. No man has greater love than that. A Christian saint is one that is on the cross inwardly so that the life of Jesus is made manifest in his body.

We are to always be carrying the death of Christ...as a living sacrifice...so that the life of Christ is made manifest in these mortal bodies.
 
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Dave L

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Are you asking me?

This state is not ideal...but normative for the one who is fully surrendered to God.

It's like when Moses was confronted by a dead end...the Red Sea. People will do everything to avoid such a dead end. But to the saint a dead end is a new possibility for God to take us further.

So then one who is dead in Christ...in experience...has crossed over from living according to the flesh...to a life where Christ is fully engaged to empower everything we think and do.

It was Tozer that said...in each of us there is a cross and a throne. If we are on the throne, then Jesus is still on the cross. But if we want Jesus to be on the throne, then we must be on the cross.

So then there is an event...a visitation...that needs to take place whereby our living sacrifice is accepted by God so that we are able to be on the cross and Jesus is seated upon the throne in us.

This is how we are to seek first the kingdom of God. We are more than conquerors through ourselves being first conquered for Christ. After that, it is He that goes out into the world...through us. And we through Him.
Thanks. This reminds me of the "denying self" VS "self denial" preaching that became popular a few decades back. Still a good topic for today.
 
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Episkopos

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The advantage of being on the cross within ourselves with Christ enthroned in us...is that we are present in heaven. Just as Christ lives through us...so we can live through Him...and be where He is. That is how we abide in each other.

We sit together in heavenly places (Eph. 2:6) when Christ is enthroned in us. This is another such verse that is assumed to be ours positionally...in error. All such verses are speaking of the same thing. This speaks of a profound experience that words alone cannot describe.
 
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Dave L

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The advantage of being on the cross within ourselves with Christ enthroned in us...is that we are present in heaven. Just as Christ lives through us...so we can live through Him...and be where He is. That is how we abide in each other.

We sit together in heavenly places (Eph. 2:6) when Christ is enthroned in us. This is another such verse that is assumed to be ours positionally...in error. All such verses are speaking of the same thing. This speaks of a profound experience that words alone cannot describe.
This lends itself to my Amillennial beliefs about our presently reigning in the kingdom and not off in some distant future.
 

Episkopos

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In our time, I fear that this kind of statement by Paul...

Phil. 3:10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death;

...
has become "that I may know the bible (about Him) and the message of His resurrection, the avoidance of sufferings and accepting His death as a benefit to me, me, me"