Dead to the Law

The apostle continues: “For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live for God” (v. 19). The Law was holy, righteous, and good (Romans 7:12). But since it was powerless through the flesh, it could only bring death and condemnation upon man in his fallen, helpless state.

Freed from Its Claim

Paul, once under Law, had fully experienced this effect. He had also realized it inwardly. He had died through the Law. It had pronounced the sentence of death over him. That sentence had been carried out on him in Christ. Since he had died and risen with Christ, he no longer lived by his former state. He was no longer a man in the flesh. Therefore, the Law had no claims on him at all. He had died to the Law. He was freed from its authority forever. The Law’s righteous demands were fulfilled forever by a perfect substitute. Now, freed from the Law through death, he belonged to another. He belonged to the One raised from the dead. He would now “live for God.”

The Flesh Resists Death

Happy man! Yet he had to fight many struggles, contradictions, and hostilities. He fought as he lived out this precious truth. He also fought as he shared it with others. The flesh does not want to die. The old nature cannot bear being seen as completely corrupt. It cannot bear being seen as powerless and sentenced to death. It cannot bear being nothing but sin. Even in the believer, it wants to revive again and act. But when it happens, only sin and deep shame can follow for the believer. Praise God that we have the right to consider ourselves dead! We have that right because we died and rose with Christ. We also have the power, because we live in Him. We are called and enabled to follow the great apostle’s path. May the Lord make us all more eager and successful “imitators” of this happy man!

 A Personal Confession

Notice that Paul speaks only of himself in this entire passage. Of course, these truths apply to all believers. Yet he presents them as his personal possession. He did so as he grasped and lived them by faith. Similar to what he says in Romans 8:2, “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and of death,” we hear him say here repeatedly: “I have died … I have been crucified … I live,” and so on. That is not without reason.

 Does This Apply to Me?

The apostle’s wording involuntarily raises a question in every sincere reader. “Does this apply to me too? May I speak like that?” That is good and useful. It is a fact that all believers died with Christ. They were raised with Him. They were also freed through Him from the law of sin and death.

 Faith and Practice

Thank God for that! But another question is how far each of us has grasped this fact by faith. It also matters how far we have lived it out in practice. Only in this way can we become happy people like Paul.

 The Core Statement

“For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live for God. 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 gave Himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.”

It is self-evident that Christ also bore all the apostle’s sins on the cross. But he is not speaking about that here. Here it is about how he had died to the Law.

 United with Christ in Death

How did it happen? We already heard it. God made him one with Christ in His death on the cross. He was “crucified with Christ.” He realized that fact through faith. Christ had come under the Law’s sentence at the cross. Now, after His finished work, He lived at God’s right hand. Paul lived in Him. The old Paul, who had stood before God as a legally condemned sinner, was gone. Death ended the life in his substitute. It ended the life in which he once lived.

Christ Lives in Me

Therefore, though he was still in this body on earth, he could say: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” His old self had come to an end in Christ’s death. It was his former being under and connected with the Law. It no longer existed before God. He now had a new life, and this life was Christ. In other words, Christ now lived in him. He lived in the life in which He rose from the dead as victor. He was victor over sin, death, and the devil. He rose after bearing the curse of the Law.

True of All Believers

What Paul says about himself is true of all believers in principle. This was explained further above. They all have been crucified with Christ. They all have died and been raised. For them all, Christ became the end of the Law. He also became the beginning of an entirely new existence and life. There is no difference here. One has no more and no less than another. The same gift has been given to all.

Yet there is a great difference in how this truth is grasped by faith. There is also a difference in how it is lived out in practice. Paul does not say, “We no longer live.” He also does not say, “Christ lives in us.” As said, he speaks only of himself personally.

 One Aim

Since he saw Jesus on the road to Damascus, he had only one goal. He wanted to live Christ, represent Him, and be transformed into His image. He could truthfully say: “To live is Christ.” Christ alone was the beginning, means, and end. He was also the content and purpose of his life. Therefore, dying was gain for him. It brought him to Christ. Being with Christ without this body is far better. It is better than waiting for Him here in the body.

The Object of Faith

So Christ was the source of life for the apostle. He was what separated him from the past. He also placed him on entirely new ground. Yet this life cannot be self-sufficient in a creature. It needs an attraction point for which it lives. It also needs that point as what shapes it. This is Christ. Therefore, Paul adds words at once to “Christ lives in me.” He adds: “and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me” (v. 20).

 Love as Personal Possession

Again, the same personal wording as before. In several places of the Word we hear that Christ loved us. We also hear that He gave Himself up for us (cf. Ephesians 5:2, Ephesians 5:25). But here the Lord’s love and devotion stand so warmly before the writer’s soul. The heart is involuntarily warmed while reading his words. “Who loved me and gave Himself up for me.” Only someone living habitually near the Lord can speak like that. Like John once did, he must be in intimate, hidden communion with Him. Paul was an apostle and a chosen vessel. Yet, as a believer, he belonged to those people. They have the Lord’s commandments and keep them. So the Lord could “love him and reveal Myself to him” (John 14:21). We all can follow him on this path. Happy is everyone who does!

Do We Know This?

This is how the life of Christ reveals itself in us. He Himself becomes more and more the only controlling center in us. How wonderful it is to have the same experiences as the apostle. How wonderful to be allowed to repeat his words! Do we know anything of it?

The Power of Remembering Christ

Remembering Him has great effects. He died for us in His love, for me. He took me out of the wretched condition I was in. He gave me His life, so I may now live and serve Him. This sets free from Satan and the rule of sin. The fact that the Son of God did this grips the heart. It does so with ever more living power. It binds the heart ever more intimately to Him. He is the only object of faith.

 Living by Faith

With worshipping admiration, the eye rejoices in Him. He could love such a being, and He loves me as I was and am. And so we also live, as long as God still leaves us on earth. Yes, “the life which we now live in the flesh,” we live by faith. We live by faith in the Son of God. He loved us and gave Himself up for us.

Christ as the source of this life is one thing. Christ as the object of the renewed soul’s tender affections is another. Truly, this is a desirable life, worth living! Whoever lives like this “I do not nullify the grace of God” (v. 21). On the contrary, God is glorified in it. His grace only could produce such a transformation. His grace only could create a new creation in such a way. In it, the old has passed away (2 Corinthians 5:17).

 The Apostle’s Closing Words

“for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly” (v. 21). With these words, the apostle concludes his instruction.

The Son of God loved me and gave Himself up for me.

Galatians 2:20