Your True Identity
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life that I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing Galatians 2:20,21
Deeper life preachers have made much of these verses, but sometimes by taking them out of their context.
Paul is writing to churches that are mainly Gentile and that have been impacted by what he considers ‘a different gospel’ (1:6-9). Teachers have come in pronouncing the only way to God is through the “Jewish Christ.” Gentiles effectively must first become Jews to be reconciled to God. They have to embrace circumcision and the Law.
Paul’s counter argument is that even Jewish Christians have lost their old identity, defined by the Law, and have come into a new identity, defined only by the Messiah. So Jews and Gentiles come to God on equal terms – by faith in Christ.
In Paul’s thinking, God’s true Israel consists of the nation’s true representative – the Messiah. He is the sole faithful one, the only foundation of identity within God’s people.
All who are ‘in’ the Messiah are the true people of God, the true Israel.
If we believe that Jesus is the Messiah, we believe the crucified Jesus is the Messiah. And if we are ‘in’ the crucified Jesus, then any previous identity we’ve held onto is irrelevant. The Jew is no longer defined by belonging to the people who have the Law, ‘I died to the law that I might live for God’ (2:19).
So believing Jews and believing Gentiles are the Messiah’s people with His life now working in them.
Our righteous standing before God is due exclusively to our being ‘in’ Christ.
Have you held onto any other identity-marker … your church or denomination … your family name …your education … your country, or indigenous group?
Your spiritual identity is ‘in’ Christ. What defines who you are before God is solely who you are ‘in’ Christ, the faithful one.
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