And I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me. And that I live now in the flesh: I live in the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered himself for me.

“I no longer wish to live after the manner of men, and my desire shall be fulfilled if ye consent. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet no longer I, since Christ liveth in me." I entreat you in this brief letter: do not refuse me; believe me that I love Jesus, who was delivered [to death] for my sake. "What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits towards me?" Now God, even the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, shall reveal these things to you, [so that ye shall know] that I speak truly. And do ye pray along with me, that I may attain my aim in the Holy Spirit. I have not written to you according to the flesh, but according to the will of God. If I shall suffer, ye have loved me; but if I am rejected, ye have hated me.”

“Christ is the true Son, and so when we receive the Spirit, we are made sons. For it says; 'you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading you back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adopted sonship' [Romans 8:15]. But when we are made sons in the Spirit, it is clear that we are called children of God in Christ... And when the Spirit is given to us-the Saviour said: 'Receive the Holy Spirit' [John 20:22]- God [The Father] is in us... But when God is in us, the Son is also in us. For the Lord Himself said: 'I and the Father will come and make our home with him' [John 14:23]. Next, the Son is life-for He said: 'I am the life' [John 14:6]- and so we are said to be given life in the Spirit... But when we are given life in the Spirit, Christ Himself is said to live in us. For it says: 'I am crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.' (Galatians 2:19-20). - "Letters to Separion On the Spirit, Letter 1, Chapter 19"”

“Observe him then, how he felt towards the whole world. "The world is crucified unto me," he says, "and I unto the world": I am dead to the world, and the world is dead to me. And again: "It is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me." And, to show you that he was as it were in solitude, and so looked upon the things present, hear himself saying, "While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen." What sayest thou? Answer me. And yet what thou sayest is the contrary; thou seest the things invisible, and the visible thou seest not. Such eyes as thou hadst gotten, such are the eyes which are given by Christ: for as these bodily eyes see indeed the things that are seen, but things unseen they see not: so those (heavenly eyes) do the contrary: none that beholds the invisible things, beholds the visible: no one beholding the things seen, beholds the invisible. Or is not this the case with us also? For when having turned our mind inwards we think of any of the unseen things, our views become raised above the things on earth.”

“The human spirit, cleaving to the Spirit of God, struggles against the flesh that is, against itself and on its own behalf. Those impulses natural to humanity, whether in the flesh or in the soul, which remain because of our acquired debility, are restrained by discipline for the sake of obtaining salvation. So the human being who does not live according to human nature can already say, "I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me." For where I am not I, I am more happily I. Thus when any reprobate impulse arises according to my old human nature, to which I who serve the law of God with my mind do not consent, I may now say this: "now I am not the one doing that."”

“We will set these matters in order, one after the other, and we will show where it is meet that the disciple should begin, and how he should advance and ascend all the grades of the Christian life and conduct, until he arriveth at the topmost step of love, from whence he shall ascend to the grade of perfection. Then will the spiritual land of the joy of Christ receive him, and when he hath stood upon it he will be free from passions, and will be delivered from lusts, and he will have subdued all his enemies under his feet, and that man will speak with boldness the word of the Apostle, saying, "Yet I live; and yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me": to Whom be glory for ever. Amen.”

“Here the Apostle manifests the solution assigned above. And first he sets forth the manifestation of the solution; second he concludes his principal intention, at the words "I do not cast away the grace of God," etc. But it must be noted that the Apostle, proceeding by way of inquiry, leaves no doubt undiscussed. And therefore, although his words may seem intricate, nevertheless if they are carefully attended to, he says nothing without a reason, and this is apparent in the words proposed. Here he does three things: first he manifests the solution; second he explains the manifestation of the solution, at the words "I am fixed to the cross with Christ," etc.; third he removes a doubt, at the words "and that I now live," etc. Since, then, the Apostle had said, "for if the things I have destroyed," etc., which is understood of the old Law — for he could be reckoned by someone a destroyer of the Law, and consequently unjust, according to that word of Psalm 118:126: "The wicked have destroyed thy law" — the Apostle therefore wishes to show how he destroys the Law, and yet is not unjust, saying, "for I through the Law," etc. Here it must be known that when someone dissolves the law through the law itself, such a one is a transgressor of the law, not an unjust man. But the law is dissolved through the law when in the law some local or temporal precept is given — namely, that that law be observed at such a time, or in such a place, and not another, and this itself is expressed in the law. If someone then does not make use of the law at that time, or in that place, he destroys the law through the law itself, and in this way the Apostle destroyed the law. Hence, he says, I destroyed the law in a certain way, yet through the law, because I have died to the law through the law — that is, through the authority of the law I let it go, as one dead to the law. For the authority of the law, by which he died to the law, is found in many places of sacred Scripture: Jeremiah 31:31, though under other words: "I will confirm a new covenant upon the house of Israel," etc.; Deuteronomy 18:15: "The Lord will raise up a prophet from among your brethren," etc.; and in many other places. Therefore the Apostle is not a transgressor in destroying the law. Or otherwise: I, through the law — namely, the spiritual law — have died to the carnal law. For then does one die to the law, when, released from the law, he casts it off, according to that word of Romans 7:2: "The husband being dead, the woman is loosed from the law of the husband." Insofar as the Apostle was subject to the spiritual law, he says that he is dead to the law — that is, released from the observance of the law. Romans 8:2: "The law of the spirit of life," etc. There can be another way of letting go of the law without transgression, namely because when some law is written on paper, it is then called a dead law, and when it is in the mind of the lawgiver, it is then called a living law. Now it is clear that if someone were to act, according to the word of the lawgiver, against the written law, he would both dissolve the law and be released from the dead law, and would keep the living law according to the command of the lawgiver. According to this, then, he says: I have died to the law that is written and dead — that is, I am released from it — that I may live to God, that is, that I may direct my movements according to his own sayings, and be ordered to his honor. For the law established in writings hands something down on account of strangers, and those who cannot hear it word for word from him; but to those who are in his presence, he does not state it in writings, but by word alone. For from the beginning men were weak, unable to approach God. And therefore it was necessary to give them the precepts of the law in writings, so that through the law, as through a tutor, they might be led by the hand to this — that they might hear his precepts from him — according to what is said below, chapter 3:24: "The law was our tutor in Christ," etc. But after we have access to the Father through Christ, as is said in Romans 5:2, we are not instructed about the commandments of God through the law, but by God himself. And therefore he says: through the law that leads by the hand, I have died to the written law, that I may live to God — namely, to the very maker of the law — that is, that I may be instructed and directed by him. Next, when he says "I am fixed to the cross with Christ," etc., he explains what he has said. For he had said that he is dead to the law, and that he lives to God. And these two things he manifests. And first, that he is dead to the law, by what he says: "I am fixed to the cross with Christ"; second, that he lives to God, when he says "I live, now not I," etc. And the first indeed can be expounded in two ways. In one way, as in the Gloss, thus: every man according to his carnal origin is born a son of wrath, Ephesians 2:3: "For we were by nature children of wrath," etc. He is also born in the oldness of sin, Baruch 3:11: "Thou hast grown old in a strange land," etc. This oldness of sin indeed is taken away through the cross of Christ, and the newness of spiritual life is conferred. The Apostle therefore says, "I am fixed to the cross with Christ," that is, concupiscence, or the kindling-wood of sin, and everything of this sort, has died in me through the cross of Christ. Romans 6:6: "Our old man is crucified together with him," etc. Likewise, since I am fixed to the cross with Christ, and have died to sin, and Christ rose again, I too have risen together with him who rose. Romans 4:25: "He was delivered up," etc. Thus, then, Christ renews a new life in us, the oldness of sin having been destroyed. And therefore he says "but I live" — that is, because I am fixed to the cross with Christ, I have the vigor of acting well — "now not I" according to the flesh, because I no longer have the oldness which I had before, "but Christ lives in me," that is, the newness which has been given to us through Christ. Or otherwise: a man is said to live with respect to that in which he principally fixes his affection, and in which he takes the greatest delight. Hence also men who take the greatest delight in study or in hunting say that this is their life. Now every man has a certain private affection, by which he seeks what is his own; therefore while someone lives seeking only what is his own, he lives to himself alone, but when he seeks the goods of others, he is said to live to them also. Since, then, the Apostle had laid aside his own affection through the cross of Christ, he was saying that he was dead to his own affection, saying "I am fixed to the cross with Christ" — that is, through the cross of Christ my own or private affection has been removed from me. Hence he was saying below, at the end: "Far be it from me to glory save in the cross of our Lord," etc.; 2 Corinthians 5:14f.: "If one died for all, then all died." And Christ died for all, that they also who live may now live not to themselves, but to him, etc. "But I live" — that is, "now I do not live," as it were having my own good in my affection, "but Christ lives in me," that is, I have only Christ in my affection, and Christ himself is my life. Philippians 1:21: "To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Next, however, when he says "and that I now live," etc., he responds to a doubt which could be twofold from the word set forth above. One is how he himself lives, and yet is not the one — namely, who lives; the second is how he is fixed to the cross. And therefore he opens up these two things. And first the first, namely how he lives, and yet he himself does not live, saying "and that I now live," etc. Here it must be noted that those things are properly said to live which are moved from an intrinsic principle. Now the soul of Paul was set between God and the body, and the body indeed was vivified and moved by the soul of Paul, but his soul by Christ. As to the life of the flesh, then, Paul himself lived, and this is what he says: "and that I now live in the flesh" — that is, the life of the flesh; but as to relation to God, Christ was living in Paul, and therefore he says "I live in the faith of the Son of God," through which he dwells in me and moves me. Habakkuk 2:4: "But my just man lives by faith." And note that he says "in the flesh," not "from the flesh," because this would be evil. Second, he shows that he is fixed to the cross, saying: because the love of Christ, which he showed to me on the cross, dying for me, causes me always to be fixed to him. And this is what he says: "who loved me." 1 John 4:10: "He first loved us." And he loved me to such an extent that he delivered himself up for me, and no other sacrifice. Apocalypse 1:5: "He loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood." Ephesians 5:25: "As Christ also loved the Church, and delivered himself up for her," etc. But it must be noted that the Son himself delivered himself up, and the Father delivered up the Son, Romans 8:32: "Who spared not even his own Son, but delivered him up for us all"; and Judas delivered him up, as is said in Matthew 26:48. And it is all one and the same deed, but not one and the same intention, because the Father acted out of charity, the Son out of obedience together with charity, but Judas out of cupidity and treacherously. Next, when he says "I do not cast away the grace of God," he infers the principal conclusion. And first he brings forth the conclusion; second he manifests the manner. He says therefore: since I have received so great a grace from God, that he delivered himself up, and I live in the faith of the Son of God, I do not cast away the grace of the Son of God — that is, I do not repudiate it, nor do I show myself ungrateful. 1 Corinthians 15:10: "The grace of God in me has not been void," etc. Hence another text also has: "I am not ungrateful to the grace of God" (Hebrews 12:15: "looking diligently lest any man be wanting to the grace of God"), namely by confessing oneself unworthy through ingratitude. Now the manner of casting away and of ingratitude would be, if I were to say that the law was necessary for justifying. And therefore he says: "for if justice be by the law, then Christ died in vain" — that is, if the law is sufficient, that is, if the works of the law suffice to justify man, Christ died without cause, and in vain, because he died for this purpose, that he might justify us. 1 Peter 3:18: "Christ died once for our sins," etc. But if this could be done through the law, the death of Christ would have been superfluous. But he did not die in vain, nor did he labor in vain, as is said in Isaiah 49:4, because through him alone justifying grace and truth came to be, as is said in John 1:17. If any were just before the passion of Christ, this too was through faith in Christ who was to come, in whom they believed, and in whose faith they were saved.”

“I am crucified with Christ,.... Not literally, for so only the two thieves were crucified with him, but mystically; Christ was crucified for him in his room and stead, and so he was crucified with him, and in him, as his head and representative. Christ sustained the persons of all his people, and what he did and suffered was in their name, and on their account, and so they were crucified and suffered with him, as they are said to be buried with him, and to be risen with him, and to sit together in heavenly places in him. Moreover, their old man was crucified with him; when he was crucified, all their sins, the whole body of them, were laid upon him, and he bore them, and bore them away, destroyed and made an end of them; they received their mortal wound by his crucifixion and death, so as never to be able to have any damning power over them; and in consequence of this the affections and lusts are crucified, and the deeds of the body of sin mortified by the Spirit and grace of God, in regeneration and sanctification, so as not to have the dominion over them; the world is crucified to them, and they to the world; and this is another reason proving that justification by Christ is no licentious doctrine. This clause is, in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions, put at the end of the preceding verse. Nevertheless I live; which is to be understood, not of his natural, but of his spiritual life; the life of justification he lived, by faith, on the righteousness of Christ; and the life of sanctification which he had from Christ, by the quickening influences of his Spirit, by virtue of which he walked in newness of life. The believer is a mere paradox, he is dead to the law, and "yet lives" to God; he is crucified with Christ, and yet lives by him; yea, a crucified Christ lives in him. Yet not I; not the same I as before, but quite another man, a new creature: he did not now live as in his state of unregeneracy, and whilst in Judaism; he was not now Saul the blasphemer, the persecutor, and injurious person; nor did he now live Saul the Pharisee: or the life he had was not of his own obtaining and procuring; his life of righteousness was not of himself, but Christ; his being quickened, or having principles of life and holiness implanted in him, was not by himself, but by the Spirit; and the holy life and conversation he lived was not owing to himself, to his power and strength, but to the grace of God; or it was not properly himself, or so much he that lived, but Christ liveth in me: who was not only the author and maintainer of his spiritual life, but the life itself; he was formed in his soul, dwelt in his heart, was united to him, was one with him, whence all vital principles and vital actions sprung, and all the communion and comforts of a spiritual life flowed. And the life which I now live in the flesh; in the body, whilst in this mortal state, whereby he distinguishes that spiritual life he had from Christ, and through Christ's living in him, both from the natural life of his body, and from that eternal life he expected to live in another world; and which, he says, I live by the faith of the Son of God; meaning, not that faith which Christ, as man, had, but that of which he is the author and object, by which the just man lives; not upon it, for the believer does not live upon any of his graces, no, not upon faith, but by faith on Christ, the object; looking to him for pardon, righteousness, peace, joy, comfort, every supply of grace, and eternal salvation: which object is described as "the Son of God"; who is truly God, equal with his Father; so that he did not live upon a creature, or forsake the fountain of living waters, but upon the only begotten Son of God, who is full of grace and truth: of whom he further says, who loved me; before the foundation of the world, from everlasting, prior to his love to him; and freely, without any regard to worth or merit, and though he was a blasphemer and a persecutor; and him personally, and particularly, in a distinguishing manner, of which he had a special knowledge and application by the Spirit of God; and was a reason and argument constraining him, and prevailing on him to live to him who loved him, and died for him, or, as he adds, and gave himself for me; his whole self, his soul and body, as in union with his divine person, into the hands of justice, and unto death, in his room and stead, as an offering and sacrifice for sin, and which he did freely and voluntarily; and is a strong and full proof of his love to him. Now though Christ gave his life a ransom for many, and himself for his whole church, and all the members of his mystical body, yet the apostle speaks of this matter as singularly respecting himself, as if almost he was the only person Christ loved and died for; which shows that faith deals with Christ not in a general way, as the Saviour of the world, but with a special regard to a man's self: this is the life of faith; and these considerations of the person, love, and grace of Christ, animate and encourage faith in its exercises on him.”

“I am crucified with Christ - The death of Christ on the cross has showed me that there is no hope of salvation by the law; I am therefore as truly dead to all expectation of justification by the law, as Christ was dead when he gave up the ghost upon the cross. Through him alone I live - enjoy a present life, and have a prospect of future glory. Yet not I - It is not of my natural life I speak, nor of any spiritual things which I myself have procured; but Christ liveth in me. God made man to be a habitation of his own Spirit: the law cannot live in me so as to give me a Divine life; it does not animate, but kill; but Christ lives in me; he is the soul of my soul; so that I now live to God. But this life I have by the faith of the Son of God - by believing on Christ as a sacrifice for sin; for he loved me, and because he did so he gave himself for me - made himself a sacrifice unto death, that I might be saved from the bitter pains of death eternal.”

“I am crucified--literally, "I have been crucified with Christ." This more particularizes the foregoing. "I am dead" (Gal 2:19; Phi 3:10). nevertheless I live; yet not I--Greek, "nevertheless I live, no longer (indeed) I." Though crucified I live; (and this) no longer that old man such as I once was (compare Rom 7:17). No longer Saul the Jew (Gal 5:24; Col 3:11, but "another man"; compare Sa1 10:6). ELLICOTT and others translate, "And it is no longer I that live, but Christ that liveth in me." But the plain antithesis between "crucified" and "live," requires the translation, "nevertheless." the life which I now live--as contrasted with my life before conversion. in the flesh--My life seems to be a mere animal life "in the flesh," but this is not my true life; "it is but the mask of life under which lives another, namely, Christ, who is my true life" [LUTHER]. I live by the faith, &c.--Greek, "IN faith (namely), that of (that is, which rests on) the Son of God." "In faith," answers by contrast to "in the flesh." Faith, not the flesh, is the real element in which I live. The phrase, "the Son of God," reminds us that His Divine Sonship is the source of His life-giving power. loved me--His eternal gratuitous love is the link that unites me to the Son of God, and His "giving Himself for me," is the strongest proof of that love.”