Bible Study Galations 2:20

[Soul man]

Chopper and I want to welcome Peter, formerly known as Hermit to our look and study of Gal. 2:20. Welcome Peter and all to partake.
A favorite sermon topic, Gal. 2:20, but relatively few Christians really understand what it means to be born again. Why is it such a rare thing to hear a simple exposition of what the new birth means and what takes place when one is born again. This has always perplexed me because the fact is our supernatural birth is as real as our natural birth.
In order to understand Christ as life, Gal. 2:20, a historical setting may be helpful. In the Old Testament, salvation was of the soul.
That makes salvation easy to understand because most of us grew up in religion where we learned a vocabulary to express the concept of salvation by our soul-winning campaigns and by being encouraged to be a soul-winner.
The use of the word is primarily Old Testament terminology. In the Old Testament, the saving of the soul was all there was because the saving of the spirit by Christ was not yet a reality.
Christ had not yet died on the cross, and no provision had been made to have an exchange in spirit wrought by Christ in the person at that time, Gal. 2:20.
This exchange takes place in the believer’s spirit; Satan out and Christ in. All soul salvation was of self-effort, and the person had to do something to make it happen.
An example of this would be Abraham, who was said to be a great man of faith, but the Scripture states that what made him a great man was his obedience, which is self-effort. Obedience salvation requires that you do something to make it so. All salvation in the Old Testament was soulish with no exchange taking place in spirit.
In the Old Testament, the word is used eight times more than in the New Testament.
In Paul’s epistles, he uses the word only nine times. There is little mention of soul in the New Testament because once Christ is birthed in the spirit of the believer, there is not anything you can do to improve the condition of the spirit.
In the Old Testament, salvation was something that was done soulishly, and the human spirit (Satan’s nature, kindly referred to as “Adamic nature”) was brought under subjection. That was very tenuous because even the greatest people in the Old Testament had a difficult time bringing their spirit under subjection.
My train of thought runs long on this subject to be continued as Charley and Peter have their take on the scripture.

 

[Jim Parker]

In the Old Testament, salvation was of the soul.

The "salvation" provided by the Old Covenant was:
Deu 4:40 (RSV) Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you this day, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which the LORD your God gives you for ever.
(That's where Leonard Nemoy got "Live long and prosper" for his Spock character.)

the saving of the spirit by Christ was not yet a reality.

Christ, by His death and resurrection, saved mankind (all of mankind) from the consequence ("wages") of sin which is physical death.
All of mankind will be raised immortal and incorruptible (won't physically break down, get sick, etc.). (1Cor 15: 52ff)

Christ had not yet died on the cross, and no provision had been made to have an exchange in spirit wrought by Christ in the person at that time, Gal. 2:20.
This exchange takes place in the believer’s spirit; Satan out and Christ in.

Well, that's a new one for me.
The problem of sin is not that Satan controls a person's spirit. The problem is that the person is controlled by the demands of the flesh.
Rom 8:3-6 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

Rom 8:12-14 So then, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh--for if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

An example of this would be Abraham, who was said to be a great man of faith, but the Scripture states that what made him a great man was his obedience, which is self-effort. Obedience salvation requires that you do something to make it so. All salvation in the Old Testament was soulish with no exchange taking place in spirit.

The law of faith (Ro 3:27) is the synergy, the cooperation, of our faithfulness to keep Christ's commands with God's faithfulness to keep His promises. It alone is the means by which we attain the righteousness of God. People who say they have faith without works deceive themselves. Faith without the faithful obedience to God's commands is not faith at all; it is a counterfeit of Satan.

The salvation of the OT was about living in a blessed estate in the promised land. (Deu 4:40) That state of blessedness was a foreshadowing of the blessedness of those who will enter the kingdom of God. And, as Israel would not experience that blessedness in the promised land without obedience to God, neither will an alleged believer experience the blessedness of entering the kingdom of God without obedience to the commands of Christ. ie: Love God; love one another; love your neighbor; love your enemies.

Rom 13:8-10 Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.The commandments, "You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not covet," and any other commandment, are summed up in this sentence, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

iakov the fool
(beaucoup dien cai dau)


DISCLAIMER: By reading the words posted above, you have made a free will choice to expose yourself to the rantings of iakov the fool. The poster assumes no responsibility for any temporary, permanent or otherwise annoying manifestations of cognitive dysfunction that, in any manner, may allegedly be related to the reader’s deliberate act by which he/she has knowingly allowed the above rantings to enter into his/her consciousness. No warrantee is expressed or implied. Individual mileage may vary. And, no, I don't want to hear about it. No sniveling! Enjoy the rest of your life here and the eternal one to come.

 

[Hermit]

...exposition of what the new birth means and what takes place when one is born again...
...to have an exchange in spirit wrought by Christ in the person...
...This exchange takes place in the believer’s spirit; Satan out and Christ in...

Thanks for starting this thread.
Interesting way of how you described the salvation as an exchange in spirit.

Galatians 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

What a powerful verse. The meaning of truthful living in one verse.
My take on this wonderful verse is a reflection of my life, so I will explore the verse, bit by bit, on a personal level.

20. I have been crucified with Christ...
My old nature was full of restlessness, irritability and discontent. I became so fearful and paranoid I walked everywhere with my head down. I thought people could see to my bruised soul if they looked into my eyes. To compensate I promoted and believed a legend o self in my own mind. I would become so arrogantly ignorant I thought to be self-centred meant to be straight and true. But underneath my self-denial I knew I was a lost soul seeking to be found but not knowing how or by who.

Like so many of us, I dug myself a hole so deep I hit a rock-bottom. It is amazing how hard we make it for ourselves to pray to God unconditionally. In my own little way I cricified myself, like Christ, to be with God.

... and I no longer live,...
After my prayer of self-surrender in handing over my will and my life to the care of God, I was transported out of my ditch of despair. Suddenly 'hope' had a new meaning for me. I knew, without doubt, that my salvation was with God. My goal was to get closer to God more than I have been close to anybody before. That is when I was introduced to God's Son, Jesus Christ.

I needed to understand a knew way to live a life of truth, instead of my old one of fear and deception. My old ways were still in the way of my thinking. I had too much guilt, shame, resentments, remorse, (fears) still in me. So I did a fearless moral inventory of myself from birth to the present day. Then I told another person and God all sins, defects of character and shortcomings; and sincerely asked God for forgiveness. Straight away I felt liberated. No more secrets, no more fear of being found out.

... but Christ lives in me...
It was time to be baptized. I was baptized by water and laying of hands to receive Christ's Spirit into my heart, soul, mind, body, will, emotions and intuition. All these are forms of consciousness which I am aware of. Christ is in all these forms of consciousness, and in this way, Christ lives in me.

… The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God,...
Truth about myself has led me to rely on Christ's teachings and way of life, rather than the only one I knew – the self-will that runs riot. To incorporate a new way of life, I knew nothing about, requires faith. A faith that Christ's way of life is true.

Everything I learnt that is true has been confirmed by all the forms of Christ consciousness within me. Heart-consciousness loves the Truth because that is where it originated from - Christ's spirit in me.

... who loved me and gave himself for me.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, surrendered to God's-will unconditionally. Christ died so that I will believe in the salvation of the Truth. Without Christ doing so, I would be doomed to being lost for eternity. For that salvation is from the Grace of God through his Son, Jesus Christ. God's Grace is Christ's Spirit consciousness in me.

 

[Soul man]

Everything I learnt that is true has been confirmed by all the forms of Christ consciousness within me. Heart-consciousness loves the Truth because that is where it originated from - Christ's spirit in me.

Unknowingly I believe at times we give the HolySpirit truth to work with.
Uninundated by all of the things we have been taught otherwise.
He can, will and always does work through truth. We can have all our pets but if a believer is going to know the Christ in them, they have to be unclogged and free to receive new truth.
We think what we know is all God has for us, that is a mind that is still in the Fathers schoolhouse.

 

[Hermit]

Unknowingly I believe at times we give the HolySpirit truth to work with.
Uninundated by all of the things we have been taught otherwise.
He can, will and always does work through truth. We can have all our pets but if a believer is going to know the Christ in them, they have to be unclogged and free to receive new truth.
We think what we know is all God has for us, that is a mind that is still in the Fathers schoolhouse.

Good points.

Heart-consciousness loves the Truth regardless where it comes from. It can come from others speaking the truth, reading Scripture, from God, from Christ, even from satan. Yes, satan knows the Truth too. That does not mean my heart-consciousness glorifies satan, but it does glorify the truth.

In regards to being unclogged (fearless) in receiving (unconditional humility) new truths is up to God's-will. However, being unconditional, fearless, faithful, loving, humble to God and His Son Jesus Christ will make room for the Son and Father to move in.
John 14:23 Jesus replied, "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.

Whatever truth we know to be True is minuscule. It will be the only thing left of us at the End. However, all that is important is ...'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' Matthew 22:37

 

[Soul man]

It is my understanding that the entire purpose of the third-dimensional world that exists around us is to facilitate what I see in the Scripture to be the "liberating secret."
Gal. 2:20.
The liberating secret is something hidden in God that no man in the Scriptures knew anything about until it was revealed to Paul by God (Gal. 1:15–16), and Paul told it to us in his epistles.
Paul would finally summarize the liberating secret in Colossians 1:26–27 as “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” He would go on to teach us that the creature was a container with the Creator living His life in and through the creature. All this comes about as a result of the birthing, Gal. 2:20.
The word birth, when used literally, always means a new life, which has the same nature as the parents, coming into existence.
When a wolf or a sheep is born, there is a new life which has the wolf nature or the sheep nature, as the case may be.
When a child is born into the world, a new life comes into existence. This life has the nature of the child’s parents which is sinful and subject to death. This is the birth that Jesus called “of the flesh,” and the result of that birth is flesh.
This birth of the flesh receives its nature from Adam, the father of the human race. The Adamic nature, however, is a sin-nature or a Satan- nature.
The only thing God could do with the flesh was to judge it, and the judgment resulted in condemnation and execution (Rom. 8:3; Gal. 2:19; Rom. 6:6).
Scripture does not teach that the human being has a nature of its own. To be re-birthed does not mean that this life which is born of the flesh is changed or made over.
Because Satan’s nature misused the Creator’s creation of the human, the creature had to have a miracle to ever function according to its original, Godly creation. That miracle would be an exchange of natures, making the new birth imparative.
The new birth is a birth in the Spirit. It is to be “born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13).
It is the coming into being of a new life which has the incorruptible and immortal (not subject to death) nature of its father, God. Of the new birth, Peter writes:
“Being born again, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever” (1 Peter 1:23).
This seed not only lives forever, but it also remains (1 John 3:9) in the one who is born of God. Such life must be eternal, and that is what Jesus said it is (John 3:16). Life, which is eternal, cannot die.
All who are born of the incorruptible seed have an incorruptible nature (the God-nature), which is eternal life. It is impossible for such to be unborn, for that would mean the corruption of the divine nature and the death of that which cannot die.

 

[GodsGrace]

Nice thread.
Just got here.

Are you saying that man always had spirit but it was not tuned into God?
Or are you saying that we received spirit only in the New Testament after Jesus?

I refer to the OP and I'd like to say that I believe in the trichotomy of man.

When the OT speaks of the heart, is this not referring to the spirit in man?

 

[Edward]

Ya' know...if Jesus left such a deep lasting impression on the shroud of Turin in death...how much moreso in us now that He lives inside of us?!

 

[Edward]

Nice thread.
Just got here.

Are you saying that man always had spirit but it was not tuned into God?
Or are you saying that we received spirit only in the New Testament after Jesus?

I refer to the OP and I'd like to say that I believe in the trichotomy of man.

When the OT speaks of the heart, is this not referring to the spirit in man?

I think everything you said is true. The heart of man is wicked. The heart of God isn't. Our spirit-man communes with the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit. I think our heart is inbetween them somehow, near the mind perhaps? Because the flesh is against the spirit, the spirit against the flesh. Inbetween, we know things. When you know that you know that you know. Then we decide what coice to make, and it's either the lusts of the flesh win over, or the spirit which walks with God.

Whatever we decide, either builds up or tears down our heart. We know to do right. Sometimes we don't.

 

[GodsGrace]

Ya' know...if Jesus left such a deep lasting impression on the shroud of Turin in death...how much moreso in us now that He lives inside of us?!

 

[Soul man]

Ya' know...if Jesus left such a deep lasting impression on the shroud of Turin in death...how much moreso in us now that He lives inside of us?!

Lol like the emoji

 

[Soul man]

Nice thread.
Just got here.

Are you saying that man always had spirit but it was not tuned into God?
Or are you saying that we received spirit only in the New Testament after Jesus?

I refer to the OP and I'd like to say that I believe in the trichotomy of man.

When the OT speaks of the heart, is this not referring to the spirit in man?

Adam was created a living soul, I believe with the ability to contain spirit. He was not created with a spirit according to scripture, it is not written anywhere.
As we read and study we can see where man is made up now of body, soul and spirit. So I believe Adam recieved a spirit at the moment they fell.
Being created in the image and likeness of God he had a choice and he did chose. From that moment until now humanity has had to deal with a sin-nature, death-life.
The cross puts out the old sin nature and believing puts Christ in, because of the cross. I believe Adam could have chose Christ (tree of life) and contained that life as we do now.
So the short of it is, there has never been a people like us, literally birthed by God the Father.

 

[th1b.taylor]

Christ, by His death and resurrection, saved mankind (all of mankind) from the consequence ("wages") of sin which is physical death.
All of mankind will be raised immortal and incorruptible (won't physically break down, get sick, etc.). (1Cor 15: 52ff)

Here you are in error, John 3:18 and many other references tell us that, he or she that believes shall be saved but we learn in the short account by James that works are the result of Salvation, true love of the Christ, and works do not deliver any form of salvation when done for any other reason.

 

[Hermit]

Ya' know...if Jesus left such a deep lasting impression on the shroud of Turin in death...how much moreso in us now that He lives inside of us?!

I like what is implied here, because Christ's Spirit is expressed within, throughout, and beyond. People can see the radiance of those in love with Christ/God/Truth.

I always have a bit of trouble explaining in simple words the above, Though Christ is in me, I am also in Christ.
I have the same issue with the word 'believe'. This word implies that there is still unfinished business, as if trying to make it obvious. For instance, I would not look at the ground and say "I believe that is the ground", I would say "that is the ground" because it is obvious. Same with God, Christ, Holy Spirit, and Truth, it is not that I believe as such, but it is obvious to me. It IS so. It's a language thing where each time someone asks if I believe, a part of me wants to say 'no', because it is more so than just a belief.

In a way, what we say to ourselves is a like a mantra. If I keep telling myself that I am stupid, I will end up believing I am stupid. Likewise, if I keep saying I believe, then I end up stuck still believing instead of (lack of a better word) obviousing. The English language lacks a word for manifested conviction that would sound obvious to those that heard it. What I am saying is, as a result, most of us still struggle with 'obviousing'.

With regards to the Resurrection and the shroud of Turin. It was God who resurrected Christ. God did not abandon his Son after all.
Matthew 27:46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" (which means "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?").
1 Corinthians 15:15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised.
It is my conviction that Christ's resurrection was a complete renewal from head to toe, like a scan, by God the Father.

 

[Chopper]

Hello gang. I'm back from Maine where Skip (my Son) and I met in York to discuss our spiritual warfare ministry's victories and those who still need counsel and prayer. Now I'm back and ready to join my two anointed Servants of the Lord most high and to examine Galatians 2:20.

Galatians 2:20 "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." (Please notice Who's faith I live by, certainly not my feeble mustard seed little faith, No No! I live by "the faith of the Son of God", Jesus.)

First, my friends, the picture that I get from the words "I am crucified with Christ." .... I'd like to paint a mind picture for you because of this great verse. The shadow of the cross of the Son of God when He was dying for our sins. Behind Jesus, there we are, all lined up, being crucified along with Jesus.

I sincerely hope/pray that this image brings to you, my beloved friends, a new, fresh spiritual impact of how we died to the "old man & old nature of sin". We were crucified!! We died!! Now it says, "nevertheless I live" Here's another picture from the great Artist, the Holy Spirit. We are really living a crucified life, BUT, we have a coffin attached to our right leg with a shackle attached.

We drag around that coffin that contains our old man & old sinful nature. The impact of these two thoughts, "I am crucified with Christ & nevertheless I live" should so impact our lives that we would never think of stopping and release the latches of that old coffin, and jump into that old man suit in order to partake of that old nature of sin and exercise the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh or the pride of life. But alas, so many of us do. You might ask, how do we not unlock that old coffin? I believe the answer is in suffering.

That is the picture that I'm painting for you with the help of the Holy Spirit. Although I did not suffer pre-cross as Jesus did. My suffering would come post-cross. No one really likes to think of suffering because it comes from all direction and various ways.

Think about this verse for a awhile. 1Peter4:1 "Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin." Wow, what a great and truthful verse. To suffer "in the flesh" could mean, I suppose many, many areas. I personally, have suffered in my flesh with many physical/medical situations since 1976.

Before I was saved in 1974, I was a successful businessman. I owned a Printing Company in Portland, Maine. It was so successful that my efforts were the result of a bad thing called PRIDE. Once saved, Bible College was a challenge that seemed to fuel that sinful pride as I got good grades and had the spotlight on me in several areas of Christian service....I say all of this, to admit to selfish pride that I fight against right up to today.

Because of pride, I need....Philippians 3:10 "That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death." O my friends. The more Jesus did thru me, the more pride inflated my ego, to my shame.

There is more that I'd like to share with you folk, but I'll cease for now, gather my thoughts, and consider what our Holy Spirit would like to give you all something to chew on for your spiritual lunch.

I love you all,
Chopper

 

[Soul man]

When Paul takes us into (Gal. 2:20), he is taking us into our origin, as well as plan and purpose of God. With the word origin underlined.
If someone were to ask you what your origin was, what would you say? Your first idea might be that you had a mother and a father, and when they came together you came out of their union. But that is not really your origin. Someone else might say, My origin
was when I was saved.
That is when I was birthed, or born again. But that would not be your origin either. You might even go all the way back to Adam and say that your origin was in Adam, your forefather. But that would not be correct either. In order to answer this question you must start with God and the plan He had before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4)
4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

What was behind this great plan of God? Before anything was created that is in the Bible, we are told that God had a house full of creatures. The creatures that God created had no sonship quality in them and did not bear the earmarks of God’s nature. Having a father spirit, God took one of these creatures and placed him as a son.
He did not birth him as a son, He placed him as a son, and we know that son to be Lucifer. One day this son, Lucifer, who is called son of the morning in (Isaiah 14:12), decided that he was greater than God and tried to take over God’s house, which led to God taking action.
If I were to ask you who you thought God was, the first thing that would come to your mind would probably be that God is love.
That answer would be correct because God is love and all He wants from His created creatures is reciprocal love.
Love is what He did not get from Lucifer.
God does not want a creature who is forced or programmed to love Him. God wants a creature to love Him by a free-will decision because of who He is. God, as Father, wanted to fill His house with sons, and that is how this great plan of God came about.

 

[Hermit]

Great post Soul man.

...God does not want a creature who is forced or programmed to love Him. God wants a creature to love Him by a free-will decision because of who He is. God, as Father, wanted to fill His house with sons, and that is how this great plan of God came about.

Also, God wants us to be unconditional in our love for Him, just as He was with His only Son, Jesus Christ.

God sacrificed Himself, through His Son's sacrifice for us, unconditionally. It had to be, or else we would never learn or know what it means to love unconditionally.

Matthew 27:46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" (which means "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?").
To be unconditional in His sacrifice for us. In this way He is not asking anything more than what He has already done for us.

By doing the same to be with God, nothing is lost but our old self-conditional nature, and everything is gained, by our new unconditional-self nature. Just as God resurrected His Son, He will resurrect those who sacrifice their old nature unconditionally according to Christ's way, truth and life in us.

 

[Edward]

When Paul takes us into (Gal. 2:20), he is taking us into our origin, as well as plan and purpose of God. With the word origin underlined.
If someone were to ask you what your origin was, what would you say? Your first idea might be that you had a mother and a father, and when they came together you came out of their union. But that is not really your origin. Someone else might say, My origin
was when I was saved.
That is when I was birthed, or born again. But that would not be your origin either. You might even go all the way back to Adam and say that your origin was in Adam, your forefather. But that would not be correct either. In order to answer this question you must start with God and the plan He had before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4)
4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

I've thought about this. He knew us before the foundation of the world? (Ephesians 1:4) well that probably means that we've stood and talked with Him before being born here. Perhaps even chose the station in life we were to be born into? Or at least, agreed to it. Even now we are seated in heavenly places with Him...Do you believe that? I do. So our memory of speaking with Jesus before being born on earth is restrained. That's ok though because I know it was my origin.

And now that I know that...and look at my life...I imagine being there in the future and looking back and explaining myself...I will say I could have done better then! But that is now! I will shake off this identity crisis acquired in the fall of mankind...and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that I might be filled with all the fulness of God. As we were created to be.

Sorry Brother, didn't mean to derail anything, lol.

 

[Edward]

By doing the same to be with God, nothing is lost but our old self-conditional nature, and everything is gained, by our new unconditional-self nature. Just as God resurrected His Son, He will resurrect those who sacrifice their old nature unconditionally according to Christ's way, truth and life in us.

That's it right there. We don't get something for nothing. We have to obey, which proves our love for Him. We have to walk in love towards all, to reach out to people in love and helpfulness, which allows rivers of flowing water to flow through us that He can accomplish His work.

 

[th1b.taylor]

Matthew 27:46 About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" (which means "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?").
To be unconditional in His sacrifice for us. In this way He is not asking anything more than what He has already done for us.

I agree with all you posted but I am struck most by this part of it. In my searching for meaning I discovered it was the custom of the time that to recite the first verse of a Psalm was to invoke all of it to apply to one's self. Jesus knew the Father had not forsaken him as is the most common perception.