Galatians 2:20,21

(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. (21) I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

We have a most beautiful and blessed subject opened to us in those words. I only lament the shortness I must observe, in this work, in commenting on them. Paul being crucified with Christ, cannot be supposed to mean a bodily crucifixion, for the Apostle was not present, as far as we can learn, when Christ died on the cross. But the sense is Paul, as a member of Christ's mystical body, was represented by Christ in his death. And in this sense, so was every individual of Christ's Church. Precisely the same as in Adam's transgression in the garden, I, and the whole race of mankind were involved with him, both in the sin and punishment. For, as it is said of Levi, that he was in the loins of his father Abraham when Melchizedec met him, and blessed him, (Hebrews 7:10.) so all the seed of Adam were in the loins of Adam, when our first father fell by transgression, and pulled down upon himself and his posterity the dreadful ruin. In like manner, all the spiritual seed of Christ were in the loins of Christ from everlasting, and, of consequence, interested in all the blessedness he hath procured for them. Hence, Paul might say, and every child of God may truly say the same, I am crucified with Christ. For Christ was not crucified as a private person, but as the public head and representative of his whole body the Church. So, that when he died for sin, in him they became dead to sin. His death became the spring of their life, for by his death he overcame death, and by his stripes, as the Prophet declared, we are healed. Isaiah 53:5

And it is very blessed to behold how sweetly the scriptures follow up the subject, through all the several subsequent parts of it, from the cross to the crown. As the Church is crucified with Christ, so is she said to be buried with him by baptism unto death. Romans 6:3. And as buried with him, so risen with him to newness of life. Colossians 2:12. And as risen with him, so is she said to sit together with him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:6. And in Christ's entrance into heaven, he is expressly said to have entered there as our forerunner, and to appear in the presence of God for us. Hebrews 6:19. and Hebrews 9:24. So that in all, and every department of Christ's offices, the Lord of life and glory is never considered in the Scriptures of eternal truth, as acting in a private capacity, but as the public head and representative of his people. Paul was therefore very correct, when he said, I am crucified with Christ. Reader! there is one point that You and I should attend to on this subject, which, if like Paul, we can subscribe to, as he could, will make it very blessed indeed. We both daily prove our descent from Adam by generation, for certain it is, that his blood and corruption run through our veins, and we too sadly feel the consequence of sin in the sorrows of it. The grand question is, can we as clearly prove our union with Christ by regeneration, in the sweet influences of his Holy Spirit, quickening us from dead works to a new life in Christ, and his righteousness? Sweet and precious testimony, when the Spirit thus witnesseth to our spirits, that we are the children of God!

But we must go further, for many more beauties are contained in this glorious Scripture. Paul saith, that he was not only crucified with Christ, but that he lived with him. And how contradictory soever this may appear to carnal men, they are among the plainest truths of God to those that are spiritual. A oneness with Christ the sole cause of all. This brings up after it all its blessedness. It is not a natural, but a spiritual life. It is the Spirit that quickeneth; (saith Jesus himself), the flesh profiteth nothing. John 6:63. And hence Paul saith: If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the spirit is life because of righteousness. Romans 8:10. Regeneration makes no alteration on the flesh, but the spirit. There is nothing in the flesh made holy. And there is nothing in the spirit left unholy. Hence, Paul saith, Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. Not life in Paul, but in Christ; yea; Christ living in him.

I entreat the Reader, attentively to observe the Apostle's words; and he will discover their beauty and order. Paul doth not say I live in Christ, but it is Christ which liveth in me. It is not first our interest in Christ, but Christ's interest in us, which is the source of all life and blessedness. Christ's right in us is the cause. Our right in him is the effect. We love him because he first loved us. And the Church lays her claim to Christ on this ground. I am (saith, she) my beloved's. And then she adds, and my beloved mine. Son 6:3; 1 John 4:19

Neither is this all. The Apostle adds: And the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Oh! what unnumbered and endless blessings are contained in these words. I can but just glance at them. Let the Reader, however, not fail to take notice how sweetly Paul chimes on the subject of faith. All his life is in Christ, from Christ, by Christ. And all his enjoyment of this life is by faith of the Son of God. Yes! it is by the lively actings of faith, that the Lord's people enjoy their high privileges in Christ. Observe, all is in Christ; yea, Christ himself is their all. But their joys in this life, will be more or less, as they are enabled to live upon Jesus. And, if the Reader will look a little more narrowly into the subject, he will discover, that both the life in Christ, and the faith Paul speaks of from Christ, are from one and the same. Perhaps I shall somewhat surprise the Reader at first, when I say, that faith is not an act of the child of God, no more than the life in Christ, which gives birth to that faith is. Paul's expression warrants this conclusion. He saith, that the life he now lives in the flesh, (meaning his time-state in the body), he lives by the faith of the Son of God. Of the Son of God, not in the Son of God. Whereas, if this faith was our act, though God's gift, it would not be of the Son of God, but in, or upon, the Son of God. And this is scriptural. For Christ is both the Author, and the Finisher, and the Giver of faith. Hebrews 12:2; Philippians 1:29. Therefore, faith is Christ's, act upon his people, which calls forth their life of faith upon him, and not first their act upon him. The life of faith, like all other life, is first a life of receiving. Incomings before outgoings. Air received before we breathe forth. The first is the cause, the last the effect. I hope the Reader will apprehend me. Paul, certainly, himself so distinguished, and both knew the difference, and enjoyed it, when he said, upon another occasion, to the Philippian Church, I follow after, (said Paul), if I may apprehend that, for which I also am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12. It is Christ's apprehension, or holding us up, which is the cause both of our safety and happiness, and not our apprehension of him. The child in the bosom finds security, not from clasping the fond mother's neck, but from being encircled in her arms. And in like manner, our safety ariseth, not from our faith, but from Christ's love. The eternal God is thy refuge; and underneath are the everlasting arms. Deuteronomy 33:27. Hence one of old, convinced of this, cried out to the Lord: Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe; yea my delight shall be always in thy statutes. Psalms 119:117

I must not trespass: but I know not how to leave my meditation on this precious Scripture. There is a vast deal of the most lively act of faith, going forth upon the Person of the Lord Jesus, when Paul said: who loved me, and gave himself for me. It is Christ himself which the Apostle so passionately hangs upon; and the consequences resulting from the Lord's love to him, he then enjoys. Paul views Christ the cause: and the giving himself for Paul, the effect. But who is competent to unfold, and explain, a thousandth part of what is contained in the bosom of this sweet Scripture, when considered, in the infinite dignity of the Person loving, and the unparalleled nature of the gift bestowed; together with the view of those, on whom he maketh that grace to shine? No powers of arithmetic can number the extent of that love; neither the value of that gift. The Church of God, while in grace here upon earth, may in silence muse on the boundless subject; and hereafter in glory, when with faculties ripened into perfection, the body of Christ will be more fully qualified, to contemplate it; but the full discovery of it, being in its very nature infinite, will never, to all eternity, be so completely unfolded, so as to say, the whole is seen. Oh! for Christ now to dwell in our hearts by faith, that being rooted, and grounded in love, we may be able to comprehend with all saints, what is the breadth; and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge; that we may be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:14 to the end.

I admire the Apostle's conclusion of the Chapter. It forms a strong appeal to the truth, after what he had before been speaking, of the Person, and glory of Christ, and the entire justification of his Church, by Himself, and his redemption-work. I do not (said he), frustrate the grace of God. No but, on the contrary, he gives all the glory, where alone it is due; and magnifies the divine mercy, in ascribing the whole to grace. All, according to Paul's view of the subject, and under the teaching of God the Holy Ghost, is to the praise of the glory of his grace who hath made the Church accepted in the beloved. Ephesians 1:6. But it would be a miserable thing indeed, and sadly frustrating, and making void, the riches of God's grace, to join anything of the work of the creature, in whole, or in part, as in the least contributing to justification before God. For if righteousness come by the law: if any of the fallen race of Adam, could be supposed capable of working out for themselves a righteousness of their own; yea, could perform a single deed, or exercise a single thought of purity, to recommend themselves to the great searcher of hearts: in this case, it would set aside, the necessity of redemption. For this would at once show, that the creature hath a capability of somewhat, be that somewhat ever so little; and by improvement, more might then be expected from him. And then, the consequences which would follow, would be, that there could have been no cause for so great a sacrifice as God's dear Son. The blood of Christ might have been spared: and Christ (as Paul saith) is then dead in vain. Whereas, the decided, unalterable language of holy Scripture, on this point, is, that without shedding, of blood there is no remission. Hebrews 9:22. That it was in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5:6. And that, if one died for all, then were all dead. 2 Corinthians 5:14. Oh! the foul ingratitude, in attempting to lessen the infinite importance of Christ's obedience and death, as the sole cause of salvation! Oh! the horrible presumption, in thereby impeaching both the wisdom, and love of God g, in the contrivance of such vast mercies! And, oh! thou dear Redeemer! what base returns, are these to thee, and all thine agonies, and soul-travail, when men set up a righteousness of their own, to lessen thereby, the infinitely precious sacrifice of thyself on the cross, whereby alone, thou hast perfected forever them that are sanctified! Reader will you bend your knee with mine, and with me beg of God that like Paul, we may be always able to say: I do not frustrate the grace of God; for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.