GALATIANS 2:20: I (Nkem Okemiri) have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I (Nkem Okemiri) who live, But Christ lives in me (the one still known as Nkem Okemiri) And the life (of Christ) which I (popularly known as Nkem Okemiri) now live in the flesh (the container of my spirit) I live by faith (that I have been crucified with Christ, that it is longer I that live, that Christ lives through me) In (as) the son of God who loved me (the one known as Nkem Okemiri) and gave Himself for me (popularly known as Nkem Okemiri) (My Paraphrase).
Earlier in my life as a believer, I found this passage very tough to believe or understand. It made me weep because it looks like Christ was imposing himself on me and compelling me to say that it was Christ (rather than me) living in me. I lived in contradiction. How could Christ be the one living in me when I was still struggling to live right? But with growth, maturity and better understanding, I have come to love this verse, as it were, more than other verses of the bible. I have found in this verse, the secret of triumphant Christian (supernatural) living.
I thought the reason I still struggled with Christian living was because I had no fully surrendered myself to God. I did everything I knew to surrender- praying, fasting, good works – but it never really produced the desired result. I have come to learn one thing: effort cannot replace knowledge. It is the truth you know and apply that makes you free – not the effort you make.
I HAVE BEEN CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST
What is the meaning of this?
The KJV says, “I am crucified with Christ”. This puts my crucifixion in the present tense – meaning that it is not yet a completed task. It means I am still hanging on the cross with Jesus Christ. But we know that Christ is no longer on the cross. That means it would be unwholesome for me to say, “I am crucified with Christ”. It is better to say, “I was crucified with Christ”; but that does not guarantee that I could not, or would not, be crucified again. But when you read “I have been crucified with Christ” you think of something that has not only be completed in the past but also cannot be reversed or repeated. I cannot be un-crucified with Christ because I HAVE BEEN crucified with Christ. I cannot be crucified again because I have been crucified with Christ.
I HAD DIED (COL 3:3)
It is not just that I was crucified with Christ, I died with Him. I had died! That means I ceased to exist. It means I was no longer part of this world. It means I had gone through a journey that cannot be taken a second time. something has happened to me that cannot be undone or re-done. I had died!
BAPTIZED INTO HIS DEATH (ROMANS 6:3-9)
Immersion in Christ which the Spirit does (not water baptism) means also immersion into the death of Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:13 says, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free-and have all been made to drink into one Spirit” (NKJV).
Anyone that is joined to Christ through faith in the finished work, has also been joined to the death of Christ. it is reckoned to him that he died when Jesus died or that he died with Christ.
IF ONE DIED FOR ALL, THEN ALL DIED (2Corinthians 5:14)
The death of Christ on the cross was literal. He really died. It was not a figurative or proverbial death. He died in the flesh. But our death is judicial. We died in, and through, the death of Christ. So, when the Bible says you have died, it is not a literal physical, it is not death in the flesh but it is real all the same. It is judicial in the sense that Jesus died your death for you. He died as your substitute. So, in a legal sense, it was you that died. “if one died for all, the judicial, or legal, implication is that all had died. If one man pays a price for all, then all have paid.
The difference between a judicial death and a literal death is this: in a literal death, the dead ceases to exist, but in a judicial death, although ‘the judicially dead’ may still be alive physically; he is treated as one who had already died. Someone died on his behalf, so, he enjoys the benefit of being alive but counted as dead; where liabilities are concerned. Secondly, in a judicial death, ‘the living dead’ needs knowledge, or the assistance of the law, to profit from the death of his benefactor. He needs to prove, legally, that he was the one that died when Jesus died on the cross.
IT IS NO LONGER I WHO LIVE
If I was irreversibly crucified with Christ and had died, it follows then that I must have ceased to exist. But how can I claim to have died and still be talking and writing? There is a difference between the Nkem Okemiri that was crucified with Christ (by retrospective or backdated union with Christ) and the one supposedly called Nkem Okemiri today. Nkem Okemiri was crucified with Christ by judicial union with the one that died for him. He is, therefore, no longer the one that is alive today. The descendant of Adam you know as Nkem Okemiri is no longer alive today. The dust and the clay-man called Nkem Okemiri is dead. The flesh and blood creature known as Nkem Okemiri is no more. The Igbo man, Nigerian and African identified as Nkem Okemiri is dead and no longer exists. The day I heard the gospel and believed that Jesus Christ died my death to save me from the wages of sin, my death in his death for me was instantly effected from that moment, I ceased to exist as Nkem Okemiri, the sinner boy. That boy is dead and forgotten.
If it is true that it is no longer I who live, the world needs to be told who the present man is. How can someone who said he had been crucified with Jesus Christ and that he no longer lives still be the one talking and writing. You can’t be dead and still be talking and walking about. Who is this Nkem Okemiri that is alive today if it is true that Nkem Okemiri has been crucified and had died?
CHRIST LIVES IN ME: I AM A CONTAINER WITH A NEW CONTENT:
It is the content of a container that gives it its name. The Content of this container called Nkem Okemiri is Christ. In a sense, Nkem Okemiri is no longer a suitable name or identity for me. Since it is no longer I that live, I should not identified by the one that no longer lives. I should rather be identified by the name of the one who now lives in me.
If Christ lives in me, my thoughts, words, ways, and actions, would not be mine but Christ’s. My ability would not be mine but Christ’s. My ability would be the ability of Christ! That is the reasons Paul says, “I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me”.
CHRIST LIVES IN ME BECAUSE I LIVE FOR HIM.
2 Corinthians 5:15 says that the reason Christ died for me is that I may live for Him.
“And He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again”
Jesus took my place in death; that I may take His place in life. To live for Him, I must bear His name, share His thought, speak His words, and do His works. That is why He lives in me by His spirit (Galatians 4:7; Romans 8:9) so, I can alway says, “the Christ that lives in me, is the one that is doing the works”. That is what Jesus said concerning His relationship with the father in John 14:10. “the Father that dwells in me, He does the works.
QUIT LOOKING AT ME AS ME
2 Corinthians 5:16 says, we do not know any man according to the flesh. So I must quit seeing myself as Nkem Okemiri. I must quit reckoning with myself according to the flesh. That is where the conflict is. Rather, than see myself according to the one that lives in me, I continue to myself according to what I am called, what I know, what I have and so on. The Christ in me seeks expression but is always hindered because Nkem Okemiri’s body and soul still want to express the Nkem Okemiri that is dead. So, rather than manifest the life and fullness of Christ, I keep manifesting the deadness and emptiness of Nkem Okemiri. Rather than exhibit the power of Christ, I exhibit the weakness of Nkem Okemiri.
THE ANSWER IS RENEWING THE MIND (ROM 12:2)
I need to renew my mind concerning my person and identity in Christ. I need to tell myself every time that is no longer I that live but that Christ is the One living in me right now. It should get to a point where the consciousness Christ in me comes spontaneously. I live as a new creation because the old has not just passed away but has also been allowed to pass away. Many times we stuck in life because, in our minds, we live in the past that has passed away. It is like trying relive the past that has passed away. It is like trying to make a phone call with a SIM card that had since be blocked by the network. It can never put your call through because that SIM card has passed away.
“if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation, old things have passed away; all things have become new”.
THE CHALLENGE OF BEING INDWELT BY CHRIST
The challenge of immortality dwelling in a mortal body
Jesus said no man puts new wine in old wine skin without causing confusion. The Adamic body is not good enough for the Christ that lives in me. The Christ in me needs a new body. That is why we look forward to the redemption of our bodies (Romans 8:22); that is why Paul says we shall be changed (1 Corinthians 15); that is why we look to the coming of our Savior from heaven to change our bodies so that it would be like the glorious body of Christ (Philippians 3:20-21); that is why Paul says we groan to be clothed with life or immortality (2 Corinthians 5:4). If Christ now lives in me (like treasure in earth vessel) the indestructible life of Christ would dominant sickness and anything that is not compatible with Christ in my body.
The challenge of living in an old earth corrupted by sin and wickedness
The Bible tells us there would be a new heaven and a new earth. Isaiah spoke of it. “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind” (Isaiah 65:17 NKJV). Peter spoke of it. “But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:7,10,13 NKJV). John confirmed it. “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea” (Revelation 21:1 NKJV).
The present heaven and earth is also not good for the new creation in Christ. In Genesis 7, God destroyed the first earth and humanity with the flood of Noah’s day. He gave to Noah and his family a new earth. God has a plan to give a cleansed new earth to the New Creation in Christ Jesus.
HAVING KNOWLEDGE AND USING IT
It is not having Christ in you that changes you but knowing that it is Christ that lives in you; and using the knowledge to dominate circumstances. Christ lives in every believer but many believers do not know that it is so; and what that means. Those who claim to know are not taking advantage of what they say they know.
Jesus said, “you shall know the truth; and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32). The first epistle of John 5:13 says I write these things that you who believe in Christ, that you may know that you have eternal life…” Those who have eternal life ought to know they have it.
LIVING BY FAITH IN THE FLESH BODY
“…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 for me”
The key to success in spiritual life is living by faith. Living in the flesh by faith means I do not reckon with who I appear to be in the flesh. I do not know, or measure, myself according to the flesh; but according to the truth and understanding that is in Christ who lives in me. I live as an expression of Christ Jesus. It is not just a faith of dependence on Christ but of expressing Him. Christ thinks, speaks, and lives, through me. I live at the level of Christ. I live by the faith of Christ because He is the one indwelling me. My voice is His voice. I do not speak as ME but as Christ who lives and speak through me. Living by faith means focusing on what God says rather than on what I see, hear, feel, or think.
Demon-possessed people manifest the life and tendencies of the spirit possessing them. When you are filled with the Spirit of God, people see the manifestations of the Spirit in you. So, when Christ lives in me, all I do expresses Him.
LIVING FROM THE SPIRIT
Faith connects us to the realm and dimension of God. Without faith, we cannot reach God’s standards or fulfill His expectations. If the life of Christ is to manifest through me, it can only happen by operating from the spirit. To operate from the Spirit is to live from the angle and perspective of my new creation self.
(1) I must begin to live, think, and speak, in the name of Jesus Christ and as one that has final authority.
(2) I must live as one in perfect harmony with the Father.
(3) I must operate according to the prompting of my spirit; and not according to the thoughts of my heart, or the feelings, or perceptions of my senses.
(4) I must set or re-order my priorities according to the priorities of Jesus Christ.
(5) I must operate, not by what I think or feel, but by what Christ believes of Himself- that is the faith of the son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me. It also means standing upon the credentials of Christ and of the finished work. When I pray, I do it according to the size of the faith of Jesus, the son of God. To not live by faith, means to live according to circumstances – according to the flesh.
Wow Sir I am blessed