<p>2:20- see on Mt. 27:26; 1 Cor. 15:10; Gal. 2:16.</p><p><i>I have been crucified with Christ</i>- Another reference to his baptism and the subsequent life spent living out those principles in practice (see on :19). Rom. 6:6 uses the same term for baptism- &quot;crucified with Him&quot;. This is the idea of co-crucifixion, and the word is used about the thieves being crucified with Jesus (Lk. 23:42). The repentant thief is a type of us all. We died with Christ there; everything within us cries out that 'I would not have done this'. But we did. We through baptism are counted as having died and risen with Him. To be crucified is not so much a command we are to obey but a fact about our status in Christ which is to be believed. We count ourselves as dead to sin with Christ on the cross (Rom. 6:11).</p><p><i>And it is no longer I that live but Christ living in me</i>- &quot;I have been crucified with Christ: the life I now live is not <i>my </i>life, but the life which <i>Christ lives </i>in me; and my present bodily life is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me&quot;. The spirit of the risen Christ lived out in our lives is the witness of His resurrection. We are Him to this world. His cross affects our whole life, our deepest thought and action, to the extent that we can say with Paul, in the silence of our own deepest and most personal reflection: &ldquo;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&quot; (Gal. 2:20).</p><p><i>I live in faith</i>- The Gospel of the Lord Jesus isn't a collection of ideas and theologies bound together in a statement of faith. It is, rather, a proclamation of facts (and the Greek words used about the preaching of the Gospel support that view of it) concerning a flesh and blood historical person, namely the Lord Jesus Christ. The focus is all upon a concrete and actual person. Paul in Gal. 2:20 doesn't say: 'I live by faith in the idea that the Son of God loved me'. Rather: &quot;I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself up for me&quot; (RV). Faith is centred in a person- hence the utterly central importance of our correctly understanding the Lord Jesus. We are clearly bidden see the man Jesus as the focus of everything.</p><p><i>And that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up</i>- A reference to the unique method of the Lord's death, consciously giving up His last breath in the words &quot;Father into Your hands I commend my spirit&quot;, a life not taken from the Lord but consciously given up by Him. And that supreme act of self giving was &quot;for me&quot;.</p><p><i>For me- </i>There is the sustained implication that the personal relationship between Jesus and each of His followers is totally personal and unique. The Abrahamic covenant is made personally with every member of the seed &ldquo;in their generations&quot; (Gen. 17:7). The records of the renewing of the covenant to Isaac and Jacob are but indicators that this is the experience of each one of the seed. This means that the covenant love of God and the promise of personal inheritance of the land is made personally, and confirmed by the shedding of Christ's blood, to each of us. Paul appreciated this when he spoke of how the Son of God had loved him and died for him personally, even though that act of death was performed for many others (Gal. 2:20). This is one of the most essential mysteries of our redemption; that Christ gave Himself <i>for me</i>, so that He might make <i>me</i> His very own; and therefore I wish to respond in total devotion to Him and His cause, to make Him the Man I fain would follow to the end. And yet He did it for <i>you</i> and for <i>you</i>; for <i>all</i> of us His people. All the emphasis on fellowship and family life, good as it is, must never blind us to this ultimately <i>personal</i> relationship with the One who gave Himself for us. Each time a believer enters into covenant with Christ through baptism, blood is in a sense shed; the Lord dies again as the believer dies again in the waters if baptism. The Hebrew word translated &lsquo;to cut a covenant&rsquo; is also translated &lsquo;cut off&rsquo; in the sense of death (Gen. 9:11; Lev. 20:2,3; Is. 48:9; Prov. 2:21). Death and blood shedding are essential parts of covenant making.&nbsp;In Gal. 2:20, Paul wrote of &ldquo;the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me&rdquo;; and yet some years later he wrote in conscious allusion to this statement: &ldquo;Christ loved <i>the church</i> and gave himself <i>for it</i>&rdquo; (Eph. 5:25). He looked out from beyond his personal salvation to rejoice in the salvation of others. He learnt that it was God manifestation in a multitude, not individual human salvation, that was and is of the essence. And we follow a like path, from that day when we were asked &lsquo;why do you want to be baptized&rsquo;, and we replied something to the effect &lsquo;because I want to be in the Kingdom&rsquo;. &nbsp;</p>