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.