Commentary on Galatians (34)

However, Paul did not remain dead. As the penalty of sin was carried out and divine justice was fully satisfied, God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, and in him, all the chosen ones as well. Thus Paul writes, "For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God." The Christian message, therefore, does not make "sinners" out of people, whether in the legal sense or the ethical and moral sense; rather, it enables believers to "live for God."

This identification with Christ in his crucifixion and resurrection is often subsumed under the doctrine of our "union with Christ." While this expression is convenient in some ways, it has at times framed discussions on "in Christ" passages such that theologians have been forced to give a satisfactory account of our relationship with Christ, not in terms of the biblical verses, but in terms of this "union" that we have with Christ. Failing this, the relationship has been relegated to a "mystical" union. But to consider our identification with Christ – or this union, if you will – as mystical is often premature, if not false altogether.

Rather, once we cease to think of this "in Christ" relationship in almost physical or spatial terms, the mystical aspects are lessened, if not eliminated. It is a relationship in which our federal head represents his chosen ones (those whom God has placed "in" him) in his humiliation, obedience, crucifixion, resurrection, and glorification (Romans 5:12-19). And this relationship is maintained, not by a co-occupation of space, whether in the spatial or mystical sense, but by faith, which is a sovereign gift from God. By this same relationship, Christ is said to be "in" us, that is, directing and enabling us to live for God in holiness, boldness, and obedience by his Spirit (1 John 3:24). Let us not call mystical what is rather easily understood and believed.

Paul says that he is dead to the law, having been crucified in Christ, and now he no longer lives, but it is Christ who lives in him. We must not take this and run away from the passage so that we can make a mystery out of it, because Paul has not finished speaking about this. He continues, "The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God." This statement offers at least two important implications for the doctrine of our so-called union with Christ, or to the doctrine of salvation in general.

First, the "self" and the body have not been dissolved into nothing, or even into "Christ" in a sense that makes them disappear. Paul's self and body are still present, living, and relevant. His relationship to his former way of living has so changed that he is now said to be dead to it. The present passage addresses how a person can obtain forensic justification before God, or more generally, salvation. However, if this so-called union with Christ results in a destruction of the personality, or so complete a dissolution into the divine that the self is no longer said to remain as a distinct entity, then the person in fact does not receive justification or salvation – he is simply annihilated. If this is what "salvation" means, then God in fact saves no one. But God performs what he promises through the gospel – he justifies and saves anyone who has faith in Jesus Christ.

Second, Paul's relationship with Christ is now such that he is said to be "in" Christ and Christ is said to be "in" him. Yet there is nothing mystical, at least in this passage, as he describes the nature of this relationship as living "by faith in the Son of God." There is no reference to a spatial or ontological interpenetration of beings, but a spiritual relationship of faith in Christ. Paul is referring to "a complete change in his way of looking at all things, a 'reorientation of thought', to use modern jargon, which involves a total change of life." Christ has replaced the law as his reference and motivation behind all his thinking and behavior.

Thus to answer the concern raised in verse 17, the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ does not promote sin or make us sinners. We have been crucified in Christ, and having died to the law, we have been raised to new life in him, so that we now live for God and pursue holiness by his life and power.