“I Have Been Crucified with Christ”. This expression refers to Christ who carries in Him all His beloved ones. Another expression has the same meaning and is also used by Paul: “In Christ…” It shows that Lord Jesus has put us in His soul; He put us in Him when He fulfilled our salvation through His death.
It is noteworthy that after this expression, the Apostle says “I have been Crucified therefore I live”. He shows by these words that we have gotten our new lives from Christ’s death; our salvation began on the cross, i.e. we gained the new life.
After saying “I live”, he redressed and said “yet not I, but Christ lives in me”. He based this on the unity that exists between each one of us and Christ. If the Lord filled me with all his graces, He would be the one living in me and His life would be poured on me through the Holy Spirit. He, who loves Christ greatly, would take the love that Christ had towards us. Love always is initiated from Christ, and we respond to it by obeying his commandments.
After that, the apostle says: “The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God”. He wants life in Christ, and the expression “in the body” means “my entire entity”. He doesn’t mean our biological life but the life poured on us from the Divine Spirit. There exists a stronger life that descends on us from above. This life is given by faith because faith is a new life that begins in Baptism and grows through faith and is nurtured by our prayers and the Divine Sacraments. “I live by faith in the Son of God” because as He dwells in me, He gives me faith in Him.
If I believed in the Son of God I would know that he loved me and gave Himself for me. Faith in its reality and depth is to recognize that God loved me. This is the only time in which Paul clarifies that Jesus loved “him” and not “us”. Each believer is given a special love from Jesus. It is very important to know that you are the Lord’s beloved one and to understand this special relationship between you and the Savior. What is Christ’s life in you? Paul clarifies it by saying: “He gave Himself for me”, and this means that He died and then resurrected for my salvation.
Faith in the Son of God gives us eternal life that begins from here as an existential relationship with Christ. Eternal life doesn’t only mean the life that we gain after death; it starts in Baptism and is strengthened through faith. It is called “eternal” because it doesn’t end with death because grace descends on the living and on the dead that are alive in Christ.
Our life in Christ starts through faith and we nurture it through the Divine Word and receiving the Lord’s body and our continuous trust in God. This is the life in Christ who revives every person through it. There is no greater wish for a person than for Christ to live in Him and Him to live in Christ.
Translated by Mark Najjar
Original Text: “مع المسيح صُلبتُ” –Raiati 44- 28.10.2012