Living by Faith

Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; 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.”

There are many verses in the Bible that direct us to living by faith. In this particular verse, Paul explains that Christ is the one who has to live in us. Paul goes further to differentiate his life into two. The first one is spiritual and the second one is of the flesh. If a person is truly spiritual he would understand that he has given everything up to Christ and Christ lives in him.

But the most contradictory thing to Christ is the flesh and for us to live in the flesh, we need faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This contradiction is answered by faith that is on a person who is the powerful Son of God and this Person loves us and this love has been showered as Grace up to a level where He gave Himself for us. This unshakable faith makes us survivors in this flesh. Every time we are tested or thrown into trouble, faith helps us stand up and walk.

2 Corinthians 5:6 says that we do not walk by sight but by faith. The context of that verse is where Paul explains the flesh and the heavenly body that God will provide us when we die. Here the warning given is that the earthly tent will be taken away in a particular time and we need to ensure that we should not be found naked. Let us note that Paul uses the term “tent” for the earthly body and “building” for the heavenly body. We long to be clothed in the everlasting building that God will provide us. That promise is not seen.

Even though we are physically absent from God’s complete presence that is heaven, we are still confident about our future because of this faith. Faith removes all doubts and fear. If faith is present there would absolutely be no confusion. The answer to almost all questions is that “Jesus loves me and I trust Him completely”. Whatever disaster may seem to affect us, we would have our concentration on the newer clothing God is going to provide.

We also need to note we, ourselves are going to heaven. It is the same “I” that is being transferred from one body to another at death. This transfer invalidates death and mortality. In this life with a temporary tent, there is no visible proof of the heavenly promise. If things that are seen drive or influence us to progress, we are progressing. Every step we take is a leap of faith. 2 Cor 5:4 says that for life to take over death, we long to have an assurance of the newer clothing while we are in the old clothing. That assurance is the Holy Spirit.

As per Gal 3:7 we are promised all the promises given to Abraham for his generations as we live by this faith. The life given to us is the only real execution of all promises to Abraham. In Genesis 17:8, God promised Abraham that He’ll give Canaan to his descendants forever which did not happen at all. The reason is that the God did not consider Israel as Abraham’s descendants. We are. We will be inheriting the real Canaan or the New Jerusalem and will live there forever. If everything that matters is spiritual then even inheritance comes in spiritual terms only.

In Galatians 3:11 and in few other instances we read that “The Just shall live by faith.” This means that we cannot survive as righteous unless we cling on to faith. As per Phil 4:13, our trust in Jesus Christ gives us abilities to do or withstand anything including hunger. The actual promise of this statement in Habakkuk 2:4 is given as the alternative to being proud. Pride comes from self-confidence and self-exaltation. We need our faith as the fuel for life and not anything else that is of the world.

Faith produces Life. It is not the faith but the person on whom the faith is placed that gives life to us. We believe in Him and He gives us life. This is seen in all the verses including John 14:6 where He said that I am the way, the truth and the life. As in Galatians 3:13,14 the law does its job of bringing down curses, but Jesus Christ is producing life in us and all the promises given to Abraham are fulfilled in us.

With this strong assurance, we need to take every step of our life with faith. We should not be able to imagine a life without Jesus. As per John 10:10, Jesus gives life for the first time to us. We are mistakenly calling this earthly life as actual life. The opportunity of life is given to us only through Jesus’ death and resurrection. And this life is given to us abundantly without looking at what we deserve or qualify. That gesture is grace.

Spirit or Flesh

Galatians 3:3 “Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?”

In this verse, Paul gives a strong comment on the people’s decision to receive circumcision. Paul explains that this decision was to prove ourselves to be in line with others and this is flesh. He explains that we need to have total dependence on the Holy Spirit. In this verse, we can all see ourselves in our early saved days when everything was spiritual. We had huge enthusiasm for our spiritual growth and depended on God for everything. The failure began when carnal thoughts and priorities had taken precedence.

Our decisions matter the most here. There always is an argument between the spirit and the flesh inside us. The flesh always wants fun and satisfaction. The spirit wants us to be pure and holier. The winner matters. We are concerned about this discernment only when or not sinning. But, this discernment was required by Galatians in their acceptance of doctrine and rituals. Circumcision is not a sin, but Paul classifies that as a fleshy decision. This can be related to any situation especially in ministry where we give our efforts to God. We tend to accept everything because we see everything as prayer and harmless. Nowadays or maybe for centuries prayer are wonderful weapons for brainwashing and even cursing. This is the space where many evangelists come in and try to promote themselves. For Christians, honoring or selfies with these celebrity preachers are to be discerned. Many doctrines are fleshy and we need to be vigilant here. The Good Samaritan’s parable is a wonderful example of spiritual decision making. For such wisdom, it is better to lack worldly or even sometimes biblical knowledge and completely depend on God Himself.    

The importance of this can be read in the next verse. It nullifies all our previous efforts and achievements if we have given precedence to fleshy decisions for our relationship with Christ. Everything we have earned or learnt has become vain if we try to perfect things in flesh.

Romans 8 is the chapter where Paul explains this in detail. Verse 4 says that salvation is only for those who walk in the Spirit. Salvation is explained as the righteous requirement of the law. This was the purpose of every toil God has taken including the Law and Jesus. In Luke 7:37, the woman who broke the alabaster jar of perfume understood that forgiveness was the ultimate requirement. So, she gave up every savings she had for this forgiveness. We need to take this decision where perfection in Spirit is what we really need and not wealth.

God wants us to walk, progress and live completely for our spiritual needs only. This means that we should work hard putting all our efforts and strength together to progress spiritually and not in this world. Verse 5 says that Spiritual people always think about the spiritual things. They do not belong to material world or its pleasures, but they seek holiness and peace.

Life and Peace is an important sign in a spiritual person. This person has assurance of living with a purpose. Worldly people have everything but still are unhappy. They are already dead deep inside. This life makes us happy and would want to give more. As per James 4:1-6, all confusion and wars are results of flesh and this seeks pride. The Spirit always seeks humility. Jesus always stayed at the simplest lifestyle. A truly spiritual person would never promote himself but will seek God’s name to be honored. Humility is a mandatory requirement for every Christian.

Rom 8:8 says that the fleshy decisions do not please God. This can be used as a testing tool. The Holy Spirit inside us will explain us if He is happy or sad because of our deeds. If we ask Him, He would certainly reply and we can hear Him. However, we still choose to ignore Him. A simple prayer everytime increments our dependency on God and He will for sure be pleased in our actions.

In Genesis 6:3, we read that God mentioning the flesh as a temporary thing and this is all we are. Jesus came down to the earth and made us into spiritual beings with heavenly ambitions. The whole realm we see and live is not reality. But, in this period, the Holy Spirit has to strive with man to make him perfect. This struggle is what we read in Rom 8:26.

Back to Galatians 3:3, we should ensure if we are being perfected by the Spirit and not the flesh. We are expected to grow and this growth should only be originating from the Holy Spirit. All others are vain. The flesh seeks worldly honor, pleasures and completely makes us different. God calls this foolish because fools are essentially people who after knowing make wrong decisions and lose benefits. After learning that faith in Jesus brings us perfection, if we still keep seeking for carnal benefits, we become fools and all our previous efforts become wasted.

The Hearing of Faith

Galatians 3:2 “This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?”

The most valuable, required but undeserved gift to mankind is the Holy Spirit. Paul uses this statement to Galatians explaining that hearing of faith that brought us the gift. The hearing of faith is different from faith itself. In original texts we can also read that as the report of faith. The above verse speaks about this receipt in our perspective. We can read this again in verse 5 where it is seen in God’s perspective. God gave this by the report of faith and we received this by the report of faith.

The receipt of faith happened when we heard the faith of Jesus. His faith was demonstrated in the cross (verse 1). He had complete faith in the Father for the salvation of Mankind and gave Himself. If this salvation was only a chance or probability then there is no faith there. We read this clearly in Hebrews 12:2. Jesus has defined what faith is by submitting Himself to suffering. This faith is ultimate and takes risks at whatever size.

All we did was hear this faith and we were given the gift of Holy Spirit. God understands that we are weak to display this enormous faithfulness and gives us the strength just when we hear the faith that was demonstrated. How marvelous is the love of God who gives us Himself just because we had heard Him. It is always a pleasure when we compare God’s view on us before and after Christ. Earlier, we were expected to obey God. But after Christ has come, God’s only expectation on us is faith. CH Spurgeon says that faith is the easiest thing for a man to perform because is just depending of God and progressing. But corruption has made this simple task a hard one. So, it required Jesus to show and teach what real faith is.

In Mathew 13:13 we further read that everybody heard but that was not actual hearing. In Galatians 3:2 we read as “the hearing” which points not to just hearing like them but hearing with the heart as in Mathew 13:15. This is the expectation of Christ. If we had heard the message of the cross from our hearts, then we shall receive the Holy Spirit. The apostles were given instructions to wait for the comforter and they did wait for 10 days. This was hearing.

Based on Romans 10:17 faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. The bible says that actual hearing comes only when the word of God is spoken. In Greek, it is written as word of Christ which is the gospel. An understanding of hearing can be found in Mathew 10:14 which means that we respect and hear with a motive to learn.

In Mathew 11:15 and 13:9 when emphasizing a message to people, Jesus says that “he who has ears to hear, let him hear”. If somebody has ears which are meant to hear, that is who is willing to hear the word will hear. After the arrival of Christ, God has given his perfect requirement list in souls. Earlier it was strength, obedience, charity etc. Now, God looks for love, humility, repentance and will. This willing is to submit to all extents so that God’s name is glorified.

We should also read that “let him hear” in detail. This is an expectation God has with us without any divine intervention. Hearing is something we have to initiate and build in us. When we hear God with a humble heart, with a longing for salvation we are glorified.

Back to Galatians 3:5, now it is God who works miracles in us by the hearing of faith. God sees that our faith is heard. The hearing also has a meaning as “report”. The next verse confirms that this faith was accounted as righteousness. God, after hearing our faith gives us the Holy Spirit and works miracles in us. The Holy Spirit and miracles in us closely inter related events.  

Also, we can see the series of salvation in these verses. First we hear from our heart about the faithful love of Christ. Next, we start in the Spirit and the Spirit elevates our faith. Then God hears our faith and then works miracles in us. The “in us” is important which shows that we would miraculously live in holiness.

Jesus gave Himself

Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; 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.”

Jesus has given us the highest gift he could give, that was He Himself. It is necessary for every Christian to properly understand why Jesus had to give Himself and not anything else. We read the purpose of the gift in Titus 2:14 i.e., He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself. Jesus has taken us from pits, cleansed and made us Holy for Himself and thus He has earned us. If Jesus had used anything or anybody else to buy us, we would be considered like easy money that was earned without toil. We read this again in Galatians 1:4 where Jesus gave Himself to deliver us from this present evil age. This age is so evil that any easy payment would not let us out. All the world’s fantasies have made us buried deep. Fantasies have turned into commitments and we are strongly bound inside this lifestyle. We need to be delivered from this. So, Jesus had to give Himself.

In Mathew 13:44, the person sells everything he had to buy a land that has treasure. But we are not just treasure to Him, we are children and heirs. That means, we need to be purchased with a price higher that everything God has. That is Himself, no other price would purchase us because of our deeds. In Isaiah 52:3 we can see God’s lamentation on how we were lost into sin. We gave ourselves to this world and sin to gain nothing but filthy pleasures. These pleasures were so exciting to us that we lost ourselves to them.

One more horrible sin that we committed was blaming God. We read that in Is 52:5. We were taken into sin for nothing and sin made us wail. But we blaspheme God the Almighty. So, God did a wonderful action to prove what He is by giving Himself. The next verse (52:6) says that His people shall know His Name and they shall know that it is God who is in control and responsible. God is so loving and kind that He has taken our blasphemy as our ignorance and brings in peace. God’s name is made known here. The name is I AM THAT I AM. God is holy, perfect and pure. Everything around Him is holy. God is revealing His strong standards to us by saving us and lifting us up there.  A confirmation is given in the same verse, “Behold, it is I”. I do not accept anything imperfect, but am making you clean and perfect.

For this, we read in verse 10 that God has bared his Holy Arm. He had given up all glory on His arm and so, everybody could hold Him and be lifted up. This Holy Arm is being displayed to the entire ends of the earth through His ministers.

The necessity of Jesus to give himself can be read in Is 53:12. We can see God the Father answering Jesus when He had placed Himself among sinners, bore their sins and interceded for them. This was required for sins to be washed away. No other person can love us this high. Now, if we read verses 10 and 11 we can see God the father was pleased when Jesus was bruised. This Father is always good and the best anybody could ever imagine. Such a father was mercilessly pleased when His only begotten Son was tortured. God was looking at the great outcome when He was seeing His son being killed.

As per Ephesians 5:25, Jesus gave Himself to his bride as this relationship required a loving husband’s commitment for the cleansing. Salvation and glory requires somebody who is very loving, committed and has knowledge and access to everything we are. Even a father has limited access in families. Also, the purpose of our existence is shown here, as a bride close with the Lord Himself for eternity. This prize is very expensive and needs a person with the highest amounts of love.

In 2 Timothy 2:6 we read that Jesus gave Himself so that we would be testimonies in due time. There is no other alternative so that we would be the right testimonies in the right situation. If this was handled by humans, then we would have given the right advices after incidents. Jesus was the only person who had the ability to understand our potential of becoming like Him and so, gave Himself. If He had delayed our salvation, we would have already lost everything. If He had given this earlier, we would never value it. Also, the due time also applies to all other parameters like strength, love and understanding.

So, as we read in Is 9:6 the person who has come to the world has got to hold the government upon His shoulders. This person was given to us and not for any other purpose. Jesus has to be a loving husband and a wise person. But He has to be full of wonders, wise , mighty, the Father Himself and should bring peace. There is no other candidate other than Jesus Himself for this.

So, to conclude, it was required by God that we need to be saved. The price has to be the highest in the world because of the deepness we were in. We need a loving, self-sacrificing and mighty person to bear our burdens and redeem us. So, Jesus gave Himself so that He could earn us.