To live by Christ is possible. Yet many Christians do not know this reality. Though the term “to live by Christ” sounds familiar to us because of our having heard it so much, it is nonetheless a great matter. How can we live by another? Humanly speaking, there is no possibility for a wife, for example, to live by her husband, or for a husband to live by his wife. The husband has his own life, and the wife has hers. There are two sets of emotions involved and two wills. In spite of this impossibility for two human beings, Christians can live by another life. To live by Christ means to live Christ. It is possible!
Galatians 2:20 is an oft-quoted verse: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless 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.” When it is true in our experience that it is “not I, but Christ” who is living in us, then there are two persons living together, but having only one life and one living.
How could there be only one living? Let us again use married life as an example. Even to decide how to spend a day together takes some negotiations! The husband may want to stay home, but the wife may want to go shopping. The husband may have to do some persuading to get his wife to stay home with him. It is hard for two persons to have only one living.
To live by Christ means that the Christian and Christ have one life and one living. John 6:57 says, “As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me shall also live because of Me.” The words “because of” can also be translated “by.” The Father sent the Son, and the Son was now living by the Father; so the one who ate the Son would also live by the Son.
The Father and the Son are two Persons, yet they had but one life and one living. The Father was the life of the Son, and the Son was the living of the Father. Life refers to the inner substance, living to the outward expression. The Father was the living substance within, and the Son was the living expression of the Father.
John 14:10 says, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words which I speak to you, I do not speak from Myself; but the Father Who abides in Me, He does His works.” There was One on this earth who lived the life of Another: the Son lived the Father’s life. The Son lived because the Father was living.
Grafting illustrates these two lives. We were the wild olive branches, but we have been grafted into the best tree (Rom. 11:17, 24). We have not exchanged our poor life for a better one. Nor has our life been terminated, and only His is left. Yes, Galatians 2:20 does say that we have been crucified with Christ; but this termination is not final. Crucifixion is the threshold of resurrection. Crucifixion is followed by “nevertheless...yet...but”! Where does this leave us? In the tomb or in resurrection? Dead or living? We live, yet not we. The words may sound illogical, but Christ and His members know the secret.
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