Galatians 2:20 means that a believer’s old self has been put to death with Christ, so that Christ himself now lives in them and the life they live physically is lived by trusting the Son of God. Paul wrote these words to the churches in Galatia, and he speaks of his own experience as a follower of Jesus, describing how his identity changed when he came to faith.
I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.
Galatians 2:20 (WEB)
What Galatians 2:20 Means
Paul begins with “I have been crucified with Christ.” He is describing something that already happened to him in Christ. His old way of trying to earn God’s favor through his own performance has been brought to an end. The phrase does not describe a feeling or a stage of spiritual effort. It describes a settled fact about who he now belongs to and what his life is no longer built on.
The next line, “it is no longer I that live, but Christ lives in me,” explains what that ending made room for. Paul does not say he stopped existing or lost his personality. He says the controlling center of his life moved from self-reliance to Christ. The verse teaches that the Christian life is not mainly a matter of self-improvement with God’s help added on. It is a life shaped and directed by a living person.
The verse also does not promise that Christians will never struggle, suffer or sin. Paul himself wrote about his ongoing weaknesses elsewhere. What it does promise is that the source and meaning of the life you now live in your body can be trust in the Son of God, who gave himself for you.
The Context of Galatians 2:20
Galatians is a letter Paul wrote to churches in the region of Galatia, which were being pressured by teachers who insisted that Gentile believers must follow certain Jewish laws, such as circumcision, in order to be right with God. Paul’s argument is that a person is made right with God through faith in Christ and not through the works of the law. Scholars generally date the letter to the middle of the first century, and it is traditionally attributed to Paul.
The verses just before Galatians 2:20 set up its meaning. In verse 16 and following, Paul insists that no one is justified by the works of the law, and in verse 19 he says he died to the law so that he might live to God. Verse 21 then warns that if righteousness could come through the law, Christ’s death would have been pointless. Read in this setting, Galatians 2:20 is Paul’s personal confession of how this truth has reshaped his own life, showing that the gospel is not an abstract teaching but a new way of living.
Key Phrases in Galatians 2:20
Romans 6:6
Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be in bondage to sin.
(WEB)
Paul uses similar language of the old self being crucified with Christ, showing that this union with Jesus is a foundation of the Christian life that Paul develops across his letters.
Philippians 1:21
For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.
(WEB)
In this verse Paul again connects his whole existence to Christ, saying that living is Christ, which helps explain how Christ’s presence is the center of the life Galatians 2:20 describes.
A Short Prayer From Galatians 2:20
Lord Jesus, you have given yourself for me, and I thank you. I confess that I often try to build my life on my own strength, my own reputation and my own plans. Teach me to rest in the truth that my old self has been put to death with you and that you now live in me. Help me to live each day by trusting you, the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me. Shape my choices, my words and my worries around your presence, and let my life show the faithfulness of the one who lives within me. Amen.
