DETHRONED EGO

 

Painted on the rocks high above the main street in Skagway, Alaska, are some often photographed images. Legend has it that the clock, set to 7:20, memorialized the time of Abraham Lincoln's death. However, 7:20 is the normal clockmaker setting used to display the symmetry of a clock and likely advertised a local store. The other two engravings - Kirmse's Curios and Moe's Frontier Bar - were historic businesses in Skagway dating back to the gold rush days. People flocked to these streets from all over the country drawn by advertisers who promised they would get rich quick with all the gold in the mountains. In reality, the merchants in the tiny boomtown were the ones who made the most money. Ego drove gold fever. Self-promotion is inherent to human nature.

To know God, self must be dethroned and Christ enthroned in our lives. Paul wrote, "I have been crucified with Christ; and 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" (Gal. 2:20).

The KJV translates it "nevertheless I live" but the first δὲ is continuative not adversative so should be translated "and." The second δὲ should be understood as adversative and translated "but." "I no longer live" continues the thought of being crucified with Christ followed by the contrast - "Christ lives in me." The literal word order in the Greek text is dramatic - "live no longer I, but lives in me Christ" (Burton, Galatians, 137). The "I" (ἐγώ) is emphatic and directly contrasts with the emphatic "Christ." Ego and Christ cannot coexist in the Christian life!

LIFE B.C.

The "I" (ἐγώ) summarizes life before Christ. Paul says in verse 19 that "I died ... that I might live." The I who died (v.19) is the I who no longer lives (v.20). The I who lives has been merged into Christ. The natural man died. The person who was driven by the human ego no longer lives. Living for self is the person I was before Christ. Self-identity and self-promotion focus on the almighty I. Ego drives life apart from Christ. Once I become a Christian I no longer have a separate identity from Christ. My life is merged into His life (Lightfoot, Galatians, 119).

LIFE A.C.

We expect Paul to write, "I no longer live but I live in Christ." However, he is so caught up in the transformation of what it means to be a Christian that he writes, "Christ lives in me." The old me died. The new me is Christ. It is not that I now live in Christ but that Christ lives in me (Bruce, Galatians, 144). The present tense of the verb (ζῇ) indicates that Christ lives in me in an ongoing, continuous way. He is always in me. Paul is talking about our present life on earth not our future life in heaven. Our merger with Christ is now not later. There is no place that I can go and no activity that I can do that Christ is not in me as I do it. The Christian life is nothing less than the life of Christ operating in the Christian. Christ is resident within us. He is the controlling, operating power in our lives today.

We don't wait for this transformation to happen in heaven. Paul makes this clear when he writes, "and the life which I now live in the flesh." The life is "now" (νῦν) not later. It is in the flesh (σαρκί) not in the spirit. Flesh (σαρκί), in this context, refers to the physical, mortal body not the ethical, immoral nature of the human heart. The pronoun "in" (ἐν) expresses the sphere in which life operates. Paul is talking about living in the sphere of the physical body (Burton, Galatians, 138). 

The relative pronoun (ὃ) can be understood as a cognate accusative or an adverbial relative pronoun. The NASB translates it as a cognate accusative sometimes called a content accusative meaning that the content of the relative pronoun must be brought out by the translator. So the NASB supplies "and the life which I now live" (Turner, Grammar, 3:245-246). It could also be an adverbial relative and translated "whereas I now live" (Moule, Idiom Book, 131). The adverbial relative explains how Christ lives in me. I think it probably best to understand it as a cognate accusative stating that the life I am now living in my physical body must be lived dependently not independently, on Christ not for self. 

EGO OR CHRIST?

God dethrones ego to enthrone Christ. This is the central transformation of the Christian life. All immorality is narcissistic. Ego drives every sin we commit. Moral behavior can be altruistic but, sadly, narcissism taints even our finest altruism. God dethrones our egos to transform our lives. Every moral failure - racism, abortion, sex outside of marriage - is self-centered at its core. We will never change the social order by law. Christ must dethrone self one "self" at a time to change society. 

Following Christ means allowing Christ to dethrone my ego. The Christian life is not about me. It is all about Him. My self-identity is wrapped up in Him. My self-interest is merged into His will. I no longer live because Christ lives in me.