The New “I”

By Arthur J Licursi

All genuine Christians should understand “justification by faith” as a key doctrine of “the faith” that God brought to light through Martin Luther in the early 1500’s.

Ephes. 2:8-9 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Romans 4:5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him (God) that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

Justification means to be rendered innocent, acceptable in the sight of the God. This is a first aspect of our salvation that is acquired “by faith.” We see in Eph 2:8-9 above that salvation comes “by grace, through faith,” without our working to earn it. We place our faith in the blood, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ who offered Himself, laying down His life on our behalf; thereby we are redeemed and reconciled to God. It is God who has saved and justified every believer, simply through that believer’s faith in the cross-work of Christ for the believer. But Paul says there’s more, “much more” than reconciliation (Rom 5:10).

Some Christians have gone on to later see more, that the resurrected “Spirit of life in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:2a) literally lives within them – within their human spirit (1Cor 6:17). Col. 1:27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery (musterion, secret) among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Here, “glory” can be better understood as “expression”; the hope of our expressing His righteous life is only possible by His life indwelling the believer.

Even at this point one has not necessarily yet necessarily come to know of their literal union with the Christ who indwells them. We may still only consider Him and us as two quite separate entities – we may not have come to know of our literal union with Him. Christians must come to know Him dwelling within their human spirit as their life if they are ever to grow to maturity because He, by His indwelling, is our new life.

Gal 2:20 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.

Paul told the Ephesians they had not yet “learned Christ” (Eph 4:20); Paul did not mean “learn about Christ” – but “learn Christ” in them, the Christ who is their new innermost life – the new “I” of Galatians 2:20. There Paul notes that we have had an exchange of inner governance… from self-governance to Christ’s governance, saying…“not I, but Christ liveth in me.” We need to live by Him as our new life and indwelling Lord.

Note the paradox of Galatians 2:20 – within this new unity of Christ and the believer there still exists a duality. There is “Christ,” and there still is a “me” in whom He now dwells, as being two. We have a union of His Spirit in our spirit where we are eternally one from the moment of our rebirth. But there needs also to be a willing union of Christ, who indwells our spirit, with our submitted self-soul. So, it is Christ “Him in me, as the new me” as being “one spirit” (1Cor 6:17), and yet also the individual me, as my soul-self, needs to choose to willingly yield and walk in union with Him as Lord of my whole being.

To help us see this truth of our oneness and also our individuality, I suggest we might restate Galatians 2:20 using a capitalized “I” to designate Christ in the believer as the believer’s new spirit-life, and a lower case “i” in the appropriate places in order to designate our individual soul-self life. These changes are noted for emphasis here below in Galatians 2:20.

Gal. 2:20 i (as to my soul-self, my old man) am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I (as to my soulish old man), but Christ liveth in me (as an individual self): and the life which i (as to my proper individual soul life) now live in the flesh i (as to my proper individual soul life) live by the faith of the Son of God...

The lower case “i” is our old fallen soul-self that has been crucified with Christ, giving Christ in our spirit the opportunity to be expressed as the newly freed soul-self, the freed “i.” Christ then has a way to be gloriously expressed in our life. Paul’s “mystery” gospel is “Christ in you the hope of glory (expression)” ( Col 1:27b).

We need to see and understand the important facts of Galatians 2:20. We must see and trust Christ as being the Operator deep within us…and view our soul-self merely as His co-operator, giving Him our vessel for His expression.

When this becomes real to us, by faith, it then permeates how we view our daily living. We are then freed from the down-pulls of the self-concerns of life as we live on earth. We enter into a new adventurous realm of living – we then have a basis for launching out to live in accord with Him who is our innermost Lord (kurious, governor).

We then believe and begin living a life that is lived by “faith in the operation of God” (Col 2:12), faith that our Old Man is dead in Christ (Rom 6:3, 6; 7:4) and that we are now freed (Rom 6:7) to be expressions of His life and nature within us. We are then vessels bearing His life. We may then be His loving expression to others, as He lives and moves within us, to prompt or restrain us in all our doings.

The secret for living the genuine Christian life is that it is “no longer i,” but “Christ living His life in me”; being expressed …as “the new me.” God had planned this union from “before the world began” (Eph 1:3-4).

John writes this concerning the believer who possesses the life of the indwelling Christ. 1John 4:17b…as He is, so ARE we in this world. We are as He is and yet He flows out from us as we were made to be in our uniquely individual creation. The myriad of diverse personalities among all the believers who possess Christ’s life within them permits Him to have a myriad of expressions of His life… as He wills.

Notice that 1John 4:17b does not say “as He is, so Ought we to be”, or “we Should be,” it says “as He is, so ARE we.” This is because we not only possess Christ’s life but also His nature in our spirit. Our new nature is His righteous nature. Religion has told us what we ought to “do this, and don’t do that; then you will be like a Christian.” No, we “do” live righteously because of who we now are, not because we are trying to be “like Him.” That idea is the pitiful, evil, deceptive WWJD thing that misleads so many Christians, leading them into a works based relationship with the Lord… never knowing who they really are.

Paul reveals this deeper truth of Galatians 2:20 to us, he tells us who we in fact “we are” His vessels for His expression; “i am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not i, but Christ liveth in me”.

We are simply His living co-operative vessels for the expression of His life. In this way we are humans who are completed by the indwelling Christ, as we were meant to be. Col. 2:9-10a For in him (Christ) dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 10And ye are complete in him (Christ)…

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