Crucified with Christ

This Sunday's passage is contains some of the most difficult verses in Galatians (2: 17-18) and some of the most famous (2: 20-21). While some of the details are challenging, the main message is clear. We are done with seeking to justify ourselves by the law. Now we trust solely in Christ who gave Himself up unto death for us. If our obedience to law has anything to do with our justification then Christ died in vain and salvation is no longer of grace.

One wonderful feature of this passage is that Paul describes our new status as being done with the law and alive to God in light of our union with Christ. These concepts are introduced in Galatians and further developed in the book of Romans (especially chapters 6-7).