2:20
So how is Paul now living? He lives by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now as an aside, look at this verse and ask how it could it possibly make any sense unless Christ actually is God. Paul had been crucified with Christ. He recognised that Christ died on the cross for his sins. Christ’s death on the cross was the death you and I deserved, and Christ died that death in our place. This is called penal substitutionary atonement. Paul now no longer depends purely upon himself, not on his own righteousness, not on living by his own strength. Rather, it is Christ who lives in him. How does this come about? By living by faith in the one who loves us and gave Himself for us. This Christ centeredness is so different from the self-centeredness of all other forms of religion, which are focussed on our efforts. Now this most certainly does not mean that we do not work. Again perhaps paradoxically, when we truly die with Christ and live by faith we will work harder than we have ever worked before.
2:21
Living by the Law is not an option. For if we seek to make our own righteousness then Christ did not need to die for us. He wasted his time, and all the unknowable suffering, when He went to the cross. The righteousness that is by Christ says that there is no way we can earn our own righteousness, and no way we can be righteous by our own strength. Only Christ can make us righteous.
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