Paul: Christ Revealed in Him: by Andrew Murray

God chose me and called me by his marvelous grace.  Then it pleased him to reveal his Son to me. GALATIANS 1:15–16

Paul tells us that it pleased God to reveal His Son in him. He gives his testimony to the result of that revelation: “Christ lives in me” Galatians 2:20). The chief mark of that life is that he is crucified with Christ. This enables him to say, “It is no longer I who live” (verse 20). In Christ, Paul had found the death of self. Just as the cross is the chief characteristic of Christ, so the life of Christ in Paul made him inseparably one with his crucified Lord. So completely was this the case that he could say: “May I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified” (Galatians 6:14).

So if Christ actually lived in Paul so that he no longer lived, what became of his responsibility? His answer was clear: “I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Paul’s life was a life of faith in Christ who had loved him and had given Himself completely for him. Consequently, Christ had undertaken at all times to be the life of His willing disciple.

The indwelling Christ was the secret of his life of faith, his power in prayer, the one aim of all his life and work. Let us believe in the abiding presence of Christ as the sure gift to each one who trusts in Him fully.