Galatians 2:20

Χριστῷ συνεστ. The Greek order throws special emphasis on Χριστῷ : union with Christ became from that time the central feature of his life; it entailed in the beginning a fellowship with his crucifixion, a real crucifixion of heart and will. By this figure he describes the intense agony of spiritual conflict, the crushing load of shame and bitter remorse which he underwent during the three days of darkness and silent despair that followed his vision of the Christ. ζῶ δὲ : And I live. I can perceive no ground for rendering δέ nevertheless (A.V.) or yet (R.V.). There is no contrast here between the life and the previous death: on the contrary, the life is presented as the direct outcome of the death. As the resurrection of Christ was the sequel of the crucifixion, so Paul was joined to Christ in death that he might be joined to Him in spiritual life. οὐκ ἔτι … The new life is no longer, like the former, dependent on the struggling efforts of a mere man to draw near to God in his own righteousness. Christ Himself is its source, as the vine is the source of life to the branches. ὃ δὲ ζῶ : But in that I live. Our versions make this = ἣν ζωὴν ζῶ; but it seems to me more accordant with the context and with Greek forms of expression to make ὅ = in that, as it is rendered by A.V. in Romans 6:10. Two instances of this adverbial use of ὅ for a connecting particle have been already noted in this Epistle (Galatians 1:7; Galatians 2:10). Paul is here accounting for the fact that he now possesses spiritual life, though still in the flesh and subject to motions of sin in his members: it belongs to him in virtue of his faith in the Son of God. με … ἐμοῦ. The previous clauses have expressed the intimate personal union between the spirit of Paul and his Divine Master. In harmony with that view an exclusive personal aspect is presented of the love of Christ and of His sacrifice on the Cross, as though Paul himself had been their sole object.