The “I
live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” in Galatians 2:20 does not mean that
Paul actually did not live the Christian life and the Lord Jesus lived it
instead of him.  Such a conclusion would
neglect the fact that Paul specifically says “I live.”  Furthermore, Paul does not say, “Christ
liveth instead of me,” but “Christ
liveth in me.”  The preposition en, not anti or huper, is employed.  The “yet not I” clause means simply that Paul
did not have strength sourced in himself to follow the Lord, but he received
grace from Christ to enable him to “work out [his] own salvation with fear and
trembling [since] it is God which worke[d] in [him] both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians
2:12-13).  Paul personally “strived” to
serve the Lord, but nonetheless his service was what “Christ hath . . . wrought
by [him]” (Romans 15:20, 18).  Parallel
Pauline texts shed much light on the “not I, but Christ” portion of Galatians
2:20:

1.) “And unto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband.”  (1 Corinthians 7:10).  Paul certainly did command the wife not to
depart from her husband.  He was very active
in making this command.  However, more
importantly, it was God Himself who made the command through Paul.  It would be poor exegesis to conclude from
this verse that Paul himself did not really command wives not to leave their
husbands because the command was sourced in God.

2.) But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace
which was bestowed upon me was not in
vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of
God which was with me” (1 Corinthians 15:10). 
Obviously God’s enabling grace strengthened Paul to work, and all the
glory for Paul’s labor was given to the grace of God, as is evidenced by the
“yet not I, but the grace of God” affirmation. 
Nonetheless, Paul labored very actively and fervently, indeed, “more
abundantly than . . . all.”  It would be
poor exegesis to conclude from this verse that Paul really did not labor at all
because his ability to labor came from God.

3.) “Now then it is no more I that do it [transgress], but
sin that dwelleth in me . . . . Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I
that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.” (Romans 7:17, 20; cf. Romans
7:14-25). Before Paul was converted, his entire being consented to and produced
nothing but sin.  His statement in Romans
7:17, 20 means that the sins that he did as a regenerate person no longer
proceeded from the unified desire of his whole person.  Rather, Paul’s transgressions were now
sourced in the remnants of sinfulness that remained within him.  Nonetheless, whenever Paul sinned, the
Apostle was by no means passively employed by some exterior agent moving him
unconsciously to transgress—he still chose to do so himself.

4.) The Old Testament, and other New Testament texts,[1]
present a similar picture.  Joseph tells
his brothers in Genesis 45:8:  “So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God; and he hath made me a father to
Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of
Egypt.”  Joseph’s “not you . . . but God”
statement does not mean that Joseph’s brothers did not sell him into slavery
(cf. 45:5, “ye sold me hither”), but simply that God was the ultimate sovereign
source of his being sold.  In Exodus 16:8,  “Moses said . . . [T]he LORD heareth your
murmurings which ye murmur against him: and what are we? your murmurings are
not against us, but against the LORD,” but the affirmation that Israel’s
grumbling was ultimately against Jehovah certainly did not mean that when “the
whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron
in the wilderness” (Exodus 16:2) they did not really murmur against Moses and
Aaron.

            Similarly,
Paul’s “not I, but Christ” statement in Galatians 2:20 means that the source of
the Christian life that Paul lived was not his own inherent ability or
strength, but Christ’s grace and power. The Apostle’s declaration models the
pattern set by his Savior, that Son of Man who stated “I can of mine own self
do nothing” (John 5:30) and “The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he
seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son
likewise” (John 5:19).  The Lord Jesus,
in His human nature, was entirely submissive to and dependent upon the enablement
He received beyond measure from God.  One
sees, however, extremely active labor for the Lord in the incarnate
Christ.  The Divine Person of the Son
also did not work independently of the Person of the Father, but nonetheless
the Son of God actively did whatsoever He saw the Father do.

In Galatians 2:19-21 Paul is proving that he
is dead to the law (2:19a) and not trusting in the law for salvation and
frustrating the grace of God by so doing (2:21) but instead is living unto God
(2:19b, 2:20).  He is not proving that
somehow he does not live the Christian life but Christ lives it instead.  Paul and all Christians are given strength
and grace from Christ, apart from whom they can do nothing good, John 15:5, and
they are to live by faith.  Certainly the
facts of the saint’s union with Christ, the Savior’s indwelling presence, the
spiritual life that is derived from Him, and the power He gives believers to
will and do of His good pleasure are glorious truths worthy of that joyful
acceptance and humble meditation that results in loving, faith-based
obedience.  However, to go beyond the
actual declarations of Galatians 2:20 to say that the believer does not live
the Christian life but Christ Himself does it instead is to make the verse
affirm what it does not say and thus grieve the Spirit and displease Christ.
Such an affirmation also confuses the Christian who believes it, hinders his
sanctification, and opens the way to serious Christological error.  The glorious truths of Galatians 2:20 should
neither be minimized and ignored nor turned into something other than they are
by illegitimate extrapolation.