Our Identity in Christ - Galatians 2:20

In Galatians 2:20-21, the Apostle Paul says this:            
20 I have been crucified with Christ and

                  I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.

                                             The life I now live in the body,

                                              I live by faith in the Son of God,

                                                       who loved me and gave himself for me.

              21 I do not set aside the grace of God,

                  for if righteousness could be gained through the law,

                        Christ died for nothing!”

The Context: A bunch of Gentiles were eating with Peter. But when Peter's own people showed up, Peter withdrew and became a hypocrite (pretender).  Thus, Paul opposed him to his face because behavior like that is an insult to the truth of the Gospel.  The gospel breaks down racial barriers and reconciles the children of God. Anything that divides or segregates works against the Gospel.

We are currently in a study on "Identiy in Christ" at the Gospel community group that meets at my house on Tuesdays.  For the next few weeks we will concentrate on our identity in Christ. 

I am willing to say that the majroity of the time we choose to sin, it is because we have lost sight of our identity in Christ.  Why would a Believer choose racism or bigotry?  Becuae they have forgotten their identity in Christ.  And I am reluctant to say that church goers who are racist or have racist ideology prove themselves to be non-believers.

Consider this: Free Gracers are the first condemn Lordship Salvation for tying assurance to works  because the Lorship Salvation view states that a person is sure they are saved by what they do, which leaves them with no possibility of assurance of salvation at the moment it is received because there has not been enough time to do something or see if there has been a legitimate change in behavior.  And what would be the rule, if any?  30 minutes to test the conversion?  30 hours?  You see how troublesome it would get to "test" whether or not a person was "truly converted"?

But even among the free-grace camp, there is the great danger of associating identity into performance, which confuses the notion of identity. 

I am my Father's son by birth. On a bad day I am my Father's son.  On a good day I am my Father's son.  On a mediocre I am a son becuase my sonship has absolutely no connection with my behavior or performance whatsoever.

The BEST sinner in the world/the most righteous living non-believer, is totally unacceptable to God.  The WORST believer/the most unrighteous living believer, is totally accepted by God.  Why? because of the Beleivers relationship to God through Christ.

God revealed to me recently after studying this passage, that I cannot even find my identiy in the ethnicity.  My ethnicity is NOT my identity.  Peter's identity was not to be found in his ethnic roots.  There is no expection for us.  My identiy is in Christ as a Child of God, period.

Bottom line: Our birth determines our identity. When we loose sight of our birth, we will identify ourselves in terms of our performance. But once that occurs, if our performance is not up to par, then we become confused in our identity.

All in all, keep your eyes on the King, the Lord Jesus Christ.