What does Galatians 2:20 mean?

Here's Galatians 2:20 in context:

19 “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 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!”

Christ had no sins of His own. It was our sins that He was crucified for. Christ crucified is the legal and righteous foundation on which our sins and the penalty for every insult and every sin that we have ever committed or will ever commit against our Maker has been wiped away forever. The same Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2-

“And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. 2 For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”

Believing that we have been crucified with Christ is believing that God is no longer holding our sins against us and that He sees us as righteous, no matter what. Our being crucified with Christ (as if we were the ones who paid the wages of our sin) is the basis for our right-standing with God. This according to Romans 4:25-

“Who was delivered up because of our offences, and was raised up because of our being declared righteous."

See the TPT: “Jesus was handed over to be crucified for the forgiveness of our sins and was raised back to life to prove that He had made us right with God!”

Christ would not have risen from the dead if our lifetime of sins had not been forgiven and we had not been declared righteous by God. His resurrection is the divine receipt showing that we who believe in Jesus have been made righteous in the sight of God. It is akin to seeing someone who went to serve a death sentence in an impregnable prison for the crimes of another walking free.

And His crucifixion for us and as us as referenced by Paul in Galatians 2:20 - “I have been crucified with Christ…” To what extent does His crucifixion for us and as us deal with our sins? Hebrews 9 clarifies this-

"27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. ..."

Recall “The wages of sin is death” and “it is appointed for men to die once...” No matter how many times you sin, you can only die once. Christ died that one death ONCE for ALL. He died the death that the Law demanded of us, fulfilling every single demand that the Law made of us and granting all who believe eternal life. Believer, Jesus is not going to come and die again or demand payment for sins that you might commit later today or in the future. All of our lifetime of sins have been fully paid by Him, ONCE.

Eternal life is the gift of God. No one can earn it or contribute an iota of righteousness to earning it by human striving. Eternal life (the kind of life that God lives- it begins here on earth for all who have it) is a gift. Christ says in John 5:24-

“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”

Notice “has" and not “will have" at some point in the future. Because of Christ's sacrifice, see how our Abba Father sees you and I who believe Christ and His finished work in Romans 5:9-

"And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God."

Hebrews 10:14 too says of Christ's one-time sacrifice for our sins-

"14 And by His one perfect sacrifice He made us perfectly holy and complete for all time! 15 The Holy Spirit confirms this to us by this Scripture, for the Lord says, 16 “Afterwards, I will give them this covenant: I will embed my laws into their hearts and fasten my Word to their thoughts.” 17 And then He says, “I will not ever again remember their sins and lawless deeds!”"

This covenant is the New Covenant of God's Grace (Christ Himself) based on the finished work of Christ for our salvation. 1 Peter 2:24 says of Him:

“who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.”

Understand that in 1 Peter 2:24 above, we “live for righteousness” the same way we “died to sins” - through Christ and not of ourselves or our puny will-power (arm of flesh.) We didn't do the dying ourselves. We weren't physically nailed to the cross in order to be dead to sin. Christ died for us and as us. God's word counsels us in Romans 6 on how to reckon/consider ourselves based on Christ's crucifixion for us and as us-

7 For when a man dies, he is freed (loosed, delivered) from [the power of] sin [among men]. 8 Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 Because we know that Christ (the Anointed One), being once raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has power over Him. 10 For by the death He died, He died to sin [ending His relation to it] once for all; and the life that He lives, He is living to God [in unbroken fellowship with Him].11 Even so consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to God [living in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus.”

This is what it means to be crucified with Christ: His death for us so we reckon ourselves as having paid the wages of sin which is death- once. His righteousness for us, so we live as having that righteousness that He died for us to freely have. We have none of ours. Alive in Him, God sees us as righteous, "even though we are guilty of many sins"- Romans 5:16-

"And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins.”

This is Grace- undeserved, unearned, unmerited favour. Beloved of God, Grace is a Person. His name is Jesus Christ. Titus 2:11 says of Him:

"God’s marvelous grace has manifested in person, bringing salvation for everyone."

Verse 14 of the same Titus 2 says: "He gave His life to free us from every kind of sin, to cleanse us, and to make us His very own people, totally committed to doing good deeds."

It is because of those sins that He came- to save us from them all- Matthew 1:21-

“She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

The spirit of the antichrist is not necessarily anti-God. It is anti-Christ. It tries to suppress the message of Christ as did the did the very religious but antichrist Pharisees who hated and sought to kill Christ. Such respond to God's saving Grace with questions such as:

“So you are saying once we are under Grace, because the righteousness of Christ covers us we should continue in sin?”

Beloved of God, by God’s Grace, beware o preachers of the above doctrine of demons that equates righteousness in Christ/being under Grace with lawlessness and committing sins. There is a reason for this foolish and antichrist talk as we see in 1 Corinthians 1:18-

"For the message of the cross is foolishness [absurd and illogical] to those who are perishing and spiritually dead [because they reject it], but to us who are being saved [by God’s grace] it is [the manifestation of] the power of God."

How on earth can a believer continue to wallow in sins when He is under Christ who is Grace-personified? How can one receive sight from Christ and continue to be blind? Any churchgoer with this false reasoning simply does not believe in Jesus Christ - that He saves from sins. Believing that you who believe Jesus has to pay for your future sins or that you are unrighteous because of your sins is saying that Christ's "single sacrifice for sins" is not enough. Such who believe this crucify Jesus all over again. This is what Hebrews 6 points to-

"For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame."

Satan through his "pastors" is trying to redefine "fall away" above to mean "commit sin." Not so. Apart from Christ, sin is man's default mode. Matthew 1:21 says of Christ:

"She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.”

Christ came to save us from our sins so this "fall away" is definitely not a result of sinning. Galatians 5:4 is very clear on how this "fall away" happens:

"For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's grace."

Beloved of God, beware of “spiritual wickedness in high places” pastors whose trade is describing the truth of Grace (God's word!) as “blasphemy”/“license to sin.” Such point out sin and ungodliness in man and then promote the attainment of righteousness/godliness (be like God) by human effort aka the arm of flesh. This is the same seemingly good but deathly false doctrine that Satan used to deceive Eve in Eden.

Peddlers of this false doctrine never point you to Jesus Christ the Tree of Life who gave His life to make us godly/righteous in God's sight (Romans 5:9) and to free us from every kind of sin (Titus 2:14.) Rather, as Satan did with Eve, they imply that you whom Christ suffered and died to make like Himself (like God- Isaiah 53:11) are not godly. In your quest to attain godliness aka "be like God," they point you to the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, a type of the law which gives the same knowledge (Romans 7:8-12.)

Such preach that God's abundance of Grace and His gift of righteousness to us in Christ are license to sin. But the word of God whose ways and thoughts are infinitely higher than man's says differently. His word says receiving His abundance of Grace and His gift of Righteousness to us in Christ is the Way to live in triumph over sin and death:

"And the result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin. For Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift leads to our being made right with God, even though we are guilty of many sins. 17 For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, Jesus Christ." Romans 5:16-17.