(avg. read time: 3–6 mins.)
I discussed the titular text in my previous post, but here I would like to “zoom in.” Along with Phil 3, which I have discussed elsewhere, this text is a prime example of Paul presenting the theological-ethical framework of making the gospel story our story. Elsewhere in my work on Hebrews I have written about what I call “narrative christological solidarity,” because I have not yet thought of a better name for it. By “narrative christological solidarity,” I refer to the notion that the foundational connections and bonds (i.e., the solidarity) that community members share with one another and with their God is of a christological character, specifically because these connections and bonds are forged and maintained by the narrative of Jesus Christ and by participating in the same through faithful obedience. I see this same notion being operative in Paul’s letter to the Galatians.
First, let me reiterate what I said last time about this text, and then we will focus on how it functions in terms of demonstrating narrative christological solidarity. After Paul recounts the history of his apostleship and his relations with other apostles, he gets to a crucial point in reporting on his controversy with Peter brought on by the Judaizers. This led him to talk about how justification, the “rightwising” of the faithful, is brought about. For it is not by the works of the law. Rather, he says through the law he died to the law in order that he would live to God (2:19). The verb Paul uses here—ζάω—can be used for resurrection in some contexts, though it can also simply mean to “live.” What makes a resurrection sense apropos here is the fact that it follows in sequence after death. That is, he died for the purpose of living to God. That sense is further confirmed by the rest of this text, wherein Paul refers to being crucified with Christ and no longer living himself, for it is Christ living in him. Thus, he lives now in the flesh by faith in the Son of God who loved him and handed himself over for him (2:19–20). That is, as Paul has expressed elsewhere, being crucified with Christ has the ultimate result of being raised to everlasting life with him. The newness of life he experiences now in the flesh is the anticipation, the down payment if you will (cf. 2 Cor 1:22; 5:5; Eph 1:14), of the resurrection that is to come (cf. also Rom 6). That is why Paul can speak of Christ being the one living in him, for Christ has risen and can thus communicate his everlasting life to others, which he will consummate at the eschatological resurrection. The union believers have with Christ mean that they also are incorporated into his crucifixion and resurrection (as well as his exaltation). This participatory union is also behind Paul’s statements in 6:14 and 17 about sharing in the crucifixion of Jesus, which, given the larger gospel narrative, also implies sharing in his resurrection. Paul is simply not as explicit about it here as in texts like 1 Cor 15, where he needed to be more explicit. In Gal 2, it was sufficient to be suggestive with his use of resurrection language. And given how important this idea of participatory union is that Paul expresses so succinctly here, this text also illustrates how structurally important resurrection is to the letter and to Paul’s teaching.
This teaching exemplifies narrative christological solidarity in each aspect of the notion as I laid it out earlier. First, the foundational connections and bonds that the community members share is emphasized here by reference to the foundational gospel story of Christ Jesus. The context of this whole teaching is about division in the community that had been introduced by the Judaizers, which afflicted even Peter and Barnabas, for which reason Paul needed to vocally rebuke this division manifested in table fellowship (or, more properly, the lack thereof). He needed to reaffirm that the foundation of their communal story, which shapes their identity and their obligations to one another as this specific community, is the gospel story and not the law denuded of the context of the gospel events. Peter was acting contrary to that by suddenly acting, against what he had been doing before, as if Christ’s work of handing himself over for others out of love and rising for their justification had not brought together Jew and gentile in making them one through the common atonement he made for them. This community is one because the same Christ lives in each one because, like Paul, they have been crucified to the world in sharing in the crucifixion of Jesus by faithful union with him, meaning that the life they live is their sharing in the life of the risen Christ in anticipation of the day when he will give them everlasting life in full (whether by resurrection or transformation if they are alive at the time of the Second Coming).
Second, likewise, the bond Paul and his fellow Christians have with God is of a christological character. This is so because of the participatory, identifying, and incorporative union with Christ that Paul articulates often in multifarious ways throughout his letters. Here, it is signified by the fact that we share in Christ’s crucifixion by our faithful union with him, which results in Christ living in us by giving us his life through the Spirit. Because we are incorporated into Christ, what God has done for him he will also do for us by causing us to die to sin and rise to walk in newness of life in anticipation of more literally sharing in Christ’s resurrection in the day that is coming. By this means, God forges a new relationship with us, a new relationship defined by the new covenant he promised long ago. And that new covenant was inaugurated and continues to be effectuated by the living Christ Jesus for those in union with him.
Third, as noted throughout, it is the gospel narrative of Christ that forges and maintains these bonds. It is because of what happened in the gospel narrative that our bond has been forged with God that is defined as the new covenant. And it is because of what happened in the gospel narrative that our bond with one another across all potential dividing lines has been forged. Because our founding story is the gospel, we have communion with God and with one another, whether we are Jews or gentiles, on the same basis, and because of the same allegiance to the same Lord.
Fourth, we are called to active participation in that same story through faithful obedience. This participation is made possible precisely because it is Christ who lives in us. The foundation of the relationship is also the basis of our participation, as by our faithful union with Christ we have been crucified with him. Our newness of life is thus his life. By this, we can realize the outcomes Paul writes about in the rest of the letter of sowing in the Spirit and reaping everlasting life, new creation, and the kingdom of God. Christ has already the heir of all of this. We become heirs by virtue of what he has done for us, and we are shaped to live in anticipation of our lives in that eschatological inheritance by Christ living in us.