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Alexander McLaren, experience, faith, freedom, God's love, individuality, Jesus Christ, love, new life, Oscar Wilde, true faith
If some believers are tempted to believe that they could lose their individuality when they have finally died to self with Christ on their own (spiritual) crosses, then I hope I can offer some comfort here since nothing could be further from the truth. Although the apostle Paul told us in his letter to the Galatians, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me,” (Gal 2:20 ESV) he had another idea in mind. Let’s read what Alexander MacLaren wrote in his Bible Commentary about this verse.
MacLaren’s Expositions
Galatians
FROM CENTRE TO CIRCUMFERENCE
Galatians 2:20.
We have a bundle of paradoxes in this verse. First, ‘I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live.’ The Christian life is a dying life. If we are in any real sense joined to Christ, the power of His death makes us dead to self and sin and the world. In that region, as in the physical, death is the gate of life; and, inasmuch as what we die to in Christ is itself only a living death, we live because we die, and in proportion as we die.
The next paradox is, ‘Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.’ The Christian life is a life in which an indwelling Christ casts out, and therefore quickens, self. We gain ourselves when we lose ourselves. His abiding in us does not destroy but heightens our individuality. We then most truly live when we can say, ‘Not I, but Christ liveth in me’; the soul of my soul and the self of myself.
And the last paradox is that of my text, ‘The life which I live in the flesh, I live in’ {not ‘by’} ‘the faith of the Son of God.’ The true Christian life moves in two spheres at once. Externally and superficially it is ‘in the flesh,’ really it is ‘in faith.’ It belongs not to the material nor is dependent upon the physical body in which we are housed. We are strangers here, and the true region and atmosphere of the Christian life is that invisible sphere of faith.
http://biblehub.com/commentaries/maclaren/galatians/2.htm
If God has enabled us to constantly abide in Him while He dwells inside us all the time, we can eventually live the lives we always wanted to live (yet couldn’t) for then our true self has come to light. A self that is no longer compelled to react when it feels offended or wounded. Instead, we won’t have those limitations of the natural man who cannot live but after the flesh, those limitations that keep him imprisoned and force him to defend himself and his views on this and that. The new self is a merely Spirit-driven self that has been transformed into a heavenly spiritual being that is perfectly self-controlled and truly loves unconditionally, just like God loves. Or as a famous poet and author once said,
To give and not expect return, that is what lies at the heart of love. (Oscar Wilde)
Michael said:
Wow!!! Susanne, thank you for posting this! I have struggled for 45 years trying to understand what all this meant.. “I live yet NOT I…” Then as I read your blog it became clear! Because the cross of Christ is working in me I NOW can live who HE created me to BE,.. not a Christ clone, but rather a freed spirit and soul IN Christ!!! NOW this verse has taken on scope!!!
“In Him WE live and move and have OUR being!” OH WHAT FREEDOM!!!
Thank you sooooo much, my dear loving friend and sister IN Christ!!! 🐻
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
Oh Michael, you’re very welcome. 🙂
THAT was an encouraging comment! Thanks a million, my brother! I am so happy to hear that you found that short post helpful, even in trying to understand something you struggled for even 45 (!) years with. Yes, our God is a “wish-fulfiller”, finally, when all this dying to self is done, we come out as a new Adam and Eve in Christ and are able to even love ourselves. That was not possible before, was it…?
Love,
Susanne 🐱
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Michael said:
YES!!! That is it! We do our best writing when we are clueless as to what we are REALLY writing and sharing! YOU in Christ did it again!!!
WE really do come into an existence IN Christ that is our REAL selves… who God made us to be from the foundation of the world! So truly we can say,
OH WHAT A REVELATION THIS IS!!! THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH!
BIG HUGS TO YOU, my dear sister and wonderful friend IN Christ where we abide together. WOOOOHOOOO! ❤
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
Hahahaha … XD
What an emphatic comment, dear Michael! ❤ You are very welcome, still. 😉
I was so glad to read that this brief post included a revelation for you.
Big Hugs back to you, my brother and friend IN Him who is our LIFE and cares for our well-being, too.
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Ken Dawson said:
Like Mike says–you have done it!–great post and your quote at the end there really puts it in perspective–” The new self is a God controlled being that has been transformed into a Heavenly being that is perfectly controlled and loves unconditionaly with Gods agape love ” that is the good individuality.
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
Thanks a bunch, dear Ken. 🙂 That was such a great edification for me, right before going to bed (after 2 am in Germany right now… 😉 ).
Every blessing to you,
Susanne ❤
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Michael said:
BTW, I found Alexander MacLaren’s “Expositions on Galatians” on the web here:
http://preceptaustin.org/galatians_maclaren_1.htm#FCTC
and felt moved to read more of what he had to say.
Thanks again so much, dear Susanne! You are such a blessing to us all! ⭐
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
Sorry, that I forgot to link to the source, Michael. 😛 I took MacLaren’s excerpt from this page http://biblehub.com/commentaries/maclaren/galatians/2.htm.
You’re very welcome, dear brother. And you are a blessing too! ⭐
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Michael said:
Great! Thanks, Susanne. I bookmarked this site for future reference. 🐻
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
You’re so welcome, Michael. 🐱
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Anna Waldherr said:
I found this beautiful post to have great relevance to abuse. Abuse creates a deep wound, leaving behind many emotional/psychological/spiritual scars. Some may never be overcome, not in this life, at any rate.
Abuse “teaches” victims that they are worthless. To reach the point of dying to Christ, victims must first rediscover their true value. Christ affirms that value, revealing how precious they, in fact, are.
Only having confronted that amazing reality are victims ready to lay their natural selves down at Christ’s feet. We cannot forego the right to defend ourselves, in a spiritual sense, without having first reclaimed it.
This is the reason surrender to Christ sounds so threatening to victims. Anger is, I believe, a condition precedent to forgiveness. It is, in effect, a necessary detour victims take to Christ.
I do not, of course, mean that victims must endure Christ’s anger before they can be forgiven. Rather, victims must experience and release their own anger before they can freely choose to forgive.
Let me know what you think of this analysis. At 3AM, it seems entirely logical to me. But I’d appreciate verification in the light of day (LOL), before I work it into a post of my own.
With love,
Anna ❤
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
Thanks a lot four your encouraging response, dear Anna! 🙂
That was so important that you added “the right to defend ourselves” which we will NOT lose when having become a new creation. What we needed to learn was to draw boundaries toward sexual assaults of any kind; they even begin with men leering at us and then treating us, only verbally, as if we were their “victims”. I guess you know what I mean here. 😦 Just lately I was confronted with quite some men who really made me RUN!!! What they needed to hear was a clear ‘NO!’ from a not-so-nice “girl”. Our education that made us believe we as girls and later women should always be nice to everyone had nothing to do with how we should act as mature Christian women, I believe. In those cases it has been always Christ who strengthened me to take a stand since there was nobody around who could have helped me. To be honest, it was not fun! 👿 Since I love to be alone with the Lord, whether on prayer walks or bike rides, I now avoid certain places until I get the green light from Him again.
I know that Christ accepts us with everything we might feel and anger is a normal part of our human nature; suppressing anger leads to depression as I have seen regarding my own mental problems. Even after having forgiven – which should NEVER be forced on any victim; you were so right by mentioning that we “freely choose to forgive” – we have a body that is indwelt by God’s Spirit and thus holy. We MUST defend what belongs to God who gave us our awareness of having a real worth in ourselves back.
Yes, it is entirely logical what you wrote above. ⭐ Please, publish it on your own blog, Anna!
Love,
Susanne ❤
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Michael said:
And Susanne, my dear loving sister in Christ! How instrumental you have been in opening me up to the fact that Daddy loves us UNCONDITIONALLY! You have been such a wonderful blessing that HE has put in my life. I will be forever grateful to Him for you. This latest post you have shared has shown me that I am truly enveloped in the arms of our Beloved as His child and nothing can separate me from His love! In HIM I live and move and have my being and NOTHING I do can change that because of His great grace and the full atonement that the Son worked for me on the cross. Oh, what freedom to finally see myself securely in their love as our Daddy’s own son.
“See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now; it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:1-2 RSVA)
Big hugs to you, dear sister! ❤
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
Dear Michael,
I am happy that I could have helped you see a bit better that there is no fear in love and that God truly loves us just the way we were, the way we are, and the way we will be – just the same. His love never changes because God never changes. It is only our limited view of spiritual growth that we are being made perfect in a looong process of time. Actually, wouldn’t we love someone of who we knew beforehand that we, and only WE, could change them according to our own purpose and will? If we knew that they could never change anything about themselves because they were sitting in a prison of sorts, wouldn’t we try EVERYTHING to set them free with all our might?
Michael, you have been a trasure from God since I have come to know you. I so appreciate the spiritual fellowship God gave us to share with one another. And it is always a blessing to write with you, whether in longer comment threads or by writing a common blog post. What is still missing would be a common poem. 😉
Big hugs, my brother! ❤
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Michael said:
Ha, Susanne! A common poem! Why not? It is interesting as the early church was baptized in the Spirit that the love of God so overwhelmed them that no one said what they had was there own and readily gave from what they had to share. I believe that this was especially true when it came to the empowerment of the Spirit in their lives. It says in the O.T. that one can put to flight a thousand and two ten-thousand. This is God’s synergism. He makes a ten-fold increase for each person that is added to the unity of the Spirit in Christ’s body. Becoming of one mind and one spirit makes all things possible IN Christ. I am sure that we have not yet seen or heard of, nor has it yet entered into our hearts what our Father has in store for those of us who love Him and are the called according to HIS purpose.
“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious ointment upon the head [the anointing]… for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life forevermore.” (Psalms 133:1-3 KJ2000)
Holy hugs! 🐻
Michael
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
Yes, why not? 😉
Great Scripture, Michael, fits perfectly! And your exposition before, too. ⭐
Holy hugs,
Susanne 🐱
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Michael said:
Susanne, above on 9-27-2015 you wrote, “Michael, you have been a treasure from God since I have come to know you. I so appreciate the spiritual fellowship God gave us to share with one another. And it is always a blessing to write with you, whether in longer comment threads or by writing a common blog post. What is still missing would be a common poem. 😉
Big hugs, my brother! <3”
How prophetic! 🙂 We finally were inspired to write that common poem on 2-18-2016, five months later long after I had forgot that you wrote this. A scripture in Psalms comes to mind…
“Delight yourself also in the LORD; and he shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.” (Ps 37:4-5, KJ2000)
I know that for me trusting in Him to bring the desires of my heart to pass has been a real test of faith, but you have always encouraged me when I shared them with you.
Thank you once again for the treasure that you are and have been for me IN Christ.
Your brother and friend forever,
Michael 🐻
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
I admit I felt “the prophecy” while writing this, but I had no idea when it would happen for real. 😉
Yup, that Scripture fits, Michael! ⭐
I am glad to hear that you have been encouraged by me, just as I have been encouraged by you right from the beginning of our exchanges in December 2013.
Your sister and friend always,
Susanne 🐱
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Michael said:
This is wonderful, Anna, how you have seen the truth of what Susanne posted here and how it relates to abuse. I know my own abuse by my father and mother (often mental belittling) tore down my self worth and laid me open to much spiritual abuse later in churches and cults because I felt that is what I deserved. Finally seeing myself as our Daddy’s child whom He has loved from the foundation of the world and whom He has brought under His wings of love by the great work of His Son on the cross, this has done more for me than all the sermons and counseling I have gone through. And, by the way, being loved unconditionally by those who live IN Christ has made way for this breakthrough. We who have been abused need “Jesus with skin on” and I know that your calling among them is doing just that. ⭐
God bless you richly, my sister! ❤
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Michael said:
I love this, “Since He is out of time and knows our beginning and our end, He can love us the way we are while we might be struggling with realizing what is still wrong inside our hearts.” Thanks to both your sisters for you wonderful insights. ⭐
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
You’re very welcome, dear Michael. I am glad you loved that! 🙂
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totellthetruth1962 said:
Thank you!
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
You’re very welcome, my dear sister. 🙂
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Pat Orr said:
Thank you, Susanne, for the blog, and each of you who commented. I have often pondered, as children of God , what is the place of individuality? I’m still waiting on revelation concerning the reality. However, I am comforted to know that others have the same question. I rejoice in the revelation that each of you have.
My love,
Pat Orr
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
You’re so welcome, dear Pat.
Wouldn’t it have been strange if God created us so individually and then, after a long sanctification process, we would turn out to be clones who are, speaking spiritually, indiscernible from one another? How boring that would be! Even if we only compare the four gospels, all were written by individuals with different names and personalities. And all of them experienced God differently although there can be found similarities as well.
Just another thought… Fellowship with other Christians only makes sense if we can complement one another. If we all had the same thoughts and ideas at the same time, we would get bored quickly and would prefer to live alone on a desert island instead. 😉
Dear Pat, be who you are! There never was and there will never be another Pat that is just as lovely as you are!!! ❤ ❤ ❤
Much love,
Susanne
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Michael said:
Dear Susanne, I shared your blog with my dear wife, Dorothy, last night. She shared with me when it come to quilting one can purchase or create the quilt design pattern, or you can buy a quilt kit. With a kit all the quilt squares and the design in each kit is the same. But if a pattern is used then the quilt maker is free to chose her own material and colors as she sees fit. Dorothy’s sister went to a small town quilt show in Montana and many of the entries were made from the same kit! All those quilts looked the same! Talk about boring!
God has made for us, Christ the Pattern Son, but He has NOT made us from mass produced kits!. The colors, textures, prints, etc., that goes into the pattern as Father places us in Him is still subject to the individual saints. As we read the New Testament not two of the people written about in it are alike, but most all of them with the Spirit in them manifest Christ in their lives in their own way with the anointing of the Spirit in them. I love the variety He has chosen us to be and how our differences compliment the manifestation of God’s Son. ⭐ Thanks again, dear sister, for sharing your insight and your differences with us! 🙂
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
Yes, that is a great example Dorothy chose here. And your translation into the spiritual realm makes much sense too, Michael. Thank you very much for sharing!
You’re very welcome as to my sharing of both insights and differences! 🙂
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Michael said:
XD
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Susanne Schuberth (Germany) said:
😀 ➡
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