Crucified with Christ, Immersed in One Body: The Gospel That Ends Division

When Paul penned Galatians 2:20—

“I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me…”

—it wasn’t only a deeply personal statement about spiritual union with Christ. It was also his decisive answer to a public crisis: the moment when Peter withdrew from Gentile believers in Antioch. Paul calls that act “not in step with the truth of the gospel” (Gal. 2:14).

Why was this so serious? Because it wasn’t just bad manners—it was a denial of the very gospel itself. The good news is not merely about individual justification or moving to a Galatians 2:20–style deeper discipleship personally; it’s about creating one new people in Christ, united beyond every human boundary. Peter’s separation undermined that reality.

The “Truth of the Gospel” Is Unity in Christ

In Galatians: Uniting a Divided People, the author shows that Paul’s whole letter is a defense of the gospel as the power of God to unite divided people into one Body. The Judaizers’ influence—pressuring Gentiles to adopt Jewish customs—wasn’t just a legalism issue; it was a relational and corporate crisis, a distortion of the gospel that re-erected the walls Christ tore down.

Galatians 3:27–29 delivers the remedy and brings the correct context to what Paul said back in Galatians 2:20:

“For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

This baptism is not merely a personal, inward experience—it is immersion into the corporate Christ, the one Body made up of many members (cf. 1 Cor. 12:12, “so also is Christ”). In this reality, ethnicity, social status, and gender distinctions no longer divide us. The old “I”—with all its self-identity categories—is crucified, and the new “I” is Christ-in-us, shared in fellowship with every other member of His Body. Now that is really good news!

Why This Matters Today

Our modern divisions may not center on circumcision or Jewish-Gentile tensions, but we are no less fractured—by denominations, traditions, race, politics, and culture. The truth of the gospel still confronts us: if we are in Christ, we are already united; our divisions are contradictions of our baptismal reality. They are against the truth of the gospel! They are anathema—even cursed by God!

Paul’s vision—and the heartbeat of One Body Life—is that we live out this truth locally and practically. Unity is not uniformity, but it is real. It’s found when believers of different backgrounds gather in Christ alone, receiving one another as God has received us (Rom. 15:7), and refusing to let anything—not even cherished religious traditions—divide us.

Living Galatians 2:20 in Galatians 3:27–29

To be “crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2:20) is to have all our self-definitions and group identities placed in the grave. To be “baptized into Christ” (Gal. 3:27) is to rise into a shared life where our primary identity is “in Him.” This is why Paul ties both truths together: Christ in me personally, Christ in us corporately. What God has joined together, let no man put asunder.

Peter’s withdrawal fractured fellowship; Paul’s gospel restored it. Today, every time we resist division and live as one in Christ— by breaking bread with diverse believers—we are proclaiming the truth of the gospel, not just with words, but with our life together.

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Prayer:

Lord, help my mind take in this new reality in Christ. May I faithfully interpret the gospel in this oneness context. Thank You for accepting and receiving me—one formerly estranged from You, even Your enemy. Show me where I am not living “according to the truth of the gospel.” Thank You for the Spirit’s work to “lead us into all the truth.” Help me step out of my comfort zone into a life where I can seek out and enjoy fellowship with any and all followers of You, Lord. Oh Lord, I rejoice as I now see that in all of Your coming, Your work on the cross, in death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, You are building Your Ekklesia—of which I, and all other believers, am a part.

Below is what is called a "matplotlib" chart - a flowchart used in computer programming that helps to see how an argument/code progresses-but here you can visualize the "flow" of Paul's writing in the book of Galatians: