When people ask me my favorite verse, I usually say it’s Exodus 14:14, “The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still” (NIV). But my most quoted verse, is Galatians 2:20 (ESV): “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.”

Now, I’ve been learning about abiding in Christ. If you have followed to my teachings, you know I’ve been talking about that for more than a couple of years. In the beginning, I was talking about abiding in Christ: being with Him, being one with Him, being in the vine, being in Christ, being hidden in Christ. It’s His righteousness. It’s His work. These are the things I talk about. But this verse always bothered me. I would say, I no longer live but Christ lives in me. I no longer live. You’re dead. You’re supposed to die. I’m supposed to be dead. You hear me talk like that a lot because I think that’s the key to the Christian life. I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. I think that’s the sum of it.

But this verse always bothered me because the life I live in the flesh—I’m living out—I live by faith in Christ. Why did that bother me? Because I could fail. Because any time I wasn’t seeing Christ-likeness come out, it was my failure of faith. Any time I wasn’t seeing His power, I wasn’t seeing His love, I wasn’t seeing His patience, which is love… whatever it was, I would be defeated. I didn’t have faith. I lacked faith. God help my unbelief. I lacked faith in the Son of God.

Well, not too long ago, I heard this verse in the King James, which I don’t read. On any given day, I might read the New King James Version, the English Standard Version, the New American Standard Bible, the Hebrew Christian Heritage Bible, the Berean Study Bible, or the New Living Translation and others. I read lots of different translations after spending 20 years of my life reading only the New American Standard Bible.

 

Most translations say, “I live by faith,” even the New King James, but the King James version was an epiphany. It’s not the only one that translates it this way but all of those other main ones just say, “by faith in the Son of God.” King James says, “…the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God,” instead of, “…by faith in the Son.” “By the faith of the Son of God” was an epiphany to me. I’m clinging to that translation because it’s the truth of what God has been showing me in the whole rest of scripture: it’s His work. It’s His work. We receive the free gift. It’s not by work. It’s a gift. Our faith is a gift; we’re told faith is a gift. He gives us our faith. He is the author of our faith. He’s the perfecter of our faith. It’s all His work and we say those things, but then why are we trying to live by faith and have faith?

It’s a working kind of attitude, which I’m trying to get away from. I just want to abide, just be His. Let Him keep me. Let Him do the work. Let Him be my righteousness because that’s the only way. We can’t do it any other way. It was very freeing to me to read this in the King James Bible. So, I hope it helps some of you to live by the faith of the Son of God. It’s His faith, just like everything else. It’s His. He gave it to me; it’s His.

I don’t even like to think of it like He gave it to me and then I get to use it. It’s not that it’s unbiblical. I don’t like thinking of it this way, like, I’m weak so He gives me strength and now I’m strong. I don’t like thinking of it like that. I like to think of it as it’s His strength. It’s not that I’m strengthened now, so I can go do whatever it is because now I’m strong because that leaves Him behind. Like, here, just give me what I need and then I can go take care of it.

That’s not how I want to live. I want Him to live. I want to be dead. I want Him to live. I need Him to put His strength in me, Him to work his strength through me, all His strength. Never like now it’s mine. It’s just His. It’s His strength. It’s His faith, the faith of the Son of God. My faith can’t fail because it’s the faith of the Son of God. Jesus Christ has perfect faith in the Father because He knows the Father fully. If you know the Father fully, if you know God fully, you have full faith. The more we know, the more faith we have because He can’t fail. He is love. He’s everything. He’s all perfection. I won’t start listing all His attributes, but He can’t fail. There’s no reason not to have fullness of faith. Jesus Christ has perfect faith, and the life I live in the flesh I live by His perfect faith. It’s His perfect faith in me. It’s His perfect faith working through me and I cannot fail.