To be a Christian is to have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Christianity is faith in Christ, love for Christ, and obedience to Christ. But it is more than that. Christianity is a life of spiritual union with Christ.

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. – Galatians 2:20

Galatians 2:20 is the best-known and most-quoted verse in Galatians. It is one of the great statements of the apostle Paul recorded in the New Testament. This mystical statement is a clear explanation of what it means to be a Christian.

Christianity is more than dissent to a doctrinal statement. It is more than obedience to a moral code of conduct. It is more than the practice of rituals of worship. Christianity is Christ and Christ is God. To be a Christian is to have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Christianity is faith in Christ, love for Christ, and obedience to Christ. But it is more than that. Christianity is a life of spiritual union with Christ.

The Christian shares the personal, intimate, mystical testimony of Paul in Galatians 2:20: “I am crucified with Christ. Christ lives in me. I live by faith in the Son of God.”

What does it mean to be a Christian?

I Am Saved by the Death of Christ.

Paul says, “I have been crucified with Christ.” This is first a statement about Christ. Jesus was crucified. His death on the cross was “a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles” (1 Corinthians 1:23). But Jesus was crucified as a religious nonconformist to the Jews or political nuisance to the Romans. Christ died on the cross as our substitute (Isaiah 53:4-6; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 3:18).

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