The Electing of Love
R. H. Giles, M. A. Galatians 2:20-21 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me… Here we have to consider Christ's own personal undertaking. I. Speaking generally, then, and following the guidance of our text, love was the principle which caused that offering of Himself: that is to say, it was the cause of His Incarnation. And I think, my brethren, it must be quite intelligible to us that love could be the only possible reason for such a sacrifice on the part of the Son of God. We in our little world can hardly appreciate what love means in its true sense; much less the meaning of the sacrifice which springs from such a love. For in making sacrifices one of three principles must be the ruling motive; it must either be that of self-interest, or it must be dictated by a keen sense of duty, or it must be the outcome of a disinterested affection: and, rarely as we find instances of the last of these among mankind, there are instances of the two former to be met with ever and over again. But when we come to try our Lord's conduct by any of these; when we try His self-imposed humiliation by our own standard of sacrifice; motives of self-interest no less than those of duty, are necessarily put out of court as being totally inapplicable to Him, and love is forced upon us as the only possible solution of His work of redemption. II. Now it is this very self-evident fact which leads us to speak, first of all, of the greatness of the love of our blessed Lord. "The Son of God loved me, and gave Himself for me." Let us see at the outset the obstacles it was called upon to surmount from its very entrance into the world. And was there nothing to repel our blessed Lord when the vision of all that must come upon Him passed before His eyes, as he lay in the bosom of the eternal Father? "The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men: to see if there were any that would understand and seek after God. But they are all gone out of the way, they are altogether become abominable: there is also none that doeth good, no not one." And yet the love of Jesus broke through this opposing barrier also. Consider now that perseverance and devotion of His which proved so wonderfully superior to these obstacles. (R. H. Giles, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. WEB: I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.