Why can we live the Christian life by the faithfulness of Christ?
Believers live the Christian life by the faithfulness of Christ because they were crucified with Him and now He lives in them. Christ is faithful, never lets us down, and God is able to keep and empower them to live a life pleasing to Him, since Christ loved them and gave Himself for them.
Les explains that the believer is crucified with Christ: when Christ died, that is when we died. Yet we live physically, and the life we now live in the flesh is lived by the faithfulness of the One who bought us. Les likes to put in 'faithfulness' because Christ is faithful and will never let us down. Paul writes, 'by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.' Les contrasts Peter's Acts 2 statement, 'you killed the Messiah,' with Paul's 'He died for you,' a graphic difference. Because God is able to keep us and empower us, we can live a life pleasing to Him and show that He loved us and gave Himself for us.
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.
More Questions
Does 'the faith of the Son of God' mean Christ's faithfulness or our faith in Christ?
The phrase "by the faith of the Son of God" can be read as the faithfulness of Christ (rather than our faith in Him), though Les concedes the Greek likely will not allow that rendering.