I through the law died to the law that I might live to God.
   I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
   - Galatians 2:19-20

It is perfectly delightful to contemplate the moral triumphs of Christianity---the victories which it gains over self and the world, and the marvelous way in which such victories are obtained. The law said, "Thou shalt do this; and thou shalt not do that." But Christianity speaks a totally different language. In it, we see life bestowed as a free gift---life flowing down from a risen and glorified Christ.

This is something entirely beyond the range of the law. The language of the law was, "The man who does them (the commandments) shall live by them" (Galatians 3:12). Long life in the land was all the law proposed to the man who could keep it (Exodus 20:12). Eternal life in a risen Christ was something utterly unknown and unthought of under the legal system.

But Christianity not only gives eternal life; it gives also an Object with which that life can be occupied---a Center round which the affections of that life can circulate---a Model on which that life can be formed.

Thus it gains its mighty moral triumphs. That it gains its conquests over a selfish nature and a selfish world. It gives divine life and a divine center; and as the life moves round that center, we are taken out of self.

This is the secret of self-surrender.

Charles H. Mackintosh