PETER RANDOLPH, a slave in Prince George County, Virginia, until he was freed in 1847, described the secret prayer meetings he had attended as a slave.
“Not being allowed to hold meetings on the plantation,” he wrote, “the slaves assemble in the swamp, out of reach of the patrols. They have an understanding among themselves as to the time and place. … This is often done by the first one arriving breaking boughs from the trees and bending them in the direction of the selected spot.
“After arriving and greeting one another, men and women sat in groups together. Then there was “preaching … by the brethren, then praying and singing all around until they generally feel quite happy.”
The speaker rises “and talks very slowly, until feeling the spirit, he grows excited, and in a short time there fall to the ground 20 or 30 men and women under its influence.
“The slave forgets all his sufferings,” Randolph summed up, “except to remind others of the trials during the past week, exclaiming, ‘Thank God, I shall not live here always!’ “
And if you would even describe your situation as slavery, this is not where you sit today. I have good news in our next 2 verses which is one sentence in the original Greek.
“ I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” Galatians 2:20-21 NIV
But I rather like the 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. I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.”
Galatians 2:20-21 KJV
Why do I like it?
For one thing it translates Paul saying, ‘nevertheless I live …’ he knows he is still a Jew, he is still a former Pharisee, he is a man and he still is a living being. We don’t get that from the NIV.
It heightens the hidden reality that:
- he has died to the law (trying to please God)
- but he is very much alive
- what you see isn’t now me but Christ in me.
How beautiful is that?!
We carry the name above all other names.
The Apostle Paul tells us, “We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body”. 2 Corinthians 4:10
A Saviour is one who intervenes, who steps in and rescues from either physical or spiritual suffering. We carry His name and His presence in our lives today. We may not have done much in our lives but He has done it all!
We believe that the Saviour can rescue us from the prisons and plans of our enemy: “My times are in your hands; deliver me from my enemies” Psalm 31:15
He is with us! Our Saviour is ready to save us time and again.
Thank God, I shall not live here always! But I shall live!
Missions Paul 