19 For I through the Law [under the operation of the curse of the Law] have [in Christ's death for me] myself died to the Law and all the Law's demands upon me, so that I may [henceforth] live to and for God.
In Christ we have died to the Law. That means that we have died to the Ten Commandments. For us to truly live for God, we must die to any notion that we must do anything on our own. The Ten Commandments and all laws require us to believe that we must perform a work on our own for our Father to then use us. The glorious Truth for us is that now through Christ we have died to all of those demands. We have died to we must wear this, or go to this building, or eat this. Now we serve in newness of the spirit through the full power of the Holy Spirit. We will be used by our Father to work, but we will never do anything first on our own or apart from God.
20 I have been crucified with Christ [in Him I have shared His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah) lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (by adherence to and reliance on and complete trust in) the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Jesus is always God, He is just that way. No works keep Jesus being God or keep Him One with God and we are now one with Jesus, Ephesians 5:30-32. As Jesus is, so are we, even in this world, 1 John 4:17. I hope that you are seeing the freedom that we enjoy in Christ. Works did not bring us to our Father and works do not keep us with Him, Galatians 3:3. We will be used by our Father to do works, I am not saying for one second that in Christ we will not be used to do works, but what I am saying is that works do not in any way save us or keep us in Christ.
The timing is salvation first, then being used by our Father to do works. The responsibility is all on Jesus to cause us to work, it is not on us, John 15:5. The Head must first direct and enable the body, the body does not first direct and enable the Head. Too many of us look to works. Jesus will lead us into being used, but it is all His timing and in His strength. Some of us may be used mightily and some of us may not, but we are all the body and we all enjoy the full and complete benefits of unity with our Father, Romans 12:4. Remember the parable that Jesus spoke of some people being used to work all day and some only being used to work the last hour of the day, and yet all were paid the same wage, Matthew 20?
21 [Therefore, I do not treat God's gracious gift as something of minor importance and defeat its very purpose]; I do not set aside and invalidate and frustrate and nullify the grace (unmerited favor) of God. For if justification (righteousness, acquittal from guilt) comes through [observing the ritual of] the Law, then Christ (the Messiah) died groundlessly and to no purpose and in vain. [His death was then wholly superfluous.]
Don’t frustrate the gift that Jesus came and gave us by looking to yourself for works. Relax, our Head has us exactly where He wants us to be. He may be taking us to a place that is far different from where we are, but each one of us, right now, is exactly where our Head wants us to be. There is no condemnation for any of us who are in Christ, Romans 8:1. We are now free in Christ apart from any works.
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