THIRD QUARTER 2026
SABBATH SCHOOL INSIGHT #1
JULY 4, 2026
"PAUL'S MINISTRY IN CORINTH".

 

Christ Our Life: Identity in the True Gospel

Who are you? It seems like a simple question, yet the answer shapes everything. Our identity influences the way we think, the choices we make, the relationships we build, the fears we carry, the purpose we pursue, and ultimately the direction of our lives.

But before we ask, “Who am I?”, perhaps we should ask an even more important question: “What gospel do I believe in?”

The apostle Paul understood that our identity always flows from the gospel we embrace. Notice how he introduces himself to the churches. Writing to Corinth, he begins, "Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God" (1 Corinthians 1:1). To the Galatians, he writes, "Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ...)" (Galatians 1:1).

Before Paul ever speaks about what he does, he speaks about whose he is. His identity wasn't built upon his education, his accomplishments, or even his ministry. It was rooted entirely in Christ's calling. Yet this was not always his experience.

Before his conversion, Paul believed a different gospel. He sought acceptance with God through religious zeal, strict obedience, and confidence in the flesh. He later reflected that God had "separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace" (Galatians 1:15). Looking back, Paul realized that his standing with God had never rested upon his own righteousness but upon God's gracious initiative.

That realization lies at the heart of Galatians. Paul writes with astonishment, "I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another" (Galatians 1:6-7).

What was this “other gospel”? Surprisingly, it wasn't paganism or open rebellion. It was a gospel that taught believers to place confidence in their own obedience as the basis of their acceptance before God. It was the experience of the old covenant—trusting human promises rather than God's promises. It was righteousness by works rather than righteousness by faith. It was trusting in human promises instead of resting in divine promise. What makes this “other gospel” so dangerous is not that it denies God, but that it redefines how we relate to Him. Paul knew that experience personally. Then he met Jesus and had a personal encounter with the true gospel, and everything changed.

Reflecting on Paul's conversion, Ellen G. White writes: 

But to Paul the cross was the one object of supreme interest. Ever since he had been arrested in his career of persecution against the followers of the crucified Nazarene he had never ceased to glory in the cross. At that time there had been given him a revelation of the infinite love of God, as revealed in the death of Christ; and a marvelous transformation had been wrought in his life, bringing all his plans and purposes into harmony with heaven. From that hour he had been a new man in Christ. He knew by personal experience that when a sinner once beholds the love of the Father, as seen in the sacrifice of His Son, and yields to the divine influence, a change of heart takes place, and henceforth Christ is all and in all. —The Acts of the Apostles, p. 245. 

Paul no longer found his identity in himself. He found it in Christ.

The gospel is not merely the good news that our sins are forgiven. It is the good news that Christ Himself becomes our life. This is the true gospel. Paul wrote one of the most beautiful truths of the a life hid within Christ: "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me" (Galatians 2:20).

Notice the contrast. The false gospel says, I must live for Christ. The true gospel declares, Christ lives in me. One depends upon human effort—the other depends upon divine life. One continually asks, Am I doing enough? The other rests in what Christ has already accomplished and continues to accomplish within the believer.

Commenting on Galatians 2:20, Waggoner writes:

Our identification with Christ means not a loss of His identity, but of ours. “I live,” said Paul, “yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” We are lifted up with Christ, yet we are not seen, but He; and men are not drawn to us, but to Him.—Ellet J. Waggoner, “The Crucifixion of Christ,” The Present Truth, March 14, 1895, p. 166.

The gospel doesn't merely improve the old self—it displaces self from the center entirely. Identity is no longer anchored in performance, failure, background, or even calling. It is anchored in Christ Himself. This is possible because Christ first identified Himself with us.

Waggoner describes this condescension:

The amazing condescension of the Son of God in taking upon Himself the nature of humanity and becoming a babe of flesh and blood, is set forth in the declaration that He “made Himself of no reputation.” In heaven His reputation was great, for He was the Son of God, and Creator of all things. But when He came to earth He left all,—His power, His glory, His riches, and His reputation. He began His life again, at the point where each one of thus began ours; and the same path in which He walked, and in which He attained to wisdom and a place at God’s right hand, is open to us.

He continues:

As a child, He grew and “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.” Luke 2:52. Each of us had, as a child, the same opportunities. His wisdom was the wisdom contained in God’s word, which is open to us; His strength was the strength of God dwelling in Him, which is also our strength by the power of His word abiding in us. When He was raised from the dead, it was not a taking back of what He had relinquished in heaven; but God declared, “Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee.” In all points He was identified with us, save that He “knew no sin;” and this identity continues, for He is to-day “the man Christ Jesus.” And that He might be identified with us in all things, He took our sins upon Himself, died, and rose again, thus raising man to His own level in the one point where that identity was not complete.

—Ellet J. Waggoner, “Of No Reputation,” The Present Truth, December 6, 1894, p. 770.

Christ does not remain distant from human experience. He enters it fully, sharing our condition in order to redeem us completely. Because Christ united Himself with humanity, we may now be united with Him. Paul describes this glorious reality in Colossians as "the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations…which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:26-27).

This is our heavenly identity. Not merely following Christ. Not merely believing about Christ. But Christ dwelling within His people.

Christ was “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Revelation 13:8. Not merely in the days of Pontius Pilate, and at the instigation of wicked Jews, has the Son of God been “lifted up.” “God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16. He was given when the opportunity and the need came of believing in Him for salvation; and He was crucified when He was given. —Ellet J. Waggoner, “The Crucifixion of Christ,” The Present Truth, March 14, 1895, p. 166.

The cross, then, is not simply a historical moment but an ongoing revelation of Christ to the world in every generation. This changes how identity is formed. It is no longer achieved but received.

Paul says, “Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus…For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Galatians 3:26-27). Our identity is not something we achieve. It is something we receive by faith. And it is this heavenly identity that transformed every part of Paul's life.

Although he worked as a tentmaker alongside Aquila and Priscilla, making tents was never his true occupation. It simply supported the work to which God had called him. Luke tells us that while working, “he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks” (Acts 18:4). Every workplace became a mission field because Paul's identity wasn't found in his profession. Wherever he went, the center remained the same: Christ.

At the time of his conversion, Paul was inspired with a longing desire to help his fellow men to behold Jesus of Nazareth as the Son of the living God, mighty to transform and to save. Henceforth his life was wholly devoted to an effort to portray the love and power of the Crucified One. —Ellen G. White, The Acts of the Apostles, p. 246. 

That same gospel shaped Paul's ministry in Corinth. Corinth was famous for idolatry, immorality, materialism, and moral confusion. It was described as “almost wholly given up to idolatry…the Corinthians had become conspicuous, even among the heathen, for their gross immorality.” —Ibid., p. 243.  

The church reflected many of the city's problems. There were divisions, pride, sexual immorality, lawsuits, confusion over marriage, disorder in worship, misuse of spiritual gifts, and false ideas about the resurrection. Yet Paul did not begin by demanding better behavior. He began with the gospel.

"I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified" (1 Corinthians 2:2). Why? Because behavior flows from identity, and identity flows from the gospel we believe. If I believe the false gospel, my standing before God rises and falls with my performance. Success breeds pride and self-sufficiency. Failure produces discouragement and hopelessness. I spend my life trying to establish my own righteousness.

But if I believe the true gospel, I no longer strive to become accepted. I live because I already am accepted in the Beloved. Christ becomes my righteousness, my identity, and my life. Even Paul's courage flowed from this reality.

We often imagine Paul as fearless, yet he confessed that he came to Corinth "in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling" (1 Corinthians 2:3). The Lord encouraged him with the words, "Be not afraid... for I am with thee" (Acts 18:9-10). Ellen G. White explains that "the wickedness that he saw and heard in that corrupt city almost disheartened him.” —Ibid., p. 250. Yet Paul remained faithful because his confidence was never in himself.

Paul realized that his sufficiency was not in himself, but in the presence of the Holy Spirit, whose gracious influence filled his heart, bringing every thought into subjection to Christ. He spoke of himself as “always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.” 2 Corinthians 4:10. In the apostle’s teachings Christ was the central figure. “I live,” he declared, “yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” Galatians 2:20. Self was hidden; Christ was revealed and exalted. —Ibid., p. 251.

He expresses the same truth in Colossians: "Whom we preach…that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily" (Colossians 1:28-29).

Paul labored. Paul strove. But the power was never his own. This is righteousness by faith—not passive inactivity, nor self-dependent effort, but a surrendered life in which Christ Himself lives and works through the believer. The difference between the false gospel and the true gospel is not merely how we are saved. It is where we find our identity. The false gospel says, Become righteous so God will accept you. The true gospel says, Christ has accepted you; now let Him live His life in you.

Paul's own life became the living demonstration of that truth. It was evidence to those who listened to him that Christ was his focus—Christ was his all. The joy and freedom of the true gospel was his burden.

In a world searching desperately for identity, may we discover the glorious mystery Paul proclaimed: “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” May that be true of us—for when Christ becomes our identity, He becomes our life and the world cannot help but see Him in us.

 

—Anya Kinsley