Not I, but the Christ in me

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"Not I, but the Christ in me" is a word of Saint Paul often quoted by Rudolf Steiner. In the original Greek it reads:

„ζῶ δὲ, οὐκέτι ἐγώ, ζῇ δὲ ἐν ἐμοὶ Χριστός
zô dè, oùketi égó, zē dè én émoi Christós.“

„I live, yet now not I, but Christ lives in me“

Translated approximately literally, it means more precisely: "I live, yet no longer the ego, but Christ lives in me." This means no more and no less than that the Christ Himself - in a fully individualised way - lives as the real I, as in man:

„No external name can name "me", this Being; a completely different name only can express this: "I am the I-am!" There is no possibility of finding the name of the Sun-Spirit elsewhere than in the human being. That which lives as I in man is the Christ-being.“ (Lit.:GA 109, p. 154)

This real I, which as a monad forms the creative core of man's being, originates from the Nirvana plane (Lit.:GA 93a, p. 125f), to which, according to ancient and medieval cosmology, corresponds the Empyrean, the outermost and highest heavenly sphere filled with divine fire and light and still situated above the crystal heaven. According to later Christian views, it is the seat of the triune God and the blessed and is also described in this way in Dante's Divine Comedy.

„Such people, who condemn precisely what spiritual science has to say about the Christ and the Mystery of Golgotha, lean little on the beautiful Pauline word: Not I, but the Christ in me. - Spiritual science is clear about the fact that the Christ has been drawn from supersensible heights into this earthly development and that he is so connected with this earthly development that the human being of today cannot live into the coming day out of passive hope, but that he must develop in his own inner being the power as a human being which will bring about this coming day. But because the power of Christ has entered into the development of humanity through the Mystery of Golgotha, he who unites himself with this power of Christ will not merely have in Christ the "Redeemer of sinful man" who passively counts on his Redeemer, but he will have in himself the helper in bringing about the coming day. He will say in truth: Not I, but the Christ in me - but the Christ not merely as the redeemer of sins, but the Christ as the instigator and resurrector of all the forces that will subsequently be able to emerge as forces of human progress. And those who believe they must rebel against such a thing out of confession perhaps misunderstand the most serious demands of the coming day, for they understand nothing of the real meaning of this Pauline word. "The Christ in me" is not merely something passively believed, but an active force that moves me forward as a human being. Not I, but the Christ in me - so says spiritual science. But the others, who fight this spiritual science, do not say at all: Not I, but the Christ in me -, but they say: Not I, but the old opinions that I want to have about the Christ in me. - They do not say: The Christ in me - but: my old accustomed opinions in me; my old accustomed ideas about the Christ in me. - The right understanding of the Pauline word, that is what will fulfil a most serious demand of Christian progress in particular.“ (Lit.:GA 335, p. 76f)

Literature
References to the work of Rudolf Steiner follow Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works (CW or GA), Rudolf Steiner Verlag, Dornach/Switzerland, unless otherwise stated.
Email: verlag@steinerverlag.com URL: www.steinerverlag.com.
Index to the Complete Works of Rudolf Steiner - Aelzina Books
A complete list by Volume Number and a full list of known English translations you may also find at Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works
Rudolf Steiner Archive - The largest online collection of Rudolf Steiner's books, lectures and articles in English.
Rudolf Steiner Audio - Recorded and Read by Dale Brunsvold
steinerbooks.org - Anthroposophic Press Inc. (USA)
Rudolf Steiner Handbook - Christian Karl's proven standard work for orientation in Rudolf Steiner's Collected Works for free download as PDF.
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