Galatians 2:20. “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who lives, but Christ who lives in me…” But stopping there might suggest a total loss of identity; that a Christian is a kind of spiritual android. But reading on: “…and the life which I now live…” The “I” is back!
The personal pronoun paradox “I” (“ego” in NT Greek). So this introduces the new “I”. What kind of “I”? Reading on… “[the life that I now live] in the flesh…” So the new life is not an airy fairy one, but a down to earth one: the new “I” lives in the old body! “…I live by faith in [by the faith of] the Son of God…”
So the old “I’ is dead and the new “I” lives in my body by faith in Jesus. “…who loved me and gave himself for me.” The new “I” lives responsively to the loving self-sacrifice of Jesus. “I” is found three times, and “me” three times in this one verse.
So the death of the old “I” allows for the life of the new “I”. Which puts a verse that’s often viewed as negative in a very positive light! God does not take away our identity when we come to Christ! Quite the opposite, in fact. He infuses us with a divine life that enhances our identity.
God is not into a heavenly version of body snatching! Neither does He give us a new identity in another place that will prevent the “mob” we belonged to from ever finding us. No, God puts a new “I” into an old body, and transforms it from the inside out! God is so Good!