"Yet Not I, but...."

Twice the Apostle Paul uses this phrase. In Galatians 2:20 he wrote:

“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.”

Once more Paul used “Yet not I, but…” when he wrote to the Corinthians:

“But by the grace of God I am what I am; and the grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me” (I Cor. 15:10).

These two expressions, “yet not I, but Christ” and “yet not I, but the grace of God,” describe the entire ministry of Paul. He magnified and exalted two things: Christ and the grace of God.

"In all things, in all his messages and personal testimony, an exaltation of Christ and complete effacement of self are the great leading marks. He made his boast in Christ. He magnified Christ and the grace of God, which had been bestowed upon him.

How little of this self-effacement we see today. How many exalt themselves, boast of their attainments, their service, their ministry, their converts, instead of glorying in an all-sufficient Savior and the all-sufficient grace of God. The “soli deo gloria,” to God alone be the glory, is often forgotten. In all our service for Him, of whatever nature it may be, may we magnify Christ and the grace of God and to seek His glory only."