What does Paul of the Bible mean I die every day?

Answer 1

This is ok: when he said I die daily he meant he no longer lives for himself but every day he becomes closer to God by doing God's will and not his own.

This is not correct: Paul was also referring to the daily possibility of his martyrdom. 1 Corinthians 15 v31. 2 Corinthians 11 details some of the suffering he endured over a period of time.

This is the real answer:

We are all pieces of divinity playing the game of life. The purpose of any real spiritual path is to become closer to the God from which we came. In order to do this we must let go of the false misconception of ourselves. We must come to terms with things. We must come to the realization that we are not our mind, our body, or some external position. In the process of doing this it is as if the old self is dying. You may continue to exist in a certain body and do certain things, but you become unattached to them, as they are no longer you.

This is a continual process, because to exist in this world you must be something. So no sooner have you shed one identity than you have a new one that is closer to God. Unfortunately it is already obsolete and must be let go. Letting go is the reality of spiritual growth, to continually let go of the identity that binds you to this world. This is much like it feels at the moment of physical death, the realization that the person you were is gone and you must let go and face the unknown future.

On the spiritual journey it is possible to look back a week, a month, or a year and see distinct identities that you were but now no longer are. They have all died, as will the identity you wear today. In a way you do die every day.

Clarification & Commentary: I am thinking of the quote from the cartoon character POGO who said "we have seen the enemy and he is us". Ultimately, we are "all . . . [pieces]. . . of divinity" because we are not merely body and soul, but are also spirit. "God is a spirit" and is likewise referred to in Hebrews 12:9 as "the Father of spirits". The specific aspect of our experience that is to "die daily" is condensed in the term "I" when Paul said in Galatians 2:20 "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". IMHO, the "I" that Paul referred to may be rationally understood as our acquired ego identity and development; in other words, the person you have become over a lifetime of conditioning, how you were rasied, the language you speak, enculturalization, psychological formation, emotional development, and your volitional self determination; this is what we have the proclivity to cling to. The "I" or self reflects the sum of our behavioral uniqueness; including the cognitive (mental), affective (emotional) and volitional (will) aspects of our overall humanness. So, as you "continually let go of . . . [this very] . . . identity that binds you to this world", it is more and more replaced with the indwelling Christ, our entrance into a relationship to the Spirit of God, producing the spirit of life, spiritual mindedness, the fruit of the spirit, peace, joy, discernment, etc: In terms of our spiritual growth, it's like shifting from 2nd to 3rd gear so your car will run more smoothly at a higher speed. Unfortunately, most people do not make the shift, do not die to self, remain fixated and imprisoned to only what they know and what they can grasp, to a lifestyle of self-absorption and consequently remain both in this world and a self-limiting byproduct of it. Our lives become more of an incidental reflections of our culture bound awareness instead of the growing purity of consciousness toward the new life that Christ can and will produce in us. One reason we voluntarily accept Christ is because this frees us from conformity to the world, and provides a powerful alternative; a new and transformed life.

Footnote: I do not quote scriptures to preach, but as textual references to help authenticate my viewpoint in the ongoing 2000 year old dialogue of Christian faith that has lasted since the beginning of the ancient church.

Answer 2

For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.

2 Corinthians 4:16

King James Version (KJV)

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