You goes back to “all of you” of verse 26. A literal rendering (Revised Standard Version “for as many of you as…”) would be misleading, for it tends to suggest that it is only part of the “all of you” that Paul is talking about, which is not his intention at all.

Baptized into union with Christ is literally “baptized into Christ.” Some take this expression as equivalent to “baptized in the name of Christ” (Knox “you have been baptized in Christ’s name”). Most translators, however, render the expression as implying fellowship with Christ and incorporation into Christ, hence into union with Christ.

You were baptized into union with Christ involves essentially a change of state signaled by the rite of baptism. This relation may be expressed as a type of result in some languages, for example, “You were baptized and thus are in union with Christ.” Rather than change were baptized into an active form, which would require a specific agent, for example, “someone baptized you,” it may be better to use a kind of pseudopassive, for example, “You experienced baptism,” or “You experienced the rite of baptism.”

You are clothed, so to speak, with the life of Christ himself translates a metaphorical expression (literally “you have put on Christ”). The expression “to put on” when used figuratively means “to take on the character or standing” of the person referred to, or “to become as” the person referred to. To put on Christ is to become as Christ, to take upon oneself his character, his standing before God (as God’s Son). Most translations retain the figure of speech, as Good News Translation does (Jerusalem Bible “you have all clothed yourselves in Christ”; New American Bible “you … have clothed yourselves with him”; New English Bible “you have all put on Christ as a garment”). It is generally difficult, however, to preserve the figurative expression “putting on Christ” or “clothing yourself in Christ.” It may be necessary, therefore, to drop the metaphorical expression and to say, for example, “you have taken upon yourselves the qualities of Christ,” or to employ a simile, for example, “you have put on Christ as though he were a garment.” But even this often results in a wrong meaning, implying that Christ is some type of article of clothing which can be put on or off depending on circumstances. It may be better to simply say “you have become like Christ himself,” or “you have determined to be just like Christ himself.”

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1976. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .