3. In Christ
CHAPTER 3
In Christ
I know a man in Christ. (2 Corinthians 12:2)
There are two sides from which our union with Christ is presented in the Scriptures; they are best expressed by the Greek preposition “in.” It gives us two hemispheres of blessing. The first is “in Christ” and the second is “Christ in you.”
They are different thoughts, but each is the complement of the other and together they constitute the Christ life of which we have been speaking.
First, then, we are represented as in Christ. What is it to be in Christ? It is to be represented by Christ, to have Him stand for us and enter into all the benefits and privileges of His standing. We are in Adam inasmuch as he is our federal head. We are in our political representatives in the same sense, as they stand for and represent us. And so Christ Jesus is for us, our Representative, and His acts in a measure become ours; He acts for us rather than for Himself.
Our Sins Are Judged
In Christ our sins have been judged. His judgment on the cross was for the sins of His people. He could say in that dark hour, “Now is the time for judgment on this world” (John 12:31a). Our sins were on Him and in Him have been put away, judicially dealt with, visited with the penalty we should have borne, the shame and suffering which we deserved. Entering into union with Him by trusting Him and taking Him for our Savior saves us from the judgment we deserved. This is the first result of being in Christ, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace” (Ephesians 1:7). “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). “Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24).
We Are Justified
Again, if we are in Christ we are justified through His righteousness. Not only have our sins been put away but our lack of righteousness. He has met the law which we could not obey and put His own merit and righteousness to our account, and we stand in the same place as though we had kept the law and manifested the same spirit which He manifested without a single flaw. His righteousness passes over to us. It would be possible to justify us from our sins and leave us like the poor man just saved out of prison, a wretched, homeless tramp with nothing on which to start life.
Christ not only saves us from the penalty of the law but gives us His standing. Christ is made unto us righteousness. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). This is the second thing that comes to us by being in Christ: sin cancelled and failure and shortcoming made up by His all-sufficient merit. What joy it inspires!
Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness,
My beauty are, my glorious dress.
If we are in Christ we are accepted by the Father. Our persons are accepted; we are regarded even as He is regarded and we enter into the same place He occupies. It is not merely that the judge takes the pen and blots out our sins; not even that the banker takes the pen and writes in his book our infinite credit; but the Father throws His arms around His child and takes him into Christ’s very place.
It is not a millionaire making the tramp rich but a Father taking the prodigal to His bosom and making him accepted in “the Son of his love.” That is what is meant by being in Christ, sin cancelled, righteousness given and we loved even as He is loved.
Sons of God
If one is in Christ, he enters into His relationships and becomes to God what Christ is. Jesus said: “My Father, and your Father; my God, and your God.” And “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). “Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26, KJV).
Two words are used in the New Testament to describe sonship. One word means a born son. But the other word means much more. The second word for sonship is almost always applied to Christ’s sonship and is rarely used of anybody else but Jesus; but it is also used to denote those who enter into union with Christ. Not only are they born the children of God but they are accepted in the same sense in which Christ is; that is, they have not only the sonship of the new birth but the place of Christ Himself. They are not only sons of God but are “firstborn sons.” There is a great difference in the Oriental mind between a son and the firstborn son. The firstborn was the heir; the others came in for something, but the eldest was the heir. So we are told that “that he might be the firstborn among many brothers,” and believers are called the “firstborn ones.” So, beloved, we are children as an angel cannot be; we are children as Jesus is. We are come “to the church of the firstborn” (Hebrews 12:23); We are “heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17b).
Prayer Answered
In Christ we are presented by our Great High Priest before the throne in our prayers and in our worship, and we are accepted for His sake even as He Himself is accepted. He hands over the petition in your name and puts His name on the back; your prayers go to the Father as if He were asking. He is in His very person and character your Representative. He is not there in His private capacity, and we are not seen in our individual persons but as one with Christ. And when we come thus as one with Him, we shall ask what we will and it shall be given. This is the meaning of the promise, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you” (John 15:7).
Joint Heirs
We inherit all things in Christ. We sit down with Him on the throne and all His riches are ours—all things that are to come in the ages of the future. He has linked His future with us; never again can Christ possess anything without us. Beloved, if you can say, “I am Christ’s” you can add, “I have all things in Him.” So Paul prays for the Ephesians that they may see what Christ is: “[F]ar above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come … [A]nd appointed him to be head over everything … which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way” (Ephesians 1:21-23). He says: “All that is mine is thine.” We have begun to enter into the inheritance and the ages of eternity will not exhaust its ineffable riches.
All that He has shall be mine,
All that He is I shall be;
Robed in His glory divine
I shall be even as He.