What Does It Mean to Be "In Christ"?

Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"

Someone asked a thought-provoking question: what does it mean to be "in Christ"?

Says Paul: "We judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died" (2 Cor. 5:14). Were we "in Christ" when He died on the cross? Does that mean we go 50/50 with Him in saving ourselves? Paul adds, "I am crucified with Christ" (Gal. 2:20), "buried with Him through baptism into death" (Rom. 6:4), "united together in the likeness of His death," "crucified with Him," "died with Christ," so that we are "alive to God in Christ Jesus" (vss. 5-11).

The "together" idea seems clear. As humans we are all "in Adam," that is, when he sinned in Eden "we" sinned so that "in Adam all die" (1 Cor. 15:22). But likewise, "even so, in Christ shall all be made alive." There has to be a legal framework of the gospel--Christ our "second Adam."

But here's another statement that many overlook. Right next to the "crucified with Christ" statement Paul reminds the Galatians: "Before [your] eyes Jesus Christ hath been set forth, crucified among you" (3:1). We "behold" Him so vividly that we identify with Him. A bond is established, we are "united" with Him. We empathize with Him; we realize that it is we who deserve to be crucified. "In Him" we kneel in Gethsemane with Him, intimately together. We are not like careless children who have no solemn appreciation of what it cost Him to save us. When a child suffers agony, does not a parent suffer too? A parent enters into his child, as it were, feels with him, "identifies."

Christ on His cross dies our second death; what the word "faith" means is that we identify with Him, as though we are inside His own soul. We "reckon" ourselves "dead" with Him, says Paul (Rom. 6:11). It is clear in Ephesians 1: "in Him we have redemption through His blood" (vs. 7), not a heartless exchange as when we sign an insurance policy, but a heartfelt identity as a Bride forever identifies with her Bridegroom (Rev. 19:7, 8). Christ's command to "abide in Me" expresses that closeness of intimacy. But please note: ALL OF THIS IS BY FAITH ALONE, NOT AN IOTA OF MERIT ATTACHED THERETO. Our identity with Him is totally heart-appreciation, not 1/99, in no way self-salvation even .00000000001 percent.

From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: March 22, 1999.Copyright © 2010 by Robert J. Wieland.

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