The expression "in Christ" is used a great deal in the New Testament, especially in the writings of the Apostle Paul, to mean the new nature the believer has in spiritual union with God through Jesus Christ from the time we confess our sins and receive the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Saviour who died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead to give us new life. The expression in Christ for the believer is for the most part interchangeable with the expression being born of and indwelt by the Holy Spirit except the expression in Christ talks about the role of the Lord Jesus Christ to give us power or sufficiency in our Christian lives while the expression the the Holy Spirit in us focuses on the role of the Holy Spirit. There are many applications in the New Testament to the believer's postion in Christ in enabling us to effectively live the Christian life. These applications include but are not limited to redemption, that we have the Holy Spirit, having God's love, saying the truth, being part of the one body of the church, helping other believers, being approved of God, being sanctified, having the priviledge of begetting new Christians through the gospel, having godly ways, the promise of going to heaven on death (our body sleeping) etc. These and other advantages we have in our position and relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ help us as true or born again Christians to especially in a spiritual way have sufficiency to live a dynamic and effective live for God and Jesus and be used of Him for His purposes for us in this life and for eternity.
This scripture says that if any man (person) is in Christ or in fellowship or come to partake spiritually of God's life in the risen and ascended Lord Jesus Christ he or she is a new creature or creation. This means that the person "in Christ" has become a new creation and a member of the new creation that Jesus started when he rose from the dead with a new heavenly and eteranal or incorruptible body. God gives the believer in Jesus Christ and in God through Him first a new spiritual or heart nature that is living in partaking of and united to God spiritually to start the believer in experiencing and enjoying becoming part of the new creation from the time we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Saviour that he died on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead to give us new life. The scripture here also says for those in Christ old things have passed away or the things of the old selfish and sinful nature have passed away at least when we live in the new nature in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit and all things have become new including a new desire and allegiance to God and Jesus and heavenly and eternal and spiritual godly things by the leading and teaching of the Holy Spirit. The scripture reference from 2 Corinthians 5 of the new nature in Christ in which old things pass away and all things become new (directed to God, Jesus and the things of Himself instead of towards self, sin and this world) is as follows:
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17
The Apostle Paul continues to use a series of arguments at first to mention that hypothetically if there is no resurrection from the dead the entire hope of the Christians and the reason for believing in or living for Jesus falls apart or loses its value. Paul states first that if there is no resurrection then the Lord Jesus did not rise from the dead, and then Christian preaching would be vain or of no value, and that Christians would then be false witnesses for God, and that then the Lord Jesus Christ could not be risen, and then our Christian faith would be vain and Christians would also be still in our sins because if Jesus didn't rise from the dead it would probably indicate that for some reason God the Father wasn't satisfied with Jesus' preceding effort to die on the cross for our sins, then also those who have fallen asleep or died or passed away that were in Christ or trusted in Jesus for salvation and entered into a spiritual relationship with Him and with God the Father through Him would have perished (gone to hell or perhaps gone out of existence) and that if people including Christians only in this life have hope, and there was no hope in Christ and His resurrection lifefor eternal life after we die, then Christians would be most miserable because the effort to deny ourselves of some of the world's often sinful pleasures or treasures would be of no use as they would not earn any merit with God in the life to come if there is no resurrection to life and it then would be correct for people to just live it up in this life if there wouldn't be any existence after this life. However the apostle Paul then goes on to say triumphantly that now the Lord Jesus Christ is risen from the dead and he would have known personally some of the other apostles or other people who had eye-witnessed the risen Lord Jesus Christ and the apostle Paul himself had seen the risen and ascended Lord Jesus Christ when Jesus appeared to him and spoke to Paul when he was going to Damascus to persecute Christians. This experience resulted of course in Paul, formerly Saul of Tarsus, in trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Saviour and then committing the rest of his life on earth to be a witness to both Jew and Gentile that saving faith and eternal life are in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His death on the cross and resurrection from the dead. So this means that the Christians who have died in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, not just before he wrote this epistle but all the time since then up to now since we are still in but just at the very end of the Church Age, have not perished but instead have gone onto the fulness of eternal life with God and Jesus in heaven and that will also include access to the Millennial Earth and New Earth and New Heavens. Since the Lord Jesus Christ is risen this also means our Christian hope in the Lord Jesus Christ is not just for this life but is for eternity and that for our effort, after we trust Jesus, to deny ourselves of some of the treasures or pleasures of this life and world that God does not want especially Christians to participate in means that our temporary suffering for Jesus will be rewarded with substantial and eternal rewards that more than make up for what we might have to suffer for Jesus, compared to non-Christians, in this life. The scripture reference from 1 Corinthians 15 of the fact of the resurrection critical for the value of the Christian faith both for the need for the resurrection of Jesus and for the resurrection of humans including on the positive side the resurrection to life of true Christians or those in Christ is as follows:
Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection from the dead? But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 1 Corinthians 15:12-20
The apostle Paul ends the chapter of Romans 8 about the new life for the Christian or God's Heavenly people in Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit with a list of many beings and things that can't separate us as Christians from God's love in His Son Jesus Christ who indwells us as His spiritual people. The apostle Paul lists life and death and a number of especially angelic including fallen angels and dimensions of time and space or created things in this universe that are unable to separate us from God's love because since we confessed our sins to God through the Lord Jesus Christ and received the Lord Jesus Christ God's Son as our personal Lord and Saviour we have a personal relationship with God through the Lord Jesus Christ who indwells our hearts in the new nature. The scripture reference from Romans 8 saying a comprehensive list of aspects of God's spiritual and physical creation that are unable to separate the Christian or God's spiritual people from God's love in the Lord Jesus Christ is as follows:
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39
Non Jewish people in Old Testament times from the time of Abraham were mostly in idolatry and other sins that displeased God and were separated from God and in most cases ignorant of God and His salvation. This salvation also in the Old Testament was through the shedding of blood of an innocent substitute in the name of the God of the Bible. The Jews in the Old Testament especially under the Law of Moses were brought near to God especially those that looked forward to the Messiah through the blood of the animal sacrifices in the name of the God of the Bible. Gentiles now in this present Church Age or AGe of grace that started at Pentecost and will continue until the soon coming rapture or catching up to heaven of all true Christians is characterized as one people of both Jews and Gentiles that are brought near to God through the blood of God's perfect sacrifice the Lord Jesus Christ God in the flesh who died for our sins. When we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ we stand in the position of restored children of God having God's perfect righteousness as a free gift through the Lord Jesus Christ. Although the sins of Christians can strain our fellowship with God and the peace of God it doesn't endanger our relationship with God which is based on the finished work of God's Son Jesus Christ in His death for our sins on the cross and his resurrection from the dead and our faith in Him as long as we truly with all our heart trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Saviour in the first place. This position in Christ Jesus is interchangeable with our new nature indwelt and baptized and born of God's Holy Spirit and in our Christian experience when we are faithful to God of being filled by the Holy Spirit. Although it will still be faith in the Lord JEsus Christ that will be the basis of salvation for the people of God in the tribulation or seventieth week of Daniel and in the millennial or messianic kingdom, in those times it won't be through the church but primarily through the witness of Jews that trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and there will be aspects of the law that cause a separation between Jews and Gentiles even those that believe in God through His Messiah Jesus but all believers in God through Jesus will still go to heaven. In the messianic or millennial kingdom there will also be the full outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The scripture passage in Ephesians 2 of the new nature with its position in Christ or in relationship with Christ and with God through Christ Jesus for believers including Gentiles is as follows:
Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Ephesians 2:11-13
When the scripture here says that we (Christians) are his (God's) workmanship it it talking about the new birth after we admit our sins and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Saviour who died for our sins and rose again. When we do this we get God's indwelling Holy Spirit and the new nature that is associated with and through which works the Lord Jesus Christ. This new nature associated with the Lord Jesus Christ is what is meant by in Christ Jesus. It is through this new nature in the Lord Jesus Christ that we can do good works sufficient of and pleasing to God and the LOrd Jesus Christ and by His grace and power not merely our own that don't please God. These good works by the sufficiency and new nature in Christ is something God has before ordained that all true Christians walk in or practice. Good works with God are the result or fruit of salvation not the root or basis of it. The scripture reference of the new nature in the Lord Jesus Christ for Christians or God's people of this age and our doing works pleasing to God through it in Ephesians 2 is as follows:
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10
In verse 15 of this chapter the apostle Paul makes it clear that in Christ Jesus that is in relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ what is most important is that we become a new creature. This is done when a person admits we are a sinnner and prays to God through the Lord Jesus Christ to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as the one who died on the cross for our sins and rose again to give us new life. When we do this we get God's new nature and become indwelt by God's Holy Spirit which makes us new creatures or new creations in Christ. Cirumcision does not have a role in this because in the present Church age there is no distinction between Jewish or Gentile that believe in God through His Son and Messiah the Lord Jesus Christ. However after the rapture of the church it will again become important about circumsion but only as a way of showing faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and not in an observance that has any part in salvation or justification before God. This is because in the tribulation and Millennial Kingdom God will again on earth work through Israel as His chosen earthly people but then also with salvation through faith in His Son and Messiah the Lord Jesus Christ. The scripture reference from Galatians 6 that especially in this present age we are made new creatures through becoming in Christ is as follows:
For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing,nor uncircumsion, but a new creature. Galatians 6:15
A favourite passage of the prosperity movement to back up their idea that God enables Christians to be little gods to tell God to do to give health or wealth to them is in John 10. In this scripture the Lord Jesus responds to the Jewish religious leaders that challenge his claims to divinity. Jesus uses a reference to Psalm 82 where God called the earthly judges gods. Jesus was saying in effect to the Jewish religious leaders in a sarcastic or ironic way that since they act or claim to be gods why would it bother them if he is just one more person who is claiming to be a god. However later in this passage the Lord Jesus made it clear that his miracles were evidence that he unlike the Pharisees or Jewish religious leaders really was divine. In Psalm 82 from which the statement in Gospel of John 10 ye are gods is quoted the Jewish earthly judges are criticized for having undue favour to the wicked, judging unjustly and descriminating against the poor. In the next verse after verse 6 in Psalm 82 where the scripture says of the Jewish earthly judges ye are gods and all of you are children of the most High God makes it clear that that statement was meant to be taken in a sarcastic or ironic sense. In verse 7 this is made clear when God says to these judges that thought they were as gods and executing judgment however they wanted including to get favour and probably material benefits from the rich or powerful God says they shall die like men. This means that in the death of these judges their true nature will be shown as mortal men and that they are aren't gods. It is quite definite that the Pharisees would be familiar with this scripture in Psalm 82 and would understand that Jesus' reference to them as gods from Psalm 82 was meant to be in a sarcastic sense that they were no better than the judges in Old Testament times that thought they were gods but God said he would show they were just mere men when he caused them to die as mortal men. The last verse of Psalm 82 emphasizes God's sovereignity and right to justly judge the earth including the human judges that think they can execute justice in a warped or distorted way that favors the rich and powerful and attempts to put these judges as gods above God's righteous standards. Many of the leaders etc. of the prosperity movement have also practiced or promoted focus on getting rich etc. instead of God's will for Christians of taking up our cross and following Jesus and living for God and Jesus as our Saviour and Lord. The statement by Jesus to the Jewish religous leaders or judges by the law that they are as gods can easily be and is being used by both leaders and followers of some movements to move some followers of the prosperity gospel to even more unbiblical and non-Christian movements such as the emerging church or the fully non-Christian New Age Movement that each advocate people becoming gods instead of yielding ourselves to the one true God through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ who died for our sins on the cross and rose again from the dead so we can have a relationship with God as His people or children not as his replacement or equals. The scripture references from the Gospel of John 10 and Psalm 82 of Jesus' and the Psalmists references to earthly judges as gods being meant in a sarcastic sense and not as support for the idea that believers in God or Jesus become gods ourselves is as follows:
The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God. Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods? If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken; Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God? If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him. Therefore they sought again to take him: but he escaped out of their hand. Gospel of John 10:33-39
God standeth in the congregation of the mighty; he judgeth among the gods. How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah. Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked. They know not, neither will they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course. I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. But ye shall die like men, and fall like one of the princes. Arise, O God, judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations. Psalm 82:1-8
Another leading health and wealth or name it and claim it gospel preacher comparable in popularity and influence and fame as Benny Hinn and also often on TV is Kenneth Copeland. Although I am not a fan of this type of teaching in general and think it is a skewed gospel, like Benny Hinn, Mr. Copeland has at least once and perhaps a couple times made a more serious error or sin than that. I am talking about the sin of blasphemy or of man taking the place of God which Mr. Hinn's use of the verse by Jesus you shall be as gods is an example of and so is Mr. Copeland's statement ascribing Jesus or God the Father's statement to themself of the divine "I AM". Mr. Copeland used this statement of himself blasphemously and seemingly unashemedly on public TV on his program Believers' Voice of Victory broadcast on the Christian TV network TBN or Trinity Broadcasting Network on July 9th, 1987. The quote is the following: "I say this with all respect so that it don't upset you too bad, but I say it anyway. When I read in the Bible where He (Jesus) says, "I Am," I just smile and say, "Yes, I Am, too!". Although Jesus as truly God in the flesh could rightly use the expression I Am of Himself as an expression of His Divine as well as human nature such as in Gospel of John 18:5-6 or God the Father could use the expression "I Am" of Himself when talking to Moses in Exodus 3:13-14 a mere man, even if he is a high profile televangelist has no right to use this expression of himself as Mr. Copeland did at least on the above occasion and to my knowledge hasn't been very remorseful or sought God's forgiveness of it or corrected himself before his television audience about as would be appropriate if it was just a careless and unintentional slip of the tongue by a faithful Christian Bible teacher. Unfortunately this and perhaps similiar statements by him and some other name it and claim it teachers has led some of their followers to voice the same type of statements or concepts about themselves that is also blasphemous as they are also mere created human beings and not God or a Goddess either.
When a person admits he or she is a sinner before the true God the God of the Bible who is holy as well as loving he or she can then have God's mercy to forgiveness by God of all our sins and an established relationship and fellowship with Him through the Lord Jesus Christ. This gives us God's and true life with our sins that blocked us from having God's life before being removed by Jesus' blood and faith in Him as our personal Lord and Saviour. However there is more than this for the believer who walks with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. When a person becomes a true Christian our new nature in relationship with God through Jesus Christ also gives us the position of being one of his heavenly people. However we can only go in this heavenly realm in this life when we are not only God's people through the Lord Jesus Christ and initial faith in Him but are currently living or abiding in Him and can then in our spirits come into the heavenly realm either in Jesus' name to conduct spiritual warfare against evil spiritual forces (demons and the devil) or to come to God and the Lord Jesus Christ and His throne in the highest heaven so he will more assuredly and strongly hear our prayers and give us fellowship with him. This is what is meant to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus or you could say it is also while we are walking with God or led by the Holy Spirit in faithfulness to God and His Word - the Holy Bible and have the peace of God's fellowship as well as His relationship. The scripture in Ephesians 2 that mentions the believer's priviledge of being able to sit in heavenly places in Christ during faithful living for God and Jesus after salvation is as follows:
But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened (made alive) us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: Ephesians 2:4-6
The apostle Paul here wishes for some of the fellow Christians that they would have rejoicing in him when he comes to see them again. He says this is in Christ Jesus which means that this is a characteristic quality of people that mutually are born again and have spiritual fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ and a spiritual relationship with him. In other words if we each as believers have a relationship and fellowship spiritually with the Lord Jesus Christ we will also have a spiritual bond with other believers or true Christians even those we have never met before. This will or should cause us to rejoice to see or talk with other believers initially or again or to see them and spend time with them. The scripture reference from Philippians 2 of the apostle Paul wishing their rejoicing at their seeing him again is as follows:
That your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again. Philippians 2:26
For the true or born again or born of the Holy Spirit christian there is no condemnation. This is because we have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Saviour and have stopped trusting in ourselves or our own good works for salvation or eternal life. As a result of this God will have given us a spiritual relationship with His Son the Lord Jesus Christ and come to enable us to be partakers of His life in His Son Jesus Christ. As a result of this when God looks at the true Christian he sees us in Himself and His life through spiritual relationship with His Son the Lord Jesus Christ and His life so that God can see us as acceptable and without condemnation. In this way God also sees us in our new nature in Christ as our essential nature rather than in our old sinful nature in Adam that he sees those who haven't trusted in Him through His Son Jesus Christ. The devil or demons also have to admit that we have no cause for condemnation in our new nature but will try to point our or get a hold of the Christian through old sinful nature especially when we fall back and yield to the sinful or selfish desires and characteristics of the old sinful or selfish nature. Even when the true believer commits a sin through living or walking in the flesh or old nature when we confess our sins and seek to turn from it by God's strength in the Lord Jesus Christ Jesus as our high priest in heaven before God the Father (the LORD) defends us before the Heavenly Father, including from any accusations by the devil, by saying that He (Jesus) died for all the sins of the believer and that all our sins are covered by His blood shed for us through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and that we are now essentially in a new nature and position in Christ or on His foundation and in His life. Those who have this new nature should be led to at least in practice live in this new nature which includes living in a godly or righteous and unselfish manner and not in the old sinful and selfish nature in Adam. Although God still has his covenants with Abraham, David and Moses in effect for the Jewish people and still has the greatest blessing to them in store soon in the Millennium or Messianic Age including their part of the New Covenant or New Testament, God still wants Jewish people now to be complete in their (your) faith by trusting in the Lord Jesus (Y'Shua) as your personal Lord and Messiah and Redeemer that died for forgiveness of all your sins and so you might have a relationship with God in full. Of course God also wants all people or other nations (Gentiles) to trust in the Lord Jesus as your Lord and Saviour too if you haven't already. For the remainder of this age believing Jews and Gentiles in the Lord Jesus Christ (Messiah) are one people as part of the Church although promises such as the land of Israel still apply to Jewish people including the Jewish part of the Church. However soon the rapture of the Church will occur and the true Church will be caught up to heaven ( and brought back with Jesus from Heaven 7 years later at the second coming) but God's focus on earth will then shift from the Church to the Jewish people as His main witness and vehicle for sharing His message of salvation to the world although it will continue to be through faith in Jesus as the Messiah. The scripture reference from Romans 8 of God's freedom from condemmnation to those who become His people through trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ and receiving God's new nature in the life of His Son Jesus Christ is as follows:
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Romans 8:1
According to this scripture the person that becomes a true Christian is justified in God's sight by His grace or unmerited favour and it is through the redemption or being bought back to God through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross and our faith in Him as the context makes clear. The new nature in Christ Jesus is another way of saying the new nature in fellowship with God through being born of the Holy Spirit. The scripture reference from Romans 3 of the redemption that is in or in the new nature in Christ Jesus is as follows:
Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Romans 3:24
For more information, comments, question or advice
contact Doug Currie at
Contact Spirit and Truth Ministries
Spirit and Truth Ministries Homepage