In Christ, we are loved by God with an everlasting, never-failing love, because everything worthy of love in Christ is everlasting and never-failing. The thing that many people seek and never find has found us: true love, “with which [God] has blessed us in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:6). Our “in Christ” identity is also formed by this declaration: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). Without this reality, life is but an extended stint on death row before the inevitable judgment. It’s being in Christ that alone frees us from the prison of sin, death, and hell. When Christ stepped out of the grave, He took us with Him. Our sins are forgiven, our debt is paid, and our guilt is removed.
In Christ. This tiny two-word phrase contains all the comfort, security, peace, and hope that a Christian could ever need. It is the key that unlocks the New Testament’s teaching on the blessings and benefits of salvation. Once you start looking for it, you will find it all over the place—“in Christ” (or its variations, such as “in him” and “in the Lord”) occurs more than 150 times in the New Testament. It is the Apostle Paul’s favorite way of describing our redeemed status, and if you’ll allow it to, it’s a phrase that will shape your identity.
By “identity” I mean the way that you see yourself and how you live in light of it. Of course, the most important thing isn’t how we see ourselves but how God sees us. In fact, the Christian’s aim is to conform his perspective to God’s. We want to share God’s view in all things, including what He has to say about our personal identity. In an individualistic age such as our own, this is becoming increasingly difficult. In recent decades, the world is suggesting subjective and plastic answers to those big questions in life, such as “Who am I?” and “What am I here for?” But in response to the modern and muddled “I identify as” way of thinking, we must assert a definitive “my identity is” mindset informed by the Scriptures.
Here is where our two-word phrase comes into play. The Scriptures attest, over and over, that God views or considers the believer as being “in Christ.” When we understand, believe, and live out what God says is true of us in Christ, we will find objective, unshakable answers to those big questions in life. We will find a true, pure, and satisfying identity—one that isn’t found in us at all, actually, but is found in the person of Christ Jesus.
Union with Christ
Before we unpack exactly what it is that is true of us in Christ, we should ask how it is true of us. How can God view us through the lens of the person and work of Christ? How can Christ’s accomplishments be credited to us? The answer is found in our union with Christ, a mysterious work of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 5:32). As the Apostle John writes, “By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit” (1 John 4:13). The Westminster Shorter Catechism explains that the Holy Spirit applies “to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling” (Q&A 30, emphasis added). It’s a profound reality: through Spirit-wrought faith, all that is true of Christ—even Christ Himself—comes to us. We are so united to Christ that there is actually a mutual indwelling: He in us and we in Him.
John Calvin, in his comments on Ephesians 3:17 (“that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith”), made this jubilant observation:
What a remarkable commendation is here bestowed on faith, that, by means of it, the Son of God becomes our own, and “makes his abode with us!” By faith we not only acknowledge that Christ suffered and rose from the dead on our account, but accepting the offers which he makes of himself, we possess and enjoy him as our Savior!
The Christian actually possesses Christ and all His benefits. To be united to Christ, therefore, is the sum and substance of our salvation.
Although this union is mysterious, we should stress that it is not speculative or merely intellectual and cognitive. It is actual and vital. Believers live in Christ the way a fish lives in water or a bird in the air—we have no life apart from being in Christ (Col. 3:4). Admittedly, our union might not feel as natural as that. At times, the Christ in whom we live and move and have our being feels distant. Our objective union in Him is not met with an equally fervent communion with Him. When that happens, we search for meaning and build identities on things other than Christ: career, fame, sexual expression, our children—all things that will leave us empty if we try to find ultimate meaning in them. To quote Calvin again: “Our whole salvation and all its parts are comprehended in Christ. We should therefore take care not to derive the least portion of it from anywhere else.”
An “In Christ” Identity
This means that for a lasting identity, we need to return to the sufficiency of our Savior, basking in the truth that all He is He is for His people. There is nothing that I need that I don’t have in Christ.
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