What does it mean to be in Christ? Let’s allow the Bible to tell us. Several churches claim that eternal life is only available within their walls. Who does Jesus say will have eternal life?
For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16 HCSB)
The Holy Spirit was to be given to those who believe in whom?
But this He said in reference to the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive … (John 7:39a NASB)
Is God the Father in Christ?
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. (John 10:38 KJV)
Jesus repeats this elsewhere.
Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own, but the Father, as He remains in Me, does His works. (John 14:10 NASB)
How important is loving Jesus and keeping His words?
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. (John 14:23 KJV)
What does remaining in Christ mean in regard to bearing spiritual fruit?
I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5 NIV)
Does abiding or remaining in Christ mean that God will grant our wishes that are in accordance with His word?
If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. (John 15:7 NKJV)
Is there peace in Christ despite worldly troubles?
I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world. (John 16:33 NLT)
Is there redemption in Christ?
… justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:24 ESV)
Are we alive to God in Christ?
So you too, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:11 NASB)
Is there eternal life in Christ?
The wages that sin pays are death, but God’s gift is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23 CEB)
Is there no condemnation for those who are in Christ? Are we free from sin and death?
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2 NKJV)
Is the love of God to be found in Christ?
For I am persuaded that not even death or life, angels or rulers, things present or things to come, hostile powers, height or depth, or any other created thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord! (Romans 8:38-39 HCSB)
Are Christians truly one body if they are in Christ?
So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. (Romans 12:5 KJV)
Are saints those made holy in Christ?
To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified [made holy] in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours (1 Corinthians 1:2 ESV)
Does life await those in Christ?
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:22 KJV)
Does God lead us to triumph in Christ?
But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us reveals the fragrance of the knowledge of Him in every place. (2 Corinthians 2:14 NASB)
Does reading the Old Testament without the teachings of Christ mean that a veil covers people’s thinking? Is that veil uncovered only in Christ?
… because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. (2 Corinthians 3:13-15 NIV)
Are we a new creation in Christ?
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV)
Is there reconciliation between God and man in Christ?
For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:19 NLT)
Is devotion to Christ simple, that is, sincere and pure?
But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity [sincere and pure devotion] that is in Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:3 NKJV)
What’s more important, for churches to be in the “right” denomination or in Christ?
And I was still unknown in person to the churches of Judea that are in Christ. (Galatians 1:22 ESV)
Do some still try to make us slaves, and take away our freedom in Christ?
But false brothers and sisters, who were brought in secretly, slipped in to spy on our freedom, which we have in Christ Jesus, and to make us slaves. (Galatians 2:4 CEB)
Are we justified (declared just, made right with God) by the works of the law or faith in Jesus Christ?
know that no one is justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ. And we have believed in Christ Jesus so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will be justified. (Galatians 2:16 HCSB)
What does it mean to be chosen in Christ?
Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. (Ephesians 1:4 NLT)
Are God’s people all part of the same body?
All of you are part of the same body. There is only one Spirit of God, just as you were given one hope when you were chosen to be God's people. (Ephesians 4:4 CEV)
Are those in Christ seated in heavenly places? Are we created in Christ Jesus for good works?
But God… raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus… For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. (Ephesians 2:4-9 NASB)
Is there righteousness through faith in Christ?
… I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith. (Philippians 3:9 NLT)
How do we know that we are in Him?
But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. (1 John 2:5-6 NKJV)
In Christ is eternal life, peace, triumph, freedom. Those in Christ are also in the Father. Those who remain in Christ bear much fruit. We are one body in Christ. In Christ we are a new creation. Let’s be in Christ and remain in Him. You decide!
