It is because of God that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.  (1 Cor. 1:30)



Being “in Christ Jesus” is a breathtaking position and experience bestowed by the Holy Spirit upon those who have laid hold of the deeper meaning of the Christ’s command to Nicodemus, “You must be born again” (John 3:3).

To be “in Christ” is essentially to be adopted into the heavenly family of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and to receive from the Christ all that He has: all that He has inherited from His Father including His victory over the forces of evil.

Below are some of the scriptures that spell out our inheritance – and our identity – “in Christ”. Each of these scriptures has sufficient spiritual power to melt mountains, but to experience that power we need to take them into meditation and sit with them for hours, returning to them day after day. Then the Holy Spirit will uncover their deeper meanings and make them, increasingly, come to life and impact our daily lives.

1. “The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 6:23).
2. “ …neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:38-39).
3. “… of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30).
4. “those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints” (1 Cor. 1:2).
5. “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17).
6. “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive” (1 Cor. 15:22).
7. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).
8. “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3)
9. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ” (Eph. 1:3).
10. “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love” (Eph. 1:4).
11. “He made us accepted in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:6).
12. “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Eph. 1:7).
13. “In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will” (Eph. 1:11).
14. “God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ” (Eph. 2:4-5).
15. “and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph. 2:6).
16. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).
17. “now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Eph. 2:13).
18. “ Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, (Eph. 2:19-21).
19. “ in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (Eph. 2:22).
20. “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins” (Col. 1:13-14).
21. “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving” (Col. 2:6-7).
22. “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power” (Col. 2:9-10).

The fact that, as believers, we are now “in Christ” impacts every aspect of our identity. We exist in an intimate, invigorating relationship of unity with the risen Christ. This is a truly awesome realisation!

By Ann Shakespeare 30 May 2020