The most powerful two-word combination ever is the phrase: In Christ. When the word Christ is mentioned, we should automatically think of Jesus. But when we hear or read the phrase In Christ, it’s always a reference to born-again believers– a reference to who we are as Christians. And interestingly, it is who we are whether we know it or not.
EW Kenyon once said, “Every believer is in Christ, but His Word is not in every believer.” And this is why the saddest two-word combination ever is defeated Christian.
As believers, we have been given so much in Christ (so much more than just a home in heaven). Yet because God’s Word is foreign to a lot of believers, they’re not walking in the fulness of what belongs to them.
Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). The word life is from the Greek word zoe meaning new life, or literally, the God-kind of life. Jesus was stating that He is the way to the Father, the truth of the Father, and the container of the Father’s wisdom, ability, and love. In short, Jesus is the container of LIFE.
And His life is our life.
Consider this: “For God so loved [us] that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting LIFE” (John 3:16). This was God’s intent. And why Jesus later said, “…I have come that [you] may have LIFE and have it in abundance…” (John 10:10b).
The God-kind of life Jesus came to give us includes all the wisdom of the Father, all the ability of the Father, and all the love of the Father. And not just that God has all wisdom, ability, and love, but that in Christ, believers now have all these attributes as well! EW Kenyon said, “[If this is true], it doesn’t seem to me that we can ever be weak or failures again.”
So is it true? If yes, it would explain why people struggle with understanding who they are in Christ. The devil, our enemy, is a liar and a deceiver. The Bible says he roams about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8) and Jesus said he is a thief who only comes to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10a). So it should be no surprise that he will do his best to keep believers in the dark concerning the truth of who they are and what they carry.
The real truth is: We are in full union with Diety.
Jesus said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Jesus was connected to the Father and had His life in and through the Father. Then Jesus explained that because we are connected to Him, we have the same God-kind of LIFE flowing into us.
And no branch can be any closer to the vine than another branch.
In other words, every branch (every believer) has the same union with the Vine. This is what it means to be in Christ. You and I have LIFE in and through Christ Jesus. “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). For “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:4). And one of my favorites: “For in Him we live and move and have our being…” (Acts 17:28). In Christ, we have our story (live), we have our assignment (move), and we have our true identity (being).
This is our life in Christ. And it just scratches the surface of everything we have been given in and through Him.
Jesus said He came to give us life– not just a future home in heaven. Our responsibility is to stay connected to Him, the Vine. He said, “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me” (John 15:4). As we allow His Word to take root in our heart, we will not only bear great fruit for the kingdom of God, but we’ll flourish on the vine– IN CHRIST.
