Life In Christ

Everything depends on those two thoughts expressed by the Lord in those words which have often been regarded as strange and almost meaningless! "You in me, and I in you." The language is so simple and elementary, the idea so profound. Through Christ life is offered to a perishing world; only "in him" is there safety just as the ark offered the only deliverance from the waters of the flood. Having believed and rendered the initial obedience of baptism we are "in him". We must "abide in him" all through life. Under the cover of his righteousness the best conduct we are capable of rendering will be accepted, although in itself it would be totally inadequate. We are "called to God's kingdom and glory", invited to be "partakers of the divine nature", called with "a high and holy calling", far beyond anything for which we are naturally fitted (1 Thessalonians 2:12; 2 Peter 1:4; Philippians 3:14; 2 Timothy 1:9). Through Christ we are offered deliverance, and all who are "in him" in the final sense when he has passed judgment will be "made alive" in the full and final change of nature, this mortal putting on immortality, and this corruptible putting on incorruptibility (1 Corinthians 15:53).

The first step for us to take is easy. If we believe in Christ with that heart-felt confidence which makes for righteousness (Romans 10:10), - if as a beginning of that righteousness we submit to the simple ordinance of baptism in accordance with his command-we are in him, at least in a nominal sense. His final verdict will depend on the other phase of the simple formula. Is he in us? Have we taken his spirit-quickening words into our minds and built them up into our characters as completely and as literally as on the physical plane we build up our bodies with food and drink?

"Be not conformed to this world", says the Apostle, "but be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds" (Romans 12:2). The only way to effect this transformation is by continually thinking of Christ and keeping his teaching and example before us in the ordinary experiences of life-his devotion to the will of the Father; his kindness and service to humanity; his complete forgiveness even of the deepest wrongs; his humility, self-sacrifice and steadfast courage. Gradually with the sustained effort to put his principles into practice such thoughts may be built up into character. The essentials for Christian discipleship may be expressed in these simple words of one syllable. We must be in him, and he must be in us.