What’s In A Word: Christ
Ephesians 1: 12-14 (NIV)—
‘...in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.’
This week we are avoiding the skim-reading, text-scanning approach to our Bible and instead stopping and lingering on individual words. Today we are heading to the book of Ephesians, and I confess that I have slightly cheated - not one word, but two. In Christ.
A while ago, I was encouraged to take the book of Ephesians, and to read it every day for a month. It’s six chapters long, and I re-read those six chapters for thirty days. It was an interesting experience that led to different themes standing out to me as I got to know the book in more detail. (I recommend giving this reading method a go.)
Throughout Ephesians, the writer, Paul, repeats this two-word phrase: In Christ. On one level, the idea of us being ‘in Christ’ might seem obvious. It is, after all, a key tenet of our faith. We are in Christ, we have been adopted into God's family through him, and it is in Christ that we find our salvation. So, I wondered why Paul felt the need to keep telling us so? The repetition suggests that it is a truth we need to know and root deep in our hearts and minds – perhaps because it will be contested and challenged as we live out our everyday lives.
The phrase ‘in Christ’ is important because it takes our relationship with Jesus from an external understanding to an internal connection. We are in Christ, and he is in us. It gives the sense of a place of belonging, our home, our identity. We are in Christ, and in this place of identity we live and move and have our being. Paul wants us to hear this phrase continually to uproot our sense of independence and to recognise that we have a new home, in Christ.
Prayer - Lord, thank you that my life is found in you. Thank you that it is in you that I live and move and have my being. Holy Spirit I pray that today I would be reminded that my identity is in Christ – thank you that I is in you that I find my home.