In Christ Jesus

But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.   

1 Corinthians 1:30   

How did we come to be in Christ Jesus? Paul is quite clear that it is because of God and by His doing. Our text puts it rather tersely but the meaning is unmistakable, ‘of Him you are in Christ Jesus.’ Other passages of Scripture delineate this more didactically. Romans 8 gives us what we have come to call the order of salvation, ‘For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.’ What is most notable is that God is the prime mover. This matters in that it supports what Paul says in our text, and is the logical follow-on from Paul’s point in 1 Corinthians that God has chosen to redeem nothings and nobodies so that no flesh should glory in His presence. If we are in Christ because of God’s doing then we have every reason to glorify God and magnify Christ. This points us in the right direction for the way we view ourselves and our understanding of grace. We are who we are and what we are by the grace of God. We cannot take credit for our justification, our adoption, or our sanctification. It is all of grace and all of God. It is also the reason our preaching must make much of Christ. Without Him, the whole plan comes to nothing. God has put us in Christ and it is in Him we become all God intends for us to be. This is a blessed assurance. 

O God of our salvation, 
we rejoice that You are our redeemer. 
We praise You that Christ is the author and finisher 
of our faith.  

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning