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July 2009, Page 1.
Index of articles:
by subject,
by date.
In this issue:
(July 2009)
In Christ,
Projector & screen,
Fewer bishops.
To be "in Christ"
The church spends the winter and spring months looking at Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection, and the gift of his Spirit. And then we have many “after Trinity” Sundays, when we are supposed to think about what it means to be a Christian in real life. This year, we’re looking at St Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, which is all about being “in Christ”.
Actually, it probably wasn’t written just to the Ephesians, for some manuscripts omit those words. Most likely it was a circular letter, for it speaks to all Christians.
The heart of the letter is that we are different now we are “in Christ”. “You used to be dead in sins, but God made you alive in Christ and saved you by his grace; so you can do good works which he prepared for you” (Eph 2:1, 5 & 10). Notice he doesn’t say that Christianity is about us doing our best to do good. On the contrary, Christianity is us being transformed on the inside by God, so that we can do good.
What does it mean, to be “in Christ” like this?
It starts with adoption and hallmarking (Eph 1:3,13). The strongest picture Paul could think of was what childless Roman citizens did to ensure they had heirs: adoption means you’re part of a new family, with all the rights and privileges of sonship. There’s all the difference in the world between being God’s son and God’s slave. But whereas in a human family adoption can’t change your genetics or your character, it can in God’s family; for the Holy Spirit mingles with our spirits, producing a family likeness. Just as a gold wedding ring carries a mark to prove it’s genuine, so a Christian carries the Holy Spirit within to prove s/he has been refined and transformed.
It goes on to rooting and growing. A seed starts growing by moisture entering and splitting its shell, and it builds the water and air around it into cellulose and fibres. We are rooted and established in the love of Christ (Eph 3:17) and therefore grow up in him and he becomes part of our being.
And it therefore results in us being different people. We receive new skills and a new commission (Eph 4:11), and like putting on clean clothes after a bath (Eph 4:22-24) we have a new self. Our efforts are not superfluous, but the key point is that God comes in and transforms us. And no evil can deprive us of this incredible change (Eph 6:13).
In St Paul’s day they didn’t have the modern language of genetic engineering, of computer downloads, of power surges and chieftain tanks. Those are the sorts of images he would have used if writing today - for all these are illustrations of how God works in us when we are in Christ.
John Hartley