The Benefits of Our Union with Christ

Christ in Us We often talk about becoming a Christian in terms of “asking Jesus to come into our hearts.” This certainly is not incorrect. In Galatians 2:20, Paul says “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” And in Colossians 1:27, the gospel is proclaimed as “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” The Bible does talk about how Christ is in us, but the Bible’s focus is more on the fact that we are in Christ. The phrase “in Christ” or “in him” is used well over one hundred times in the New Testament to describe how the benefits of the gospel—the effects of Jesus’s sinless life, death on the cross, and resurrection—are applied to our lives. What Does It Mean to Be “in Christ”? The Bible teaches that, as believers, we are united to Jesus, both in his death and in his life (Col. 2:12–14). Jesus’s death on the cross was substitutionary; he died in our place, on our behalf. God looked on the work Jesus accomplished, he accepted it, and he applies it to all who believe in Jesus as Lord. Jesus’s own righteousness is imputed—that is, attributed—to us. What is his is now also ours. This foundational aspect of the gospel has been described as t...