We often use Scriptural expressions loosely, and when challenged as to their meaning we frequently discover that we have a very hazy idea of the expressions used.
The expression, “In Christ,” occurs often in the Scriptures. What is the meaning to be attached to it? is the inquiry of this paper.
Perhaps the best Scripture to draw attention to first is 1 Corinthians 15:22: “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” Here being “in Adam” and being “in Christ” are contrasted. We often are helped by looking at contrasts. What, then, can we gather by the contrast given to us in this verse ?
We begin by asking, How does a man arrive at the state designated as being “in Adam”? Clearly he is “IN Adam” because he is OF Adam. It was as head of the human race that its progenitor gave to his descendants the status of “In Adam.” And remember, like could only beget like. “After his kind” is repeated again and again in Genesis 1.
The name Adam, as a fact, was not a personal name originally, but simply meant “red earth,” and was used to designate our first parent, describing his origin. It is simply the name for man. It was as a fallen sinner that Adam became the progenitor and head of the human race. He could only reproduce his own kind, his own sinful nature with its characteristics, qualities and limitations. He produced a race of sinners like himself upon whom the sentence of death lay. All under that headship are under the same condition and doom as marked the head.
“In Adam” is state, and state always carries a corresponding standing. For instance, if a man is in the marriage state, he has the standing of a husband. It would be well to apprehend clearly what is the meaning attached to the word state. We use it in this article to describe condition in the absolute sense of the word. For instance, a husband is in the marriage state or condition, whether he be happy or miserable.
We talk, and rightly so, about a good state or condition and a bad state or condition, but we use the word “state” in this article in its absolute sense, that is, the actual state or condition without reference to the happiness or otherwise, the success or otherwise, of the person involved.
For instance, we can speak of the state or condition of being a Christian—Christian state—that is absolute, and then we can speak of the Christian being in a good state or condition or a bad state or condition, that is relative to the state or condition.
And it is because the Christian is in the Christian state in its absolute sense that we have grounds for exhorting him to right behaviour in that condition in such a manner as to be able to say that that Christian is in a good state of soul.
Now we read in Romans 5:12 et seq. of the two headships—Adam and Christ—and the result of these headships to all who are ranged under them. We read in verse 14 of Adam, “who is the figure of Him that was to come,” that is Christ, and we have already seen how Adam and Christ, in their respective headships, are contrasted. We have dealt in detail with what “in Adam” means. Let us now see what is meant by the expression “in Christ.”
Just as “in Adam” means to be OF Adam, so “in Christ” means to be OF Christ. “In Adam” is in relation to the old creation; “in Christ” is in relation to the new creation. There is one very illuminating verse in connection with our subject: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature (literally there is a new creation]: old things are passed away: behold, all things are become new (2 Cor. 5:17).
And this could only be true in resurrection, for immediately the apostle moves on in argument to the doctrine of reconciliation, and for this the atoning death of Christ was needed: “For He has made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21).
Again we read, “In Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature [literally, a new creation, N.T.]” (Gal. 6:5).
The Lord Himself put it as the result of life and nature when He said, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone: but if it die, it brings forth much fruit” (John 12:24). Clearly “the much fruit” is OF the corn of wheat in death AND RESURRECTION—every grain of it—fruit of the same order and quality. But how moving to our hearts when we contemplate who it is that has died for us, when we contemplate all the meaning of His death to God, to Himself, to us; and contemplate the great and glorious scheme God had in view in the Headship of Christ. Thus we begin to understand what “in Christ” means. It brings us to new creation.
Even Christ in resurrection was not to be known any longer after the flesh. So we read, “Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more” (2 Cor. 5:16). When on earth the Lord recognized the natural relationships of life, as witness His care of His earthly mother on the cross; His submitting to the powers that be in the matter of tribute. But once He died, He died to the whole circle of earthly links; that order of things was broken, and He was to be henceforth known according to resurrection life—according to the Headship which He acquired through death and resurrection—in new creation.
Hence Mary was not allowed to touch Him on the resurrection morning. She was joyfully about to resume the old links, when He said to her, “Touch Me not; for I am not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, I ascend to My Father and your Father; to My God and your God” (John 20:17). He was to be known in resurrection circumstances. And in this relation the apostle wrote, “Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh.” That is to say, under this Headship of Christ, involving new creation, we are introduced to new principles and new relationships. By-and-by it will be literally true that old things will have passed away, and all things will have become new, when we find ourselves in the new heaven and the new earth. For faith and morally this is true now, but we wait for its full and actual fulfilment.
Meanwhile this line of things is seen in the conduct of saint with saint. When we are gathered in assembly, for instance, social and natural distinctions vanish. Employer and employed, master and servant, parent and child, may be there, but those relationships are entirely in abeyance for the moment. They meet as “in Christ.” There may be different nationalities in an assembly, but they are all one “in Christ,” “where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free” (Col. 3:11). This is beautifully illustrated in the closing chapter, when the apostle writes of the erstwhile runaway slave, Onesimus, as “one of you,” that is “a faithful and beloved brother” in the assembly. We then get Luke, “the beloved physician.” What a contrast socially between the slave and the doctor? We get Jew and Gentile in this beautiful chapter blended together in the salutations.
Of course, whilst this wonderful truth has its effect upon us in the assembly in the way we have indicated, yet as long as we are down here we are reminded that we are down here. Man is the head of the woman. The brother is free to take audible part as led of the Spirit; the sister is forbidden to speak in the assembly. There are the bishops or elders, in whom the question of the maturity of age is a factor.
Whilst briefly indicating these lines of thought, what will keep us all in our true place is 1 Corinthians 13, where we read that love “doth not behave itself unseemly” (v. 5).
Enough has been written to show what “in Christ” means in its broad outlines. Connect it in your mind with new creation and the Headship of Christ in resurrection, and you have the key to its meaning in your hand.