“A Man in Christ”

2 Corinthians 12:2

 

Who can conceive all that these words imply? — “A man in Christ” is a person in union with Christ, possessing such a full, complete oneness union with Christ that he lives in Christ and Christ lives in him. His life is the living of Christ. He lives in Christ and Christ lives in him. His life is “a life hid with Christ in God

 

            “A man in Christ” is as much a part of Christ as the head, or hand, or foot is a part of that body to which those members belong. That means that everyone who is “a man in Christ” is all that Christ, the God-man Mediator, is in his glorious humanity, and that all that belongs to Christ, as the Christ of God, belongs to him. Every member of Christ’s body, the least as well as the greatest, the most humble as well as the most elevated, the youngest as well as the most experienced, the weakest as well as the strongest, the most ignorant as well as the most knowledgeable, is one with Christ, equally and fully united to Christ, and equally and fully possesses all that belongs to Christ. The life of grace here and the life of glory hereafter are both derived from our union with Christ. Both are enjoyed only when our secret, eternal union with our Savior is made manifest by the living union of faith, when God the Holy Spirit reveals Christ in us and shows the chosen sinner that he is “a man in Christ.” One believer may enjoy the life of grace here more fully than another, because we have varying measures of faith and assurance; but the life belongs equally and fully to every regenerate person. The smallest leaf or branch in a tree is as fully united to the tree and lives in the tree as the largest.

 

            But the life of glory that awaits us, when the earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved, every child of God shall enjoy fully. So perfect, complete, and full is our union with Christ that the Spirit of God declares, “as he is so are we in this world.” When he sheds abroad the love of God in the hearts of chosen sinners, assuring us that we are justified in Christ, that “as he is so are we in this world,” the love of God is made perfect in us, assuring us that we have nothing to fear, casting out all fear, “that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world

 

            Every saved sinner, knowing himself by divine revelation to be “a man in Christ,” has the blessed assurance given in God’s own Word that he is freed from the very possibility of condemnation, “because as he is so are we in this world.” In spite of indwelling sin, because of our union with Christ, we are assured that we really are as righteous, as free from sin, as holy, as perfect before our God as our Surety. Are you “a man in Christ,” by regeneration, adoption, justification, and grace? If so, roll this rapturous revelation of grace over in your heart with gratitude and joy. Try to imagine the blessed inheritance to which you have been begotten, the inheritance of grace that is yours now and of glory that you shall soon possess to all eternity. “A man in Christ” is accepted in Christ, justified in Christ, sanctified in Christ, and shall assuredly be glorified in Christ.

 

            What a life of dignity and honor “a man in Christ” possesses! He is brought nigh unto God through the blood of the cross. What blessed security “a man in Christ” has! “Because I live,” our Savior said, “ye shall live also.” And what an everlasting prospect of glory “a man in Christ” has set before him! Our Savior prayed, “Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold the glory which thou hast given me.” And his prayer his Father will not deny him. O what unspeakable blessedness it is to be “a man in Christ!”

 

 

 

Don Fortner

 

 

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