"In Christ" and "Christ in me"

“In Christ” is the new identity from which I live; “Christ in me” is the new life by which I live.

The New Testament describes our union with Jesus from two directions: I am in Christ and Christ is in me. These are not two different realities. They are two sides of the same miracle of salvation. They are two sides of the same coin.

I AM IN CHRIST: MY IDENTITY HAS CHANGED

Paul says that “… as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ …” (Gal 3:27). So when I was born again, I was clothed with Christ. In others words I am now inside of Christ.

Humanly speaking, I am the result of my parents, just as they are the result of their parents. Follow that family line far enough back, and it eventually leads all the way to Adam.

This helps us understand what the Bible means by the expression “in Adam.” By natural birth, every human being belongs to the human family that came from Adam. We are part of a fallen humanity whose history, condition, and inheritance can all be traced back to him. So, humanly speaking, I am “in Adam” because I was born into Adam’s family line.

To be in Christ means that I am no longer defined before God by the fallen family I came from in Adam. I am now defined by the new family and new life I have received in Christ. I have been joined to Christ and brought into His story.

His death has become my death. His resurrection has become the beginning of my new life. His relationship with the Father has become the place in which I now stand.

This is why Paul says: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Cor 5:17)

In a very real sense, the cross becomes the dividing line of my identity. My natural history may explain where I came from, what happened to me, and how I became the person I naturally am. But when I am born again, that history no longer has the authority to define who I am.

Yes, my physical body is still connected to Adam, and my soul may still be accustomed to thinking, feeling, and reacting according to the patterns of my old life. But the new birth is neither a physical birth nor a birth of the soul. It is a spiritual birth. Jesus makes this distinction clear when He tells Nicodemus: “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” (Joh 3:6)

Now my deepest identity comes from Christ. I belong to His family. I share in His life, and I stand in His righteousness. I have died with Him and have been raised with Him to live a new life — no longer defined by who I am “in Adam,” but by who I am “in Christ.”

I still live in a physical body that belongs to a natural family line stretching all the way back to Adam. But through the new birth, something radically new has happened within me. The part of me that was spiritually dead has been made alive and born of God.

This is why Paul tells the Corinthians: “… from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh …” (2 Cor 5:16) In other words, we are no longer to define people merely by their natural background, outward condition, past, weaknesses, or human history.

Paul then explains why, by saying: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Cor 5:17)

The reason we no longer regard a believer merely according to the flesh is that something genuinely new has come into existence. In Christ, a new creation has been born.

So “in Christ” answers the question: WHO AM I? I am not Christ Himself, but I am so completely united with Him that my identity, standing, and future are now found in Him. Paul says “For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”(Col 3:3)

CHRIST IS IN ME: HIS LIFE HAS ENTERED ME

But salvation does not stop with God placing me in Christ. God also places Christ in me. Paul expresses this beautiful reality with the words: “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Col 1:27)

So salvation is not only about receiving a new position and identity in Christ. It is also about receiving His life within us, so that the life of Christ can increasingly be expressed through us. This means that Christianity is much more than simply being covered by Christ while remaining unchanged within. We have been clothed with Christ, but at the same time, the very life of Christ has been placed within us through the Holy Spirit.

There is a real union taking place. We are not merely standing beside Christ or trying to imitate Him from a distance; we have been joined to Him, and His life has become the source of our new life. Paul expresses this remarkable reality when he says: “But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.” (1 Cor 6:17)

So we are not only in Christ — Christ is also in us. We have been united with Him in such a way that His life can increasingly permeate and find expression through our whole being. Paul could therefore say: “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” (Gal 2:20)

God does not merely give me a new position; He gives me a new source of life.

Christ does not only surround me as my righteousness before God. Through the Holy Spirit, His life is now at work within me, so that His character, desires, love, holiness, and power can increasingly be expressed through my life.

So “Christ in me” answers the question: "How can I live as the person I have become?" It is not merely by trying harder. Not by attempting to imitate Jesus through human strength. But by learning to yield to the life that God has already placed within me.

THE BEAUTIFUL CONNECTION

This gives us a beautiful picture of salvation:

• I am in Christ — so He defines me.

• Christ is in me — so He empowers me.

• I am in Christ — this gives me my identity.

• Christ is in me — this gives me the ability to express that identity.

• In Christ, I receive a new standing.

• Christ in me becomes the source of a new way of living.

The Christian life therefore does not begin with, “I must become more like Christ so that I can belong in Christ.” It begins with, “God has already placed me in Christ, and the Christ who covers me now also lives within me.

Through His life in me, He empowers me to increasingly live outwardly according to what God has already made true of me inwardly.”

That is why transformation is not primarily an attempt to become someone else. It is learning to live from who we have already become on the inside. Spiritual growth is the process of renewing the mind and bringing the soul into alignment with the new life within us, so that we increasingly respond from that new life rather than from the flesh, which is still connected to Adam.

IDENTITY FIRST — EXPRESSION SECOND

This order is extremely important. We do not live like Christ in order to become identified with Christ. We have already been united with Him, and because of that union, we have been empowered to live a new life. Spiritual growth is learning to live outwardly from what has already become true of us in Christ.

The fruit does not create the tree; the tree produces the fruit. In the same way, Christlike living does not create our identity in Christ. Our identity in Christ is the root from which Christlike living grows.

If we should try to summarise it in one sentence we could say:

“In Christ” is the new identity from which I live; “Christ in me” is the new life by which I live.

Or even shorter: “I am in Christ — therefore He defines me. Christ is in me — therefore He can live through me.”