How To Be in Christ

How To Be in Christ

(1) He who believes into Christ is in Christ. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on [Greek, into] him [Christ] should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3.16). This is union. We believe into Christ.

(2) Having believed into Christ, we should also be baptized into Him. To be water baptized is to be baptized into Christ: "Are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?" (Rom. 6.3) As you are baptized in water, so you are baptized into Christ. If you were to put a copper coin into a bottle of sulphuric acid, the copper coin would disappear because it would be melted in the acid. Likewise, as you are baptized into Christ you become one with Him. This is faith.

(3) Of God are we in Christ (see 1 Cor. 1.30). It is God who baptizes us into Christ. With our believing into inwardly and our being baptized into outwardly, God joins us to Christ. And thus have we both righteousness, sanctification and redemption. We have no righteousness, but Christ is our righteousness. We have no sanctification, but Christ is our sanctification. We have no redemption, but He is our redemption. We shall see Christ in all things. May God take away our veil that we may see how perfect is the work which He has accomplished for us.

Hudson Taylor expended great effort in seeking for victory. He acknowledged that in spite of his constant asking, God had not given him victory. One day he read Christ’s words in John 15.5: "I am the vine, ye are the branches." Instantly he. received light. He knelt and prayed: "1 am the most foolish person in the entire world. The victorious life which I seek is actually something I have already possessed. You are the branch, Jesus said, and not that you shall become a branch." For many years he asked to be joined to the tree like a branch, not realizing that he was already a branch joined to the tree. Not till then did he receive the revelation of God, and have real faith. Thereafter he lived a victorious life and accomplished great things for the Lord. Sometime later, he was asked to speak at the Keswick Convention in England, and such was the story he told there. And he said this: "I was defeated; so I sought for victory; but victory never came. But on the day I believed, victory did come."

Let us see that we do not try with effort to draw out the sap from the root to nourish us, for we are branches already joined to the tree. We need to be concerned for nothing except that we are branches. Let us not try to obtain something out of the tree, but simply believe that we are the branches. God has joined us to Christ the Tree. And whatever is Christ’s is also ours. Believing, we have the victory.

We are baptized into Christ on the one hand and on the other hand we maintain contact with Him through the bread and the cup. In so doing, we allow His life to flow through us.