"...in Christ Jesus"
Last month was the High School Summer Camp (aka H205). One night I spoke on "Peace, Rest, Joy". The key passage was Philippians 3:6-7.
I had memorized this verse before but never really studied it. Really thinking about it for the first time was an amazing eye opener. I looked at verse 7 and wondered why the phrase "in Christ Jesus" was there. Then I realized that that phrase is what makes the whole peace with God possible.
Without that phrase the verse would, at first glance, seem to make sense: "And the peace of God which trancends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds." Right? Doesn't that make sense? God's peace is powerful enough to guard our hearts and minds.
Another verse in Philippians is 'built' the same way and I was just meditating on it tonight. It is 4:19 which says, "And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Again, it seems that this verse would work fine without the last phrase: "And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory." God has a lot of riches in glory, and surely He could use them to provide for all our needs, couldn't He?
But the phrase "in Christ Jesus" is absolutely essential to both of these passages. How do we have peace with God? By having a good relationship with Him. What are our needs? I don't think these needs are the usual needs listed (viz. food, water, shelter, clothing, love). Those needs are necessary for our life on this earth. But is our life on this earth really and truly a need? I would argue that it isn't a need. What we really need is a personal relationship with our Creator God. That is our true need.
So basically we have broken both of these things (peace with God and the supplying of our needs) down to: having a right relationship with God. Now, how do we have a right relationship with God? God desires to give us peace and He desires to meet our needs. But we are sinful. God is holy and cannot forever tolerate sin in His presence. We cannot enter into His presence any more than darkness can enter the presence of light. You cannot hold darkness in your hand and bring it into the light. In many passages of Scripture we see sin being likened to darkness and God, Christ, and holiness being likened to light. This is one place where we can use that analogy. We are darkness (sin) and cannot enter into light (God's holy presence).
Except.
In Christ Jesus.
This phrase makes these two verses true. We can only have peace with God because of Christ Jesus and what He did. We can only have our needs supplied because of Christ Jesus and what He did. He lived a sinless life and thus did not have to die for His own sins but could be sacrificed for our sins. He took our darkness upon Himself so that we might become light and be able, then, to enter into the Light and to have peace with God and to have our true needs met...in Christ Jesus.
I had memorized this verse before but never really studied it. Really thinking about it for the first time was an amazing eye opener. I looked at verse 7 and wondered why the phrase "in Christ Jesus" was there. Then I realized that that phrase is what makes the whole peace with God possible.
Without that phrase the verse would, at first glance, seem to make sense: "And the peace of God which trancends all understanding will guard your hearts and minds." Right? Doesn't that make sense? God's peace is powerful enough to guard our hearts and minds.
Another verse in Philippians is 'built' the same way and I was just meditating on it tonight. It is 4:19 which says, "And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Again, it seems that this verse would work fine without the last phrase: "And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory." God has a lot of riches in glory, and surely He could use them to provide for all our needs, couldn't He?
But the phrase "in Christ Jesus" is absolutely essential to both of these passages. How do we have peace with God? By having a good relationship with Him. What are our needs? I don't think these needs are the usual needs listed (viz. food, water, shelter, clothing, love). Those needs are necessary for our life on this earth. But is our life on this earth really and truly a need? I would argue that it isn't a need. What we really need is a personal relationship with our Creator God. That is our true need.
So basically we have broken both of these things (peace with God and the supplying of our needs) down to: having a right relationship with God. Now, how do we have a right relationship with God? God desires to give us peace and He desires to meet our needs. But we are sinful. God is holy and cannot forever tolerate sin in His presence. We cannot enter into His presence any more than darkness can enter the presence of light. You cannot hold darkness in your hand and bring it into the light. In many passages of Scripture we see sin being likened to darkness and God, Christ, and holiness being likened to light. This is one place where we can use that analogy. We are darkness (sin) and cannot enter into light (God's holy presence).
Except.
In Christ Jesus.
This phrase makes these two verses true. We can only have peace with God because of Christ Jesus and what He did. We can only have our needs supplied because of Christ Jesus and what He did. He lived a sinless life and thus did not have to die for His own sins but could be sacrificed for our sins. He took our darkness upon Himself so that we might become light and be able, then, to enter into the Light and to have peace with God and to have our true needs met...in Christ Jesus.
Labels: scripture
posted by Elias at 01:00
2 Comments:
Wow! What a great take on a verse I've skimmed so many times! Thanks for the exegesis.
It's a really interesting study to look up all the references to "in Christ". It's something we don't think about too often, but you are right - it's essential to the concept of salvation and sanctification. To be "in Christ" is to be in the "body of Christ". It's an organic kind of thing rich with meaning.
Post a Comment
<< Home