Downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA
In my last post I mentioned being impressed by an ETS presentation about what the Gospel of John says about our union with Christ.
Instead of starting with what the Apostle Paul says about Christ in us (Gal 2:20; Gal 4:19; Rom 8:10; 2 Cor 13:5; Col 1:17), Robert Peterson from Covenant Theological Seminary read a paper (Union with Christ in the Gospel of John) showing that Paul’s emphasis is deeply rooted in the teaching of Jesus himself.
I came away with a renewed and deepened awareness of a life-changing (and life-saving) analogy: that as the Son is in the Father—and the Father in him, so is the Son in those who believe in him– as they are in him (John 14:10-11; John 14:20; John 17:21; John 17:23).
In response, one of our friends expressed the opinion that many believers are uncomfortable with the idea of “Christ in us” and “us in him” once they understand the implications of this.
On hearing this from one of our own, I thought it would be interesting to see if others are also aware of difficulties that “believers” have with this analogy of our union with Christ– and if so, what the issue(s) might be.
To get us started, if some are uncomfortable with the idea of being “in Christ,” is it that (1) some make the mistake of thinking that being in Christ implies being equal with him and his Father; that (2) being “in Christ” encourages the thought of being better than others rather than better off; that (3) some think it makes more sense to think of being in Christ as “a process” rather than a “present state of being”; that (4) those who think of themselves as being “in Christ” seem to be so unlike him; or (5) something else?
And beyond the issues– any thoughts on why this may be the ultimate answer to our own problems?
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