New Creation Realities

And it is God who establishes us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, and who has also put his seal on us and given us his Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee (II Corinthians 1:21-22).
Suppose I want to buy a hundred sheep, and go to the nearest sheep-farm, and find what I want. I say to their owner, “I am prepared to give you two [dollars] each for your sheep.” He contracts to sell me the sheep at the price, I put down the money, and thus the sheep become mine.

What do I do next with them? Drive them home? No, I do not take them home immediately, I am not in such a hurry. Before I drive them home, I take my paint pot, and I put my mark upon every one of my sheep.
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“Do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?” (II Corinthians 13:5 ESV). “Surely you know that Christ Jesus is in you?” (GNB). It would seem that Paul found it difficult to understand a Christian who was unsure of the presence of Christ within.
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“But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere” (II Corinthians 2:14). It amazes me how many who teach “in Christ” truths emphasize a conditional or negative slant to what is in reality the most positive thing in the world.
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“Out of my bondage, sorrow and night; Jesus, I come; Jesus, I come;
Into Thy freedom, gladness and light, Jesus I come to Thee”.
So reads the first verse of the popular invitational hymn by William Sleeper. It is based on a solid biblical foundation.
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It is the small words that make a big difference in understanding the Bible. In a book I’m reading at the moment, the author writes, “God uses three Greek prepositions to reveal “in Christ” truth.” I would probably include more than three but they are enough to get deep into vital truth.
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In the first decade of my life as a minister I read an article “Little Words of Great Meaning” by Henry Jacobsen in the Christian Life magazine. Conjunctions, prepositions and so on; you know, the “ands” and “buts” and “ins”.
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During the recent “In Christ” seminars in the US, I shocked some people when I said I was not only an Ephesians 4 teacher but also a Hebrews 5:12 teacher. That sent them to their Bibles! “By this time you ought to be teachers yourselves, yet here I find you need someone to sit down with you and go over the basics on God again, starting from square one” (Hebrews 5:12 Message Bible).
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This phrase from II Corinthians 13:4 jumps up to get your attention in the list of “In Christ” scriptures. “We are weak” and “we are… in him”, both are true, but are we “weak in him” (Christ, verse 3)? That is what we call an apparent contradiction.
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Here’s a statement from the internet this week: “Bibles are not translated by atheists. If they were, maybe they would be more accurate” — Ray Smith. This was in answer to a question about which translation would be best to use.

It was so much easier when I became a Christian.
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I ran across this comparison recently in Ephesians 1:1 — “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus” ESV. Notice the two prepositions “in”. The saints are both “in Ephesus” and “in Christ Jesus”; in two positions or places at the one time.
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