What Does It Mean to Be “In Christ”?
Rev. Aniekan "Mbomboyo" Okokon ·
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. — Ephesians 1:3
Open Ephesians 1 and count. In Him, in the Beloved, in Christ, in Him, in Him — eleven times in fourteen verses. Paul cannot describe a single blessing without locating it in Christ. Chosen in Him. Redeemed in Him. Forgiven in Him. Sealed in Him. If you removed the phrase, the passage would collapse, and so would the Gospel.
Three pictures Scripture gives
- The vine and the branches (John 15). The branch does not visit the vine; it lives in it, and its life is the vine’s life.
- The head and the body (Ephesians 1:22–23). What happens to the head happens to the body. The head is seated in heaven; so is the body.
- Adam and Christ (Romans 5; 1 Corinthians 15). Humanity was in Adam and fell with him. The new humanity is in Christ and rose with Him.
Position, not feeling
Being in Christ is not a mood you enter during worship and leave during traffic. It is where God has placed you, and God does not move you in and out of His Son according to your performance. "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). The verse hangs everything on the location, and the location is fixed.
Everything He is, for you
1 Corinthians 1:30 says God made Christ "our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption". In Christ you do not receive those things as separate parcels; you receive Him, and He is all of them. Wisdom for the decision, righteousness for the accusation, sanctification for the struggle, redemption for the whole story.
So when you pray "in Jesus’ name", you are not adding a password. You are saying where you stand. Everything you have with God, you have there — and you are never anywhere else.