To the Gentile, "in Christ" is set over against "in Adam", to the Jew, in addition to

being like the rest of mankind in Adam, he had been baptized into Moses and the term

"in Christ" had to do double duty for the Jewish believer. To canvass the New Testament

and to collect and arrange the many references to "in Christ", while being a profitable

study, seem too vast an undertaking for so limited a space, that we give as a specimen

"in Christ" as it is found in the epistle to the Ephesians. Even with this limitation to our

field of search, we shall be surprised doubtless with both the number of passages quoted

and the riches which they reveal. For the present, we will not discriminate between the

various titles of the Lord, but include them all under one head, although, in Christ differs

a little from in Christ Jesus, even as both differ from in the Lord, or in Jesus. Here then is

the list of occurrences. The faithful in Christ Jesus. All spiritual blessings in heavenly

places are in Christ.  We are made accepted in the Beloved, in Whom we have

redemption. All things in heaven and on earth are to be headed up in Christ, in Whom we

have obtained an inheritance. Trust is in Christ, in Whom we are sealed. Faith is in the

Lord Jesus, and the spirit of wisdom and revelation is granted in the acknowledgment of

Him. Resurrection power associated with believing was wrought in Christ. Not only so

but the believer is made to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, and in the ages

to come God will show His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Works are excluded as a

basis of salvation, we are rather His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus. The Gentiles

who once were hopeless, in the flesh and in the world, are now in Christ Jesus made nigh.

He abolished in His flesh the enmity, to create in Himself of the twain one new man. In

Whom the building grows unto an holy temple in the Lord, in Whom we too are builded

together. All this is in harmony with the promise and the purpose of God in Christ Jesus,

in Whom we have boldness and access, all of which leads to glory in the church in Christ

Jesus, and so to the conclusion of the doctrinal portion of this epistle. Practice is not to

be thought of however in any other sphere than in Christ and Paul speaks of himself as

the prisoner in the Lord, he testifies in the Lord, and reminds the reader that he had been

taught as the truth is in Jesus. Even the words of forgiving grace "for Christ's sake" can

be rendered "be generous to each other as God has been generous to you in Christ".

These believers were now light in the Lord, worship is in the name of the Lord Jesus and

obedience rendered to parents was rendered to such in the Lord. The warrior for Christ

was made strong in the Lord and the commendation of Tychicus as a faithful minister in

the Lord, rounds off these wondrous references to a wondrous sphere. It will be observed

that the first reference is to those who were "faithful" in the Lord. There does not seem

to be any point in giving the long string of chapter and verse, any reader of the epistle

will find these passages without difficulty. Twenty-six references to this blessed sphere

are recorded in the doctrinal portion, and nine in the practical, making thirty-five in all.

Quite apart from the effect on the mind that the rich variety of grace that is brought to

light in these references produces, such a number of passages must impress us by their

very quantity.

Redemption is in Him, in Whom every promise finds its fulfillment, every blessing its

enjoyment, every aspiration its realization. In Him as the one Mediator God and man

meet, and in Him the conflicting parties of the Acts period find their peace.