I regularly read about the importance of knowing who we are ‘in Christ’. I thought therefore I would list as many of the blessings that Christians enjoy through being in Christ. It seems like an almost endless list, and I would welcome any comments, especially things that I have missed.
There is one crucial rider to all that I have written below, and it is that virtually every one of the blessings mentioned below is plural, and I have changed them to singular, so they should pretty much all read ‘I, along with all God’s people . . . ’
A book could be written (and many have been) about each one of these privileges that have accrued to God’s people as a result of being adopted into God’s family. I have decided to compile the list below mostly without comment. So here’s the list.
I am ‘in Christ’. I like a friend’s take on this. Look at it like being in an aeroplane — everything that happens to the plane happens to me.
I am not under condemnation — I am delivered from it. (Romans 8:1)
I am adopted as a member of God’s family. (Ro. 8:15, 23, Gal. 4:5, Eph. 1:5)
I am a citizen of the Kingdom of God — my citizenship is (kept safe for me) in heaven. (Philippians 3:20)
I am a member of the body of Christ. (1 Cor. 12:12-31)
I am a living stone, being built into a living, holy temple (the temple is where God dwells), being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. From 1 Peter 2 ‘you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ’. (1 Peter 2:4-10)
I am a member of the royal priesthood. This means I am a ‘blesser’, called to bless. (I Peter 3:9, Numbers 6:22-27, 1 Peter 2:9)
I have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 1:3)
I was chosen before the foundation of the world. (Ephesians 1:4)
I have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of my trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon me, in all wisdom and insight. (Ephesians 1:7)
I have been sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of my inheritance until I acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory. ‘Sealed for the day of redemption’. (Ephesians 1:13)
I have access to the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 1:20)
I am his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. (Ephesians 2:10)
I have have access in one Spirit to the Father. (Ephesians 2:18)
I am a member of the household of God. (Ephesians 2:19, 1 Tim. 3:15)
In Christ Jesus our Lord, I have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him. (Ephesians 3:12)
I am light in the Lord. (Eph. 5:8)
I am an heir of God and a fellow heir with Christ. Our inheritance is the whole renewed, restored creation. (Romans 8:17)
I am called to suffer with Christ in order that I might also be glorified with him. (Romans 8:17)
My old self was crucified with Christ, and I am no longer enslaved to sin — I have been set free from sin. I walk on resurrection ground. (Romans 6:7-8)
When I die, I will go to be with Christ, awaiting the final resurrection. (John 14:2, Luke 23:39-43)
I am, along with all God’s people, seated (now) in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:6)
Along with God’s people, I have (perfect tense — past action, current implications) already come ‘to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel’. (Hebrew 12:22-24)
I am surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses (who are they?). (Hebrews 12:1)
My labour in the Lord (everything I do, not just ‘church work’) is not in vain. All my work that is in keeping with God’s purposes is therefore done in cooperation with God. The noble products of human ingenuity will be cleansed from impurity, perfected and transfigured, to become part of God’s new creation. So I am contributing to new creation. My thanks to Miroslav Volf and Tom Wright for this understanding of work. (1 Corinthians 15:58)
At the final resurrection, I will be raised with a new body, to be part of the new heavens and the new earth. (all of 1 Corinthians 15)