Lessons #35 and 36
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+ 1. It is best to use this note after you have listened to the lessons because there are +
+ comments given in the actual exposition not in the note. +
+ 2. The Bible abbreviations are as follows: CEV =Contemporary English version, +
+ CEB = Common English Bible, ESV= English Standard Version, +
+ GWT = God’s Word Translation, ISV = International Standard Version, +
+ NAB=New English Bible, NASB= New American Standard Bible, +
+ NEB= New English Bible, NET = New English Translation, +
+ NLT = New Living Translations NJB = New Jerusalem Bible, +
+ NJV = New Jewish Bible, TEV = Today’s English Version. +
+AMP = Amplified Bible, UBS = United Bible Society +
+ 3. Notes have not been edited for grammatical errors. +
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Boasting (1 Cor 1:26-31)
26 Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him. 30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. 31 Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.”
Let me refresh your mind that the message of this section that we are expounding is No one should boast about salvation since it involves God’s choices, but one can boast in the Lord. In expounding of this message, we indicated there are three choices of God with their associated purposes given in our passage that are contrary to human expectation that God used to remove any basis of boasting by a human about salvation. We have considered the first choice, which is that God chose the message of the cross and primarily those who by human standard are not wise, influential, and of noble birth or well born for salvation to shame those who are learned of this world. The second thing God chose for a purpose that is contrary to human expectation to remove any basis of human boasting regarding salvation concerns what the world considers weak. The third thing God chose for a purpose that is contrary to human expectation to remove any basis of human boasting regarding salvation concerns what the world does not value, so to speak. The apostle having mentioned the third things God chose, provides two purposes for His third choice of events and persons. The first purpose, we considered in our last study, is to invalidate things the world considered important. Hence, we consider the second purpose.
The second purpose God made His third choice of events and persons considered insignificant by the world is to ensure there is no boasting of any kind on part of any human being as it relates to His work in salvation. It is this purpose that is given in the clause of 1 Corinthians 1:29 so that no one may boast before him. Because of the Greek conjunction (hopōs) that began this verse that here means “so that”, our clause may be considered the ultimate/final purpose in a series of purposes that the apostle presented regarding God’s choices to ensure there is no human boasting about salvation.
The focus of the clause so that no one may boast before him is the word “boast” so we need to consider the Greek word used, to understand the matter of boasting. The word “boast” is translated from a Greek word (kauchaomai) that means to express an unusually high degree of confidence in someone or something being exceptionally noteworthy and so means “to boast.” However, there are several nuances to the Greek word. It may mean “to brag”, that is, to say something boastfully, as in Romans 2:23:
You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law?
The word may mean “to rejoice” as in Romans 5:11:
Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.
The clause but we also rejoice in God is literally but also we are boasting in God. The Greek word may mean “to glory”, that is, to take great pride or pleasure in someone/something or to rejoice proudly, as in Philippians 3:3:
For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—
The verbal phrase glory in Christ Jesus is literally boasting in Christ Jesus. The Greek word may mean to “to take pride”, as in 2 Corinthians 5:12:
We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart.
The verbal phrase to take pride in us is literally to boast about us. Hence, we see that our Greek word can be used in different ways. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 1:29, it is used negatively with the meaning “to boast” in the sense of displaying or proclaiming publicly in a showy way of being satisfied or content in one’s achievement.
Boasting can be right or wrong depending on the object or reason for it. Boasting that is wrong is one that is self-centered so that God is left out or robbed of His glory and a human claims credit for what God has done. Apostle Paul mentioned this kind of wrong boasting as that which characterized his opponents who want to boast as to the number of people they get to become circumcised, as we read in Galatians 6:13:
Not even those who are circumcised obey the law, yet they want you to be circumcised that they may boast about your flesh.
As we indicated, when God is left out in any kind of boasting then it is wrong, as conveyed in James 4:16:
As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.
In the context of James, the boasting that is evil is any kind of assertion about the future that is devoid of the recognition that God controls the future as should be indicated by prefacing such assertion by saying if God wills or permits or by the thought that a person’s plan is wholly in God’s hand.
The right kind of boasting is one that is centered on God or what He did or does through others or directly. Thus, we have examples of the right kind of boasting in the Scripture. Apostle Paul indicates that his boasting is in what Christ did on the cross hence, his assertion of wanting to boast about the cross of Christ in Galatians 6:14:
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
It is not only the cross of Christ that led the apostle to boast but also the impact of the cross in the spiritual lives of believers. Therefore, the apostle boasted about those who excel in their spiritual life, as he did to Titus regarding the Corinthians, according to 2 Corinthians 7:14:
I had boasted to him about you, and you have not embarrassed me. But just as everything we said to you was true, so our boasting about you to Titus has proved to be true as well.
He did the same thing in praising the Corinthians to the Macedonians concerning their generosity, as we read in 2 Corinthians 9:2:
For I know your eagerness to help, and I have been boasting about it to the Macedonians, telling them that since last year you in Achaia were ready to give; and your enthusiasm has stirred most of them to action.
The apostle also boasted about an aspect of the spiritual life of the Thessalonians, as we read in 2 Thessalonians 1:4:
Therefore, among God’s churches we boast about your perseverance and faith in all the persecutions and trials you are enduring.
Anyway, we should be careful about boasting that is self-centered. The apostle was careful of this that when he boasted of the revelations he had received from the Lord, he used the third person in 2 Corinthians 12:5:
I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses.
The “man” the apostle meant is himself. It is because he was cautious regarding boasting about self that he used the third person in his boasting of the visions he received from the Lord. A reason we should be careful not to boast about self is so that others do not overrate us, so to say, as the apostle stated in 2 Corinthians 12:6:
Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say.
Boasting about self or self-achievement is an indicator that one does not understand that there is nothing that the person achieved or attained were it not for the grace of God, as indicated in the penetrating questions of 1 Corinthians 4:7:
For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?
It is important that we be conscious that whatever we have by way of blessing is from God, as the Holy Spirit taught us through Apostle John in John 3:27:
To this John replied, “A man can receive only what is given him from heaven.
The word “heaven” here is a reference to God. Consequently, it is important that we constantly remind ourselves that everything we receive is from God. Boasting that is correct should be related to spiritual matters. This is the implication of boasting about knowing God that the Holy Spirit spoke through Prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 9:24:
but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,” declares the LORD.
Be that as it may, Apostle Paul in the passage of 1 Corinthians 1:29 that we are considering conveys clearly that no one could boast in God’s sight regarding salvation as that is implied in the sentence no one may boast before him. The adverb “before” is translated from a Greek word (enōpion) that may pertain to a position in front of an entity so means “before” someone or something, as it is used to describe the crippled man Peter healed that stood in front of the Jewish authority that marveled at the miracle the Lord performed through Peter, as we read in Acts 4:10:
then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.
The Greek word may pertain to being present or in view hence means “in the sight of, in the presence of, among.” It is in the literal sense of “in the presence of” that our word is used to describe Jesus’ eating of broiled fish before His disciples after His resurrection, as recorded for us in Luke 24:43:
and he took it and ate it in their presence.
It is in the non-literal sense of being in view or in the sight of someone that the word is used in Apostle Paul’s statement in 2 Corinthians 4:2:
Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
Our Greek word may mean “in the opinion or judgement of” although in some of the passages that this meaning applies, our word is translated “in the sight”, as we find, for example, the use of our word to describe the kind of beauty that God values in a believing wife, as we read in 1 Peter 3:4:
Instead, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.
The clause which is of great worth in God’s sight may be understood as “which is of great worth in God’s judgment.” It is probably this understanding that motivated the CEV to translate the clause as God considers it very special. In our passage of 1 Corinthians 1:29, the word is used in the non-literal sense of “in the sight of.”
Anyway, the apostle wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:29 so that no one may boast before him without specifying directly what the boast concerns. Bear in mind that the apostle’s focus since verse 18 of this first chapter of Corinthians is the message of the cross. This being the case, the apostle was thinking of the matter of salvation when he wrote what we have, although he was not specific. The idea that no one should boast in the sight of God because of salvation is a truth the apostle conveyed in his epistle to the Ephesians, specifically, as he penned in Ephesians 2:9:
not by works, so that no one can boast.
In the context of Ephesians 2:9, the apostle was speaking of salvation. Therefore, it should not be surprising to us that when the apostle wrote the clause so that no one may boast before him that he was thinking of salvation. Besides, what he wrote in verse 30 of 1 Corinthians 1 that we will consider shortly is a strong support of the fact that the apostle’s mind was on the matter of salvation when he penned what we have considered in verse 29.
We have been expounding the reasons no one should boast in the sight of God because of his/her salvation. We have considered the first two reasons for this assertion. The first reason for the assertion that no one can boast before God because of his/her salvation is because of the status of the Corinthians when they were saved as we examined in detail previously. The second reason for the assertion that no one can boast before God regarding the matter of salvation is because God removed its basis through His choices and purposes that we have also considered in detail. So, we come to the third reason.
The third reason for the assertion that no one should boast before God regarding salvation is because it is through God the Corinthians are believers in Christ Jesus. It is this reason that is given in the first sentence of 1 Corinthians 1:30 It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus. The NIV and some of our English versions omitted translating a Greek conjunction (de) that is part of this clause probably because they understood it as being used to indicate transition to another point in which case it may not be translated, or it could be translated “now.” The Greek conjunction may mean “but” as reflected in the NASB probably to contrast the low status of the Corinthians prior to salvation and their present status in Christ. It is difficult to be certain of what the apostle had in mind when he used the conjunction since either interpretation makes sense in our context. Nonetheless, it is probably in the sense of contrast that the apostle used it with the implication that he introduced another topic in his discussion. By the way, the pronoun “him” refers to God that is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 1:27 as the One who chose events and persons for His purposes given in the preceding verses.
It is possible that believers may forget how they became Christians because of their focus on recognized personalities in the church. I mean that it is possible that believers may think more of the instruments God used to bring them to faith in Christ that they hold such individuals in higher regard than is necessary. For this reason, it becomes necessary to bring such individuals to recognize the reality of how they became Christians. It is not through a human agent that we become Christians but through God’s work. A human may be the agent through whom one hears the gospel but that does not mean that the individual is a reason for being a Christian. This point may not apply to you, but it is an important point to be made because of the situation that exists today where believers are more concerned with personalities than they are of the word of God or they are more concerned about their denomination than the word of God. There are those Christians who are more interested in defending the evangelists or pastors that were agents of God in their salvation that they would be ready to fight other believers who do not hold the same high regard of such individuals. The point is particularly important with the church in Corinth where believers were involved in partisanship because of their allegiance to a given church leader of that time. Such believers need to be reminded that they are not Christians because of the leaders they pledged their allegiance but because of the work of God that started with their election. It is for this reason that it is necessary to remind the Corinthians and so all believers that it is because of God that we are Christians. God chose us. He worked in us through the Holy Spirit so that although we were spiritually dead, we were able to understand the gospel to believe in Christ.
Anyway, the apostle reminded the Corinthians and so all of us that we are in Christ in the sentence of 1 Corinthians 1:30 you are in Christ Jesus. This sentence means that believers are in union with Christ. This is a teaching that can only be accepted in faith because it is difficult for a human being to understand how a human being is in Christ who is God since we think in terms of three dimensions in which we can understand what it means for a person to be in a house in a physical sense. Of course, this is not the only place in the Scripture we encounter a statement of this nature that is difficult to understand regarding the Lord Jesus Christ’s relationship with another. Take for example, the declaration of the Lord Jesus Christ in John 14:10:
Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.
When Jesus declared that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him that is a statement that indicates that He is united with the Father and the Father is united with Him in a way that no human mind can comprehend. In the same fashion, when the Holy Spirit through the Apostle Paul tells the Corinthians and so to all believers that they are in Christ Jesus, it is to say that we are in union or united with Christ Jesus. This is difficult for us to comprehend. The best we can understand is that it is a teaching that explains a unique relationship that exists between believers and the Lord Jesus Christ. Furthermore, we should appreciate the declaration by understanding the implications of the phrase in Christ Jesus or shortened form in Christ.
The phrase in Christ is one that is predominantly used in the NT by Apostle Paul as evident in the fact that of the 91 occurrences of the phrase in the NT, only five of these are found outside the epistles clearly recognized as written by the apostle. Hence, it is a phrase that the apostle used in his epistle to convey several truths that believers should understand. We are saying that the phrase is so important that when the apostle indicates that believers are in Christ, that is a statement that communicates several doctrinal truths to believers. To this end, we will give you eight doctrinal truths that the phrase conveys and by implication the declaration you are in Christ Jesus.
First, the statement you are in Christ Jesus means that your sins have been forgiven you since the Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul declared that truth to believers in Ephesus, as recorded in Ephesians 4:32:
Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
It is a glorious thing that anyone’s sins have been forgiven that person since that has enormous implications with the person’s relationship with the God of the universe. People live in guilt and suffer because they do not know that their sins no matter how awful they are, they can be forgiven in Christ when they trust in Him. In fact, the offer the Holy Spirit made to Israel through Prophet Isaiah is available to us today. I am referring to the offer of God in Isaiah 1:18:
“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.
The Holy Spirit through Apostle Paul informs us that forgiveness is only available through Jesus Christ during his sermon in Pisidian Antioch, as we read in Acts 13:38–39:
38 “Therefore, my brothers, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. 39 Through him everyone who believes is justified from everything you could not be justified from by the law of Moses.
Forgiveness of sins results in peace with God. Consequently, anyone who has come to true realization of peace because of the individual’s sins being forgiven knows it is a great blessing for a person’s sins to be forgiven. No wonder the psalmist declared the blessedness of one’s sins being forgiven in Psalm 32:1–2:
1 Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. 2Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.
This being the case, the Holy Spirit wants you to know how blessed you are because you are in Christ, implying that your sins have been forgiven you.
Second, related to the forgiveness of sins, the declaration you are in Christ Jesus conveys the truth that you, as a believer, are no longer going to face eternal judgment of the type that will result in eternal condemnation. This truth is evident in what the Holy Spirit stated through Apostle Paul in Romans 8:1:
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,
When man fell into sin, God pronounced him guilty of sin, hence he came under condemnation with the ensuing punishment. That God’s pronouncement of guilt on man brought condemnation is stated in Romans 5:16:
Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.
The condemnation that is the result of the fall was not only on Adam and Eve, the first sinners of human history, but on all their descendants, that is, entire humanity, as stated in Romans 5:18:
Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.
As humans, we stand in condemnation that means loss of eternal relationship with God and consequently, loss of the kind of life that is suited to be with God for ever. There is more, this condemnation means that a person is under God’s wrath. But when a person is in Christ that person escapes condemnation and so the wrath of God, as the Holy Spirit reminds us through the pen of Apostle Paul in 1 Thessalonians 1:10:
and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.
You will never face God’s eternal wrath because you are no longer under His condemnation as the rest of humanity that do not believe in Christ. Hence, the sentence you are in Christ Jesus is one that assures you that you will never be under God’s condemnation. This truth is confirmed by the third truth we consider.
Third, the sentence you are in Christ Jesus means that you have received eternal life. Eternal life is a gift that is offered through Jesus Christ, according to Romans 6:23:
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The Holy Spirit informs us that eternal life is only available in Christ not only through the pen of Apostle Paul but also through the pen of Apostle John in 1 John 5:11–12:
11 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Those who are in Christ share His life, eternal life. It is the possession of eternal life that ensures we are never going to be under God’s wrath in the eternal state. We know that every human being will live eternally but the issue is where one will live eternally. Those who are in Christ will live eternally with Him but those who are not will live eternally in the place described as lake of fire. We know that everyone will live eternally because everyone will experience resurrection, as indicated in Daniel 12:2:
Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.
The Lord Jesus restated this truth in John 5:28–29:
28 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice 29 and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.
Thus, those who are in Christ are those who will have the good resurrection that is described as living with God. Of course, those who are in Christ are already alive so that the Holy Spirit could command us to consider ourselves alive in Christ and dead to sin, as we read in Romans 6:11:
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.
The point is that because you are in Christ, you have eternal life in your union with Christ and will live with God forever. This brings us to the next truth
Fourth, the sentence you are in Christ Jesus means that you, as a believer, in Christ, if you died before Christ comes you will be among the first to resurrect. This truth is conveyed in 1 Thessalonians 4:16:
For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.
The sentence the dead in Christ will rise first indicates those who have already departed to be with Lord will receive a resurrection body first. We can understand that this makes sense because of the privilege that belongs to them. Now, they are in the presence of the Lord so when our Lord begins to step out of the third heaven, it makes sense that they are the first that He would get ready to join Him. So, it should not be surprising that this is the order that resurrection will take place. These are the ones already enjoying our Lord’s presence and so should be the ones to receive their final resurrection body first. Many of us Christians desire not to die until the Second Coming. Well, this sentence indicates that those who died in the Lord are standing at a higher position than those who are physically on the earth when the Second Coming takes place. If we understand that Christ has removed the sting of death for us, I think that it is something that we should be looking forward. I do not mean that we should be careless and not take care of our bodies and so commit suicide. But what I am trying to indicate is that for the believer there could be no experience in this planet that will equal the experience of dying. One minute the believer is in this world of sins, pain, and injustice and within a nanosecond, the believer opens his/her eyes and sees the Lord Jesus Christ face to face. There is something that those who die now experience that I do not believe that those who are alive when the Lord returns would experience. It is the escort into heaven. Be that as it may, the point we want to emphasize is that being in Christ means that the believer is in a position not only to enjoy resurrection but that if such a person departs from this life he/she will be among the first to receive a resurrection body and so the first in the order of resurrection of believers. The fact of resurrection assures us that we will be like Christ, as stated in 1 Corinthians 15:49:
And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.
Furthermore, resurrection implies that we will be completely united with Christ, as we can infer from Romans 6:5:
If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.
Hence, being in Christ is of great blessing as we will experience the resurrection that will enable us to understand fully the sentence you are in Christ Jesus of 1 Corinthians 1:30.
Fifth, the sentence you are in Christ Jesus means that you are a new being. It is this truth that is conveyed in 2 Corinthians 5:17:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
This verse is subject to two different interpretations as reflected by the fact that we have two major different translations in our English versions. The sentence he is a new creation of the NIV is translated there is a new creation in some English versions such as the NRSV, the NJB, and REB. The reason for different translations is that there is no verb in the Greek so that the clause of the NIV if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation is literally from the Greek if anyone in Christ, a new creation. Since there is no verb or pronoun in the Greek, translators filled in both. The Greek phrase implies we should supply the verb “is” so the question is whether to supply the pronoun “he” or “there” in the translation. Some English versions supplied “he is” as in the NIV while others supplied “there is” as in the NRSV. The implication of the translation he is a new creation is that the one who is in Christ is a new being while the translation there is a new creation implies that not just that the person in Christ has been made new but also that a new situation has been created. It is probably the case that the apostle implied both interpretations so that the person in Christ is a new being that is part of the new creation since the apostle in his epistle to the Ephesians conveyed that there is a new humanity in Christ he described as the “new man” in Ephesians 2:15:
by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace,
In effect, we mean that when a person is in Christ, he is not only a new being but a part of the new creation that includes the new humanity that exists in Christ. It is probably this understanding of the Greek phrase that is reflected in the CEB that translated the literal Greek a new creation as that person is part of the new creation. That aside, the point is that the sentence you are in Christ Jesus implies that the believer is a new being that is a part of the new humanity in Christ as part of the new order that is established through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Sixth, the sentence you are in Christ Jesus means that the believer although still on this planet is already in heaven as a citizen of heaven. This assertion is one that, like being in Christ, is difficult to grasp but should be accepted in faith. A person who is in Christ by such a position is already in heaven. This is because Christ is in heaven. Therefore, if a person is in Him then that person is already in heaven, as implied in Ephesians 2:6:
And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,
Of course, when the apostle wrote seated us with him in the heavenly realms the Holy Spirit meant to convey to us that we are guaranteed of future exaltation in heaven with Christ. Put it in another way, the Holy Spirit gives the assurance to those who are in Christ that they are guaranteed to be in heaven no matter what Satan and his agents do. A person in Christ will be in heaven as that is where Christ resides. Thus, the sentence you are in Christ Jesus is one that should give assurance of salvation to the believer in that such an individual will be in heaven with Jesus Christ.
Seventh, the sentence you are in Christ Jesus means that since the believer is part of the new creation then such an individual is expected to do good works. This expectation is based on God’s work that is mentioned in Ephesians 2:10:
For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
The word “workmanship” is translated from a Greek noun (poiēma) that means “what is made, work, creation.” Thus, the apostle reminds us that we are what God has made so that the use of the word “workmanship” in the NIV refers to the product of regeneration or new birth. We are regenerated so that it can be said we are created in Christ, implying that our regeneration is that which took place in union with Christ. The implication is that we cannot boast. But that is not all. The apostle tells us that we are regenerated for a purpose which is to carry out predetermined good works. The good works refer to every activity of the believer that is intended to glorify God on this planet as our Lord Jesus indicated in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:16:
In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
Good works refer to those things we do to benefit others as the apostle mentioned in Galatians 6:10:
Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.
You see, the various implications of the sentence you are in Christ Jesus in 1 Corinthians 1:30 that we have been considering have concerned the privileges we have but this seventh implication is one that puts an obligation on us. This is because the Scripture is clear that to whom much is given much is expected. We have these great blessings and privileges for being in Christ hence it makes sense that we are assigned responsibilities on this planet that reflect who we are in Christ. In any event, the sentence you are in Christ Jesus implies that you are to live your life as a believer to reflect Christ. This brings us to the last point.
Eighth, the sentence you are in Christ Jesus in keeping with the last implication means that believers are to be characterized by a life of thanksgiving. In other words, because of the many privileges and blessings that belong to us because we are in union with Christ, then every moment of our lives should reflect that we are appreciative of what God has done for us and continues to do for us in Christ. This expectation is given in form of a command to believers in 1 Thessalonians 5:18:
give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
The command is not for us to give thanks in some circumstances of our life but in all. This means that whether we face good or bad situations that we should give thanks to God. We can do this if we remember the blessings and privileges that we have considered. Furthermore, we will be able to obey this command when we recognize that God is in total control of all things good or bad, as the Holy Spirit asserted through Solomon in Ecclesiastes 7:14:
When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one
as well as the other. Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future.
It is as we consider the truth that God is in control of the good and the bad circumstances of life that we will be able to give thanks to Him in all circumstances of life. Anyway, we have considered what the sentence you are in Christ Jesus of 1 Corinthians 1:30 means for us, so we will continue with the rest of the verse in our next study.
03/30/18