Discover the More Abundant Life in Christ

The Two Realities of the Believer Seen in 1 Corinthians 1:30

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By Mark VanOuse

1 Corinthians 1:29-31 (NKJV)

[29] that no flesh should glory in His presence.[30] But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—[31] that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.”

I am now seeing that verse 30 here, which I have loved for years, contains both realities of the believer: being in Christ and Christ in the believer.
The “in Christ” part is very clear:
But of Him you are in Christ Jesus
How glorious this is! The wonderful fact that I am IN CHRIST is because God did it. “OfHim are you in Christ Jesus”. All of the wonderful treasures, infinite privileges of being in Christ are all mine, because God was the One who baptized me into Christ in the first place!
And yet this incredible verse reveals also the second great reality of the believer: Christ in us the hope of glory. How is Christ in us seen in this verse?
The second half of the verse says:
who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption

Christ Himself has become for me, for us, wisdom from God — and righteousness and sanctification and redemption! So in a very real sense, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption are not “it’s”, but summed up and part and parcel of JESUS Himself.

He is these things.
I need wisdom from God. CHRIST is my wisdom.
I need righteousness from God. CHRIST is my righteousness.
I need  sanctification from God. CHRIST is my sanctification.
I need redemption from God. CHRIST is my redemption.
The highest revelation in the Bible is this:  Christ is all and in all (Col 3:11b)
1 John 5:11-12 says:
[11] And this is the testimony: that 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.

The equation is very simple. CHRIST Himself is life (John 14:6, Col 3:4, John 11:25). Therefore, the what’s all important is not whether one has “the life”, but rather the SON, the CHRIST, who is life. Therefore 1 John 5:11-12 can say axiomatically, “He who has the Sonhas life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life”.

In Colossians 1:26-27 (NKJV) we read:
[26] the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.[27] To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

So, that great mystery hidden from ages and from generations but now revealed to the saints is this great, triumphant and simple fact:

CHRIST IN YOU, THE HOPE OF GLORY.
What is the hope of glory? Christ Himself in you.
Again, if you have Christ, than you have all.
Now back to our text in 1 Corinthians 1:30, the second part:
Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—
Christ is our wisdom from God, Christ is our righteousness, Christ is our sanctification andChrist is our redemption.
And where is Christ? Again, Colossians 1:27, “Christ IN YOU, the hope of glory”.
Now we can see how wonderfully 1 Corinthians also shows us the powerful reality of CHRIST IN US as well as the fact that we are IN CHRIST!
Let’s look at 1 Corinthians 1:30 again with fresh eyes:
But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—
So we now see:
  1. We are in Christ and Christ is in us and made all to us.
  2. We are in Him and He is in us because God did it and not we ourselves.

Finally, we can see that the reason for this is not that we can glory or boast:

[29] that no flesh should glory in His presence.

Further, the verse following makes it clear that our glorying or boasting should be in the Lord:

[31] that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the LORD.”

The peak reason why God does this is so that He would be glorified alone as God and not we ourselves. In other words, God is glorified most by the fact that He placed us in Christ and that He has made Christ unto us wisdom from God, righteousness, sanctification and redemption!

We are complete in Christ (Col 2:9-10)!  Christ is all in us! Hallelujah!