IN CHRIST
A Study of Positional Truths

Ephesians 1:4 is the foundation for this great position of being ‘In Christ’. The verse says, “According as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” 

The word according has the idea of since or seeing that, or after that. This has a reference back to verse 3 and tells us why we are a blessed people. The reason being is because we are a chosen people. The word chosen means to pick one out of many, to pick for ones self, to make fit for favor, to separate from the rest, and to be particularly attended to. 

The text tells us that we were picked and placed into Him. John 17:9 seems to elaborate on this subject. Jesus said, “I pray for them, and pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine.”

The Bible tells us this choosing took place before the foundation of the world.  Foundation has two meanings. One, the injection of a seed into a womb, or the laying of a surface upon which to stand.  Before the first conception or a ground to stand upon, I was ‘In Christ’. Just think, when He came into the world, I was in Him. When He died, I died. When He was buried, I was buried. When He arose, I arose. When He ascended, I ascended. When He sat down, I sat down.  Ephesians 2:6 says, “He has made me to sit (present tense, right now) in heavenly places.” One day I will have to tell me to get up so that I can sit down. I can say with the song writer, Justified freely through Calvary’s flood, Oh, what a standing is mine.

The meat of this verse is yet to come. In Him, chosen before time, assures that I will be holy and without blame. The word ‘holy’ means rare, peculiar, and separate from all others. The word ‘without blame’ is to be morally faultless and without spot. The word holy has to do with my practice. He has placed His spirit in me that will cause me to walk in all His ways. The word with blame has to do with my position of being perfect, white as snow, and all my sins gone. 

This all takes place before Him in His love.  The verse begins by referring to God the Father in the term as ‘He’. The verse ends before ‘Him’

In love.  I  John tells us that God is love. The middle of this verse finds me chosen before time and placed in Christ. What a place of security. I am sandwiched between the sovereign act of God’s choice and His Redeeming Love. What a place of quiet rest for the soul to be ‘In Christ’.