Scripture Reflections

“Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.” (John 6:56)

Theologians call the concept of our lives being lived “in Christ” incorporation. Paul was fascinated with the idea, using the phrase “in Christ” over and over in his letters. But he didn’t invent the idea—it came straight from Jesus. During his ministry, Jesus told the disciples they would live, and should remain, “in me.” John 6:56, which we heard in church last Sunday, is one of those instances.

Simply put, the life of the Christian is lived in Christ’s own life, and Christ lives in the Christian. This isn’t a metaphor or abstraction, but instead a claim about a new beyond-our-senses reality that is more real than our physical bodies. As Paul said in Gal. 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” In Col. 1:27, he wrote that God’s glorious mystery is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” The life that we are living is actually Jesus’ life, lived through us, and our lives are “hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). Living in Christ, having his life lived through us, doesn’t make us less of who we are or eliminate our personalities. When we live in Christ, and when he lives in us, we truly become ourselves in the deepest sense, rather than a flimsy imitation of who we were created to be. We were created to have our lives intertwined with the life of our Creator, and this is what occurs when we are incorporated into, or made a part of, the Son of God.

Don’t be surprised if you can’t get your mind around this concept! That our lives are lived in Christ and that his life is lived in us is beyond our comprehension. We could wrestle with this thought for years and still barely appreciate all that it means. How can our lives be his life, and his ours? How can we be a part of him, and yet still remain ourselves? These are questions beyond our comprehension!

Even though we can’t fully understand our incorporation in Christ, one powerful implication can encourage us. If our lives are no longer our own, but are instead Jesus’ own life, then there is a limit to what loneliness, anxiety, or fear can do to us. This is not to say that we won’t experience those things! The strongest Christians go through times like this—Jesus’ tears in Gethsemane are proof that being a Christian doesn’t eliminate loneliness and soul-wrenching agony. Paul was once so “utterly burdened beyond his strength that he despaired of life itself” (II Cor. 1:8). It isn’t sin to be discouraged, lonely, or overwhelmed. But loneliness, fear, or anxiety is never the final word, because Jesus’ life is alive in us.

He is alive in you. You are alive in him. Nothing that occurs to you is outside of him. He is never absent. Your life itself is his life, and he has already been through the temptation in the wilderness and the sorrow of Gethsemane. He has already been through the cross; he has already been resurrected! Nothing can happen to you beyond what he has already experienced, none of it will shake his grip on you, and none of it will take him by surprise. Rest in the fact that your life is forever bound up in his!

Steven+