We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.

3157172804_73b8f06e64

9 Things That Are True of Us When We’re Saved

Image by rAmmoRRison via Flickr

The New Testament has many amazing things to say about who we are as believers because of what Christ has done for us. When the Lord saves us, he doesn’t just rescue us from eternal death; he gives us a completely new identity.

Consider what happens to us when the Father places us “in Christ”:

  1. All that is part of our old self, all that is sinful and contrary to God, has been crucified. It is dead (Rom 6:2-11; Gal 2:20).
  2. We are completely forgiven, perfected for all time, and hence completely reconciled to God (1 Cor 1:2; 2 Cor 5:17-19; Gal 2:16).
  3. We are completely made new and given Christ’s eternal resurrected life (2 Cor 5:17; Eph 2:5-6, 10).
  4. We are indwelled with the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of God almighty (2 Cor 13:5; Eph 3:17). We are thus made into a temple of God (1 Cor 6:19).
  5. We are redeemed and set free from the curse of the law (Gal 3:13; 5:1; Col 2:13-15).
  6. We are seated “in heavenly places” and made partakers of the eternal inheritance Christ purchased for us (Eph 1:3-11: 2:6; 3:6).
  7. We are hidden in Christ and united with Christ (Rom 6:5; 1 Cor 6:17; Col 3:3). We are made participants in the eternal love that flows within the Triune Godhead (2 Pet 1:4).
  8. God the Father completely redefines our state of being. Whereas once we were in Adam and “by nature children of wrath” (Eph 2:3), now we are in Christ and are the recipients of the very same eternal, perfect love he has for his Son (Jn 17:34; 26).
  9. The Father has chosen us and made us “holy and blameless before him in love.” He loves us and lavishes on us “his glorious grace” as he relates to us as we are “in the Beloved,” Jesus Christ (Eph 1:3-6). This means that the relationship God has with us now is defined by the eternal, unsurpassable, loving relationship he has with his eternal Son!

 

This is who we truly are when we place our trust in Christ. Whether the self-identity we inherited from our upbringing, experiences, and culture agrees with this or not (it probably doesn’t), this is what is true, for this is what God says. By placing us in Christ’s death to sin, the Father makes us dead to sin. By placing us in Christ’s life, the Father makes us alive. By placing us in Christ’s holiness, the Father makes us perfectly holy. And by placing us in Christ’s loveliness, the Father makes us lovely. The almighty God says so!

There is simply nothing anyone can do to improve what God has already done for us in placing us in Christ Jesus. When God saved us, he established us in Christ as being everything he eternally wants us to be. This is what is true about us. This is our true identity. All genuine spiritual growth comes from the Holy Spirit making our true identity real to us and overcoming the self-identity we inherited from the pattern of the world.

—Adapted from Seeing is Believing, pages 27-28.

Related Reading

Which of the Miracles of Jesus Can Humans Do? (podcast)

Greg is asked about the miracles of Jesus, specifically which miracles do we have the potential to perform. He also gives a nod to the band Theocracy.  Episode 74 http://traffic.libsyn.com/askgregboyd/Episode_0074.mp3

One Word

While I’ve lately been pretty distracted finishing up Benefit of the Doubt (Baker, 2013), my goal is to sprinkle in posts that comment on the distinctive commitments of ReKnew a couple of times a week. I’m presently sharing some thoughts on the second conviction of ReKnew, which is that Jesus Christ is the full and…

Would God Kill a Baby To Teach Parents a Lesson?

Question: We have a group of guys that are going through your book “Is God to Blame” and a question came up that I would be curious how you would look at it. In the beginning of the book you ask the question “do you really think that God kills babies to teach parents a lesson?”…

Jesus Came to Bring a Sword?

Jesus said: “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword” (Mt 10:34).  Some, both modern scholars along with church leaders since the fourth century, have used this passage as evidence to argue that Jesus is not altogether non-violent. When we…

Getting Honest about the Dark Side of the Bible

 Eddy Van 3000 via Compfight While most of the Bible exhibits a “God-breathed” quality, reflecting a magnificently beautiful God that is consistent with God’s definitive revelation on the cross, we must honestly acknowledge that some depictions of God in Scripture are simply horrific. They are included in what is sometimes called “the dark side of…

Do All Roads Lead to God?

First, if it’s really true that Jesus is the way to Father and that no one comes to the Father except through him, (Jn 14:6) then it seems that no other religious leader or religious doctrine can bring us to the Father. “The” is a definite article, and it implies singularity. “A dog” could refer…