phat writes:
IMHO, this is what the Bible means when it urges us to be In Christ. As humans, there are many moments of any given day that we are not In Christ. He is (with) us, however...IMB. Whenever *evil* exists, it is because the perpetrators of the evil are In *evil* at that moment....they are choosing to allow the virus to consume them.
WADR Phat, I don't reckon you'll find the Bible urges us to any such thing. Gods mechanism for salvation - for want of a better phrase - is to take us out of Adam (our as-born condition) and to put us into Christ (hence born again). A Christian is always in Christ.
The urging takes the tack of "why act like someone who is not in Christ, act like what you are - in Christ"
Romans 6:1 "What shall we say then, shall we (Christians) sin so that grace may abound? God forbid. Don't you know...."
The exhortations in the epistles appeal to a person who is in a particular positon. It tells them their position and asks them to act like a person in that position. "You once were an enemy of the United States. But now you have been made a citizen of the United States. It is inconsistant that you act like a person who is an ememy of the United States." That is the argument as applied
You can be a good citizen or a bad citizen but it affects your citizenship not one jot. Once in Christ, always in Christ. Romans 8, that glorious statement of the final assurance of salvation that a Christian has, starts out with the verse:
"Therefore (as a result of the argument I have employed up to now), there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ"
Read it again. It is mind boggling. But God foreknew. And he called, an effectual call. And when we heard that call and responded to it he justfied us and also glorified us. Its all done.
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