God’s Grace is Christ in Us – Jim Fowler
Brad Jersak wrote these words in the “Christianity Without the Religion Blog” “The Beatitudes: Christ Formed In You” dated Nov. 12, 2023: “The saving, sanctifying, and empowering grace of God IS Christ in us.” So true, and to reverse the equation, “Christ in us IS the saving, sanctifying, and empowering grace of God.” This is the mystery (once concealed, now revealed) that Paul was sharing with the Colossians, “the mystery… which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). This is the dynamic core of the gospel. This is the dynamic of the Christ-life in Christ-ones by which the Christ-life is re-presented and lived out in obedience in Christ-ones in every age.
It is not that we receive the risen and living Lord Jesus by faith to dwell and live in our spirit (cf. Rom. 8:9,16), and then we need something else to make that life work in the practicum of obedience. Christ IS the Life, the “saving life” (cf. Rom. 5:10) of Christ, His presence and activity within us, through us, and manifested as us constitutes the dynamic of God’s grace which saves, sanctifies, and empowers everything God desires to accomplish in us. “For me to live is Christ…yet not I, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). Christ in us is the grace-dynamic of God’s action. Jesus and grace cannot be separated!
In, and by means of, the ever-constant dynamic of God’s grace in the presence and activity of the Son, Jesus Christ, “Christ is formed in us” (Gal. 4:19). The formation of the character of Christ in the Christ-one does not occur by our trying our best to be “like Christ” but by God’s grace transforming every part of our being and action as His Christ-life is lived out in us. When we read the imperative commands given to Christians in the new covenant scriptures, we must always remember that the imperatives are always based on the indicative of the ever-sufficient grace of God in Jesus Christ to fulfill and complete everything that God desires to be and do in every Christ-one.
Jim Fowler is a cherished and respected friend of Plain Truth Ministries, a wonderful brother in Christ, having served in a variety of capacities, on our Board of Directors, as a theological consultant and as an author and editor. He continues to write, with his latest being “Manifesting the Life of Jesus” available on Amazon. Jim is a treasure to the body of Christ, a Christ follower who faithfully reflects God’s grace in Jesus, as our risen Lord lives his life within him.
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