Commentaries:
In Galatians 3:27, Paul says we "put on" Christ at our baptism. If we sink into water, it surrounds us. If we put on a coat, it surrounds us. We are in the water or in the coat. If we put on Christ, we are in Christ.
Yet, in Colossians 1:27, Paul says Christ is in us. God reiterates this truth several times in the New Testament.
» John 17:23: Christ Himself prays to His Father: "I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one."
» Romans 8:10: Paul tells us, "If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin."
» Galatians 2:20: Paul speaks of himself and all true Christians: "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me."
» Ephesians 3:17-18: Referring to the "inner man," Paul mentions that he prays "that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith."
» I John 3:24: John writes: "Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit which He has given us."
Is this contradictory? Is it impossible? Can Christ be in us and we in Christ at the same time?
God's Word—His very Logos—answers those questions for us in John 14:20. He tells His disciples that, at His resurrection, they "will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you." Christ is not describing an impossible situation. He is describing perfect, total unity!
To understand this type of unity, a couple of analogies will help.
1. We can say two bricks are united when they are attached one to another with mortar, but this is not the kind of unity of which Christ speaks. Bricks "united" in this way are distinguishable from each other even by a child. True, we could say they are united, but it is better to say they are connected, attached, or adjacent.
2. Christ speaks of a more thoroughgoing unity. Picture water from bucket A being poured into water in bucket B. The waters completely intermingle; one cannot distinguish water from bucket A from that of bucket B after they are mixed.
While no analogy is perfect, these two do serve to point out the sort of unity that exists between God and the true Christian. It is a thorough commingling of minds. Ideally—and none of us is there yet—it should be impossible to distinguish our mind from Christ's. They should be that much alike! Paul urges us toward the ideal: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 2:5).
When we put on the new man, we put on Christ. We are in Him and He in us. Our goal should be to nourish that new man by renewing our minds through submission to Him, until our mind and His are indistinguishable. Now, that is unity!
Charles Whitaker
Choosing the New Man (Part Three)
Paul is writing to Gentile converts, and the specific mystery that he is talking about here—our hope—is Christ in us. It was no secret in the Old Testament that the Gentiles would be saved, but that Christ, by means of the Holy Spirit, would dwell in all converts was unknown. Otherwise, Paul would be telling a lie when he said that it is a mystery now revealed to the church. This applies directly to us because it is Christ living His life in us that prepares us for the Kingdom of God. God in us is our hope!
This hope gives us certainty for the future, which carries beyond the grave, even as it did with Christ. He rose from the grave because God was in Him. This hope is why we can have joyful and confident expectation of salvation because Christ's life—His character, values, virtues, thoughts, attitudes, and deeds—can become evident in a Christian.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Perseverance and Hope
Other commentary entries containing this verse:
John 17:23
Romans 8:10
Galatians 2:20
Galatians 3:27-28
Galatians 3:27
Ephesians 3:17-18
Colossians 1:27
1 John 3:24
Library resources that contain this verse:
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