gregoryfl
09-06-2008, 01:38 PM
I have always been taught to believe that Christ is separate from us. You know, he's wayyyy out there, in heaven somewhere. Him being in me was just a theological nice thought. I never really came to grips with just how powerful that statement was. The thought came to me while I was driving yesterday, "How is it that we can be in Christ, and at the same time he can be in us?" That presents a paradox to me. For example, if i take a glass and fill it with water, the water is in the glass, but the glass isn't in the water. If I hold an apple in my hand, the apple is in my hand, but my hand isn't in the apple. With everything that I could think of, I came up with the same conclusion. So how could it be said that we could be in Christ and him in us also?
Then it occured to me that the only way would be by us being his body. I was looking at the whole thing wrong. In every example I just stated, one object was separate from the other. Yet Christ said that we would make up his body. In other words, he is so a part of us and we a part of him we are in God's eyes the same in the spirit! When Father looks at us, he sees Jesus. Jesus is still walking this earth today. He is still speaking to people here today. He is still being persecuted on earth today. This is true because we are him in physical form. I don't mean I walk around saying I'm Jesus Christ, but there is a sense in which he is connected intimately to each of us who are born of God, so much so that you should not be able to tell the difference. Imperfect as we are, to see us is to see Christ, and each day the Father molds us more and more into that reality of Christ being formed in us.
Not only is he in us, but we are in him. I believe this is why we are told to keep our eyes looking up. Not because he wants us fixated on the sky, but because that is where Jesus is. Not only is he in us here on the earth, but he is in heaven, seated at the right hand of God. And the fascinating thing is, so are we! We are right there with him, because we are in him. That is the glorious truth revealed through Paul in Ephesians 1. Truly, where he is there we would be also, in heaven and on earth.
It all seems to fit with me, that if these things are true, then yes, he is our life, in a real sense. The life we now live, he lives through us. The physical bodies we have are merely to be used by him to express himself on earth in a tangible way today.
Then today another series of thoughts came to me about what it means when Jesus is called our head. Yes, he is head of the body. But remember that the physical thing we call a head is also a part of the body, not a separate thing from it. Remember, Christ is the head of body in the same way that he is head of the assembly, in the same way husbands are the head of their wives. Whenever scripture speaks of something being the head of something, it speaks of source or beginning point, such as the head of a river, not the physical thing on top of our neck. When scripture wants to speak of a physical thing called a head it speaks of that head with a possessive pronoun virtually every time; her head, his head, its head, etc. But even when in the rare case where it speaks of "the head", it is plain which meaning is in view. Note the differences here:
Head as source
1Co 11:3 But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God.
Eph 1:22 He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things for the assembly,
Eph 4:15 but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, Christ;
Eph 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, and Christ also is the head of the assembly, being himself the savior of the body.
Col 2:10 and in him you are made full, who is the head of all principality and power;
Col 2:19 and not holding firmly to the Head, from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and ligaments, grows with God’s growth.
Rev 3:14 'To the angel of the assembly in Laodicea write:
'The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Head of God’s creation, says these things:
Compare those with the following:
Head as describing what is on the neck
Rev 1:14 His head and his hair were white as white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire.
Rev 12:1 A great sign was seen in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
Mat 5:36 Neither shall you swear by your head, for you can’t make one hair white or black.
Mat 6:17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face;
Joh 20:7 and the cloth that had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself.
The few verses that speak of "the head" meaning physical head:
Mat 14:8 She, being prompted by her mother, said, 'Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptizer.'
Mat 27:30 They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head.
Joh 20:12 and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.
Therefore, what this implies to me is that since the whole body of Jesus is indeed his, he is a hand, a foot, an ear, an eye, etc, just as we are. So again, he is not someone out there issuing orders from heaven and we are here separate from him trying to follow them. No, he is not only issuing the orders but he is performing them as a hand, a foot, a mouth, an eye, using us as those part of the body. When we act, it is him acting in us and we in him. Total harmony.
Then it occured to me that the only way would be by us being his body. I was looking at the whole thing wrong. In every example I just stated, one object was separate from the other. Yet Christ said that we would make up his body. In other words, he is so a part of us and we a part of him we are in God's eyes the same in the spirit! When Father looks at us, he sees Jesus. Jesus is still walking this earth today. He is still speaking to people here today. He is still being persecuted on earth today. This is true because we are him in physical form. I don't mean I walk around saying I'm Jesus Christ, but there is a sense in which he is connected intimately to each of us who are born of God, so much so that you should not be able to tell the difference. Imperfect as we are, to see us is to see Christ, and each day the Father molds us more and more into that reality of Christ being formed in us.
Not only is he in us, but we are in him. I believe this is why we are told to keep our eyes looking up. Not because he wants us fixated on the sky, but because that is where Jesus is. Not only is he in us here on the earth, but he is in heaven, seated at the right hand of God. And the fascinating thing is, so are we! We are right there with him, because we are in him. That is the glorious truth revealed through Paul in Ephesians 1. Truly, where he is there we would be also, in heaven and on earth.
It all seems to fit with me, that if these things are true, then yes, he is our life, in a real sense. The life we now live, he lives through us. The physical bodies we have are merely to be used by him to express himself on earth in a tangible way today.
Then today another series of thoughts came to me about what it means when Jesus is called our head. Yes, he is head of the body. But remember that the physical thing we call a head is also a part of the body, not a separate thing from it. Remember, Christ is the head of body in the same way that he is head of the assembly, in the same way husbands are the head of their wives. Whenever scripture speaks of something being the head of something, it speaks of source or beginning point, such as the head of a river, not the physical thing on top of our neck. When scripture wants to speak of a physical thing called a head it speaks of that head with a possessive pronoun virtually every time; her head, his head, its head, etc. But even when in the rare case where it speaks of "the head", it is plain which meaning is in view. Note the differences here:
Head as source
1Co 11:3 But I would have you know that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God.
Eph 1:22 He put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things for the assembly,
Eph 4:15 but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him, who is the head, Christ;
Eph 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, and Christ also is the head of the assembly, being himself the savior of the body.
Col 2:10 and in him you are made full, who is the head of all principality and power;
Col 2:19 and not holding firmly to the Head, from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and ligaments, grows with God’s growth.
Rev 3:14 'To the angel of the assembly in Laodicea write:
'The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Head of God’s creation, says these things:
Compare those with the following:
Head as describing what is on the neck
Rev 1:14 His head and his hair were white as white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire.
Rev 12:1 A great sign was seen in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
Mat 5:36 Neither shall you swear by your head, for you can’t make one hair white or black.
Mat 6:17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face;
Joh 20:7 and the cloth that had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself.
The few verses that speak of "the head" meaning physical head:
Mat 14:8 She, being prompted by her mother, said, 'Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptizer.'
Mat 27:30 They spat on him, and took the reed and struck him on the head.
Joh 20:12 and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.
Therefore, what this implies to me is that since the whole body of Jesus is indeed his, he is a hand, a foot, an ear, an eye, etc, just as we are. So again, he is not someone out there issuing orders from heaven and we are here separate from him trying to follow them. No, he is not only issuing the orders but he is performing them as a hand, a foot, a mouth, an eye, using us as those part of the body. When we act, it is him acting in us and we in him. Total harmony.