Sunday, August 16, 2009

In Him

The past couple of days I have been reading some of Hilary of Poitiers works. Since he lived in the midst of the Arian controversy, his writings have specific reference to the the divinity of Jesus Christ. While I wouldn't say that I learned a lot from reading his works because I am, of course, already a firm believer in the divinity of Christ, yet I did find it interesting to see how he draws from all the Scriptures starting in Genesis to show Christ's divinity. For example discussing the Angel of the Lord as a Christophony and using Scriptures like Gen. 19:14 to show the Son and Father working together in the judgment of Sodom and Gomorrah. Christ Himself contended with the Jews that if they had believed Moses they would have believed Him (John 5:46). All Scripture testifies to Christ and shows that He as the Son of God is the dividing line in history. Our eternal fate rests directly upon our attitude and response to Christ (Psalm 2:12 truly a greater than Solomon is here!)

With all this in mind I was thinking of the Phrase "in Him". This phrase shows the centrality of Christ, and the necessity of relationship to receive what is His and in Him. The Apostle Paul cried out to be found in Him clothed with His righteousness by faith. John tells us in Him was life. In Him we live and move and have our being. We were loved in Him and chosen in Him from before the foundation of the world. In the fulness of time God will gather all of heaven and (redeemed) earth in Him (Eph. 1:10). In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead (ie. the attributes that make God God). We are complete in Him. We are glorified in Him. This is by no means an exhaustive list of what is in Him.

The whole point of this is to show the centrality of Christ and our relationship to Him to everything in life. Everything we need in this life and the next is in Him, so are we "in Him." Are we trusting Him, believing Him, listening to His voice and obeying Him. It all depends on that. Unto Him be glory in the Church!

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