Your New Identity (Victory Series Book #2): A Transforming Union with God (2 page)

Genesis 32:1–32

Key Point

When we encounter God, He frees us from our past and gives us a new identity.

Key Verse

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

2 Corinthians 5:17

J
acob was in a difficult situation. Twenty years before he had tricked his father, Isaac, into giving him a blessing due to his older brother, Esau. Esau was furious and vowed revenge (see Genesis 27). Jacob fled for his life, but he realized he could not avoid Esau forever. So he sent messengers to Esau’s land with a message of reconciliation. Esau came to meet him—with 400 men.

Jacob’s name literally meant “supplanter,” and he had lived up to that identity. As he waited for Esau beside the Jordan River, a “man” appeared
and wrestled with him, and Jacob struggled to get away. Suddenly, the dawn broke, and Jacob saw the face of God. The whole battle changed, and Jacob struggled to hang on. He wouldn’t let go until this “man” blessed him. This encounter with God forever changed Jacob: “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome” (Genesis 32:28). Jacob limped across the Jordan, but his name was now Israel, which means “God strives.”

Our encounter with God has forever changed us. We are no longer by nature objects of wrath (see Ephesians 2:3); we are children of God (see 1 John 3:1–3). “For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8). First Peter 2:9–10 states, “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”

Everyone has struggled with his or her self-perception. Little children have a natural heritage and identity, which they received from their earthly parents. Teenagers begin to search for their own identity. Adults try to make a name for themselves in the world. The natural tendency is for them to find their identity in the things they do, the places they live, and the roles they play.

It is totally different for believers who have become new creations in Christ. “Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all” (Colossians 3:11). In other words, there are no racial, religious, cultural, or social distinctions. All believers are children of God and share the same status in the family of God.

Paul says, “From now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view” (2 Corinthians 5:16). Literally, this means that Paul no longer recognizes believers according to the flesh—that is, their natural identity or who they were in Adam. He recognizes believers as new creations in Christ (see 2 Corinthians 5:17).

Paul asks, “Don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” (Romans 6:3). Don’t you know that we have been united with Christ in His death and resurrection (see verse 5)?
Don’t you know who you are? You must keep asking yourself until you reply, “Yes, I do know who I am: a new person in Christ, and by the grace of God I shall live accordingly.”

How and why did Jacob’s behavior change when his perception of the “stranger” changed?

From where do natural people derive their identity?

How does God’s perception of us change after we are born again?

How have you perceived yourself in the past? How has that perception changed since you became a Christian?

How has your perception about yourself and God affected the way you live?

Even if believers are still in their earthly bodies, we do not relate to them that way, because the life according to the flesh has been transcended. We have been born again by the Spirit and have learned a different kind of behavior, which is that of heaven. It is Christ who has brought about this change. There was a time when we knew Him in His earthly life, but now we know Him in the perfection of His resurrection.

John Chrysostom (AD 347–407)

In Christ You Are:

The salt of the earth (Matthew 5:13).

The light of the world (Matthew 5:14).

A child of God (John 1:12).

A part of the true vine, a channel of Christ’s life (John 15:1, 5).

Christ’s friend (John 15:15).

Chosen and appointed by Christ to bear His fruit (John 15:16).

A slave of righteousness (Romans 6:18).

Enslaved to God (Romans 6:22).

A child of God; God is spiritually your Father (Romans 8:14–15).

A joint heir with Christ, sharing His inheritance with Him (Romans 8:17).

A temple—a dwelling place—of God. His Spirit and His life dwell in you

(1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19).

United to the Lord and one spirit with Him (1 Corinthians 6:17).

A member of Christ’s Body (1 Corinthians 12:27; Ephesians 5:30).

A new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).

Reconciled to God and a minister of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18–19).

A son of God and one in Christ (Galatians 3:26, 28).

An heir of God, since you are a son of God (Galatians 4:6–7).

A saint (Ephesians 1:1; 1 Corinthians 1:2; Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:2).

God’s workmanship—His handiwork—born anew in Christ to do His work (Ephesians 2:10).

A fellow citizen with the rest of God’s family (Ephesians 2:19).

A prisoner of Christ (Ephesians 3:1; 4:1).

Righteous and holy (Ephesians 4:24).

A citizen of heaven, seated in heaven right now (Philippians 3:20; Ephesians 2:6).

Hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3).

An expression of the life of Christ because He is your life (Colossians 3:4).

Chosen of God, holy and dearly loved (Colossians 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:4).

A son of light and not of darkness (1 Thessalonians 5:5).

A holy partaker of a heavenly calling (Hebrews 3:1).

A partaker of Christ; you share in His life (Hebrews 3:14).

One of God’s living stones, being built up in Christ as a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:5).

A member of a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a people for God’s own possession (1 Peter 2:9–10).

An alien and stranger to this world in which you temporarily live (1 Peter 2:11).

An enemy of the devil (1 Peter 5:8).

A child of God and will resemble Christ when He returns (1 John 3:1–2).

Born of God, and the evil one cannot touch you (1 John 5:18).

Not
the great “I
AM
” (Exodus 3:14; John 8:24, 28, 58), but by the grace of God, you are what you are (1 Corinthians 15:10).

Colossians 2:1–10

Key Point

Being alive “in Christ” is the basis for every aspect of the Christian life.

Key Verse

Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.

Romans 8:17

T
he Christian’s new identity is based on his or her position “in Christ.” The prepositional phrase “in Christ,” “in Him,” or “in the beloved” is one of the most often-used expressions in the Epistles. The phrase occurs 40 times in the book of Ephesians alone. It means that our souls are in union with God. For every verse stating that Christ is in us (see Colossians 1:27), there are 10 verses stating that we are “in Christ.” “In Christ” we are called to salvation (see 1 Corinthians 7:22), regenerated (see Ephesians 1:3; 2:10), and justified (see Romans 8:1–2). “In Christ” we
die (see 1 Thessalonians 4:16), and “in Him” our bodies will be raised up again (see 1 Corinthians 15:22).

Every step in becoming more like Jesus is made possible because we are spiritually alive “in Christ.” We are to be firmly rooted “in Him” in order to be built up “in Him,” which makes it possible to live “in Him” (Colossians 2:6–7). This dependency and union with God is Paul’s explanation for how we can live the Christian life. In sending Timothy to Corinth, Paul said, “He will remind you of my way of life
in Christ Jesus
, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church” (1 Corinthians 4:17, emphasis added).

“God has given us eternal life, and this life is
in
his Son
” (1 John 5:11, emphasis added). Paul speaks of “the promise of life that is
in Christ Jesus
” (2 Timothy 1:1, emphasis added). “
In Christ
” are “faith and love” (1 Timothy 1:14), “grace” (2 Timothy 2:1), “salvation” (verse 10), “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3), and God’s “riches” (Philippians 4:19). Paul says that it is because of God’s work that Christians are “
in Christ
Jesus
, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30, emphasis added).

With our identity in Christ come the blessings that Christ alone has merited. “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17). Further, “If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:29). “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority” (Colossians 2:9–10).

Notice that the phrase “have been brought” is past tense. We were incomplete without Christ, but now we have been made complete (fullness). As believers, we are not trying to become children of God; rather, we are already children of God who are in the process of becoming like Christ. Now that we are complete in Christ, the goal is to proclaim Jesus, “admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone fully mature in Christ” (Colossians 1:28).

Paul contrasts the means by which we grow in Christ with the human traditions of the world. “See to it that no one takes you captive through
hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ” (Colossians 2:8). All the humanistic wisdom of this world cannot reproduce in us what only the life of Christ can. Paul says, “I can do everything
through him
who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13, emphasis added); and Jesus tells us, “Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

Why is it so important to know who we are “in Christ”?

Ephesians 1 describes the believer’s incredible position in Christ. Count how many times the prepositional phrase “in Christ” or “in Him” occurs in just that one chapter. What does that tell you?

How can the Church keep from being deceived by “fine-sounding arguments” (Colossians 2:4) and “hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ” (verse 8)?

What does your position in Christ mean to you on a daily basis?

How can the reality of being rooted in Christ strengthen you to become more like Him?

Since it was impossible that our life, which had been estranged from God, should of itself return to the high and heavenly place, for this reason, as the apostle says, He who knew no sin is made sin for us and frees us from the curse by taking on Him our curse as His own.

Gregory of Nyssa (AD 330–395)

Galatians 2:11–20

Key Point

The eternal life we have in Christ sets us free from the power of sin and death.

Key Verse

The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Galatians 2:20

P
aul said, “I died to the law” (Galatians 2:19) because “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (verse 20). This is possible because of our union with God. As believers we are no longer “in Adam” but “in Christ.” Paul identified every believer with Christ in His death (see Romans 6:3, 6; Colossians 3:1–3), in His burial (see Romans 6:4), in His resurrection (see Romans 6:5, 8, 11), in His ascension (see Ephesians 2:6), in His life (see Romans 6:10–11), in
His power (see Ephesians 1:19–20), and in His inheritance (see Romans 8:16–17; Ephesians 1:11–14).

When Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ” (Galatians 2:20), he literally meant, “I have been and continue to be crucified with Christ.” The eternal life we received at salvation was the eternal life of Christ, which included eternity past and eternity future. We are identified with every aspect of Christ’s eternal life because we are united with Him. Because we are eternally connected to God, we can be crucified with Christ and at the same time be seated with Him in the heavenly realms (see Ephesians 2:6). It is impossible for the finite mind to fully grasp the idea of eternity, but that is our reality.

Before we came to Christ, we were under the law and in bondage to sin, which only leads to death. We had to be crucified with Christ “so that the body of sin might be done away with” (Romans 6:6
NKJV
). The “body of sin” refers to the person or self (living in bodily form) under the law and the rule of sin. This person was “done away with” by being crucified with Christ. The Greek term “done away with” can mean “rendered ineffective or powerless,” “destroyed,” “brought to an end,” or “released from.” Our old self was in bondage to sin and its mastery. That old self has died with Christ. Now a new self exists, which is no longer under the mastery of sin.

Sin reigns through death; therefore, the way to freedom from sin is through death (see Romans 6:6). For this reason, if a person dies to sin, sin loses its mastery over that person. Because the believer has died with Christ (participated with Him in His death to sin), that believer is free from the mastery of sin and lives a new life of freedom from the law of sin and death (see Romans 8:1–2). Paul expresses this new freedom from sin in Romans 6:19–20, 22: “Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness. When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. . . . But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.”

Death is the end of a relationship, but not the end of existence. According to Paul, we should consider ourselves to be alive in Christ and dead to sin (see Romans 6:11). Physical death is still imminent, but we shall
continue to live spiritually even if we die physically. Sin is still present and appealing, but we don’t have to yield to it. The eternal life of Christ within us is our victory.

How can we say that we have been “crucified with Christ”?

What are we putting to death when we are crucified with Christ?

How are we set free from sin? How does sin lose its mastery over us?

How would it affect the way you lived if you fully believed that you were free from the power of sin?

You have been crucified with Christ and raised with Christ. The first dealt with sin and the other the consequence of sin. What hope does that give you for the future?

Not I, who once ate from the earth. Not I, who once was grass, as all flesh is grass, but Christ who lives in me. That is, there lives that living bread which comes from heaven, there lives wisdom, there lives righteousness, there lives the resurrection.

Ambrose (AD 340–397)