We Are One In Christ

Charles H. Spurgeon wrote, "As a believer, you are one with Jesus. Therefore you are secure. You will be confirmed to the end until the day of his appearing." In these words, Spurgeon spoke of every believer in Christ. We are one in Christ.

We are one with Christ through new birth. Every true believer is born of the Spirit. We have been born again unto faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. As we are one with Adam in our first birth, so we are one with Christ in our new birth.

Every true believer is one with Christ through the Holy Spirit. We are baptized by the Spirit into the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13). Christ is the head, and we are the body. As Adam was the head of the human race, so Christ is the head of the church, which is his body (Colossians 1:18).

As the human race is in Adam through sin, so believers are in Christ through salvation from sin (Romans 5:19). As we were born with a sin nature in Adam, so we are born again as a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17).

We are one with Christ as our representative. We are one with Christ through his death and resurrection (Romans 6:5-6). We have died to the old life, buried with Christ, we are risen with him in newness of life. Water baptism is the symbol of our death, burial and resurrection with Christ (Romans 6:3-4). Therefore, Spurgeon said, "As a believer, you are one with Jesus." That's what it means to be one in Christ.

Predestined Inheritance

Charles C. Ryrie wrote, "To predestine is to preplan a destiny. The word proorizo means to mark off beforehand. The death of Christ and its meaning were predestined by God (Acts 4:28; 1 Cor. 2:7).  God's elect are predestined to adoption (Eph. 1:5), to an inheritance (v. 11), and to ultimate conformity to Christ (Rom. 8:28-29)."

The root word for predestine pictures the horizon of the sky and earth. At a distance, we may see where the landscape of the earth ends and the sky begins. That's a line drawn by God Himself. So, predestination in Christ draws the line between those who are saved and those who are not. God has "marked off beforehand" to save all who believe in Christ (Acts 16:31).

All who have faith in Christ are predestined to be glorified into His likeness (Romans 8:29-30). We shall be glorified in a body like unto that of our risen Lord. "We shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2). That's what Ryrie called "ultimate conformity to Christ."

Ryrie made it simple and clear, "to predestine is to preplan a destiny." That is the security of every believer. Our destiny is certain and God's plan for every believer is certain. We are predestined as God's adopted children, by faith in Christ, unto an eternal inheritance to be glorified in Christ.