The phrase “in Christ” was clearly one of Paul’s favorite terms, one which has multifaceted nuances of theological significance and import. However, it is necessary for students to understand the foundational aspect of this phrase in order to better understand Paul’s comprehensive theology with respect to it. Paul used this term in a myriad of ways to speak of how believers relate to Christ and the church; nevertheless, for Paul the basis of what it means to be “in Christ” is found in its forensic/judicial sense (e.g., Rom 3.21-26, 8.1; 2 Cor 5.19). Being “in Christ” means that Jesus’ perfect sacrificial death has become the payment for our sins. Consequently, God no longer looks upon our sins with a judicial purpose since we are “in Christ,” meaning that we have been and are continually united with Christ because Jesus has atoned for all of our sins. Jesus could be the sacrificial substitute for our sins because of his sinless perfection; consequently, he is the perfect and only sacrifice for the sins of all humanity. Millard Erickson explained our union with Christ in this manner,
“The first characteristic of our union with Christ is that it is judicial in nature. When the Father evaluates or judges us before the law, he does not look upon us alone. We are in his sight one with Christ. God always sees the believer in union with Christ and he measures the two of them together: Thus, he does not say, ‘Jesus is righteous but the human is unrighteous.’ He sees the two as one and says in effect, ‘They are righteous.’ That the believer is righteous is not a fiction or a misrepresentation. It is the correct evaluation of a new legal entity, a corporation that has been formed as it were. The believer has been incorporated into Christ and Christ in the believer . . . . All of the assets of each are now mutually possessed. From a legal perspective, the two are now one.”1 And again: “Our union with Christ has certain implication for our lives. First, we are accounted righteous. Paul wrote, ‘There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus’ (Rom. 8:1). Because of our judicial union with Christ, we have a right standing in the face of the law and in the sight of God. We are as righteous as is God’s own Son, Jesus Christ.”2
Similarly, concerning Rom 8.1 Tom Schreiner stated that “What verse 1 enunciates is that no ‘condemnation’ exists for those ‘in Christ Jesus.’ ‘In Christ Jesus’ refers to those who died with Christ Jesus and will be raised with him, harking back to 6:1-11. Believers are not under condemnation, because they have died with Christ, and thus the condemnation that they deserved as children of Adam has been removed by the second Adam, Jesus Christ. The word condemnation is a forensic term denoting the removal of the curse from those who are descendant of Adam.”3
Consequently, there is no condemnation for any who have completely and solely entrusted themselves upon the sufficient atoning sacrifice that Jesus Christ made on their behalf. Those who by faith receive Jesus’ sacrificial death as payment for their sins are eternally united with him in the eyes of God. That is not to say that God ignores our sins, far from it. But we are no longer in jeopardy of bearing their eternal penalty. Might we bear the earthly temporal consequences of our sins? Of course, for example if we steal, then we may go to jail; if we are unfaithful to our spouse, then he or she may leave us; if we lie on our job reports, then we may be fired; if we drive drunk or drive while distracted, then we may be killed in a car accident. Additionally, God continually disciplines us as any loving father would his children, certainly (Heb 12.7-11). Nevertheless, God will not hold us responsible for the eternal penalty of our sins since through his sinless perfection Jesus has sufficiently paid for them all by taking their curse upon himself on our behalf.
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- Millard Erickson, Christian Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1985), 952.
- Ibid., 953.
- Tom Schreiner, Romans (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2005), 399.