felt immediately the security which it afforded. The phrase ‘in Christ’ is a favorite expression with Paul, who uses it or some similar expression such as ‘in the Lord’ or ‘in Him’ 164 times. We are told that it is Paul the mystic who speaks thus, but that need not baffle us, for all of us are mystics in the sense that there are some things we know through a process more di rect than that of reasoning. It is this immediacy that makes a mystic. Jesus was the greatest mystic of all; yet we understand perfectly what He means when He says, ‘I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for apart from me ye can do nothing’ (John 15:5 ASV).” Our safety lies in our position “in Christ,” but our fruitfuness lies in the extent to which Christ is in us. Paul declared that “Christ in you” is the “hope of glory” (Col. 1:27 ASV). To him, a man was either out of Christ or in Christ. The relationship is a living, fruit-bearing one like that between the vine and the branch. In making Christ’s death effective with in the believer, the Holy Spirit cuts him away from the old source of life which was his by nature and, through the quickening power of the resurrec tion, skillfully grafts him into a new Source of life which thenceforth is to find expression in a fruitfulness fla vored by the believer’s own individ uality. After this process the branch is in deed dead to the old source of life and alive only to the new. Paul teaches all this in the beautiful symbolism of baptism. Our difficulty sometimes is that we look at that ordinance too much from the manward side. We forget that from God’s point of view it represents the way we become liv ing members of the body of Christ (I Cor. 12:13), and that this is the greatest privilege of all. We have had several occasions to remark previously on the importance of one’s position. God’s very first question to fallen man, “Where art thou?” was designed to help him dis cover his position (Gen. 3:9). The 20
■« a t e have seen that Paul has a ™ good deal to say about profit and loss. In previous verses he has described those things which, accord ing to his new standard of reckoning, he has charged off as loss. He con tinues now in the next several verses to enlarge upon the measureless gain which is his in Christ. The idea is summed up in the one word “Christ” (v. 7) and again in the phrase, “the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord” (v. 8 ASV). Divi dends from his new treasure accumu late so rapidly that in an effort to describe them he uses words which say, in effect, “One discovery continu ally surpasses another in the delights of my experience with him.” What he means by “gaining Christ” is expanded to include three ideas developed in the following verses. (1) A new position (v. 9). Horton, “When Paul received Christ, he gained the advantage of a new position and
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