The security of a believer consists in this, that he is one with Christ; and his peace, his joy, his fruitfulness, are all proportioned to the clearness with which he sees, and the constancy with which he realizes this. Now, it is by faith we know, by faith we realize, this all-important fact. God’s word declares it to be a fact; and God’s word is that in which faith rests. Faith simply credits, or receives as true, whatever God has spoken, however contrary it may appear to be to reason, to sense, to experience, to frames, feelings, doubts, and fears. Faith hearkens not to these; it regards not fears or doubts, frames or feelings; it considers not experience, sense, or reason; it simply hearkens to God’s voice, speaking to us in God’s word. What that word says—what God Himself thus declares—faith receives: and God declares in His word that the believer is one with Christ. “He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.” (1 Cor. 6:1717But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:17).) “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” 1 Cor. 12:1313For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:13).
It is not merely that Christ is full of grace, and that the guiltiest are welcome to His embraces. This is true, blessed be His name! It was true when He was here in humiliation. It is not merely, that, now He is exalted, we have the assurance that the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon Him; that whosoever calleth upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. All this is true, and is revealed in the word of God for the comfort and encouragement of any poor, doubting, fearing, trembling soul,—saint or sinner,—who may read these pages. His own words assure us, and apply equally whether He speaks on earth or speaks from heaven, “Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.” All this is precious encouragement to the weakest, the vilest, the most desponding, to look to Christ, to come to Christ, to cling to Christ. But God’s word further gives us God’s judgment of those who do so look, or come, or cling. It tells us in what light He looks on such—what He reckons or accounts them to be. “To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works.” Rom. 4:5, 65But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. 6Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, (Romans 4:5‑6). “Now it was not written for his (Abraham’s) sake alone, that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Rom. 4:23, 25-5:1.
But even this is not the whole. The word of God instructs us, that the very weakest believer, the one who most feebly and tremblingly clings to Christ, is one with the Christ to whom he clings. It gives us to understand that the faith by which he does thus cling to Christ is the first pulsation, as it were, of Christ’s own life in his soul. It speaks of the exceeding greatness of God’s power, towards those who believe, according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead. It declares how “God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ.” It speaks to believers as “buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised him from the dead. And you, it says, “being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses.” Mark, it is through the faith of the operation of God, that we are risen with Christ. The life we thus possess is a life we possess in common with Christ-risen with Him. God raised Him from the dead—the faith by which we cling to Him is a faith of the operation of God—and it is through this faith that we are risen with Christ. He died for sins—our sins; we were dead in sins. God raised Him; God has quickened us, who have this faith of His operation; and the life we thus possess we possess with Christ—in common with Him. “You being dead in your sins, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses.” In what a position are we thus placed! One with Christ—partakers with Him of the same life—He being our life, as it says, “when Christ, who is our life, shall appear” —how perfect our acceptance, how complete our security! We are “in Christ.” As the hand or the foot is included in the man, so is the believer included “in Christ.” And it is thus we inherit all our blessings. “There is, therefore, now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.” “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” We are “made the righteousness of God in him.” We are “accepted in the beloved.” We “sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” Can any charge be laid against Him? Then, and not till then, it may against the believer, who is part of him! Such is the nature and completeness of the believer’s justification, standing, and acceptance before God. The faith, by which as a poor sinner he clings to Christ, is itself the first breathing or pulsation of a new life, which is, in fact, Christ’s own life—a life which he now possesses in common with Christ. How then can the sins which he has committed be laid to his charge? Memory may recall them: Satan may seek to terrify him by placing them all in array before him. The question is, Can they be laid to Christ’s charge? The believer is, as to his life, a part of Christ. He has become such by virtue of Christ having put away all these sins— “quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses.” If Christ had not put away my sins, I could not have been made a sharer of His life. If I am a believer I do share His life, and so am assured that all my sins are put away, all my trespasses forgiven. If they cannot be laid to Christ’s charge, they cannot be laid to mine; for I, as a believer, am part of Christ, as a man’s eye or ear is a part of a man. The same life animates eye, ear, hand, and all the other members of the body. The same life animates Christ and the believer. They are one. Blessed be God for such a settlement of this whole question.