Ephesians 4 gives us quite a good part of the vocation wherewith we are called. Nearness to God is a part of it: "Ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh." And the means of it is the blood of Christ. Here it is individual, but down towards the end of the chapter it is collective. We do not speak of the relationship now, but of the effect in itself, and it is nearness to God in Christ. "Through Him [Christ] we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father." This is new ground and has changed our relationship entirely as being in Adam. Now we are in our new creation place and risen in Christ. It is most important for us to know, not only that the blood has cleansed us from our sins, but that it has put us into a new place entirely. Those who are "in Christ Jesus" cannot get any farther up nor down. It is not experience, but it is our position before God in Christ. We are partakers of the new creation; we are His workmanship (Eph. 2:10).
Romans 8:1 gives us what there is not for those who are in Christ Jesus, but it does not give us what there is. The first thing God teaches us is to know that those who are in Christ are as far beyond the reach of condemnation as He is. "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." Well, what is there then? Oh, there is nearness to God in new creation. Then Romans 8:2 adds to that, for there we get the power of the new state-the Holy Spirit dwells in us. "For the law of the Spirit of life"-not only the Holy Spirit, but the new life-"the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." It is not only a new position, but it is a new state also. I suppose that is the new life, not the Person of the Spirit as we get further down. You get the Spirit as life, and then the Spirit later in the chapter means the power of the life.
"One thing 1 know, that,
whereas I was blind; now I see.”
John 9:25