The distinction between these two things is of vast importance if an understanding is to be had of the New Testament Scriptures—especially the epistles. Standing and state refer to two sides of the truth on a variety of subjects, and seeing this necessitates “rightly dividing the Word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). If we don’t distinguish between these things, we will come away with mistaken ideas.
Standing
This has to do with where a person stands in relation to God. There are only two possible standings in which men can have before God:
• “In Adam” (1 Cor. 15:22).
• “In Christ” (Rom. 8:1).
Through receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as our Saviour, our standing before God is forever changed from being “in Adam” to being “in Christ.” It is a standing in “grace” that is eternally fixed (Rom. 5:1-2; 1 Cor. 15:1; 1 Peter 5:12). It is perfect and complete now as it ever will be! It will not be more perfect by our entrance into heaven. Having a standing before God “in Christ” means that the believer is in Christ’s place before God (Eph. 1:6; 1 John 4:17). (See Acceptance and In Christ.)
State (Phil. 2:19-20)
This has to do with the believer’s moral condition. If we walk closely to the Lord in communion with God, we will be in a good state of soul. But if we are careless and indifferent to the claims of Christ in our lives and live at a distance from Him practically, our state of soul will be poor. Needless to say, our state will have an effect on our walk.
The practical exhortations in the epistles having to do with our state are based on our standing in Christ. For instance, Colossians 3:9-10 says, “Lie not to one another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him.” The fact that we have put off the old man and have put on the new (which has to do with our standing) should exercise us about not lying to one another—since what is true of our standing should be also true of our state. Hence, while our standing in grace before God is unalterable, our spiritual state of soul may fluctuate, depending on how we walk.
In Philippians 4:11, Paul spoke of being “content” in “whatsoever state” that he was in. We must not misunderstand what he was saying in this verse. He was not referring to his spiritual state, but rather, to his temporal state—that is, the possessing of material goods or having a lack thereof. Paul would never encourage contentedness with a low spiritual state.
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As mentioned, in studying the various subjects of Scripture, we must take care to be “rightly dividing the Word” (2 Tim. 2:15). With each subject that we look at we must distinguish what pertains to our standing and what pertains to our state. If we do not take note of this, we will get confused very quickly. We may be led to think that the Bible contradicts itself. The following are a few examples:
Perfection—Hebrews 10:14 says that Christ’s work on the cross has made us “perfected forever.” But Hebrews 13:20-21 Says that God is seeking to make the believer “perfect”—thus indicating that believers are not presently perfect! This seems contradictory, but when we understand that the former text refers to our standing and the latter text to our state, the problem is solved.
Holiness—In Colossians 3:12, believers are said to be “holy and beloved,” but in 1 Peter 1:16, we are exhorted: “Be ye holy.” Again, these passages may seem to conflict with each other, but when we understand the distinction between standing and state, we see that there is no contradiction. The first passage applies to our standing, and the latter to our state.
Acceptance—In Ephesians 1:6, the believer is said to be “accepted in the Beloved,” but in 2 Corinthians 5:9 we are told that we are to “labour” that “we may be accepted of Him.” Again, these things are not a contradiction; the first has to do with our standing and the second has to do with our state.
Sanctification—In 1 Corinthians 1:2, believers are said to be “sanctified in Christ,” but in 2 Timothy 2:21 we are told that if we separate ourselves from vessels to dishonour, we will be “sanctified.” The former refers to our standing and the latter has to do with our state.
Salvation—In Acts 16:31 we are told to “believe” on the Lord Jesus Christ to be “saved,” but in Philippians 2:12, we are told to “work” for our “salvation.” Are we to believe to get salvation or are we to work to get it? Again, the answer lies in understanding that one applies to our standing and the other to our state.
Purgation—In Hebrews 1:3 and 9:14, believers are said to be purged by faith in Christ’s finished work, but in 2 Timothy 2:21, we are to purge ourselves. Again, we have the difference between standing and state.
Dead With Christ—In Romans 6:2, it says that believers are “dead,” but in Romans 8:13 and Colossians 3:5 we are told to “put to death” the evil deeds of the body. Again, this can only be understood through knowing the difference between standing and state.
A person will be hopelessly confused in trying to understand these and many other Biblical topics, which could be included here, if he didn’t know the difference between standing and state.