alive in Christ – Sons of Issachar

Mike Parsons

Some are in Christ and some are not? I personally don’t believe that because everyone’s in Christ through the resurrection.

Everyone was born from above, so everyone’s included in Christ. That might have been true before the cross, but post-cross, everyone is now in Christ and everyone has been born from above. I don’t see that there are those who aren’t. There are those who don’t know they’re in Christ and wouldn’t go to the Father because they don’t realise their position as sons of God, and there are those who do have that revelation.

Limited atonement

From my perspective, what Jesus did on the cross was reconciling the whole cosmos to himself, not just some. That view is a limited atonement view, or an Arminian view, where only those who accept what Jesus has done are born again after they accept it. This is an old covenant, works-based mentality rather than a grace mentality. Essentially, what Jesus did was reconcile the cosmos to himself, which did not require us to do anything. He did it all; he finished the work before we had to do anything.

When Jesus breathed into the disciples, they were representative of that resurrected, born-from-above, new creation. The reality is most people haven’t realised it yet. I don’t believe in an evangelical view of salvation, where we do something and then we’re saved. I believe we’ve been saved and we realise that we’re already saved; otherwise, it’s works-based.

I don’t believe that only those in Christ are saved, assuming they’re outside of Christ. I would say only those who know they’re in Christ would access the Father. If you didn’t know you were in Christ, you wouldn’t access the Father, would you? It may just be semantics, but I would say that is coming from a very evangelical perspective of “get born again when you pray a prayer,” whereas I would say no, you might pray a prayer that brings a realisation of what you already are, but it doesn’t happen after you do something. It’s already happened when Jesus did what he did.

Who we actually are

Before the cross, there were all sorts of people who were not following God. Although God hasn’t changed, and the Father hasn’t changed towards his creation and towards all people, Jesus came to rescue us or restore our ability to know who we actually are. We lost that ability through walking in independence, which affected who we really are. Jesus came to unveil and reveal who we really are so we can know that. In Corinthians, it says that you can’t really understand anything spiritually unless it’s in the spirit. If our spirit was dead, how would we ever come to a point where we wanted to accept Jesus? But if our spirit is alive and able to enter into that relationship that God has already provided for us, then it comes after realisation.

In an evangelical view, salvation is based on what we do and then God does something if we do something. I believe God’s already done it; the work’s already finished, and we enter into what has already been done by realisation of that. I don’t believe some are in Christ and some are outside of Christ: some know they’re in Christ, and some don’t know they’re in Christ.

Mike Parsons

When Jesus came, at that point all were spiritually dead in Adam. He represented not only the Jewish people but all mankind, taking away the sins of the world (Greek kosmos) through His death and resurrection. When He went into the grave, we went with him, as He overcame sin (lost identity) and death. In John 14 Jesus speaks of ‘preparing a place’ which refers to preparation for a marriage relationship (and is not about going to heaven to build mansions for us) so that we can be in Him and He in us.

“On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I in you.” John 14:20).

The cross and the resurrection, coupled with the Holy Spirit’s coming, marked the birth from above for all mankind: the new creation – the one new man in Christ, where there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile. The gospel is announcing that Jesus, through His death, overcame sin (our lost identity) and death, bringing life and immortality. The good news is the reconciliation of the entire cosmos to God, where all sins are forgiven and death loses its sting. This reconciliation, described in Colossians, encompasses all things through the blood of the cross.

…that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:19).
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross (Colossians 1:19-20).

Top takeaway:

Cosmic Redemption Through the Cross: Colossians 1:20 reveals the cosmic significance of Christ’s finished work. All things were created through Him and for Him, and reconciliation has been achieved for all creation through the blood of the cross.