The Mystery of Christ in You

(Colossians 1:27-29)

One of the greatest mysteries in the world is the mystery of Christ in you.

Paul speaks about this mystery in various places, but what he also says is that although this was a mystery in the times prior to Christ, the mystery of Christ in you has now been revealed. We are in a place where God is revealing the mystery of Christ in you as we look to Christ and learn how to walk in His ways.

Today, let us look into this mystery and try to unravel what Paul is speaking about here…just a little.

The Mystery of Christ in You

Before we start let us look at the words of the scriptures under review.

27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, striving with all the energy which he mightily inspires within me. (Colossians 1:27-29)

There are a number of points in these few verses, but the mystery of Christ in you is the overriding thing to consider.

Prior to the coming of Christ, the best that could be achieved for mankind was to follow the laws of God and receive the forgiveness for sin offered under the regime of blood sacrifices offered according to the laws of Moses. This was an imperfect system because in the law there was always the reminder of sin. The law was constantly reminding people that they were sinners and there was no escaping the law.

But then when Christ appeared, He offered a better way that was separate from the law and the need for regular blood sacrifices.

Furthermore, under the teachings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the New Covenant came the ability for Christ to be formed in us. This is part and parcel of the mystery of Christ in you, where the fullness of Jesus Christ is being formed within us.

We are told about this in the following scripture:

11 And his gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the cunning of men, by their craftiness in deceitful wiles. (Ephesians 4:11-14)

In these words we see that God has given the ministry gifts to the church for the purpose of bringing the people in the church to maturity in Jesus Christ. And we see the revelation of the mystery of Christ in you as attaining the “unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

So the purpose of the ministry gifts is to train and teach ALL of the people of God so that Christ is formed in us and we grow into maturity in Jesus Christ.

What is maturity in Christ?

The scriptures above tell us that we are to be mature Christians and to be mature in Jesus Christ, but what is this maturity? What does it look like?

The essence of maturity in Jesus Christ is that we are no longer slaves to the passions of our flesh and driven by the lusts and desires that drive all of humanity, but are walking as Christ walked. And that means that we must become perfect as Christ was perfect. In fact we are told that we must be perfect in the scriptures.

You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:48)

And;

Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)

But no human is able to achieve that place by themselves. Something or someone that is imperfect cannot make themselves perfect because they don’t know what perfection is.

That is why the Lord has sent the Holy Spirit to help us because the Spirit is perfect and it is the job of the Holy Spirit to transform us into the place of perfection. This is how the mystery of Christ in you comes to be, and we see this in the following scripture.

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

It is by the working of the Spirit in us that we are being changed into the likeness of Jesus Christ and transformed into His image, which is perfection. And it is by the working of the Holy Spirit that our mind is being renewed and transformed so that our thoughts are no longer driven by human passions, but by the things of the Holy Spirit. We are learning how to set our minds on the things of the Spirit that lead to life rather than the things of the flesh that lead to death, as we are told in Romans 8:5-7.

But as the scripture in 2 Corinthians 3:18 tells us, this is not an overnight change. We are being transformed from one degree of glory to another. This is a walk of inches, not mighty bounds in seven-league boots as mentioned in many old fairy tales. The Holy Spirit does this work of transformation in us over time, as we learn more and grow more into the nature of Jesus Christ. It is a long journey, but one that all Christians must follow if they are to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ.

When Christ is fully formed in a person, that is when the nature of Christ resides fully in a person, then they will be perfect as He is perfect.

How long will it take? Nobody really knows and there is an indication that very few will attain perfection in this lifetime.

In fact there is only one group of people described in the Bible who will achieve this perfection in their lifetime. They are described as being holy as Christ is holy, and they walk as He walked. This group is the 144,000 mentioned in the book of Revelation. It appears that they are also the little flock that Jesus mentions in Luke 12:32 to whom the Father will give the kingdom.

Does this mean no-one else will be saved because they aren’t perfected in Christ?

Absolutely not! Revelation also speaks about a huge group of people numbering myriads upon myriads who will be saved. And we could consider the thief who was put to death with Jesus and repented moments before dying. He was accepted by Jesus but had not even had the chance to start walking with Christ or be perfected in Him.

This is the mystery of Christ in you. This work of transformation where the nature of Christ is being formed in you so that you can walk as He walked. The mystery is completed by the working of the Holy Spirit and depends on a number of other things happening as well. Foe example, we must repent, have faith, be baptised into the death of Jesus and understand what baptism REALLY is all about, which I have written about many times in this blog. We must receive the Holy Spirit and learn to walk in the Spirit to take our thoughts captive to obey Christ. And we must continue to learn and grow in Christ.

In time the process will be complete, but that will be in the Lord’s time and we don’t know when it will occur. Until then we need to keep moving forward with Him and not allow the issues of this world and the darkness of this world overtake us.

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