Who Am I in Christ?
Biblical Passages to Reflect On
I am a Child of God (John 1:12)
“But
to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children
of God.”
I am Part of the True Vine, a
Channel of Christ’s Life (John 15:1,5)
“‘I
am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener…Yes, I am the vine; you
are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much
fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.’”
I am Chosen and Appointed by
Christ to Bear His Fruit as He Works Through me (John 15:16)
“‘You
didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit,
so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.’”
I am a Slave of Righteousness
(Romans 6:18)
“Now
you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous
living.”
I am Enslaved to God (Romans
6:22)
“But
now you are free from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you
do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life.”
I am a Son of God; God is
Spiritually my Father (Romans 8:14-15; Galatians 3:26; 4:6)
“For
all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. So you have not
received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s
Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, ‘Abba,
Father.’”
“For
you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus”
“And
because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our
hearts, prompting us to call out, ‘Abba, Father.’”
I am a Joint Heir with
Christ, Sharing His Inheritance with Him (Romans 8:17; Galatians 4:6-7)
“And
since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we
are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share
his suffering.”
“And
because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our
hearts, prompting us to call out, ‘Abba, Father.’ Now you are no longer a slave
but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his
heir.”
I am a Temple—a Dwelling
Place—of God. His Spirit and His Life Dwell in me (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19-20)
“Don’t
you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit
of God lives in you?”
“Don’t
you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you
and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought
you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.”
I am United to the Lord and
am One Spirit with Him (1 Corinthians 6:17)
“But
the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.”
I am a Member of Christ’s
Body (1 Corinthians 12:27; Ephesians 5:30)
“All
of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.”
“And
we are members of his body.”
I am a New Creation (2
Corinthians 5:17)
“This
means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life
is gone; a new life has begun!”
I am Reconciled to God and am
a Minister of Reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-19)
“And
all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ.
And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was
in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins
against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.”
I am a Saint (1 Corinthians
1:3; Ephesians 1:1; Philippians 1:1; Colossians 1:2)
“May
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.”
“This
letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ
Jesus. I am writing to God’s holy people in Ephesus, who are faithful
followers of Christ Jesus.”
“This
letter is from Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus. I am writing to all of
God’s holy people in Philippi who belong to Christ Jesus, including the
elders and deacons.”
“We
are writing to God’s holy people in the city of Colosse, who are faithful
brothers and sisters in Christ. May God our Father give you grace and
peace.”
I am God’s Workmanship—His
Handiwork—Born Anew in Christ to do His Work (Ephesians 2:10)
“For
we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do
the good things he planned for us long ago.”
I am a Fellow Citizen with
the Rest of God’s Family (Ephesians 2:19)
“So
now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners. You are citizens along
with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s family.”
I am Righteous and Holy
(Ephesians 4:24)
“Put
on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.”
I am a Citizen of Heaven,
Seated in Heaven Right Now (Ephesians 2:6; Philippians 3:20)
“For
he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the
heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.”
“But
we are citizens of heaven, where the Lord Jesus Christ lives. And we are
eagerly waiting for him to return as our Savior.”
I am Hidden with Christ in
God (Colossians 3:3)
“For
you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God.”
I am an Expression of the
Life of Christ Because He is my Life (Colossians 3:4)
“And
when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will
share in all his glory.”
I am Chosen of God, Holy and
Dearly Loved (Colossians 3:12; 1 Thessalonians 1:4)
“Since
God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with
tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.”
“We
know, dear brothers and sisters, that God loves you and has chosen you to
be his own people.”
I am a Son of Light and not
of Darkness (1 Thessalonians 5:5)
“For
you are all children of the light and of the day; we don’t belong to darkness
and night.”
I am a Holy Partaker of a
Heavenly Calling (Hebrews 3:1)
“And
so, dear brothers and sisters who belong to God and are partners with
those called to heaven, think carefully about this Jesus whom we declare to be
God’s messenger and High Priest.”
I am a Partaker of Christ; I
Share in His Life (Hebrews 3:14)
“For
if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first
believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.”
I am One of God’s Living
Stones, Being Built up in Christ as a Spiritual House (1 Peter 2:5)
“And
you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s
more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you
offer spiritual sacrifices that please God.”
I am a Member of a Chosen
Generation, a Royal Priesthood, a Holy Nation, a People for God’s Own
Possession (1 Peter 2:9-10)
“But
you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal
priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can
show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his
wonderful light. ‘Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s
people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.’”
I am an Alien and Stranger to
This World in Which I Temporarily Live (1 Peter 2:11)
“Dear
friends, I warn you as ‘temporary residents and foreigners’ to keep away from
worldly desires that wage war against your very souls.”
I am an Enemy of the Devil (1
Peter 5:8)
“Stay
alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a
roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.”
I am a Child of God, and I
will Resemble Christ When He Returns (1 John 3:1-2)
“See
how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is
what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we
are God’s children because they don’t know him. Dear friends, we are
already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when
Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as
he really is.”
I am Born of God, and the
Evil One—the devil—Cannot Touch me (1 John 5:18)
“We
know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds
them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them.”
By the Grace of God, I am
what I am (1 Corinthians 15:10)
“But
whatever I am now, it is all because God poured out his special favor on me—and
not without results. For I have worked harder than any of the other apostles;
yet it was not I but God who was working through me by his grace.”
I Have Been
Justified—Completely Forgiven and Made Righteous (Romans 5:1)
“Therefore,
since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God
because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.”
I Died with Christ and Died
to the Power of Sin’s Rule Over Life (Romans 6:1-6)
“Well
then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his
wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we
continue to live in it? Or have you forgotten that when we were joined
with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and
were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead
by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives. Since we
have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he
was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that
sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.”
I am Free Forever from
Condemnation (Romans 8:1)
“So
now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.”
I Have Been Placed Into
Christ by God’s Doing (1 Corinthians 1:30)
“God
has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom
itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed
us from sin.”
I Have Received the Spirit of
God Into my Life that I Might Know the Things Freely Given to me by God (1
Corinthians 2:12)
“And
we have received God’s Spirit (not the world’s spirit), so we can know the
wonderful things God has freely given us.”
I Have Been Given the Mind of
Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16)
“For,
‘Who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?’ But we
understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.”
I Have Been Bought with a
Price; I am not my Own; I Belong to God (1 Corinthians 6:19-20)
“Don’t
you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you
and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought
you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.”
I Have Been Established,
Anointed and Sealed by God in Christ, and I Have Been Given the Holy Spirit as
a Pledge Guaranteeing Our Inheritance to Come (1 Corinthians 1:21; Ephesians
1:13-14)
“Since
God in his wisdom saw to it that the world would never know him through human
wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe.”
“And
now you Gentiles have also heard the truth, the Good News that God saves you.
And when you believed in Christ, he identified you as his own by giving
you the Holy Spirit, whom he promised long ago. The Spirit is God’s
guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised and that he has
purchased us to be his own people. He did this so we would praise and glorify
him.”
Since I Have Died, I no
Longer Live for Myself, but for Christ. I Have Been Made Right with God the
Father through Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21)
“For
God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that
we could be made right with God through Christ.”
I Have Been Crucified with
Christ and it is no Longer I who Live, but Christ Lives in me. The Life I am
now Living is Christ’s Life (Galatians 2:20)
“My
old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but
Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of
God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
I Have Been Blessed with
Every Spiritual Blessing (Ephesians 1:3)
“All
praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with
every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with
Christ.”
I was Chosen in Christ Before
the Foundation of the World to be Holy and ma Without Blame Before Him
(Ephesians 1:4)
“Even
before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and
without fault in his eyes.”
God Foreknew, Therefore, He
Predestined me—Determined by Him—to be Adopted as His Child (Ephesians 1:5)
“God
decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself
through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great
pleasure.”
I Have Been Redeemed and
Forgiven, and I am a Recipient of His Lavish Grace (Ephesians 1:7)
“He
is so rich in kindness and grace that he purchased our freedom with the blood
of his Son and forgave our sins.”
I Have Been Made Alive
Together with Christ (Ephesians 2:4-5)
“But
God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were
dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead.
(It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!)”
I Have Been Raised up and
Seated with Christ in Heaven (Ephesians 2:6)
“For
he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the
heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.”
I Have Direct Access to God
Through the Spirit (Ephesians 2:18)
“Now
all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what
Christ has done for us.”
I may Approach God with
Boldness, Freedom, and Confidence (Ephesians 3:12)
“Because
of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently
into God’s presence.”
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