Feeling Christ within Us
Written by Guy M. Richard |
Saturday, April 20, 2024
Instead of looking for perfection, we should be looking for any desire to pray, any desire to meditate, and any desire to obey—however small. We should look for conviction when we fall short too. Is there any remorse in regard to your prayerlessness or lack of attention to Scripture or to obedience? If so, be encouraged. These kinds of things are impossible without the Spirit of Christ, because apart from Christ no one will ever want anything to do with God in any way (see Rom. 3:10ff).
I want you to picture the scene: a pastor is meeting with a member of his congregation who has come to him seeking his counsel. The member has been struggling with assurance of salvation and is asking the pastor for help. The question uppermost in this member’s mind is, “How can I know for sure that God is for me and not against me?”
The scene is not unusual. Pastors get asked these kinds of questions all the time. The struggle for assurance is undoubtedly one of the most persistent struggles that many Christians will face in their lifetimes. But what would you say if I told you that the pastor in this scenario responded by saying, “The key to knowing whether or not God is for you is to feel Christ inside of you”? How would you respond if you were the one sitting in the pastor’s office, and this is the counsel you received? Many people that I know would be tempted to get up and walk out. Feelings are fallible. They can easily mislead us, and, oftentimes, they do. So, why would any faithful pastor direct his church members to feel anything within themselves?
Surprising as it may be, however, this is precisely the counsel that John Calvin—of all people—gives in his commentary on Ephesians 5. After devoting significant time and energy to unpacking the doctrine of union with Christ, Calvin quite unexpectedly says: “Let us therefore labour more to feel Christ living in us, than to discover the nature of [our union with Him].” It’s a statement that comes out of left field, as least it does for me. I cannot recall another place, off the top of my head, where Calvin speaks of feeling anything much less of feeling Christ within us. Quite simply, Calvin is not known for his “touchy-feely” demeanor, convictions, or counsel. This statement sounds more like what we would hear from a pastor or ministry leader in the 21st century than in the 16th century. What is Calvin trying to say here? And what does it mean to “labour…to feel Christ living in us”?
What is Calvin saying?
The first thing that Calvin has in mind here is the mysterious nature of our union with Christ. It is “mysterious” not because we don’t know anything at all about it but because, as AA Hodge once said, “it so far transcends all the analogies of earthly relationships, in the intimacy of its connection, in the transforming power of its influence, and in the excellence of its consequences.” Rather than seeking to understand how Christ is “in us” or what it really means, we should instead, according to Calvin, focus upon other things that are less mysterious. And Calvin believes that feeling Christ within us is at least one of things that qualifies.
The second idea that Calvin has in mind in encouraging us to feel Christ within us is the fruitfulness of our union with Him. When the apostle Paul says that “Christ in [us]” is “the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27), he is highlighting the transformation that union with Christ produces within every believer. To have Jesus within us is to have something that we didn’t have before: namely, hope. That hope represents an experiential change within the believer; it is something that we can see and feel, generally speaking. Every Christian may well undergo seasons in which that hope is veiled, but that should be the exception rather than the rule. Being a Christian means having Christ within us, and having Christ within us means that we have hope.
Paul speaks more explicitly about the transformation we experience in Romans 8:9-11, which says:
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
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The Main Character
The prayer is Psalm 72 was unanswered for centuries, until the birth of “Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1). Jesus fulfills Adam’s mission, is right now blessing the nations through His death and resurrection, has applied the law to our hearts through His new covenant, and has already begun a heavenly reign which will one day meet no opposition and no end.
The Bible is one story, a single plot that unfolds through a series of covenants God made with Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David—all of which point towards, and are fulfilled in, the New Covenant in Christ.
There are many passages of Scripture that we could draw on in order to demonstrate this key idea, but recently I’ve been struck at how Psalm 72 pulls everything together so well.
The Psalm’s title is “Of Solomon,” and the opening request is “Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the royal son!” (Psalm 72:1). These words recall God’s promise to David that “I will raise up your offspring after you… and I will establish his kingdom” (2 Samuel 7:12). In fact, much of the Psalm could be described as a prayer from David’s heir that God would keep the promises of the Davidic covenant (found in 2 Samuel 7).
But that’s not all. The Psalm also envisions Israel’s king as an inheriting the charge given to Adam and Eve to “have dominion” over the earth. “And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” (Genesis 1:28).
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We Can Always Trust Our Word-Keeping God
Because of what Christ has done for us, we desire to image and reflect him in the words we say. We want to think before we speak and consider the consequences of what would happen if we don’t keep our word (Prov. 29:20, James 1:19) We desire to follow through on the words we say and apologize when we let someone down. We hesitate to make commitments we know we can’t keep. If we know we can’t follow through on our promises, we refrain from making them.
Have you ever had someone tell you they would do something for you and then fail to deliver? Perhaps it was a co-worker upon whose work you depended, and when he didn’t follow through, you were left hanging with more work to do. Maybe it was a friend who many times in the past told you, “Let’s meet for coffee.” Yet, every time you initiate a meet-up, she can never commit. Or maybe someone in your family promised multiple times to work with you on a project, and it still lies there unfinished.
Whatever the commitment, when someone commits to something and doesn’t follow through—doesn’t keep their word—we are left disappointed. In some situations, it may leave us in a difficult situation. Or worse. When people let us down multiple times, we begin to question and distrust the things they say. Often, we find ourselves depending on that person less and less.
In my own life, I’ve certainly experienced this. I’ve expected friends, family, or co-workers to follow through on something they promised and felt let down when they didn’t. I felt disappointed. I was left burdened. In some cases, it created a barrier in my relationship with that person. Trust was broken—one of the hardest things in life to rebuild.
Thankfully, we have a word-keeping God.
For those who have been hurt or let down by those who have not kept their word, there is good news. There is one who will never fail to keep his word. There is one we can always trust to fulfill his promises: our word-keeping God.
God only has to speak and worlds come into being (Gen. 1:1). His word is powerful; even the wind and rain respond to his command (Mark 4:39). His word never returns void; it always accomplishes his purposes for it (Isa. 55:11). He makes promises and never fails to keep them.
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More on the PCA Standing Judicial Case Regarding Missouri Presbytery and Greg Johnson
The Standing Judicial Commission (SJC), the highest judicatory of the Presbyterian Church in America, rendered a decision on October 21, 2021, that Missouri Presbytery did not violate the investigation requirements of the Book of Church Order and did not err when it declined to process allegations against TE Greg Johnson.
The judgment answered the complaint that arose out of Missouri Presbytery which alleged that TE Johnson 1) “denies that same-sex-attraction is sinful,” 2) “compromises and dishonors his identity in Christ by self-identifying as a same-sex-attracted man,” 3) “denies God’s purpose and power to sanctify SSA [same-sex-attracted] believers,” and 4) “cannot meet the biblical ‘above reproach’ qualification for the eldership.”
The SJC voted 16-7 to deny the Complaint in TE Ryan Speck vs. Missouri Presbytery (SJC 2021-12).
Subsequently, the seven dissenting SJC members filed a Dissent on October 31, 2021.
The SJC Operating Manual allows the SJC to answer dissents. The SJC answered the Dissent here.
In addition, there were two Concurring Opinions, which can be read here and here.
