“AS He is, so are we in this world,” “We are in Him that is true” (1 John 4:1717Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. (1 John 4:17); vs. 20). Nothing in any measure short of this could avail. The man who is not in Christ is in his sins. There is no middle ground. You must either be in Christ or out of Him. There is no such thing as being partly in Christ. If there is a single hair-breadth between you and Christ, you are in an actual state of wrath and condemnation. But, on the other hand, if you are in Him, then are you “as He is” before God, and so accounted in the presence of infinite holiness. Such is the plain teaching of the Word of God. “Ye are complete in Him”― “accepted in the Beloved” “members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.” “He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit” (1 Cor. 6:1717But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:17); Eph. 1:6, 5:30; Col. 2:1010And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: (Colossians 2:10)). Now, it is not possible that the Head can be in one degree of acceptance and the members in another. No; the Head and the members are one. God counts them one and, therefore, they are one. This truth is at once the ground of the loftiest confidence and of the most profound humility. It imparts the fullest assurance of “boldness in the day of judgment,” inasmuch as it is not possible that aught can be laid, to the charge of Him with Whom we are united. It imparts the deep sense of our own nothingness, inasmuch as our union with Christ is founded upon reaching the end of all hope in man according to the flesh, and the utter abolition of all his claims and pretensions.
Since, therefore, the Head and the members are viewed in the same position of infinite favor-and acceptance before God, it is perfectly evident that all the members stand in one acceptance, in one salvation, in one life, in one righteousness. There are no degrees in justification. The babe in Christ stands in the same justification as the saint of fifty years’ experience. The one is “in Christ,” and so is the other; and this, as it is the only ground of life, so it is the only ground of justification. There are not two kinds of life, neither are there two kinds of justification. No doubt there are various measures of enjoyment of this justification― various degrees in the knowledge of its fullness and extent—various degrees in the ability to exhibit its powers upon the heart and life; and these things are frequently confounded with the justification itself, which, as being divine, is necessarily eternal, absolute, unvarying, entirely unaffected by the fluctuation of human feeling and experience.
But, further, there is no such thing as progress in justification. The believer is not more justified today than he was yesterday; nor will he be more justified tomorrow than he is today; yea, a soul who is “in Christ Jesus” is as completely justified as if he were before the throne. He is “complete in Christ.” He is “as” Christ. He is, on Christ’s own authority, “clean every whit” (John 8:1010When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? (John 8:10)). What more could he be at this side of the glory? He may, and—if he walks in the Spirit—will, make progress in the sense and enjoyment of this glorious reality; but; as to the thing itself, the moment, by the power of the Holy Ghost, he believed the Gospel, he passed from a positive state of unrighteousness and condemnation into a positive state of righteousness and acceptance. C. H. M.