Articles

Man's True Identity in Christ


By Dr Mark R Kreitzer



Since I trust in Jesus alone and do not trust in any of my own good works, knowing that they are filthy rags, I do not trust in my own good heart, nor my own good intentions, because I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh, for the doing of even one act of righteousness is not in me.

We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all
fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. (Isaiah 64:6)

I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. (Rom 7:18)


THUS since I do not trust even the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus' Name,
AND since my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and perfect obedient
righteousness alone, I am a KINGS'S SON OR DAUGHTER. The GRACE of God is more
than abundant, giving ME both the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.


For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21) - They are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's
righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. (Romans 3:24-25) - If, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. (Romans 5: 17-19)


Because all this is true, I AM IN CHRIST, alive to God.
So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. (Romans 6:11)
I can do ALL THINGS through Christ who strengthens me.
I can do all things in him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)


THEREFORE:
I am joined to Christ by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit who is in me.
Hope does not disappoint us, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit which has been given to us. (Romans 5:5) - You are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God really dwells in you. Any one who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. (Romans 8:9)
- … the renewal in the Holy Spirit, which he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Saviour. (Titus 3:6)
For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body - Jews or Greeks, slaves or free - and all were made to drink of one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:13)

I am in the Spirit, a new regenerate man, and I am no longer in the flesh.
You are not in the flesh, you are in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God really dwells in you. (Romans 8:9)

I am dead and risen with Him, free from slavery to sin, from the law, and my old self.
We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no
longer be enslaved to sin. (Romans 6:6) - If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the universe, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? (Colossians 2:20) - If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:1-3)

I am seated with Him on the throne of the Father, far above all demonic powers and will come again with Him in glory.
… that you may know what is the immeasurable greatness of his power in us who believe, according to the working of his great might which he accomplished in Christ when he raised him from the dead and made him sit at his right hand in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 1:19-20)
- Even when we were dead through our trespasses God made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:5-6)
- If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:1-4)


I am a SAVED sinner, no longer the old person I once was.
The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And I am the foremost of sinners.
- We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. (Romans 6:6)
- Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old nature with its practices and have put on the new nature, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. (Colossians 3:9-10)

I am a saint, a set apart and holy one since Christ is in me.
Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brethren who are with me greet you. (Philippians 4:21)
- To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours. (1 Corinthians 1:2)
- 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. (Colossians 1:27)


I am a child of my Father, a beloved son of God.
To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God. (John 1:12)
- See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. (1 John 3:1) - All who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. (Romans 8:14)


I am no longer darkness but light in the Lord.
For once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light. (Ephesians 5:8)

I am predestined, chosen, and dearly loved by the Father.
Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are called, beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ. (Jude 1)
- To all God's beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints: Grace to you and peace
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 1:7)
- For those whom God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren. And those whom he predestined he also called; and those whom he called he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified. (Romans 8:29-30)
- Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience. (Colossians 3:12)


I am justified, credited as obedient and righteous because of Christ.
They are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:24)
- If, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Then as one man's trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one man's act of righteousness leads to acquittal and life for all men. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man's obedience many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:17-19)


I am not condemned or accused, for God does not motivate me with guilt.
There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)
- Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies; who is to condemn? Is it Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us? (Romans 8:33-34)


I am accepted in the beloved.
Praise to his glorious grace which God freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. (Ephesians 1:6)


I am washed clean, sanctified, and justified.
You are clean, but not all of you. (John 13:10) - You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. (1 Cor. 6:11)
- Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for a sincere love of the brethren, love one another earnestly from the heart. You have been born anew, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God. (1Pet. 1:22-23)


I am significant, created as the image of God, not to be cursed by men.
With the tongue we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the likeness of God.
(James 3:9)
- God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created
them. 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 air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth. (Genesis 1:27-28)
- See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called the children of God; and
so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. (1 John 3:1)


I am valuable, more so than all the creatures.
Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows…
Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! (Luke 12:7, 24; Matthew 10:30-31) - Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! (Matthew 12:12)


I am blessed with everything I need spiritually and materially.
He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him? (Romans 8:32)
- Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual
blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. (Ephesians 1:3)


NOTHING but NOTHING shall ever separate me from the love of God, the Father, in King Jesus my Lord.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or
nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, "For thy sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-39)



All Bible quotes are from the Revised Standard Version
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