What it Means to be In Christ

Rick Terletzky
Nov 17
3 min read

Colossians 2:9-15

[9] For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, [10] and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. [11] In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, [12] having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead. [13] And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, [14] by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. [15] He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

After warning the Church of Colossae not to fall victim to persuasive teaching which lowered Jesus’ authority to anything but God incarnate, Paul takes a moment to let the reality of who Jesus is breathe in his letter. If Jesus is the fullness of God with us, then there is nothing more the Colossians need to find to be made fulfilled. And that goes for us, too.

Jesus is not a messenger or representative of God. He is not a look-alike or a doppelganger. Jesus isn’t even an artist’s projected portrait of what God may be like. Every aspect, every character of God was whole in Christ. All of God’s goodness, all of God’s holiness was completely present in Jesus. This is because, while Jesus is the visible image of our God, who we cannot see, He is still truly God. Becoming human didn’t make Him any less part of the Trinity. He humbled Himself by setting His glory aside, becoming a Creator placed within His own creation. He took our sins and placed them on Himself. He removed our consequences by fulfilling them on the cross. He emptied Himself; however, none of this made Him less. In fact, because of who Jesus is, all of God with us, He had the power to overcome the finality of death - not just for Himself but for all who put their trust in Him.

Jesus does not just have authority; He oversees it. By Him, Jesus has triumphed in a way that we could not in our own lives. He has brought us out of the chains of death by marking and changing our hearts for Him. He decreed it and carried out the decree Himself. No other had the necessary rule to bring such a transformation and desire for God in us. Our desire was bound to death until the Lord, over the outcome of death, worked within us.

Being filled in Christ is not being diligent to spiritual disciplines (praying, reading your Bible, being the Church). These are a response to being a new creation, not what forms it. “In Christ” means that you now have life because of Him. Through the presence of His Spirit dwelling with us, we relationally discover every aspect of ourselves impacted by His power and marked by His triumph.