IN CHRIST or IN THE LORD

 IN CHRIST or IN THE LORD?

The term "in Christ" is used 68 times in the NT and it is an "affirmational" truth according to Bob Mumford. While "in the Lord" is used 42 times in the NT, and is what he calls "aspirational" which requires some effort on our part, or in other words it is "behavioral" in nature. "In Christ" is a "gift" from God and is completely "by grace through faith", and not by any works of ours (Eph 2:8-10), so be well aware of this fact! While "in the Lord" can be understood from (Matt 7:21-23), where we see many people who call Jesus "Lord! Lord!" but Jesus will reply to them "I never knew you, get away from me you who break God's heart". (NLT) So I think these two scripture passages show clearly the difference between the separate meanings of these phrases. I have read the scriptures for many years, and have heard many sermons preached, but have never understood the difference between these two expressions until I saw Bob teaching this truth on You Tube yesterday. This only made me more aware of the fact that we can often think we understand what certain scripture passages mean, but miss the true meaning by a mile, so to speak. So we all need to read scripture more carefully, and listen to certain people who are proven "teachers" who have been "called" by God to that position in the "Body of Christ" like Bob Mumford has been.

 

One thing I have learned in my some 50 years of being involved in various denominational churches is how easily I can think I know the true meaning of a certain Bible truth, but have the wrong basic concept, based on incomplete teaching. I have no trouble believing that the complete Bible is God's Word from cover to cover, but I have often been led astray by believing certain church "doctrines" that I was taught as being based on Bible truth, only to find out they were based on some man's understanding of some scripture passage. This could very well have been only a theory based on his interpretation of a certain scripture passage taken out of context. This is often what happened with certain doctrines that perhaps sounded good to certain church leaders, and before long they were accepted by whole denominations. I have found this to be true in several cases, which has caused me to use extra caution about any so-called "new teaching". Several NT authors have warned us to beware of "many" false teachers that will show up in our "churches" in these later days. So I take it from that fact that we all need to be careful and know who we are listening to and following. It certainly pays to be extremely cautious!!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer                                                                                  27/04/03