Belonging to Christ
“A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.”
Today’s Text: Romans 2:17-29 (Living Life Daily Devotional)
A person is not a Christian who is one only outwardly, nor is baptism merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Christian who is one inwardly; and baptism is baptism of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God.
What defines me as a Christian? The very word “Christian” tells me, because that word means “belonging to Christ.” And if I belong to Christ, have I surrendered my life to the One to whom my life belongs?
Can my life belong to both myself and to Christ?
“Slaves” in the ancient times were not like “slaves” as we think of that word today. Slaves in the ancient times actually had some measure of freedom. They could amass wealth and own property. They could save up assets to buy themselves out of slavery. They could redeem themselves, even though they belonged to a master. That is not how we belong to Christ.
Because there is no redeeming ourselves from our slavery to sin. If we think and feel that we are in any way capable of redeeming ourselves from sin through outward acts of religion, then we have no part in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We can acknowledge that our outward acts of religion are gifts from God to point our inner selves to Christ. When our inner selves belong to Christ, there is no reason to discard our religious observances, as long as we know that our religious observances are not what redeem us—as long as we know and confess and teach that it is Christ alone, and Him crucified, resurrected, and returning, who redeems us.
And we can confess that we are weak in our flesh, and that we often need our outward religious observances to guide our inner selves to Christ—as long as we know and confess that our flesh is weak in needing outward religious observances and repent of our idolatry—as long as we know and confess and teach that it is Christ alone, and Him crucified, resurrected, and returning, who redeems us.
For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
— Ephesians 3:14-19
