Theosis

 

Written to the Facebook Group called  Catholics versus Protestants .

 Jesus arrived to face two groups like this group.  This group is similar but only in some ways to Sadducees and Pharisees . But two groups they were .
This is how serious the stakes are . If we don't build a complete Tower or conduct a whole army campaign and not just one battle,  guess what happens? There's a time window and it is also the same with every move of God .

What happens , what Jesus warned has actually happened.  For example Russian Orthodox buildings and Christians were cast into the road and trodden under foot . Richard Wurmbrand tells of a priest  crucified against a prison wall.

The Sadducees and Pharisees carried on arguing to the end of the gospels but every word they uttered was totally irrelevant because through prophetic Word Jesus instigated the changeover that was to occur after the resurrection , the ascension and the outpouring of the Spirit .

We dont need to know what both groups were arguing about because 70 AD happened and both were now irrelevant, if non existent.

The gospel of Christ ,like Noahs Boat of salvation , like the Patriarch package, like the three Tabernacle /Temple areas, like the three Jewish  Feasts .....is a 1 John 2 , three stage of growth affair.

The Means by which third level happens is in part the eating and drinking of the Body and Blood of Christ . It has many layers to it , and one is being an all day Romans 12.1 avatar for God to use .

We aren't just Book of Ezra people , we are Book of  Nehemiah people taking Jesus in us as us in our forms into the City . And thats an easy sentence to write but Jesus who arrived pure worked on maintaining that walk  by faith and jettisoning Genesis 3 in his family,  village and nation for some 30 years until grounded .....all without the new priesthood anointing of baptism in the Spirit

It was 30 to 40 years ago we received the thirdlevel message and Brian Coatney , Fred Pruitt , Bill Bower, the Rogersons ( who particularly organised the 80s conferences) DeeDee Winter , Sylvia Pearce , and countless more have been believing upon this Word . The land of appearances lies completely, as it did for the Son of God . Nobody looking at this bloody pulp would think " wow I must grow mature in God and experience prospering and health in my life and body ."
So none of us bringing in this mature message particularly look the part .
Its not a New message.  The Orthodox Church call it Theosis . Catholics burned the one God called to bring this message , Madam Jeanne Guyon 400 years ago . Its held Catholics up for centuries.
Presumably Catholics have repented for what thdy did to God in this woman .
Jesus first words to Saul were " Why are you persecuting Me ?" So unless the whole church has recognised they burned Jesus, I dont think there will be any moving on into the completion of the  church.  Just as Jews make many advances , but they are actually going disastrously wrong in a lot if the things they think are wise to do .
The root of their wrongdoing was only ever faced on the birth day of the supernatural ecclesia of Jesus Christ , by the first Jews who joined the New Covenant .

To even allow Catholics to pronounce the spell of Protestants or Non Conformist is meaningless.
Neither Protestants nor Catholics preach John 3 and John 4.
Ephesians 4 indicates ministry is a fairly rapid thing . Not so Protestants or Catholics .
The majority sit and die in the same pews or similar pews in their later places of work .

Jesus took 42 months to reproduce Himseld in the disciples.
Now we have all three foundations,  its still taking a painfully long time to get anywhere,  and this is because the Church grows everybody.  This is also clear in Ephesians 4.
We have just spent 1700 years totally bound by the  false notion that this new entity called living  ecclesia is run by a solo priest,  a solo vicar or a solo pastor like Bill Johnson and Rodney Howard Browne .

Well the world are heehawing at the unfinished Tower and so Jesus next words seem moments away.
He will have a people living Christ and not arguing hot air on a digital platform.
You have so far declined 4 posts of mine,  so Im copying this and putting it on my profile anyway . And possibly my 5.4 million times read blog .

Justin Paul Abraham - Theosis

 

Three Assertions - by John Stevens

Some interesting things have been happening to John Stevens over the years since Christine and I met him at Exeter University. Not least various events last year. I've been trying to get his thoughts onto here for a while. Here they are: that Christianity has split into schisms,but that all is not lost...but in fact if anything finding itself again, that there is a state best functionally described as evangelical atheism , and that Christianity isn't so much about being saved from....but saved in order to....


The three assertions
1. It’s difficult to lose things
2. Evangelical atheism is alive and well
3. The aim of Christianity is not so much to populate heaven but to populate the earth with the sons of God

Roughly translated number one is concerned with unexpectedly stumbling across hidden treasure; number two is to do with real spirituality replacing false notions of doctrine; and number three? Number three almost speaks for itself.

It’s difficult to lose things.

Jesus said ‘for nothing is secret that will not be revealed, nor anything hidden that will not be known and come to the light’.


I love these ‘Confucious says’ type aphorisms. My hunch is that they express universal spiritual truth that is blindingly obvious to anyone with an ear to hear and that Jesus applied these truths to the many contexts that he was immersed in. It cuts both ways. On the one hand the hidden (evil) leaven of the Pharisees would eventually come to light in the grotesque manner in which they rid themselves of that inconvenient and dangerous Jewish upstart, Jesus, and on the other hand the gospel - a minority pursuit in 1st Century Israel would also come to light and transform the lives of countless individuals and civilisations.

The truth is that I often lose things temporarily quite often. After the blissful ignorance of the loss is shattered frustration and frantic searching set in and threaten to overwhelm me as I search desperately for my keys, or my diary, or...well it’s usually my keys or diary. It doesn’t take long before I find my whole being is pouring out prayers to God to help me find ‘it’ ‘after all Lord, You know where it is and, by the way, I’m sorry for being a clot – again. Have mercy...please’. In direct proportion to the anguish and reminder of personal weakness is the sheer joy on finding the lost item. Smiles, sometimes tears, certainly woops, and probably impromptu dancing all tumble out and life it seems can begin again.

In 1054 the church finally split in what has been known as The Great Schism. Jerusalem had long been replaced by three great centres of Christian leadership; Alexandria (in the West), Rome (in the middle), and Constantinople (representing the east). The great split – which some say would have occurred anyway due the increasingly different geographies, language, political persuasions and cultures at play – divided the church into two halves; Alexandria and Rome in the Catholic west and Constantinople in the Orthodox East.

So deep has this schism been that each ‘church’ has, over time, developed its theology in different directions. My assertion is that some of the good news landed up in the East and some in the West and there has been a mutual sense of loss. But Jesus said there is nothing hidden that shall not be revealed – and I believe Him. Perhaps our blissful state of ignorance of what we’ve lost is about to experience a jolt?

One of the criticisms of the East of the West is that the Western version of Christianity – meaning, at the time, the Bishops who looked to Rome - bases its theology largely on reason and thus exalted the mind above the heart. Symptomatic of this approach, says the East, is the appeal to Greek philosophy and in particular the philosopher Aristotle 384 BC – 322 BC.

Thomas Aquinas 1225–1274AD lived near Rome at the time when Aristotelean literature became freely available in Latin. Aquinas’ influence on western civilization cannot be underestimated. He was known as a teacher and philosopher and – despite the overthrow of the Aristotlean geocentric universe in the 16th Century - Pope Benedict XV 1854 – 1922 declared that ‘The Church has declared Thomas' doctrines to be her own’ and to this day they are used in the preparation of the Catholic priesthood. Fifty years after his death he was canonized as St Thomas Aquinas.

Aquinas developed much of his theology from St Augustine of Hippo. The Orthodox Church, for example, has a high regard for St Augustine of Hippo (354–430AD) as does the western Catholic and Protestant church. St Augustine is considered by the Roman Catholic Church as a saint and a great theologian; in the East he is considered to be a saint but not a theologian!

A theologian in the east is someone who demonstrably ‘knows God’ through direct spiritual experience and engagement with the divine – called ‘theoria’ - whilst in the west a theologian’s personal experience of God is not considered to be important at all, simply his or her ability to make sense of spiritual and biblical interpretation.

You’ll search in vain, for example, for an Eastern Orthodox commentary on Romans that explains salvation in terms of a forensic courtroom scene between
God the righteous judge and the guilty sinner in the dock awaiting the intervention of Christ to take His punishment so that the judge can pronounce the verdict ‘Not guilty. Justified and acquitted’.

In the West the emphasis to explain salvation is to ask ‘saved from what?’, in the East it is far more ‘saved for what?’.

Late in Thomas Aquinas’ life he had a direct experience of God. He said the effect of this experience was for him to realise that all his work had been like ‘straw’ alluding to 1 Cor3v12,13 ‘if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become manifest for the Day will declare it, it will be revealed by fire’. As a consequence Aquinas dedicated the final two years of his life to the reconciliation between East and West but died two months before he had a chance to attend the Council called in May 1274 to attempt this reconciliation.

Watchman Nee (Normal Christian Life p150f)

speaks of one of the consequences of Adam eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil as leaving man inheriting an ‘over developed soul’. So fallen man is left to attempt to live a life from the soul rather than, as has been made possible through Christ, from the life of His Son. (Chris has written fairly extensively about the in-built deception in this soul-living as if man can live without spiritual power and how fallen man, in fact, ‘walks according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience’ Eph 2 v 2)

James A Fowler (http://www.christinyou.net/pages/3divineonenesses.html) has written an extensive examination of Christ in us and Christ as us in the light of the Eastern Orthodox doctrine of ‘Theosis’; otherwise translated as ‘divinisation’ or ‘deification’. His article will go far further than this little jab or provocation to realise that what perhaps was lost in the great schism cannot be lost forever.

God regularly allows us in our fallibility to lose things. There is something deeply human and therefore deeply divine in the joy of finding the lost. It is beyond emotion. It contradicts systematic searching – often a waste of time – and, like running out of petrol, it is often when we have spent the last drops of our own will that the wretched and beautiful lost object reveals itself. If God is opening our eyes to see what has been hidden by western theologians (and here I include Catholic and Protestant together) let it be. God will do what Aquinas could do not.

Theosis directs our attention to seeing ourselves as a living temple in whom God lives; and as Jesus Christ was 100% human and 100% God so, in Christ, God has come to dwell in us. To say more is to drift from the point of assertion one that God will bring to light all that is hidden. It’s the way things are.

ps If you are after a shorter version of James A Fowler’s article maybe start with the October 2008 Christianity Today article ‘Keeping the End in View’ by James R. Payton Jr. To quote: ‘Orthodox understanding of theosis reminds us that salvation is less about what we get than about what God gets. It is about his purposes being accomplished in us’


Evangelical Atheism

The strangest things can become quite appealing. This is one. I’m using the word ‘evangelical’ not to describe unemotional, grey suited, black-bibled church goers. Nor am I restricting the definition to those who believe in the infallibility of scripture or, indeed, ‘sola scripture’. Contained in those five syllables are those who are rejoicing in Christ and the salvation he has procured for them through His death and resurrection. You’re the guilty one and God has had mercy on you and declared you acquitted and justified. The charges levelled at you have been dropped; nailed to the cross in fact. Christ has taken the punishment you deserved and you are free to go. And this is wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! I can barely sing the following verses without falling apart at the seams:


And can it be that I should gain
an interest in the Savior's blood!
Died he for me? who caused his pain!
For me? who him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be
that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be
that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?


No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in him, is mine;
alive in him, my living Head,
and clothed in righteousness divine,
bold I approach the eternal throne,
and claim the crown, through Christ my own.
Bold I approach the eternal throne,
and claim the crown, through Christ my own.

But, good as this is, this is also where the deepest trouble begins. This forgiven sinner, free to exit the courtroom, declared an innocent and justified man, is forgiven but not changed. If that is all that Christianity is then we are right to use language like ‘forgiven sinners’ for that is what we are. Many have lived lives so transformed by this wonderful salvation that maybe this is what it’s all about. In gratitude for this amazing love the forgiven sinner amends his ways and sets about life with new determination to do x, y, z. But this is a form of atheism. Not atheism in a philosophical sense declaring that there is no God, but living a life, full of thanks to God for salvation but now left with the human task to ‘work out his salvation with fear and trembling ‘.

There may well be teaching given to enable the believer to see that he has received the free gift of righteousness and or eternal life. But essentially the ministry of the church is complete, the gospel has been preached and the sinner has believed, has received the grace of God and all is well. But all is not well because God is a wind, He’s an oil, He’s Spirit, He’s alive. He cannot be detached from His righteousness, or His eternal life, or His holiness.

The evangelical atheist is a believer who has never drunk of the Spirit, never realised that the widow’s pot is to be filled with oil, or that the cross and resurrection has led to some fundamental change for the believer. No longer a slave to sin but a son. No longer a sinner in Adam but a new creation in Christ. And if a son then an heir a co-heir of...let’s leave that for a moment...but a co-heir with Christ.

Through Christ dying for us we receive the contents of the Will and Testament, the New Covenant, we have become co-heirs with Christ. What do we receive? What’s in the Will?

‘The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of GOD and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him that we may also be glorified with Him together’ Rom 8 v 16,17.

We receive God Himself. We really do. This is what is taught in the Eastern Orthodox Church under the banner of ‘theosis’ hence the emphasis on experience rather than analysis and comprehension.

Is this right brain v left brain? Both are good but those of us in the west must realise that our discomfort (i.e. rumbling that rationality is insufficient in spiritual matters) is divine and that we need all that is in Christ not just the ‘western portion of Him’ if you can forgive that crude description.

And this goes for Pentecostal, Charismatic believers who now have the Holy Spirit poured into a cup that still hasn’t been fundamentally changed. Maybe you’ve had a baptism in the Holy Spirit experience and you speak in tongues. That is wonderful. Maybe your life is forever changed and you have a greater expectation of God doing all manner of amazing things. And that is good. But deep down, under the robes of righteousness, you’re still wondering whether anything has really changed or whether underneath it all there is still a ‘forgiven sinner’ i.e a sinner who has been ‘covered’ with the blood of the Lamb but only to ‘hide’ the sinner. There has been no real change. This thought is there and you battle with it. On Monday you think it’s from the devil and so you ignore it. On Tuesday you think it’s gone and you get a fresh filling anyway so the thought recedes. But on Wednesday it’s back and you’re questioning your sanity and you suppress the thought. (If this is you, by the way, God loves you – you know that. Understand that the question is not entirely from ‘you’ as if you are independent from God. The question has come from deep down and the fact that you’re asking it is an indication that the Holy Spirit is leading you into the truth as Jesus said he would. Be encouraged!).

And this also applies to ‘Christ in you as you’ believers. The thing is not only that we rejoice in all that Christ has done but that we live in the now experience of the grace of God, the continual outpouring of His grace to us, through us, and as us in the world.

Galatians 2 v 20 is familiar territory but it goes on to say ‘and I do not set aside the grace of God’. We may know we have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives within me’ but, in reality, shut the door. All the while God is encouraging us – who have read the manual and understood it – ‘come on My son, you can do it, walk in My Spirit, see I am pouring out my grace on you today just as I did with Jesus. Listen to Him. ‘I do nothing of Myself’. He knew that before He did His first miracle. He did this every day. Now it’s your turn.’

Let me tell you I struggle with this. I am as forgetful with spiritual things as with material things. I look at my bank account and I think that is the amount of money I have and forget that it’s not mine. I teach Chemistry and the Laws of Physics knowing but forgetting the greater reality that enabled Jesus to walk on the water. I make plans in my head and ignore the small voice saying ‘phone Louise’. And then I remember that God is not there to answer my prayers but to teach me to live like Jesus, as Jesus in this world and everything changes. My heart is open and I know that glory and suffering are my meat and drink. I’m walking in the Spirit.


Populating the earth

God, perhaps to our surprise, is very keen on reproduction. It’s programmed into our DNA literally and, if you want to keep soul and nucleic acids apart, our psyche. But the real truth ultimately is spiritual in nature and to do with abundance and life. Fruitfulness is written into the fabric of biblical revelation from Genesis to Revelation. It starts with man eating fruit and ends with the same: ‘the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month’ Rev 22v2.

Jesus said ‘Most assuredly I say to you unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies it remains alone but if it dies it produces much grain’ John 12v 23.

This perspective on the purpose of His own death takes us beyond understanding the crucifixion as solely a substitutionary or representative death. Here, the clues scattered about scripture and under our own noses, find their fulfilment in Christ.

Place one apple seed in the ground.
The seed has to die. If you hadn’t thought about it the seed contains the nutrients for the new plant to get its initial food as it grows under the ground making its way inevitably to the surface. The seed that is placed in the ground is not dead. It may look dead but it is – in homage to Monty Python – dormant! It is resting. Whilst it’s in the ground it is alive but in its dying and eventual death it brings forth new life. And that life is genetically identical to the life in the seed.

How does this translate to Christ and us? Jesus the seed dies on the cross and the life of Jesus is reproduced in us. Just as the life of the new apple tree is derived entirely from the life contained in the tree so us. We are a new apple tree and our life is the life of the Son. This is great. God has achieved His eternal purpose in Christ to bring forth sons; a race of men united with His Son whose life is the life of the Son. But perhaps there’s something more?

Commenting on the Parable of the Tares Jesus says: ‘He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one, the enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is at the end of the age and the reapers are the angels’ Matt 13v36.

The picture here is of the sons of God being sown into the earth. Just like Jesus. Seeds are sown under the soil so we can look again at John 12 - with a twist. Jesus’ whole life was a form of dying. His death on the cross was the finality of that death and the guarantee of the resurrection as with a normal seed. The same is true for us. It is true that God has made us His sons in Christ. And this is wonderful. But it is with this dual purpose for suffering and for glory; the one contingent upon the other. We have the same DNA as Jesus – I speak metaphorically of course.

If we grasp this we can read 2 Corinthians in particular with a few Amens. I could quote many verses in 2Corinthians that deal with this but two are sufficient to turn everything upside down:

‘...we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death to death, and to the other the aroma of life to life ‘ 2v15,16.

Many commentators assume that Paul inverted the order; death to death for the unsaved and life to life for the saved, but not so. Paul’s perspective throughout 2Corinthians is ‘dying’ that others – those being saved - may have life.

He continues:

‘we are...always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our body...so then death is working in us but life in you’ 2Cor4v10,12.

If we see salvation mostly in terms of a substitutionary sacrifice we will be full of gratefulness but left with some bothersome questions about sanctification and discipleship. We will be plagued with the thought that the ‘old man’ is still alive and kicking and needing improvement which becomes for us a life-long and hopeless pursuit of sanctification and holiness. We will be waiting to go to heaven where at last all the rubbish will have finally dealt with and we have finally escaped and be home with the Lord. We may have various experiences of God including baptisms of the Holy Spirit but questions remain.

If we realise that we were included in the crucifixion and are now found in Christ as a new creation, a ‘son of God’, part of a new race in Christ we are rejoicing that Christ not only forgave our sins but dealt with our sin by our crucifixion with Christ then we see Christianity differently: as an exchanged life. The life of the Son is now our life. We walk in this world as a copy of Jesus Christ; a living temple with God in the temple. We become partakers of the divine nature. We don’t become God but God makes us His sons and lives in us. Our experience of God tallies with our theology.

Now we understand that God’s purpose is not simply to populate heaven but to sow His sons now in this age in the Earth. We who share in His life now live as Him. We now are grains of wheat. And one way or another we experience death; ‘the dying of the Lord Jesus’ as Paul puts it.

Like Jesus we don’t go looking for suffering, neither do we embrace it cheerfully. Remember Jesus’ anguish as He prayed great drops of blood ‘if it is possible take this cup away from Me. Nevertheless...’. Paul equally writes: ‘for we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of our trouble in Asia that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life...that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead...’.

Isaiah 53 prophesied of Jesus that he would pour Himself unto death. Paul said echoed this in two places:
‘I am being poured out as a drink offering’ (Philippians 2:17)
‘I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure is at hand..’ (2 Timothy 4:6

In conclusion

I’ve tried to capture the process going on in me.

Assertion One: revelation, greater understanding
Assertion Two: a calling to true spirituality
Assertion Three: ‘ooo-er’.

Christ in us - Christ as us - Christ through us - By James A. Fowler

Christ in us;Christ as us;Christ through us A study of the subjective indwelling of Christ in the Christian individual.©2001 by James A. Fowler.
All rights reserved.You are free to download this article provided it remains intact without alteration. You are also free to transmit this article and quote this article provided that proper citation of authorship is included.Printable PDF available Home Theological Articles
ACW - One of the most thorough and informative overviews of material relating to this blog. If this subject was purely a matter of left-brain understanding, most rational people would be sold on the ideas at the end of this article. Sadly or happily, the revelation of Christ is something that effects internal changes. If you don't want to know these things by internal decision, then your left-brain can come up with plenty of reasons for obstructing your understanding. It's a master at it. Ever since figleaves became a way of life in the Garden. But again I say happily....God's ways of working Himself into us are so varied and so tailormade to our individual personalities and life histories, that the reality of Christ birthed in us is more powerful yet, and extremely obvious to those who have anything to do with us...much more beautiful than some kind of parrot-fashion learning from a blogscript.And much more original in its subsequent outworkings.Please join with me in thanking both Merrill Thompson and Nancy Gilmore for both passing this on ,on Facebook.
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CHRIST IN US; CHRIST AS US; CHRIST THROUGH US

The history of Christian theology reveals that there has been far more written about the believer's being "in Christ" than has been written about Christ being present and active in, as, and through the Christian. This is to be expected, in part, because there are far more references in the New Testament to our being "in Christ" than there are to Christ being "in us." But the paucity of emphasis and literature on Christ's internal action in the Christian individual can also be attributed to prevailing emphases within the two major subdivisions of the Western Church.

Roman Catholic theology has traditionally taught the infused grace of God in the continuing work of Christ, whereby the empowering energy of God is granted to the Christian in order to live righteously. The primary emphasis of Roman theology has not been on the subjective spiritual reality of Christ in individual Christians, however, but on the collective and corporate realities of Christ's work in the ecclesiastical community of the Roman Church. Those in the church of Rome are regarded to be "in Christ," and there is no salvation apart from the holy Roman Church. To apply Roman Catholic emphases to the phrases of this study: Christ is in us collectively, for He is in His Body, the Church catholic. Christ is expressed as us collectively, for He expresses Himself as the holy Roman Church. Christ is expressed through us collectively whenever the Catholic Church acts. This collective and corporate emphasis of the Roman church has diminished emphasis on the personal and subjective action of Christ in the Christian individual.In Protestant theology the dearth of emphasis on the subjective presence and activity of Christ in the Christian individual has often not only been the result of an over-collectivized emphasis on Christ's contemporary ecclesiastical action (as in the Roman Catholic Church), but even more so the result of an over-objectified understanding of Christ's work.

Reacting against the Roman emphasis on subjectively infused grace, the Reformers reverted to an almost exclusively objectified reference to redemptive realities that are external and outside of the Christian believer. Protestant theology has traditionally taught the historically objectified acts of Christ in His death, burial, resurrection and ascension for us, i.e. on our behalf. In so doing Christ is also said to have died, rose, and ascended as us ­ as our representative substitute, doing so vicariously in our place. Christ's historical actions become personally efficacious for us when we respond by faith (sola fide) and Christ assumes our place as us before the heavenly Judge, whereupon the Divine Judge pardons and forgives our sins on the basis of Christ's historically objective actions. In this forensic and juridical framework, God the Judge legally imputes the benefits of Christ's righteousness to the Christian, declares we are in right standing with Him, and promises a full inheritance of benefits in the future in heaven. All of this action of Christ is outside of ­ external to ­ the believer.D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote: "Justification makes no actual change in us; it is a declaration of God concerning us."1 Louis Berkhof explained that both Luther and Calvin describe justification "as a forensic act which does not change the inner life of man but only the judicial relationship in which he stands to God."2 Anglo-Catholic, E. L. Mascall, notes that "justification has been envisaged as simply an act of God by which man is accounted righteous without any ontological change being made in him."3 Louis Bouyer, a French Reformed theologian who became Roman Catholic, lamented, "It was apparently impossible for Protestant theology to agree that God could put something in man that became in fact his own, and that at the same time the gift remained the possession of the Giver. That amounts to saying that there can be no real relation between God and man."4 These quotations serve to verify that the over-objectification of Protestant theology in general has effectively deterred teaching of the personal and subjective action of Christ in the Christian individual.

A study of the subjective presence and action of the living Lord Jesus in us, as us, and through us is, therefore, outside of the pale of most traditional Western Christian theological teaching, for it runs counter to Protestant over-objectification and Catholic over-collectivization.

It is important to acknowledge, though, that there have been individuals and groups throughout Christian history (some affiliated with both Catholic and Protestant communities, while others were independent of either) that have given due emphasis to the internal presence and action of the living Lord Jesus in the Christian individual. They have often been labeled as "mystics" or "heretics", or both, and many of them paid with their lives for non-conformity to the prevailing and acceptable theological opinions. So, beware ­ this study may be dangerous to your health!

Prior to considering the subjective presence and action of Christ in, as, and through the Christian individual, it will serve us well to establish some parameters of historic Christian thought that should serve as safeguards against rampant subjectivism that does not remain grounded in Biblical tradition. Here are seven (7) proposed tenets of Christian teaching that should not be impinged upon by any consideration of the subjective indwelling and function of Christ in the Christian:
(1) The monotheistic distinction of the Creator God and the creation/creature.
(2) The Trinitarian unity of Being and function in the Godhead.
(3) The anthropological responsibility of man to derive spiritually in freedom of choice.
(4) The harmartiological Fall and alienation of man from God in sin.
(Question: "What is Hamartiology?"Answer: Hamartiology is the study of sin. Hamartiology deals with how sin originated, how it affects humanity, and what it will result in after death. To sin essentially means to "miss the mark." We all miss God's mark of righteousness (Romans 3:23). Hamartiology, then, explains why we miss the mark, how we miss the mark, and the consequences of missing the mark. from http://www.gotquestions.org/)
(5) The historical space and time foundation of the Christian gospel.
(6) The Christological singularity of Christ's person and work as Savior and Lord.
(7) The soteriological restoration of humanity in regeneration and sanctification.

The institutional Church, at large, has been fearful that an emphasis on the subjective relationship of Christ and the Christian would impinge upon the basic foundations of Christian thought. But even more than this concern for ideological preservation has been their concern for ecclesiastical preservation. The tendencies to collectivization and objectification in the Western Church have allowed the ecclesiastical authorities to
exercise power,
maintain control,
and "keep a handle on" the Christian enterprise.
To allow the grace of God to function freely and subjectively in Christian individuals has been eschewed as a "risky business," allowing for too much individualism, too much subjectivism, and too much personal freedom.The "good news" of the Christian gospel is that God in Christ is reinvested and restored in, as, and through the receptive Christian individual.

The objective of the gospel is not to formulate an orthodox belief-system, nor to construct and maintain an ecclesiastical organization.

The Spirit of Christ is free to express the character of Christ in novel and spontaneous ways in each Christian, and that unto the glory of God. The Holy Spirit must not be imprisoned in church structures, encased in book-interpretations, or relegated only to a judicial courtroom in the heavens. The Spirit of the living Christ is present in the Christian, existing as the identity of the Christian, and functioning to express Himself through the Christian. The documentation of these realities is the objective of this article.
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Christ in us

Despite the attempts of Protestantism to objectify the benefits of Christ's work in an almost paranoid aversion to anything other than "alien righteousness," there have been evangelical Christians throughout the ages who have understood that the Person and work of Jesus Christ must not be only extrinsically applied, but that the living Person and activity of Christ indwells the spirit of the Christian. This fundamental reality of Christ's actual and spiritual presence within the Christian individual is so well-attested by direct New Testament references that those who "search the Scriptures" and are receptive to spiritual reality invariably recognize the indwelling presence of the living Christ.

Jesus Himself explained that He would give another Helper, the Spirit of truth, and His disciples would know that they were in Him, and He was in them (John 14:20). In His prayer for unity Jesus explained that He would be in His followers as God the Father was in Him, the Son (John 17:23).The Apostle Paul clearly noted that the mystery of the gospel is "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27). He asked the Corinthians, "Do you not recognize that Jesus Christ is in you?" (II Cor. 13:5), unless you are not a Christian. The essential reality that constitutes being a Christian is the indwelling presence of the Spirit of Christ. "If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him" (Rom. 8:9), i.e. is not a Christian. Continuing his explanation to the Romans, Paul wrote, "If Christ is in you,...the spirit is alive because of righteousness. If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you" (Rom. 8:10,11). The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, dwells in the Christian (cf. John 14:17; Rom. 8:9-11; I Cor. 6:19; II Tim. 1:14; James 4:5), and "bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God" (Rom. 8:16).The presence of Christ by His Spirit in the Christian is the presence of Himself as spiritual life in the individual. Christ is life. "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6), He told His disciples. There can be no spiritual life apart from His presence. Any reference to the Christian having "eternal life" must be understood by the presence of the One who is life. "He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life" (I John 5:12). There is no possession of spiritual life apart from the Person who is life. There is no spiritual benefit apart from the presence of the divine Being of God in Christ. There is no salvation apart from the indwelling presence and activity of the risen and living Saviour.Christian teaching has long referred to "spiritual regeneration," but because of its differing theological biases it has often inadequately indicated what this means.
To be regenerated is to be "brought into being again" by the reception of divine life in the spirit of an individual.
"That which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6). Being "born again" or "born from above" (John 3:3,7) in "new birth" necessarily implies that the personified life of the Spirit of Christ comes to dwell in the spirit of an individual who is thus constituted as a Christian.When a person is regenerated a spiritual exchange takes place. The "spirit that works in the sons of disobedience" (Eph. 2:2), "the spirit of error" (I John 4:6), "the spirit of this world" (I Cor. 2:12), is exchanged for the "Spirit of truth" (I John 4:6), the "Spirit of God" (I Cor. 2:11,12), the personified presence of the Spirit of Christ who works in the Christian (cf. Eph. 3:20; Phil. 2:13; Col. 1:29). The living Lord Jesus explained to Paul at the time of his conversion that this spiritual exchange was a "turning from darkness to light, and from the dominion of Satan to God" (Acts 26:18). Regeneration is a spiritual exchange of spiritual personage within the spirit of an individual.When the New Testament Scriptures refer to "Christ in us," the Greek preposition used is en. The primary meaning of this preposition refers to location or place within something. This locative meaning adequately explains the presence of the Spirit of Christ located in the spirit of an individual. A secondary instrumental meaning of the Greek preposition en expands the meaning of "Christ in us," however. Used in this secondary manner the preposition conveys the meaning of "by means of." Jesus Christ located in us is more than a static deposit in a particular place in the individual. The living Spirit of Christ is always the divine dynamic who acts and functions "by means of" us. Hence, we begin to see that "Christ in us" is foundational to "Christ as us" and "Christ through us." When the phrase "Christ in us" is used in the instrumental or causal sense of "Christ by means of us" it begins to anticipate the other phrases, and to merge or meld into the subsequent phrases of this study. This is why "Christ in us" is often employed as a comprehensive phrase to convey Christ's presence and activity in the Christian individual, inclusive of "Christ as us" and "Christ through us", as it can also include "Christ by means of us." The explicit New Testament references to "Christ in us" lend credence to its use as an all-inclusive phrase of Christ's presence and function in the Christian.

That Paul meant more by the phrase "Christ in you" than just locative placement of the presence of Christ becomes apparent when we examine his statement to the Galatians, "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who lives, but Christ lives in me" (Gal. 2:20. Christ is in us, not merely as a deposit of a commodity called "eternal life," but Christ lives in us as the personified and living function of the dynamic of divine life. If, according to Paul, I am no longer living, and Christ is "living in me," then we begin to understand that Christ is living as us.

Christ as us

For some readers this will be a phrase they have not previously encountered in popular Christian literature. They may have heard of "Christ in us" and Christ through us," but not "Christ as us." Admittedly, there is no explicit use of the phrase "Christ as us" in the New Testament, and this makes the phrase suspect in the minds of some Christians. The absence of a direct use of the phrase does not negate its legitimate expression of a Biblical and spiritual concept, however. If that were the case, we would have to deny the use of the words "trinity" and "rapture," for these are words not used in Scripture, but they most certainly express Biblical concepts and are commonly employed in Christian terminology. In like manner, "Christ as us" is a phrase that conveys an important Biblical theme not fully encompassed in the other phrases.As noted above, "Christ in us" refers in its primary meaning to the location and placement of the presence of Christ within the spirit of a receptive individual. In its secondary meaning it refers to "Christ by means of us," but still does not carry with it the connotation of what the believer has become because of the presence and function of Jesus Christ within. Are we merely an occupied spirit-space? Or an invaded spirit-being? Or are we something/someone that we were not before we became a Christian? Did the spiritual exchange create a change in us? When we are regeneratively "brought into being again" are we different than we were previously? Or did we just receive an "eternal life" package by the placement of the Spirit of Christ within the location of our spirit?

The Biblical evidence reveals that the Christian becomes something or someone that he/she was not prior to becoming a Christian. Paul explains that "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things have passed away; behold all things have become new" (II Cor. 5:17). The unregenerate "old man" (Eph. 4:22; Col. 3:9), worthy of death by personal accountability for sin, "has been crucified with Christ" (Rom. 6:6). Now by spiritual regeneration Christians have become a "new man" (Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10) in Christ. Christians are transformed from being "a natural man" (I Cor. 2:14) into being "spiritual men" (I Cor. 3:1. Whereas they once were "children of the devil" (I John 3:10) and "sons of disobedience" (Eph. 2:2; 5:6), they are now "children of God" (John 1:12; Rom. 8:16; I John 3:1,2,10) and "sons of God" (Rom. 8:14,17; II Cor. 6:18; Gal. 3:26; 4:6,7; Heb. 2:10). By the presence and function of Jesus Christ within their spirit, believers are identified as "Christians" (Acts 11:26; I Pet. 4:16), indicating that they are Christ-ones.All of these Biblical expressions and designations evidence the new identity of the one in whom Christ dwells and lives. Regeneration, the indwelling presence of the living Lord Jesus, does have the effect of making a person something that he was not before, a "new creature" with a new identity. Who we are as Christians is based on Who Christ is in us and as us, constituting us as Christ-ones. "Christ as us" is, therefore, a phrase that expresses our new identity in a way that the other phrases cannot convey.Some might object that the "Christ as us" phrase, dealing as it does with identity, is just addressing a psychological need of modern man to have an individualized sense of self-identity, self-image, self-awareness, self-consciousness, self-concept, self-worth, etc. Not so! The phrase is not used to explain a psychological need or phenomenon, but to explain a spiritual reality of the Christian life that has an abundance of Scriptural statements relating to the fact that the Christian has become something and someone that he/she was not previously.

At the very core of our being, in the innermost function of the human spirit, the Christian has become a new person with a new identity.

Psychology deals with the distinctive of our individuality in differing personalities, often referred to as a "perceived sense of identity in the psyche," but the deepest level of identity is always in the spirit of a person, and that in derived association and union with the spiritual being that indwells that person's spirit."Christ as us" refers to our identity as Christians by reason of His real spiritual presence and His being who He is in us. "Christ is our life" (Col. 3:4), and Christians "live together with" (I Thess. 5:10) and "through" (I John 4:9) Him. "Christ has become to us righteousness" (I Cor. 1:30). "We become the righteousness of God in Him" (II Cor. 5:21) when we are "created in righteousness" (Eph. 4:24) as a "new man" and are "made righteous" (Rom. 5:19). As "new creatures in Christ" (II Cor. 5:17), Christians are "created in holiness" (Eph. 4:24) and are "holy and beloved" (Col. 3:12) as "holy ones" or "saints" (cf. Rom. 1:7; 8:27; Eph. 1:18; 4:12). In Christ we are "perfect" (Phil. 3:15) and "sanctified" (Heb. 10:14) as "righteous men made perfect" (Heb. 12:23), for Christ "has become to us wisdom and sanctification" (I Cor. 1:24,30).Jesus Christ becomes the basis of the spiritual identity of the Christian, but we must always understand that this is a derived identity, a derived life, a derived righteousness, holiness and perfection. These are not realities that we have become essentially or inherently in and by ourselves, but only by His presence within us. We are made righteous only because Christ, the "Righteous One" (Acts 3:14; 7:52; 22:14; I John 2:1) dwells and functions in us and as us. Christians are only said to be "holy" and "perfect" because Jesus Christ is the "Holy One" (Acts 3:14; 4:27,30), the One "made perfect forever" (Heb. 7:28), who has become the basis of our derived identity."Christ as us" is another way of referring to the Christian's "union with Christ" which has been a part of Christian understanding from the beginning of the Church. Christian thinkers have often struggled, however, to explain and articulate what Paul meant by his statement that "the one being joined to the Lord is one spirit (with Him)" (I Cor. 6:17). Likewise, they have shied away from Peter's assertion that Christians "have become partakers of divine nature" (II Peter 1:4).

Clinging to the Greek humanistic idea of an inherent "human nature," Christians have often been blinded to the Scriptural explanation that "we were by nature (Greek phusis) children of wrath" (Eph. 2:3) in our unregenerate spiritual condition, when "the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that works in the sons of disobedience" (Eph. 2:2) was indwelling and operative in us, but we are now "partakers of the divine nature (phusis)" (II Pet. 1:4), by the presence and function of "the Spirit of Christ" (Rom. 8:9) within the spirit of the Christian (cf. Rom. 8:16). Being "partakers (koinonoi) of the divine nature" (II Pet. 1:4) and "partakers (metachoi) of Christ" (Heb. 3:14) implies that Christians are participants in Christ, sharing in the commonality of His nature and identity in spiritual union with Him. This participatory fellowship (koinonia) with the living Lord Jesus (I Cor. 1:9), with God the Father (I John 1:3,6), and with the Holy Spirit (Phil. 2:1) indicates a spiritual union with the Triune Godhead.This discussion of the Christian's spiritual identity in "union with Christ" raises a question: Is it legitimate to allow the phrase "Christ as us" to mean "Christ is us"? We have previously noted that Paul wrote "Christ is our life" (Col. 3:4) and "Christ has become to us righteousness" (I Cor. 1:30; II Cor. 5:21). Our explanation has been that Christ is the basis of our new identity as a "new creature" (II Cor. 5:17) and as a "new man" (Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10) in Him. Christ is the essence of who we are as Christ-ones, as Christians; the essence of our spiritual identity. Does this allow, then, for a legitimate usage of the phrase, "Christ is us"? Our logical syllogisms, grammatical phrases, and spiritual understanding must be carefully stated at this point. Though we might say, "Christ is us," in a qualified manner, is this to be interpreted in such a way that the equation can be turned around and stated, "We are Christ" or "I am Christ"? Without qualification such statements would be blasphemous! To claim to be God the Father, God the Son, or God the Holy Spirit is to claim the essence of deity. This violates the monotheistic premise that Who (and what) God is, only God is. To claim to be Christ impinges upon several of the seven (7) foundational tenets of Christian teaching that we noted in the introduction to this study, particularly the monotheistic distinction of the Creator and the creature, the Trinitarian unity of the Godhead, and the Christological singularity of Christ's person and work.

References to "Christ as us" and "Christ is us," and statements like "I am Jesus Christ in John Doe form" must be carefully explained so that any implication of the Christian's being equivalent to Christ is avoided.

These phrases push the limits of the fine-line of demarcation that allows for a valid expression of the Christian's "union with Christ" wherein Christ is expressed as us, and the recognition, on the other hand, that the human individual is always a receptive, contingent and derivative creature distinguished from the essence of the Creator, God.

Previous mention was made to the two major branches of the Western Church, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, and how they have avoided reference to the subjective indwelling of Christ in the Christian individual by the over-collectivization of ecclesiasticism and the over-objectification of a law-based theology.

There is another major segment of the Christian Church at large that has been long neglected by Western Christianity. The Eastern Orthodox Church, which includes the Greek, Russian, Cyprian and Serbian national churches, has a sustained history from the commencement of Christianity. This branch of the Church has traditionally cited the statements of the early church fathers concerning the Christian's participation in the divine nature in ways that make the Western Church very uncomfortable. Here are some examples of such statements:"Our Lord Jesus Christ...became what we are, so that He might bring us to be even what He Himself is." - Irenaeus c. 180 AD 5"The man of God is consequently divine and is already holy. He is God-bearing and God-borne." - Clement of Alexandria c. 195 AD 6"You will be a companion of God, and a co-heir with Christ... For you have become divine... God has promised to bestow these upon you, for you have been deified and begotten unto immortality." - Hippolytus c. 225 AD 7"...from Him there began the union of the divine with the human nature. This was so that the human ­ by communion with the divine ­ might rise to be divine. This not only happened in Jesus, but also in all those who not only believe, but enter upon the life that Jesus taught." - Origen c. 248 AD 8"What man is, Christ was willing to be ­ so that man may also be what Christ is." - Cyprian c. 250 AD 9"God became man so that man might become God." - Athanasius c. 325 AD 10"God has called men 'gods' that are deified of His Grace, not born of His Substance." - Augustine c. 400 AD 11The Eastern Church refers to this participation of the Christian in the divine nature as Theosis or "deification." This is strange-sounding terminology to most Western Christians. Eastern Orthodox theologians are careful to explain, though, that neither the early church fathers nor they are advocating that the Christian becomes God. They qualify "deification" by indicating that it is participation in the "energies" of God's presence and Being, rather than becoming the "essence" of the Being of God. Though they emphasize the intimacy of the union of the Christian with the "divine nature," they maintain at the same time that the creature always remains essentially distinct from God.

They maintain a careful balance of union and distinction.

Protestant evangelicals in the Western Church are reluctantly admitting that the Eastern Orthodox teaching of Theosis or "deification" does not impinge upon the foundational teachings of Christianity, such as the seven (7) basic tenets enumerated in the introduction of this study. Robert M. Bowman, Jr., writing in the Christian Research Journal, states,"It may surprise some to learn that a monotheistic doctrine of deification was taught by many of the church fathers, and is believed by many Christians today, including the entire Eastern Orthodox church. In keeping with monotheism, the Eastern orthodox do not teach that men will literally become 'gods' (which would be polytheism). Rather, as did many of the church fathers, they teach that men are 'deified' in the sense that the Holy Spirit dwells within Christian believers and transforms them into the image of God in Christ... Thus, it should not be argued that anyone who speaks of deification necessarily holds to a heretical view of man. Such a sweeping judgment would condemn many of the early church's greatest theologians (e.g., Athanasius, Augustine), as well as one of the three main branches of historic orthodox Christianity in existence today." 12Alan F. Johnson and Robert Webber, theology professors at Wheaton College, write in their book, What Christians Believe:"The first clearly articulated concept of the application of the work of Christ to the sinful human condition is developed in the East... This view is known as theosis or deification. ...This does not mean, as it may appear on the surface, that humanity shares in the essence of God. Human persons do not become God. Rather, because the work of Christ destroys the powers of evil, we are freed from those powers and able to come into fellowship with God... His redeemed creatures have been given the benefits and privileges of divinity through grace. The state of grace is seen as a state of communion with God, fellowship with the Trinity, a partaking of the divine." 13F. W. Norris, professor at Emmanuel School of Religion, wrote an article entitled "Deification: Consensual and Cogent" in the Scottish Journal of Theology, indicating,"...patristic theologians offered a remarkable view of what Protestants refer to as 'restoration' or 'fellowship'. These theologians ground it in a sense of Christian salvation: theosis or deification. ...No universal Christian consensus demands that one view of salvation includes or excludes all others. 14"Poorly-read Protestants have insisted that the Eastern Orthodox idolatrously make us all little gods or that they think of participation in the divine nature only in physical terms. These charges are false. Orthodox theologians keep deification away from Gnostic or Manichaean speculation, or what we might recognize as the worst aspects of Far Eastern mysticism and now so-called New Age musings." 15"We Christians have the promise of participating in the divine nature. ...Not only Eastern Orthodox but also Western theologians find solace in a sense of deification. Such restoration does not mean that we become God as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are God. Our participation in the divine nature is in God's energies, not the essence, a participation through grace accepted in faith which includes being participants in Christ's sufferings." 16More than any other in the context of recent Protestant evangelicalism, the British missionary statesman and author, Norman P. Grubb, emphasized the truth of Christ as the basis of the Christian's identity. It was the distinctive of his ministry to compel Christians to recognize their spiritual identity in Christ. The titles of his later books reveal this emphasis: Who Am I?17 and Yes I Am18. Grubb was very careful, however, to emphasize that the Christian's spiritual union with Christ did not mean "a relationship of total absorption."19 "The idea that we can be deified ­ that is blasphemy,"20 Grubb wrote. "The essence of idolatry is to claim to be what only God is..."21 "The creature never becomes the Creator."22 "The container never becomes the contents." "We are the creature, He the Creator, neither one becoming the other."23 "Our oneness with Christ does not alter our two-ness."24 "The human spirit...can be the container of the Divine Spirit...and yet not lose its own individuality in so being."25 "The human is forever the human, and the divine the divine."26 In these, and many other ways, Norman Grubb attempted to balance the union and distinction, unity and diversity, oneness and two-ness of the relationship of Christ and the Christian.Having considered some Biblical bases for "union with Christ" and some theological background of how others have explained participation in the divine nature, it will now be beneficial to return to the consideration of the phrase "Christ as us" in order to do a brief grammatical study of the English word "as."

In the English language the word "as" can be employed as an adverb, a conjunction, a preposition, and even as a pronoun.
Adverbially, "as" means "equivalent to" or "the same as." Used adverbially, "Christ as us" would mean "Christ is the same as us" or "Christ is as we are (I am)."
Used as a conjunction, "as" means "in the same manner" or "to the same degree." The "Christ as us" phrase would then mean "Christ, in like manner as us."
Our utilization of the "Christ as us" phrase in this study is primarily considering the word in the prepositional usage, where "as" refers to "function, role or capacity." "Christ serves as the identity of us." "Christ functions as us." "Christ expresses Himself as us." In like manner as the "Christ in us" and "Christ through us" phrases are prepositional, we are using "Christ as us" as a prepositional phrase also."Christ as us" means more than "Christ as if He were us" in an unreal and hypothetical fashion. The "Christ as us" phrase also means more than "Christ, as it were, so to speak, us" in a merely figurative and illustrative analogy. If the "Christ as us" phrase is interpreted as "Christ, represented as us," we must beware of any implications that Christ is just a sign or symbol represented in our lives, or that the Christian is "playing the part" or "taking the place of" Christ. On the other hand, there is legitimacy in the interpretation that "Christ is re-presented as us" in a contemporary manifestation of His life.The meaning of the phrase "Christ as us," as used in this study, can be reduced to two (2) primary prepositional emphases: (1) Christ functioning as us in terms of the identity of our being. (2) Christ functioning as us in terms of the instrumentality of our activity. In other words, (1) Christ expressed ontologically as us. (2) Christ expressed operationally as us.

The first of these has to do with the Being of Christ serving as the basis of the Christian's being and identity.

The second of these has to do with the activity of Christ serving as the basis of the Christian's expression and behavior.

These two aspects of "union with Christ," ontological union and operational union, are integrally united in the unity of God's Being and Action. God's Being is always expressed in His Action, and His Action is always invested with and expressive of His Being. In other words, there can be no detachment or separation in Who God is and what God does. In like manner, our behavior as Christians should be expressive of who we have become in Christ.Our study of "Christ as us" has (to this point) focused primarily on the ontological sense of identity, so we now turn our attention to the operational sense of Christ's functioning as us in behavioral manifestation. Christ operating as us in the expression of Himself will eventually begin to merge into the meaning of "Christ through us," but in order to differentiate the emphases we will reserve the "Christ through us" phrase for the expression of Christ that extends beyond us to others."Christ manifested as us" implies the living reality of the presence of Christ in us, the basis of our new spiritual identity in our union with Christ as us. Christ cannot remain dormant within us as a static deposit of identification. The living Lord Jesus must of necessity express Himself dynamically as who He is in our behavior. The Christian life is not a self-generated expression of moral and ethical behavior that attempts to conform to the example of Christ, and thereby be Christ-like. Rather, the Christian life is the Christ-life, Christ "living in me" (Gal. 2:20), lived out as us. Despite the misconceptions that abound in the religious thinking of many Christians today, the objective of the Christian life is not an imitation of the life of Jesus, but the manifestation of the very life of Jesus. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, "We have this treasure (Christ) in earthen vessels (human bodies), that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves; ...that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our body, ...manifested in our mortal flesh" (II Cor. 4:7,10,11).
The Christian life is not imitation, but manifestation of Jesus as us!
When Christ is expressed as us, manifesting His life and character in our behavior, this creates a unique re-presentation (see above) of Christ's life. Christians are not meant to be carbon copy, cookie-cutter conformists operating in Xerox uniformity. Utilizing our unique individualities and personalities, Christ lives out His life as us. This is accomplished in the spontaneity of allowing Jesus to function and express His character in whatever role or capacity we find ourselves, whether as husband or wife, employer or employee, leader or follower, etc. By faith the Christian allows for the receptivity of His active character expressed as us.Ever since the writings of the early church fathers, many have referred to the active expression of "Christ as us" as the incarnational reality of Christianity. The historical incarnation of Jesus has often been made analogous to the relationship of Christ and the Christian. It has been noted that God was in the man, Jesus (Matt. 1:23; Jn. 17:21), incarnated as the man, Jesus (Jn. 1:14; Phil. 2:7-11), and acting through the man, Jesus (Jn. 14:10; Acts 2:22).

The Christological incarnation of the Son of God is not identical, however, to the expression of "Christ as us." The incarnation of the Word of God involved the hypostatic union of God and man unified in one person, who was the singular mediator between God and man (I Tim. 2:5) as the God-man. Whenever the idea of incarnation is applied to Christians it must be in a generalized sense of the life and activity of the living Lord Jesus embodied "in us" and enfleshed "as us" as we functionally express Christ's life. This does not invalidate references to the contemporary incarnational expression of "Christ as us," but does reveal the necessity of always recognizing the difference between Christ's incarnation and the incarnational expression of Christ's life in our behavior. (ACW We are at the end of the day, as Wendy Wilbraham shares : just ordinary rather shrivelled looking branches on His all incorporating Vine.No one remembers the branches, but they remember the fruit that came from the branches!)
The process of allowing for the expression of Christ's life in our behavior is called "sanctification." To be sanctified is not to achieve a sanctimonious piety by particular religious disciplines or by peculiar conformity of dress and behavior. To be sanctified is, rather, to allow Jesus, the Holy One (Acts 3:14; 4:27,30), who lives in us as the basis of our new spiritual identity to express His Holy character in the actions of our behavior. Thus, we are set apart to function as God intended, expressing His Holy character "in spirit and soul and body" (I Thess. 5:23).A verse often cited to document "Christ's function as us" is found in John's first epistle. In the context of referring to God's love being perfected, i.e. brought to its intended end in expression towards others, John writes, "As He is, so are we in this world" (I Jn. 4:17). The contextual meaning seems to be that "just as (kathos) Christ is the functional expression of God's love to others (mankind - cf. Jn. 3:16), so also we (Christians) are the functionally expressive agents of God's love within the world of mankind where we live." John's underlying assumption is that "Christ as us" (identity) will express God's divine love "as us" (activity) in consistent expression of the character of God (which is the primary thrust of John's epistle). This verse does refer to "Christ's function as us" in expressing God's love, but should not be wrenched from its context to mean "as Christ is in His essential Being, so we are in our essential being."Christ functions as us by actually and actively living His life in us (Gal. 2:20). Christians are "saved by His life" (Rom. 5:10), and set free to function as God intended and as God energizes. Controlled and "filled with His Spirit" (Eph. 5:18), Christians manifest the "fruit of the Spirit" (Gal. 5:22,23), "the fruit of righteousness" (Eph. 5:9; Phil. 1:11; Heb. 12:11), which is the character of Christ. Again, this is not a character that Christians generate or actuate from their own energies and "works," but Christian character is only and always derived from Christ. Christians allow for the outworking of Christ's activity to which they are receptive in faith (James 2:17-26), engaging in "good works which were prepared beforehand that they should walk in them" (Eph. 2:10) as God "works in them that which is pleasing in His sight" (Heb. 13:21). Only by "Christ's function as us" do we "live godly in Christ Jesus" (II Tim. 3:12), to the glory of God (I Cor. 10:31; II Cor. 3:18; I Pet. 4:11), which is the purpose for which we were created (cf. Isa. 43:7).

Christ through us

Jesus Christ functionally expressing His life as us necessarily merges into an understanding of "Christ through us." As previously explained, the operational union of Christ as us, expressing His life and character through our behavior, was addressed in the previous section, whereas Christ functioning through us in extension to other persons will be the focus of our explanation here. These concepts are obviously integrated and should not be made into rigid categories or definitions. Much of our explanation of Christ's operational function as us could just as well have been explained as Christ's functional expression through us."Having noted how the character of Christ is expressed in Christian behavior by "the fruit of the Spirit" (Gal. 5:22,23), we now note that the ministry of Christ is performed through us by the "gifts of the Spirit" (cf. Rom. 12; I Cor. 12; Eph. 4:8-16). The "fruit of the Spirit" has to do with the functional expression of the character of Christ, while the "gifts of the Spirit" have to do with the ministry of Christ to others in the context of the Body of Christ. It is most lamentable that in many portions of the Church today the "gifts of the Spirit" are regarded as marks of spirituality or trophies of spiritual possession, rather than as the means of Christ's ministry through Christians. The "gifts of the Spirit" should not be viewed as separated or detached entities or abilities, but only as the functional grace-expressions by which Christ ministers through any Christian in a given situation of another's need. (cf. Fowler, Charismata: the so-called "Spiritual Gifts")The ministry activity of Jesus Christ during His historical, earthly ministry was accomplished as "the man Christ Jesus" (I Tim. 2:5) was the "man attested by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him" (Acts 2:22). Jesus carefully explained that He did nothing of His own initiative (Jn. 5:19,30; 8:28; 12:49; 14:10), but declared, "the Father abiding in Me does His works" (Jn. 14:10). How did Jesus do what He did in His earthly ministry? Even the "miracles and wonders and signs" were what "God performed through Him."Doctor Luke later writes that "the multitude were listening to Barnabas and Paul as they were relating what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles" (Acts 15:12). In like manner as Jesus ministered by being receptive to God's activity through Him, the apostles ministered in supernatural ways as God functioned through them. Writing to the Romans, Paul explained, "I do not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles by word and deed, in the power of signs and wonders, in the power of the Spirit" (Rom. 15:18,19). This is obviously a very explicit reference to Christ's function through the Christian.The Greek word used in these references just cited is the Greek preposition dia which has a primary and direct meaning of procession through an object, place, or person. It often conveys the meaning of extension through that goes beyond and out from the object, place, or person. This idea of extension beyond ourselves unto others is important in the understanding of "Christ through us" as Christians. A secondary, instrumental meaning of dia is "by means of, which allows the word to have the same secondary meaning as the Greek preposition en, revealing that these prepositions tend to overlap one another in meaning and must not be treated with rigid precision.The presence and function of the living Jesus in, as, and through the Christian is not for the purpose or objective of making us spiritually bloated "knowers," full of pride in our alleged "spirituality" and what we "know" as Gnostic elitists. The only thing, the only One, we know is Him, Jesus Christ, in an ontological knowing of relational intimacy, rather than an epistemological knowledge of data that merely puffs us up in arrogance (I Cor. 8:1). The One we know is Jesus. Jesus is God (John 10:30). God is love (I John 4:8,16). God as love is a Self who has no needs and exists only for others, expressing Himself in grace and love and givingness. Therefore, when Jesus functions in us, and as us, and through us, He is always expressing Himself in grace and love for others.In the Epistle to the Hebrews it is written, "Christ always lives to make intercession..." (Heb. 7:25), for His is a permanent priesthood (Heb. 7:24). In that case, He must live in us, and as us, and through us to make intercession for others.

Christians have long advocated "intercessory prayer" for others, but seldom have they considered what it means to engage in "intercessory lives" or "intercessory ministry" for others.
(ACW In the period since beginning blog comments on Dan Bowen's site, right through this blog I have not got around to this essential difference in how intercession is viewed in the 3rd level or Father level. Up until now, first in a renewed baptist church in Amersham, through an Ed Miller/Jorge Pradas Independent charismatic church, through to Morris Cerullo conferences in the 90s, intercession was a type of meeting, or at most, a concentration of prayer, maybe for a period, together with fasting, individually or in the context of a local Body, or collective local bodies.
But the usage in Rees Howells Intercessor written by Norman Grubb, and subsequently by Norman himself, was as Spirit projects to be gained in faith by laying down your life in various ways to achieve them. By the time of Norman's last book "Yes I am" this was taken a step further, as we saw the falsity of the concept of the "Independent self" position, and that from hence forth everything was to be seen from the light of "Christ as Us". From now on it was seeing how Christ was gaining intercessions by us as a natural outworking of His Life in us.
The first usage of the word conjures up pictures of me and Rob Rufus in the early 80s, fasting for long periods, intensifying prayer activities with "various methods". As Rob Rufus recently referred to in one of his podcasts, he has become singularly unimpressed by "all nights of prayer" with psyched up believers all rattling away in tongues for hours on end.....as if God was impressed by volume and hours of intensity notched up as it says in the Bible "heaped up as gentiles do in their prayers".
Now in His grace, in the 80s, more so Rob, but to a limited extent myself...we both did experience phenomenal answers to prayer....but this sort of life became increasingly off-centre, unbalanced but neither of us could adequately explain our misgivings at the time.

Today, I see everything in the context of Christ living out the whole of life through me. Sometimes eating Cornflakes. Sometimes in meetings. Sometimes holding down a job. But whatever...always different subplots are going on as He is thinking,planning,bringing forth stuff through me. Various forms of death are going on that others may receive life.
Going back to the old 2nd level understanding of intercession is so....so ...well
part time. Limited. Limited in scope. Limited in its understanding of what intercession is.Limited in cost.Limited in outcome.
Many can testify to brief outbreaks of life. Maybe through an evangelization. People sweep into the Kingdom. But often they appear to sweep just as quickly out through the back door again.
But what I see now is that Christ's fruit fruits!
Christ's fruit bears yet more fruit of itself!
The handful who have come to Christ on my tuning round for example, have gone on to lead the rest of the family to the Lord, and have even gone abroad with the gospel.Two or three families have done this. Bad news for my tuning round though!
James A Fowler continued
The intent of God in Christ was to provide for "a kingdom of priests" (Exod. 19:6) who would function as a royal intercessory priesthood (I Peter 2:9) as "priests of the Lord and ministers of God" (Isa. 61:6) for others. Christians are that kingdom of priests (Rev. 1:6; 5:10), wherein the sacrificial and intercessory character of God is to function for others.Without thought for Himself, Jesus "laid down His life" (John 10:17,18; I Jn. 3:16) for others, and as He lives in and through the Christian He will continue to express the same self-sacrifice, self-surrender, and self-giving that is inherent in God's character. As Christians "lay down their lives for the brethren" (I Jn. 3:16), it is not for the same redemptive and propitiatory purpose which was singularly fulfilled by the Person of Christ, but the same willingness to be an expendable investiture for others remains. Christians thereby begin to recognize that participation and fellowship (koinonia) with Christ is not only the commonality of union with Him in an identity that expresses itself as us, but also involves participating in "the fellowship (koinonia) of His sufferings" (Phil. 3:10). As Paul invested himself in ministry unto others, he indicated that he was "filling up what was lacking in Christ's affliction" (Col. 1:24) because Christ continued to suffer in and as him. "The sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance" (II Cor. 1:5), but "we suffer with Him that we might be glorified with Him" (Rom. 8:17), Paul wrote in other letters.
ACW- Interestingly the Mormon insistence on cataloguing the entire genealogies of the human race is based on a total misunderstanding of this related passage in 1 Corinthians 29-31.
Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?
30 And why stand we in jeopardy every hour?
31 I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

They mistake verse 29 to mean that they must systematically baptise people on behalf of their unbelieving relatives. This odd practice completely misses the point of third level intercessory activity on behalf of others as is plain from the two next verses.
Traditionally, evangelical scholars and charismatic teachers have missed the true meaning here also. Here in the link below is such an example of possible meanings, but the intended meaning is missed out completely.
http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-r001.html
Third level intercession is a reality as we "see" who this Jesus is on the inside of us, and how already, without understanding much of His ways , we have already been used in intercession on behalf of others. Luckily, Christianity is not a book-learned religion. But a life that Jesus chooses to live by us His vessels, long before we actually understand what is going on.

"Christ through us" involves being willing "to stand in the gap" (Ezek. 22:30) for others, recognizing that our present physical bodies and lives are expendable since we have the spiritual continuity and perpetuity of Christ's eternal life."Christ through us" is the extension of Christ's ministry through Christians. The objective of that ministry is not for self-indulgent progression unto knowledge or spirituality, but is always Christ giving Himself to and for others in us, as us, and through us.ConclusionThe phrases we have considered in this study, "Christ in us," "Christ as us," and "Christ through us," are not necessarily to be understood as progressive, successive or sequential steps or stages of spiritual knowledge or spiritual growth. Though we have differentiated between them, they often meld and merge into an integrated and comprehensive emphasis of "Christ by means of us," as this is a permissible interpretation of all three prepositions. We should avoid analyzing the meaning of these three phrases too precisely or rigidly, allowing the living reality of Christ to express Himself as He will. It is questionable whether the realities that these phrases refer to should be cast into separate theological categories as some have done, attempting to represent them as justification, sanctification, and glorification; or as regeneration, unification, and ministration. Even illustrative analogies such as John's reference to "children, young men, and fathers" (I John 2:12-14) are best avoided, as these are often misleading.
ACW My thesis has always been that as Juan Carlos Ortiz prophesied "In the time to come, people will be born again in the Most Holy Place." Now, this always was where people were born again. This is made plain throughout the new testament.What is clear however is that people WILL KNOW IT. The Church will preach this reality from day one to new believers. That is why this blog's talk of levels can be misleading if purely understood in a linear narrative. Many totally broken new believers seem to crash into the Kingdom from day one at this Father level of understanding. Their previous existence absolutely gone up in smoke, the fictitious prodigal son, or the actual Mary Magdelan or many others like the apostle Paul, seemed immediately ready to take the full realization and revelation of what the gospel is on about. And then it is just a matter of this revelation growing out through a believer, until they are totally established in it, in every type of situation.

When an individual is regenerated by the receipt of the Spirit of Christ into his/her spirit (Rom. 8:9), Christ is in that person, immanently indwelling them; Christ forms their identity, functioning as them, for Christ cannot help but act as the Being that He is; and Christ is living through them, laying down His life in intercessory ministry for others.

Despite the caution of defining these internal spiritual realities too precisely, the following differentiations may be helpful for general definition.
"Christ in us" has to do with indwelling;
"Christ as us" has to do with identity;
"Christ through us" has to do with intercession.
The preposition "in" refers to location; the preposition "as" refers to function; the preposition "through" refers to extension.
"Christ in us" points to Presence ­ the real presence of the living Lord Jesus in our spirit;
"Christ as us" suggests Identity ­ His presence establishes our new identity as Christ-ones; "Christ through us" implies Expression ­ Christ's presence and function necessitates His expression through us unto others.

In conclusion let us note that Paul wrote of the Corinthians "being manifested as a letter of Christ,...written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God...on tablets of human hearts" (II Cor. 3:3). Christ living by means of us creates a unique living epistle that re-presents Christ to others in the contemporary form of our own lives. Such a presentation of Christ in us, and as us, and through us, may be the only living form of Jesus that another person may ever observe. This adaptation of another's verse seems to capture the point poetically:
"CHRIST is writing a letter in you each day.
The message, that is HIM, must be true.
'Tis the only Jesus that some men may see ­
The life of Christ expressed as and through YOU.