Renewal of our hearts in
Christ
In 2 Corinthians 13:5, the apostle Paul asks the Corinthian believers a question: “Or do you not realize about yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you?” We might find this phrase, “Jesus Christ is in you” surprising, or perhaps we just read over it without thinking too much about its significance. But what does this phrase mean? And what is its importance for our Christian lives today?
In saying, “Jesus Christ is in you,” Paul wasn’t speaking poetically or metaphorically. He truly meant that Jesus Christ is literally, practically dwelling within the believers. Many other verses in the Word of God confirm the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ actually dwells in His believers.
We too, like the Corinthians, need to realize this fact about ourselves. Christ is not merely outside of us, a Helper in our time of need, but He dwells in us, living in and with us all the time.
How can Christ be in us?
Christ
is the holy God incarnated as a man, and we are fallen sinners. So how can
Christ live in us? To accomplish His desire to dwell within mankind, God took
some tremendous steps. First, God Himself became a man
named Jesus Christ. This man, Jesus, lived a genuine human life on this earth,
yet without sin. In His living, His actions, and His speaking, He fully
expressed God.
After
living and experiencing everything of human life for thirty-three and a half
years, Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Through His redemptive death, we
can be forgiven of our sins and brought back to God. But this is not all. After
three days He rose in victory from the dead, and in resurrection The Bible
tells us that Jesus died and rose not only so that we could receive
forgiveness, but even more so, He died and rose again so that in Him we might
have life everlasting. It is through His death and resurrection that we receive
everlasting life. The Spirit, He is available to everyone who accepts Jesus as
his savior.
8 verses that reveal Christ is in us
Although
many verses reveal the wonderful truth that Christ is in His believers, we’ll
highlight just eight here.
1. “But if Christ is in you, though the body is
dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness.”—Romans
8:10
We
human beings were created by God with a body on the outside and a soul and spirit on
the inside. Our spirit is our deepest part, created to
contact and receive the Spirit of God. When we received Jesus as our Savior, He
cleansed us of our sins and He came into our spirit as life. Thus, because
Christ is in us, our “spirit is life because of righteousness.”
2. “Because the God who said, Out of darkness light
shall shine, is the One who shined in our hearts to illuminate the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in
earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not out of
us.”—2 Corinthians 4:6-7
The
apostle Paul describes the believers as earthen vessels that contain “this
treasure.” What is this treasure? It is Jesus Christ, in whose face we see the
glory of God. Christ lives in us earthen vessels as a precious treasure,
revealing to us the glory of God from within.
3. “But when it pleased God…to reveal His Son in
me.”—Galatians 1:15-16
We
might think this verse should read, “It pleased God…to reveal His Son to
me.” But in the original language of the New Testament, Greek, the verse reads
“to reveal His Son in me.” God’s plan is to reveal His Son in us, from
within, rather than to us, from without. Or, to put it another way, God
reveals Christ to us from within us. To those who have Christ in us, God is
pleased to reveal in us more of the wonderful Person of Christ.
4. “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer
I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.”—Galatians 2:20
Here,
Paul did not say “I live in a Christ-like way,” or, “I glorify Christ through
my behavior.” No, he said, “Christ…lives in me,” clearly telling us that
Christ lives in His believers. The Christian life is not a matter of behaving like
Christ, but of allowing Christ Himself to live in and through us.
5. “My children, with whom I travail again in birth
until Christ is formed in you.”—Galatians 4:19
Paul
viewed the believers in Galatia as his spiritual children. He had labored to
help them receive Christ at their salvation, and in this verse, he continues to
labor on them so that the Christ they received would be fully formed in them.
Christ lives in us from the time we are saved, but He wants to be formed in
us in a definite way. As we do, Christ will be able to express Himself more
fully through us in our daily life.
6. “That Christ may make His home in your hearts
through faith.”—Ephesians 3:17
When
we believed into Christ, He came to live in our spirit, the deepest part of our
being. But Christ also wants to make His home in the rest of our inward being: our
hearts and our souls. By living in our spirit, Christ is the new source of our
new life. But our soul—our mind, emotion, and will—can still choose to ignore
Him as our new source and go on just as before. In this case, Christ is in us,
but He’s limited in us, kept only in our spirit. So He cannot be expressed
through us very much. The Lord Jesus wants to make His home not only in our
spirit, but also in all the parts of our soul.
7. “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”—Colossians
1:27
This
verse shows that Christ is in us in a particular way: as our hope of glory.
When we believed in Him, Christ came to live in our spirit. Now He is making
His home in our hearts. In the future, when He returns, He will even spread to
our body outwardly so that God’s glory can shine through us in a full way. The
Christ who lives in us is our hope of such glory.
8. “When He comes to be glorified in His saints and
to be marveled at in all those who have believed.”—2 Thessalonians 1:10
Christ’s
second coming will surely be a marvel. But according to this verse, the most
marvelous thing will not be the outward display of His coming; it will be His
glory revealed from within His believers. The Christ in us, who lives in us
and is being formed in us, will be revealed from within us, and even our
bodies will be transformed to match Him.
What
a glory to God, a marvel to man, and a shame to the devil, that people on this
earth would choose to receive Christ and allow Him to grow in them and express
Himself through them throughout their lives.
Renewing Heart
Psalm 51:10 ESV
Create
in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Romans 12:1-2 ESV
I
appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your
bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your
spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the
renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God,
what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Titus 3:5 ESV
He
saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to
his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,
Colossians 3:10 ESV
And
have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image
of its creator.
Hebrews 4:12 ESV
For
the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and
discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Psalm 27:14 ESV
Wait
for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!
Philippians 4:8 ESV
Finally,
brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever
is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any
excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Ephesians 4:22-24 ESV
To
put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is
corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your
minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true
righteousness and holiness.
Proverbs 4:23 ESV
Keep
your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.
Jeremiah 17:10 ESV
“I
the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his
ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”
Psalm 37:4 ESV
Delight
yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
1 Peter 1:13 ESV
Therefore,
preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on
the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 4:16 ESV
So we
do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is
being renewed day by day.
2 Corinthians 3:18 ESV
And
we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being
transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this
comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
Colossians 3:2 ESV
Set
your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.
2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV
Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold,
the new has come.
John 1:12 ESV
But to
all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become
children of God,
Isaiah 40:31 ESV
But
they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with
wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not
faint.
*Holy Spirit is the presence of God, and it was sent
to guide us after Jesus ascended to heaven. We automatically receive the
Holy Spirit when we get saved and become a Christian.
*
The
Bible tells us that Jesus died and rose again not only so that we could receive
forgiveness, but even more so, He died and rose again so that we might have
life. It is through His death and resurrection that we receive life
*how
do we receive the Holy Spirit? We receive the Holy Spirit by simply receiving
the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior (John 3:5). When do we receive the Holy
Spirit? The Holy Spirit becomes our permanent possession the moment we believe.
