Being Clothed with Christ

‘So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ’. (Galatians 3:26-27 - NIV)

‘To put on, or to be clothed with one, is to assume the person and character of that one; and they who do so are bound to act his part, and to sustain the character which they have assumed. The profession of Christianity is an assumption of the character of Christ; he has left us an example that we should follow his steps, and we should, as Christians, have that mind in us which was in Him’. (Clarke’s Commentary on the Bible).

The Church is the Body of Christ, and it is the medium through which the essence or glory of God is revealed to the unbelieving world.  Anything that the world can ever know about God can be known only through the Church. Every Christian is born to share divinity with God. So the power, love, mercy of God and all the other communicable attributes of God are revealed unto the world through the Christian’s daily life. So Paul the Apostle admonished the church in Corinth that, ‘^‘we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord’ (2 Cor 3:18). In essence, Paul was saying that a Christian reflects the glory of God more and more as he grows to know God more.

This is made possible by the indwelling of the Spirit of God. At a Christian’s conversion, as the Spirit of God comes to dwell in him, He comes with His fruit and gifts. The fruit of the Spirit reveals the character of God, whereas the gifts of the Spirit reveal the power of God. The truth is, salvation is a miracle of a moment but discipleship - forming the character of Christ, is a life long journey that is accomplished as the Christian avails himself for God to mould him or her daily through His Word and His Spirit. The fruit and gifts of the Spirit are manifested in one’s life as he earnestly desires for them, so Paul said, ‘let love be your highest goal! But you should also desire the special abilities the Spirit gives--especially the ability to prophesy (1 Cor 14:1).

One word that is directly linked to discipleship is discipline. So today, ‘think clearly and exercise self-control. Look forward to the gracious salvation that will come to you when Jesus Christ is revealed to the world. So you must live as God’s obedient children. Don’t slip back into your old ways of living to satisfy your own desires’. (1 Pet 4:13-14). Be clothed with Christ, all creation waits earnestly for your manifestation.