...in Christ Jesus...

Yesterday I was chatting with Lane about a curious phrase that pops up in the epistles a lot, "...in Christ Jesus." Sometimes the meaning of the sentence is clear but often, this phrase seems to be tacked ontothe end of a sentence and seems to add no meaning. For instance...

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

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do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Phillipians 4:6-7)

The phrase "in Christ Jesus" does not really make good English sense in this context. Well Lane pointed out that the preposition "in" in the Greek is sort of vague, and can mean lots of things, including in, on, by, through, etc... In other words, it can signify position (in, on, by, etc...) or enabling (through, by, etc...). So the implication of the phrase could be that Christ Jesus enables us to rejoice always, pray without ceasing, etc...

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Lane didn't really feel like he gave me a good answer. He thought it was vague. We decided not to get side-tracked by a preposition. But the more I think about it, the more I think that phrase might be the key to the whole thing. After all, Christ is supposed to be the key to the message of the Bible.

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Lane pointed me to another scripture that really gave this "in Christ Jesus" phrase meaning...

I wanted to visit you on my way to Macedonia, and to come back to you from Macedonia and have you send me on my way to Judea. Was I vacillating when I wanted to do this? Do I make my plans according to the flesh, ready to say “Yes, yes” and “No, no” at the same time? As surely as God is faithful, our word to you has not been Yes and No. For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, whom we proclaimed among you, Silvanus and Timothy and I, was not Yes and No, but in him it is always Yes. For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. (2 Corinthians 1:16-20)

This really struck me as awesome the more I thought on it. A while back I posted on God's various ways of answering prayers, including "No, I love you too much to do that." But here it says that God does not vascillate or equivocate, answering "Yes, but No" at the same time. In fact, he doesn't even ever answer prayer, "no." All of his answers are, "yes" (see also, Matthew 7:7).

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And not only that, but this passage tells us that God's "yes" answer to us is Christ Jesus. Jesus Christ is the affirmative answer to all of our prayers. Everything that we could possibly need and ask for in prayer has already been given to us by God in Christ Jesus.

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So, the phrase 'in Christ' in the above passages seems to signify that when God sent Jesus, he was answering all the prayers we could ever pray and that Christ is the enabler of all these things (rejoicing, praying without ceasing, giving thanks, not worrying, being at peace, etc...)

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Exciting!!!