Hopefully you will indulge a differing conclusion.
When you say that synonyms for "in Christ" might be "in covenant," "in union" "in harmony", you neglect the most accurate ones which would be forgiven, redeemed, justified.
Paul plainly and extensively teaches that when we are justified, (an event when we are forgiven and changed to a state of righteousness. See Mosiah 27:25, Romans ch 3-8), then we are indeed considered righteous. Justified means we are pardoned from our sins, and as you quoted Millet, Christ takes the sin and imputes righteousness to us. IT IS ONLY AFTER THIS EVENT that we become, "in Christ, or "in the spirit", opposite of our former condition which was "in the flesh", "of nature", of the "natural man".
So if you take justification to it's logical conclusion, you understand what Paul taught when he explained that upon being pardoned and forgiven of ALL our sins, then in effect there is no more law that we are accountable to; we are "dead to the law", no longer under law but under grace. No longer walk in the oldness of law but in newness of the spirit, a new creature, dead to sin, but alive in Christ, and "in Christ."
So, throughout his epistles Paul is trying to teach the significance and ramifications of being forgiven and changed by our faith in Christ.
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VardellSeptember 25, 2019
Hopefully you will indulge a differing conclusion. When you say that synonyms for "in Christ" might be "in covenant," "in union" "in harmony", you neglect the most accurate ones which would be forgiven, redeemed, justified. Paul plainly and extensively teaches that when we are justified, (an event when we are forgiven and changed to a state of righteousness. See Mosiah 27:25, Romans ch 3-8), then we are indeed considered righteous. Justified means we are pardoned from our sins, and as you quoted Millet, Christ takes the sin and imputes righteousness to us. IT IS ONLY AFTER THIS EVENT that we become, "in Christ, or "in the spirit", opposite of our former condition which was "in the flesh", "of nature", of the "natural man". So if you take justification to it's logical conclusion, you understand what Paul taught when he explained that upon being pardoned and forgiven of ALL our sins, then in effect there is no more law that we are accountable to; we are "dead to the law", no longer under law but under grace. No longer walk in the oldness of law but in newness of the spirit, a new creature, dead to sin, but alive in Christ, and "in Christ." So, throughout his epistles Paul is trying to teach the significance and ramifications of being forgiven and changed by our faith in Christ.
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