CHANGE OF CONDITION.
No sooner is a union with Christ established, than there is a complete change in our position before God. When a man is not in Christ, he stands alone, and bears the whole weight of sin, both original and actual. He is like the manslayer outside the city of refuge, or like those who saw the waters of the flood arising, but were themselves outside the ark. Those that are “without Christ” are “without hope,” for it is written, (Eph. ii. 12,) “That at that time ye were without Christ” (separate from Christ, not in union with Him), “being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” Nothing can be plainer than the contrast here drawn between men without Christ and men in Christ. Those without Him are strangers from the covenant; but those in Him are reconciled, or made nigh by His blood. In Christ they are justified from all things. They are no longer under the curse, because His atonement has removed it from their head. “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.” (Coloss. i. 14.) They are no more regarded as sinners, for as their sin has been laid on Christ, so His righteousness is imputed unto them. “He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.”