Your Position in Christ vs. Your Condition in Christ

In college I spent a good bit of time with a campus minister named Phil. Phil led Athletes in Action at Michigan State University, and he also helped me start that ministry at my college. Along the way, Phil taught me to how share my faith with others, lead Bible studies, and draw really cool graphics.

Well, to be fair, as a trained architect, he drew really cool graphics. I could only translate his artistry into my own stick figure drawings. And if you have ever been in one of my Sunday School classes or a Tuesday night Bible study, you might have seen me attempt to illustrate a point with the white board.

Among all the illustrations that Phil shared, none has been more helpful than his Position/Condition graph. It is currently drawn on the whiteboard in my office and when I plugged it into Grok, here’s what it spit out.



Now, this rendition is lacking in some ways, but it gets the point across. Chiefly, that when a sinner is brought to faith in Christ, that man or woman is seated with Christ in heavenly places (Eph 2:5) and given every spiritual blessing in Christ Jesus (Eph. 1:3). In short, our position in Christ is no longer dead in our sins; it is alive in Christ.

Indeed, few doctrinal truths are most important for the Christian than understanding what it means to be transferred from the kingdom of Satan to the kingdom of the beloved Son (Col. 1:13). That is to say, when we are born in Adam we are by nature objects of wrath (Eph. 2:1–3) and enemies of God (Rom. 5:8–10). But when we are made new in Christ, our God in heaven sees us (hence the eyes) as being completely righteous—positionally, at least.

In the image, the cross represents that moment when we repent and believe in the gospel. And the throne represents our new position in Christ. In fact, if you want to consider what it means to be “in Christ,” take time to read Ephesians 1:3–14, where Paul lists many realities that are true of the believer now that he is in Christ.

Importantly, this new position is a fixed reality and not one that is subject to change. And actually, as Ephesians 1:3–6 tells us, this position even goes back before the world began as God the Father chose us in Christ to be holy and blameless before him. Thus, knowing what is unchangeably true about us in Christ is the foundation we need to stand in the face of our ever changing condition—which is the other part of the graphic.

Understanding Our Position and Condition

If you look at the graphic, the bottom line relates to our condition and the top line to our position. And on the right you see numbers—0 percent at the bottom, 100 percent at the top. Those numbers relate to our righteousness.

In the eyes of God, everyone who remains in Adam is one-hundred percent unrighteous and zero percent righteous. Yes, the unbeliever might love his wife or do good to his children; he might pay his taxes on time and even make time to serve in his community. But before the burning eyes of our holy God, all of our righteous deeds, if they are done without faith, are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6; Romans 14:23). And this is why the unbeliever is unrighteous before God.

Yet, when a sinner places faith in Christ, then all of Jesus’s righteousness is credited to his or her account (Phil. 3:9). And positionally, this means that God sees us in Christ as one-hundred percent righteous. Clothed with Christ’s righteousness, we are forgiven, cleansed, redeemed, and declared justified. This is what the gospel promises.

Yet, in our condition, we are still less than fully righteous. Plagued with sinful patterns of thought and habits of the body, our condition fluctuates. Yes, all those who are justified in Christ will be progressively sanctified. In Christ, our condition will improve. But such improvement, does not mean perfection or immediate change. Even more, as we see improvement in our condition, we also see how far we are from the perfect standards of righteous—a reality that we were blind to before Christ.

Thus, Christians live between two realities—the unchangeable reality is our position in Christ; the fluctuating reality is our day-to-day condition. And that is what this graphic is meant to convey.

As the upward, squiggling line suggests, our condition is making progress toward holiness and conformity to Christ. But as we know all too well, that is a slow climb. And sometimes, it comes with setbacks and what Jeremiah calls backsliding (see Jer. 2:19; 3:14; 3:22; 14:7). Still, as our loving Father disciplines us, and our great high priest intercedes for us, and the Holy Spirit works to convict us and conform to the image of the Son, we can have assurance that God is working in us, until our condition matches our position.

Truly, our certain hope is that in heaven and in the new heaven and new earth, we will be one hundred percent righteous and entirely sanctified. Until then we can continue to embrace the truth of who we are in Christ, by learning about all the things that are true of us as children of God, united by faith in the Son, and led by the Holy Spirit. And as we wrestle against all the things in creation (the world, the flesh, and the devil) that would undermine our condition, we can give thanks to God that Christ has secured our position. For truly, that is what this chart helps us to see, as it makes sense of the ups and downs we face as Christians.

The Story of Jacob in Genesis 25–35

Similarly, this charter helps us make sense of the story of Jacob too. Chosen by God to be the blessed son of Isaac, his position of grace is not dependent on the works of his condition, but on the unmerited favor of God. Yet, as the story of his life demonstrates, once God set his favor on Jacob, he began to prepare him to receive the blessing.

In ways that illustrate for all Christians what it means to grow in grace, Jacob’s story is one where the heel-grabbing second born has to learn how to trust in God and not to work for himself. And this is no small feat. From grabbing his brother's birthright with a bowl of stew, to taking his blessing by means of a well-prepared meal, to Jacob’s flight from Laban while his father-in-law was sheering his sheep, Jacob made a way for himself in the world. Yet, as Laban deceived him and made his life difficult, God used those conditions to prepare Jacob for his elevated position.

In short then, God did not bless Jacob because of the conditions he achieved for himself. Instead, his conditions followed the plans and purposes of God to make this chosen son ready to be a vessel of blessing to his sons and to the world. And more, when it was all said and done, the conditions of his life were still lacking in many ways. Yet, his position before God, and his place in God’s hall of faith (Heb. 11:20–22), was not merited by his condition. Rather, God orchestrated all the events of his life to secure his sanctification—a reality that God does with all of his children.

Thus, as we read the story of Jacob, we should not forget how God works in all of our lives. And if this little graph can be helpful, print a copy for yourself. Or, just get in the habit of drawing it. By remembering your fixed position in Christ and your fluctuating condition it will remind you of how God is working in your life. And then, like Phil did with me, you can share it with others too.

For His glory and your joy in Christ,
Pastor David