Our Identity In Jesus
Photo by OpticalNomad on Unsplash
How do you primarily identify yourself? How do other people view your identity? How would your coworkers, your closest friends, and your family describe your identity?
We all have an identity. We all identify ourselves in some way. Others see us as having a distinct identity. Sometimes these identities line up and are congruent with one another, and other times they are in juxtaposition, or in contrast to one another.
As followers of Jesus, our identity comes from how God has created us, and from who God has created us to be. Our identity comes from God first and foremost.
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Church in Corinth, in his second letter, appealing to them concerning how to regard one another, or how to see one another.
Paul wrote, “From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer.” (2 Corinthians 5:16, ESV).
The way we view someone, or see their identity, is no longer according to the flesh. The Apostle Paul was warning against regarding others according to physicality.
Paul then asserted where our true identity can be found, and that is in our newly created selves in Christ Jesus. We are new creations.
Paul wrote, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (2 Corinthians 5:17, ESV).
In Jesus, our new identity is from him. We are new creatures. Our old selves, and our old way of identifying ourselves and others, is a thing of the past. The new has come.
Our new identity in Jesus comes with a new purpose and a new ministry. Our new and true identity in Jesus allows us to introduce others to Jesus, and for them to find themselves in him. This common identity that we find in Jesus gives us a common ministry of reconciliation and a common experience of reconciliation with God and our neighbor.
Paul says, “All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” (2 Corinthians 5:18-20, ESV).
Our primary identity is external to ourselves and comes with a purpose of unity in Jesus and identity in Jesus, as we are his ambassadors—working as participators with God’s purposes of reconciling the world, and everyone in the world, to himself.
May we live out of our true identity and purpose in Jesus Christ, regarding no one according to the flesh, but working with God as new creations in Christ in our purpose and ministry of reconciliation.
In Christ alone, Robbie
A Prayer For The Third Sunday after Trinity: “Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things: Graft in our hearts the love of your Name, increase in us true religion, nourish us with all goodness, and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.” (Book of Common Prayer, 2019).
Photo by OpticalNomad on Unsplash
