All my springs are in Thee. (Psa. lxxxvii. 7).-(5)

by Charles H. Welch

#5. “In Christ Jesus.”
“And a river went out of Eden to water the garden;
and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads” 
(Gen. ii. 10).


The Fountain of all being and all blessing is God, but in such overwhelming power that nothing but destruction would be the result of immediate contact with Him. In the person of Christ, infinite Power and Wisdom are mediated, and, thus, are found to be full of blessing. No man can look upon the face of GOD and live, yet to see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ is life. This therefore is our theme.

Over and over again in the epistles, we meet with such expressions as “in Christ”, “in the Lord”, “in Jesus Christ our Lord”, “in Christ Jesus” and other variations of the same blessed truth. These are the “heads” into which the river of life is “parted” for our sakes. Taking the epistles in the canonical order in which they are found in the N.T., the first occurrence of the phrase “in Christ Jesus” is in Rom. iii. 24, where we read “Redemption that is in Christ Jesus”. The phrase does not recur until we come to Rom. viii. There it occurs three times: “No condemnation in Christ Jesus”, “The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus” and the blessed fact that nothing can separate us “from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. viii. 1, 2 and 39).

The phrase “in Christ Jesus” is found in Ephesians (R.V.) seven times, and is associated with Paul’s apostleship (Eph. i. 1), and “the faithful” (Eph. i. 1). The peculiar privilege, granted alone to the church of the mystery, of being “seated together in heavenly places” is also “in Christ Jesus” (Eph. ii. 6). In the ages to come this favour is to be intensified, for “exceeding riches of grace in His kindness” are to be shown toward us “in Christ Jesus” (Eph. ii. 7), while we are declared to be “His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus” in Eph. ii. 10. Those who were the recipients of such overwhelming grace however, were, by nature, “far off” sinners of the Gentiles, but are “made nigh” in Christ Jesus (Eph. ii. 13). The title “Christ Jesus” is limited to the doctrinal section of Ephesians, the last occurrence being Eph. iii. 21, where the prayer ends in the doxology, “Unto Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of the ages. Amen”.

These aspects of truth “in Christ Jesus” lie at the root of the revelation of the mystery but no attempt can be made here to expand their teaching: at the moment all we insist upon is that they are ours only “in Christ Jesus”. Passing over the remainder of Paul’s epistles, we come to II Timothy, where the phrase “in Christ Jesus” occurs seven times. The teaching associated with these seven occurrences will be more appreciated if the passages are seen together. Accordingly we throw them into an alternate correspondence.

“In Christ Jesus” (II Timothy).
A | i. 1. The Promise of Life.
    B | i. 9. Purpose and Grace. Holy calling, not of works.
        C | i. 13. Form of sound words. Doctrine.
            D | ii. Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
A | ii. 10. Salvation WITH glory.
    B | iii. 12. Persecution and godly living. Practice.
        C | iii. 15. Holy Scriptures. Salvation.

Turning to the briefer phrase “in Christ” we find it used in contrast to being “in Adam” and in other doctrinal and practical associations. It occurs seven times in II Corinthians where the passages may be taken to indicate the character of blessing that was found “in Christ” by the apostle.

The first sounds a note of triumph.

“Now thanks be unto God, which always leadeth us in triumph in Christ” (II Cor. ii. 14, R.V.).

The second avers faithfulness.

“But as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ” (II Cor. ii. 17).

There follows the ministry of the new covenant and contrasts of liberty, life and glory, with the bondage, death and passing glory of the old covenant. Paul tells us that when Israel read the old covenant, a veil is upon their eyes and heart but that this veil “is done away in Christ” (II Cor. iii. 14). Pursuing the wondrous theme, he passes from the new covenant to the new creation, saying “Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature” (II Cor. v. 17). From the new creation he proceeds to speak of the reconciliation, saying, “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself” (II Cor. v. 19). To Paul, salvation was to be found “in Christ” and when referring to his conversion and commission, he says, “I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago” (II Cor. xii. 2). In his last use of this phrase in II Cor. xii. 19 he again refers to his ministry as “speaking before God in Christ”. In conclusion let us turn to Eph. i. 1-14, and, instead of limiting ourselves to one title, as “Christ” or “Christ Jesus”, let us observe how the word “in” is used.

The preposition en, “in”, occurs nineteen times in Eph. i. 1-14 and is translated “at” (i. 1); “with” (i. 3); “wherein” (i. 6); and sixteen times is rendered by the word “in”. Let us set out these verses, omitting those references that use the word “in” before such terms as “heavenly places” and marking only those which speak of blessing “IN Him”.

“Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
Grace [be] to you, and peace, from God our Father, and [from] the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed [be] the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly [places] in Christ:
According as he hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved. In Whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace . . . . . having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself: that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; [even] in Him:
In Whom also we have obtained an inheritance . . . . . that we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
In Whom ye also [trusted], after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation:
In Whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.”

Here we see that the faithful in Christ Jesus find in Him Blessing, Choice, Acceptance, Redemption, Inheritance, and Hope; while at the same time and in association with these blessings, we find this great Purpose is in Him, and that in Him shall be gather together in one all things in heaven and on earth.

As he contemplates such riches of grace and glory, verily, every believer in the truth of the mystery, can exclaim,

“All my springs are in Thee.”

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(From The Berean Expositor, vol. 34, page 31).

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Time and Place. (2)

The Scriptural association of chronology and topography
with doctrine and purpose.

by Charles H. Welch

 #2. The purpose of the ages implied in Gen. i. 1.


The majestic opening words of Holy Scripture describe the first action of all time. “In the beginning” (B’reshith). The word reshith is the feminine form of rosh, “head”, and while primarily rosh means “head”, only incidentally “beginning”, reshith on the other hand, primarily means “beginning”, and incidentally “chief”, but is never translated in the A.V. “head”. The LXX translated it by the Greek arche, and so is parallel with John i. 1. That it is utterly futile to speculate upon what was “before” the beginning, our very language testifies, for, where time is not, “before” is meaningless.

An examination of the usage of reshith, “beginning”, leaves the mind with the impression that something more than “time” is implied. First we observe that there is no article (“the”), so that the Hebrew reads “In beginning”, and opens the door for the thought, “With what motive and with what ending?” There are two other occurrences of reshith in Genesis: the first is,

“And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel . . . . . in the land of Shinar, and he (Nimrod) went forth out of that land into Assyria (Asshur), and builded Nineveh, etc.” (Gen. x. 10, 11).

Here we have an illustration of the anticipatory character of reshith. Nimrod began with Babel, but he went on and added Erech, Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar, thereafter extending his conquest outside that land, including Nineveh and Calah.

The other reference to reshith is Gen. xlix. 3, 4:

“Reuben, thou art my firstborn, and the beginning of my strength . . . . . unstable as water, thou shalt not excel.”

Here again the “beginning of my strength” asks for its sequence, its correspondence, and the “end” is found to be failure and instability.

This word reshith is translated “firstfruits” eleven times (Lev. xxiii. 10, etc.), and it is the very essence of firstfruits that they anticipate a harvest to come. In Job viii. 7 and xlii. 12 the “beginning” is related to the “end”; as it is also in Isa. xlvi. 10.

By this time, most of our readers will have thought of the title given to Christ in the Revelation:

“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending” (Rev. i. 8).
“These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God” (Rev. iii. 14).
“It is done, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end” (Rev. xxi. 6).
“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last” (Rev. xxii. 13).

With these glorious truths must be included the testimony of the apostle Paul:

“He is the head of the body, the church: Who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence” (Col. i. 18).

Let us examine these references more carefully. Rev. i. 8 associates the title, “the beginning”, with the great age-abiding name Jehovah: “The Lord which IS, and which WAS, and which IS TO COME.” Here, in this Name, all time is comprehended, past, present and future, and He is the “Almighty”, so that what He “began” to do at the creation of heaven and earth, He will “finish” in the day of God. The “beginning” implies an end, or goal. In Rev. xxi. 6 the goal is reached: He that sat upon the throne said, “It is done.” When we ponder Rev. iii. 14 with Gen. i. 1, to what other conclusion can we come than that Christ is there in Gen. i. 1, the “beginning of the creation of God”, and in Him, the “first”, creation will at length reach its goal, for He is also the “last”, and He is the “Amen”, the faithful witness to the onward movement of the ages.

In Col. i. 18 there is a limitation. He is there seen, not so much in His relationship to creation, as to the church. True, all creation is the work of His hands (Col. i. 16, 17), but it is there in the background, while the new creation, already seen in the church, which is the body, sets forth in miniature the creation to come. Christ is undoubtedly “The beginning” of that new creation, which has as its goal what is vividly expressed in Col. iii.

“The image of Him that created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew . . . . .; but Christ is all, and in all” (Col. iii. 10, 11).

This, in its turn, exhibits the goal that is implied by the opening words of Gen. i. 1:

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth . . . . . Then cometh the end . . . . . that God may be all in all” (Gen. i. 1 with I Cor. xv. 24-28).

Christ is “all and in all” to the church of the mystery: God shall be “all in all” when the complete new creation is laid at His feet. So, the words “It is done” of Rev. xxi. 6 refer to the works of Rev. xxi. 5: “Behold, I make all things new.” We observe also that in I Cor. xv. Christ is the “firstfruits”, a word which we have seen is implicit in Gen. i. 1.

We return to Gen. i. 1, and with increasing wonder look at those opening words, “In beginning”, could be expressed idiomatically, “As a beginning”, demanding, some time and somewhere, a sequel, an end, a harvest. God created the heaven and the earth with an object, and His purpose may be expressed thus:

In beginning God was ALL. Heaven and earth sprang into being at His command. But God is not merely Almighty, He is essentially “Love”. Creation therefore moved forward to the “Image”, in Whose likeness Adam was created. Adam however did not obey mechanically, as do the sun, moon and stars, and so the long discipline of sorrow accompanies the advent of man, leading irrevocably down to the “unspeakable” Gift of Love, and, at long last, up to the willing submission of a new creation.

We therefore complete our exhibition of the implication of Gen. i. 1 as follows:

In the beginning God was ALL, but when the end comes, God will be ALL IN ALL.

two vastly different things. He is indeed One that “declares the end from the beginning”, and worketh all things according to the counsel of His Own will.

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(From The Berean Expositor, vol. 34, page 169).

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