God in Us and We in God
—Our deep involvement with God
The chart on this page provides you with a concordance of scriptures that speak of the Christian "in" God, and God "in" the Christian. The scriptures are grouped according to whether they speak of the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit. The idea is to demonstrate how close and comprehensive God has made the Christian's relationship to him and involvement with Him.
The passages collected in this chart reflect a variety of contexts and shades of meaning, showing how ubiquitous is this reassurance in the scriptures that God is in us and we in him.
In some passages, the translation you are reading may use another preposition such as "through" or "by". The Greek preposition εν is somewhat broader than the English "in". However you can safely substitute with the word "in" for the purposes of this lesson. For example "I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me" is just as correct a translation as one that uses the preposition "through". The important thing is to see that a close relationship and involvement with God underlies the statement.
We in God —Our Relationship and Involvement With God
1 The Christian is in the Father
(John 3:20-21, Acts 17:28, 1Thessalonians 1:1, 1John 2:24, 1John 5:20)
These passages show that the Christian has a close relationship with the Father. Of course this relationship is possible only through the Son. However the relationship is not with the Son only, but also with his Father. We are in the Father when we are in the Son.
2 The Christian is in the Son
(Romans 6:11, Romans 8:1, 1Corinthians 1:2,4,30, 1Corinthians 9:2, Philippians 4:13, 1Thessalonians 1:1, 1Thessalonians 2:14, 1John 2:5,24, 1John 3:24, 1John 5:11-12,20)
Our relationship with God is primarily in the Son Jesus Christ. His sacrifice and intercession allows us to fully partake of God's grace. We cannot be in God, nor have God in us, unless we are in the Son.
3 The Christian is in the Holy Spirit
(Romans 8:9, Romans 14:17, Romans 15:16, Ephesians 4:30, Philippians 1:27, 1Peter 1:12, Jude 1:20-21)
The Christian is said to be in the Spirit, and the Christian's actions and attitudes are in the Spirit. We do things in the power, influence, and presence of the Spirit.
God in Us —God’s Relationship and Involvement With Us
4 The Father is in the Christian
(John 14:23, 1Corinthians 14:25, 2Corinthians 6:16, Ephesians 4:6, Philippians 2:13, 1John 4:4,12-13)
Now we turn the lesson around to see that not only is the Christian in God, but God is in the Christian. The following verses speak of God the Father (or simply God) as being in the Christian.
5 The Son is in the Christian
(John 6:56, John 15:4, John 17:23, Romans 8:9-11, 2Corinthians 13:5, Galatians 2:20, Galatians 4:19, Ephesians 3:17, Colossians 1:27, Colossians 3:11, 1John 3:24)
Jesus Christ the Son of God is in the Christian, and one of several passages that speak in this way is Paul's famous exclamation, "Christ in you the hope of glory.
6 The Holy Spirit is in the Christian
(John 4:14, with John 7:38-39, Romans 8:9-10, 1Corinthians 3:16, 6:19, 2Corinthians 1:22, Ephesians 5:18, 2Timothy 1:14, James 4:5)
One of the great and blessed assurances given to Christians is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. For more about this topic you may like to select appropriate lessons from the Holy Spirit thread.