Christ as Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption

Paul writes that believers are "in Christ Jesus," and of God He is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. The apostle unfolds the principal phases of Christ's being and work.

First, Christ is our Sophia (wisdom) through His life and teaching—the truth by which the mind is arrested, instructed, convicted, and elevated. Second, He is our righteousness through His death and resurrection, the work without us by virtue of which we are accepted and treated as righteous before Elohim. Third, He is our sanctification through His elevation to glory, the work within us by virtue of which we are purified and transformed. Fourth, He is our redemption through His future return, the consummation of all His saving purposes.

This union with Christ is vital and real, not imaginary or theoretical. Believers abide in Him as branches in the vine. Yet this connection is not natural to our fallen condition of separation and alienation. Elohim alone effects this union through the Eternal Spirit—incomprehensible in its mode, inexplicable in its selection. The Husbandman tends the vineyard, binding us to the living root.

From this divine connection flow transcendent blessings: illumination for the mind, justification for the conscience, sanctification for the will, and final redemption for the whole person. These are not earned but given. They inspire the highest worship and cause the soul to triumph in Adonai Himself.