Clothed in Christ

Galatians 3:26-27 says: "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ."

One of the questions in Bible study this week asked, "How would you say the 'garment' of Christ Himself might make a life identifiable? (Read also Ephesians 4:17-5:8)."

The study previous asked the obvious question about how we identify people in society by what they wear. For example, an answer might be that we identify a person to be a fireman if he's wearing the firefighter's gear.

I struggled a little with this question because the verses seem to point out the negatives, like a person not clothed in the garment of Christ. (Time to ask Anita what she put down for her answer.) After talking to Anita I decided to write down all the contaries to the negatives to see what the garment of Christ entails.

(From Ephesians 4:17-5:8)
Purity -- 4:19
Honesty and trustworthiness -- 4:22,25
Righteousness and holiness -- 4:24
Self-control -- 4:26
Productivity, honesty, generosity -- 4:28
Speaking with consideration and helpfulness -- 4:29
Pleasing to God -- 4:30
Kindness and self-control, forgiving -- 4:31,32
Having a life of selfless and sacrificial love -- 5:1,2
Purity and contentment -- 5:3
Thanksgiving -- 5:4
In appearance of light -- 5:8

It is sobering and humbling to compare this with what I see when I look in the mirror, so to speak.

Galatians 3:27 says, "for all of you who were baptized into Christ...". Now, I don't think this just means a church baptism ceremony type of thing, rather it is a submersion of our selves in the Holy Spirit. Mark 1:8 say, "I baptize you with water, but he (meaning Jesus) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit". It is my prayer that we all seek a life in the Spirit.