To be "in Christ" designates a man's standing and position given him by virtue of his union with Christ, and whereby he is a new creature. (2 Cor. 5:17.) This position, however, is not a stationary one; but being in Him we are to walk in Him. (Col. 2:6, 7.) Nor is this "walking in Christ" a marking of time, or a going round and round in aimless circles, but a progress, an advance. Forgetting what is behind, we press on to things that are before. (Phil. 3:14.) Leaving first principles we press on to perfection. (Heb. 6:1f.) The Christian must evermore go on pressing forward, abounding more and more in knowledge, in spiritual likeness to Jesus Christ his Lord.

      But this very thing seems irksome to some Christians. Many seem to think of being in Christ as having come into a possession in which thenceforth to rest. To go on seems difficult to them--even perilous. They find their rest and assurance and satisfaction in what they already have and know, and fondly hope to get through on that, without bothering their minds about things that lie beyond. That course inevitably leads to spiritual death and fossilization. The very manna which they had hoped to hold and keep breeds worms for them and decays.

      There are leaders and teachers and preachers who (as one fitly described it) have "learned what they learned, once"; who have no room in their minds for further truth; who can see nothing more than what they have always seen (which, they think, is eminently safe and sound, and all-sufficient for every purpose); who want nothing more than what they always had. Yet they wonder at the deadness of the churches to whom they minister. The only semblance of interest they can stir up is by some controversy, about no matter what, and by fighting something. But that too soon plays out. The deadly scurvy due to lack of fresh food, and diseases that result from perpetual mental inbreeding, are manifest. There is coldness, indifference, lovelessness, powerlessness, worldliness; or perhaps the plague appears in bitter disputes about little minutiae, about small tithes of mint and anise and cummin, from which spring factions, parties, alienations of brethren.

      "If I accepted such and such a teaching," said one brother, "I would have to revise my whole conception of the Bible." Which would in his view have been a first-class disaster. So he would rather save his old wineskin than to risk putting new wine in it. We must indeed hold on to truth we already have and on no account cast it away. But we can only really hold it as we walk onward and forward. You must by all means abide in, and not for anything forsake, the Word; yet it is only as ye continue (i. e. go on) in it that ye shall know the truth that shall I make you free. (John 8:30-31.) [341]

[SWIH 341.]

      The electronic version of R. H. Boll's "So Walk in Him" has been produced from the 90th Anniversary Issue of The Word and Work, Vol. 92, No. 11 (November-December 1998), p. 341. The essay is reprinted from its earlier appearance in the magazine, Volume 38, No. 12, (December 1944), p. 269. Thanks to Alex V. Wilson, Editor of Word and Work, for permission to publish the essay as an electronic text.

      Inconsistencies in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and typography have been retained.

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Ernie Stefanik
Derry, PA

Created 1 October 2000.
Updated 21 June 2003.