Scripture: "As therefore ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and builded up in Him, and stablished in your faith, even as ye were taught, abounding in thanksgiving."—COL. ii. 6,7.
Here again we have the two kinds of life. The first is described in the words, "Ye have received Christ Jesus." That includes conversion, forgiveness of sin through the blood of Jesus Christ, and acceptance as a child of God. Then comes the second, the walk in Christ, "rooted in Him," as a tree that must each moment receive its life from the earth in order to bear fruit. "Builded up in Him," who is the only foundation. "Stablished in your faith and abounding in it," by which each day the Christian by his walk and conversation proves that he abides and lives in Christ. As the roots of a tree receive life uninterruptedly from the soil, so the Christian receives his life and power moment by moment from abiding in Christ.
In the confessions of Faith drawn up by the Reformers, prominence is given to conversion, acceptance of Christ. "Justification" and "justified" are words in frequent use. But the word "sanctification" is rarely found. Emphasis is laid on the doctrine of forgiveness of sin, of faith in Christ as our righteousness before God, but we find little about Christ living in us, and our life being rooted in Him. The Heidelberg Catechism gives the explanation of the Ten Commandments, but Christ's commands in Matt. v. and John xiii.-xvi. are hardly mentioned.
Let us thank God for the Reformation as a time when the foundation truth of a crucified Saviour was laid, but at the same time let us go on to perfection, to a daily uninterrupted walk in Christ wherein we may abound in faith, experiencing the abun¬dance of grace from the fulness there is in Christ for us to enjoy daily. The earliest description of true godliness is in the words: "Enoch walked with God." So Christians must learn to walk in Christ daily, established in the faith and abounding in it.
