How Do You Know if Christ is In You?? - 2 Corinthians 13

2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? 6 And I trust that you will discover that we have not failed the test. 7 Now we pray to God that you will not do anything wrong—not so that people will see that we have stood the test but so that you will do what is right even though we may seem to have failed. 8 For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth. 9 We are glad whenever we are weak but you are strong; and our prayer is that you may be fully restored. 10 This is why I write these things when I am absent, that when I come I may not have to be harsh in my use of authority—the authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down.

Paul concludes his teaching to the Corinthians by asking them to "examine". or "test" themselves.  Since there was so much immorality and worldliness in the church and so much disrespect to him, he wonders if they are even believers at all.  So he asks them to examine them to see if they are in the one, true faith.  

We are often ready to examine, test or judge others but do we do that with ourselves? Do you believe you are a Christian?  How would you know?  How can you be sure?  It is never a bad idea to ask these soul searching questions.  Paul gives them an idea on how to do this.

How do we know if Christ is in us? Charles Spurgeon famous 19th century Baptist preacher says these words about this passage, 

 “Now, what is it to have Jesus Christ in you? The true Christian carries the cross in his heart; and a cross inside the heart, my friends, is one of the sweetest cures for a cross on the back. If you have a cross in your heart – Christ crucified in you, the hope of glory – all the crosses of this world’s troubles will seem to you light enough, and you will easily be able to sustain it. Christ in the heart means Christ believed in, Christ beloved, Christ trusted, Christ espoused, Christ communed with, Christ as our daily food, and ourselves as the temple and palace wherein Jesus Christ daily walks.” (Spurgeon)

I think if you don't know if you have Christ in you, you should pursue the matter soon.  The scripture tells us that the Spirit of Christ, the Holy Spirit, is in you, which is a guarantee that Jesus is in you.  Paul says to the Ephesians in chapter 1:13-14,

13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

In Romans 5 Paul states we have been justified by faith, so that we have peace with God through Jesus Christ.  Then he states that the hope of this truth has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, 

5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

These are two ways we can know Christ is in us.  Through the power of the Holy Spirit we can be assured we are children of God and disciples of Jesus.  On our own merits or goodness, we would all fail the test.  But by trusting in Jesus, we have been justified or made right with God by faith. It is a gift that we accept or trust in.  If we don't trust in this gift, we don't have faith and we don't have Christ in us. 

At the end of the day although Paul is very concerned about the Corinthians behavior, his real concern are they even saved?  He is not saying this to shame them, but because he loves them and is concerned about them even with how they have treated him. If they are indeed Christians, they will know the truth and live their lives by it.  They will know their behavior is not of God, and not have to be confronted on it by Paul.

Paul doesn't claim to be perfect, but he does claim to know the difference between truth and error because Christ is in him. 

So what does this mean for us today?  We live in a post modern world which has by and large dismissed the idea of absolute truth.  Right and wrong are up to each person to decide for themselves, and no one has a right to question them on it.  But for Paul truth is revealed from a person Jesus Christ.  Jesus said, "I am the way, THE TRUTH, and the life."  If Jesus, the truth, lives in us we know the truth.  We cannot lie.  The Holy Spirit continues to guide us into all truth because He is the Spirit of Christ. 

Do you know are saved?  If not, talk to your pastor or another Christian you respect.  Yes, you should know if you are saved or not.  And it is not based on how good you are but on who you believe/trust in!  

If you are saved, how is the Holy Spirit guiding you to live in the truth?  Are there areas of your life where you are choosing the lies over truth?  The Holy Spirit convicts us when we are living a lie and guides to turn back to the truth, Jesus Christ!