A Brief Book Summary from Books At a Glance
By Billy Reinhardt
Overview
If someone were to ask you the question, “Who are you?” what would you reply? Many of us would give a reply including our occupation or possibly a social title (“I am a Mom,” etc.). Bridges attempts to answer this question from a biblical viewpoint by asking the central question of the book, which is, “Who are you in Christ?” Out of the eight chapters, seven of the chapters apply directly to a Christian’s life while the first chapter, entitled “I Am a Creature,” applies to every person, both Christians and non-Christians. Bridges walks the reader through the application of what it means to be “in Christ” by revealing to Christians their new identity via their Justification (chapter 3), their Adoption as a Son of God (chapter 4), the fact that Christians are a “New Creation” in Christ (chapter 5), that we are “Saints” of God (chapter 6), we are Servants of Christ (chapter 7), and we are “Not Yet Perfect” (chapter 8).
Table of Contents
Chapter 1 I Am a Creature
Chapter 2 I Am in Christ
Chapter 3 I Am Justified
Chapter 4 I Am an Adopted Son of God
Chapter 5 I Am a New Creation
Chapter 6 I am a Saint
Chapter 7 I Am a Servant of Christ
Chapter 8 I am Not Yet Perfect
Summary
Chapter 1: I Am a Creature
Discovering our true identity, even before one becomes a Christian, begins with who we are as human beings in relation to God. God created both male and female in His image (Genesis 1:27). We are the “created creature” and God is the Creator. Since we are created by God we are, thus, utterly dependent upon God for everything. Scripture is clear that we are dependent upon God for food in the sense that He has given us the ability to work and to produce our sustenance (Genesis 2:15; Deuteronomy 8:17-18). As creatures, created by God, we are also dependent upon Him for life and breath (Acts 17:25), our plans (James 4:13-15), and our abilities (1 Corinthians 4:7).
We are also dependent upon God because we are physically fragile and spiritually vulnerable. Our physical fragility is seen every day. In addition to our physical frailness is our spiritual vulnerability. The spiritual enemies of the world, the devil, and our sinful flesh afflict us daily. We are more dependent upon God than we are aware of. Our dependency upon God is a necessity of life that runs deep and wide and cannot be escaped or ignored.
Finally, as created beings, we are morally accountable to God as well. When God told Adam and Eve that they were not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or they would “die” (Genesis 2:16-17), He was making them accountable to Him. Since all humans are sinners, we are all accountable to God for the offenses we’ve done against Him. Our being dependent upon God should lead us to humility and to gratitude.
Chapter 2: I Am in Christ
This term “in Christ” is one that Paul uses often to describes what it means to be savingly united to Him. 1 Corinthians 15:22 notes that “For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” We are all born “in Adam,” therefore, we are all, by default, headed to death. On the other hand, once we are “in Christ,” then we are “made alive” and we are set to, one day, live with Christ eternally. As humans either our. . .
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