Christ in You, the Hope of Glory: What Colossians 1:27 Means

If you think of Christian hope as something mostly for later, one day you'll go to heaven, Colossians 1 has good news for you. "Christ in you, the hope of glory" means the Christ of heaven already lives in you by His Spirit. He is changing you now, working through you now, and will one day bring you into His glory. And that hope grows the more clearly you see how much you need Him.

What does "Christ in you, the hope of glory" mean?

It means the hope of the gospel is present as well as future: Jesus Himself lives in you. The hope of glory is the confident expectation that the Christ who lives in you now will one day bring you into His eternal glory. Paul wrote Colossians from prison, rejoicing in what he suffered for the church. His task was to present the word of God in its fullness, including a mystery that had been hidden for ages.

To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Colossians 1:27

That one line ties together salvation, transformation, mission, resurrection, and eternity. Pastor Marty Sloan summed up Christian hope this way. Christ lives in us now and is changing us now. He works through us in this world, and He will one day bring us into His eternal glory. Emmanuel, God with us, now lives in us by the power of the Holy Spirit.

What does it mean to be "in Christ"?

To be in Christ is to belong to King Jesus and live inside everything He has won and everything He rules. It is the phrase Paul uses most often to describe the new life the gospel makes possible.

Because you are in Him, you no longer have to be ruled by your flesh or controlled by evil. You have been moved into a new kingdom, and you can know God through the cross and the power of the Holy Spirit. That gives you two kinds of hope: eternity with Christ, and grace to start living His life here and now.

He has saved us and called us to a holy life, not because of anything we have done but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time

2 Timothy 1:9

Be careful not to let "in Christ" become a slogan. We live surrounded by catchphrases that rise and vanish overnight, where a hashtag can stand in for truth. Being in Christ is a new way of understanding your whole life, and you walk it out every day.

Why does seeing your need for a Savior increase your hope?

Because hope in Christ grows as you understand how much you need Christ. You can never understand the hope you have in Christ until you understand how hopeless you were before Christ. This is the point many of us miss. When you shrink your need for a Savior, you shrink your surrender to Him. When you see how lost you were, you depend on Him more.

Jesus did not come to assist you. Salvation is a rescue, start to finish.

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions. It is by grace you have been saved.

Ephesians 2:4 to 5

The gospel doesn't take people who are mostly good and polish them up. It takes people with nothing and makes them into something. Sin was a full separation from God.

Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation

Colossians 1:21 to 22

Pastor Marty laid it out as a chain:

1. You won't find hope in Christ until you surrender to Christ.
2. You won't surrender until you see how much you need a Savior.
3. When you take hold of Him as your Savior, surrender comes easily.

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8

You stay in Christ by remembering that you were reconciled by Christ. You never outgrow your need for Jesus. You just go deeper into Him and live more fully in Him.

How do you enter God's kingdom?

You enter with a posture, not a position. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus began with who receives the kingdom before He said anything about what to do.

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted. Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

Matthew 5:3 to 5

Being poor in spirit means coming to God knowing you can't save yourself. Isaiah found that posture when he saw the Lord and cried out, "Woe is me! for I am undone" (Isaiah 6:5).

Jesus told a story that shows the difference. A Pharisee stood in the temple and thanked God that he was not like other people, listing his fasting and his tithing. A tax collector stood at a distance and would not even look up.

God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

Luke 18:13

Jesus said it was the tax collector who went home justified before God (Luke 18:14). The one who knew his need received the most.

How do you let Christ in you take the lead?

You let Christ lead by surrendering the areas where you are still acting as your own savior. Then stop and ask Him to lead in the moments that matter. Paul describes the life that results:

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Galatians 2:20

That life is not only for you. When Christ lives in you, the people around you get to see what hope looks like, and it points them to Him.

Common questions

What does "Christ in you, the hope of glory" mean?

In Colossians 1:27 Paul says the mystery God has now revealed is that Christ lives in believers. Our hope is not only heaven someday. Christ lives in us now by the Holy Spirit, is changing us, works through us, and will bring us into His glory.

What does it mean to be "in Christ"?

"In Christ" is Paul's most common way of describing the new life of the gospel. It means you belong to King Jesus and live in the benefits of His salvation and by His power. It shapes how you live each day.

Why does understanding my sin increase my hope?

When we play down our need for a Savior, we hold back our surrender. Ephesians 2 says we were dead in our sins and God made us alive. The more we see that salvation is a full rescue, the more we trust and surrender to Jesus.

What does "poor in spirit" mean in Matthew 5:3?

It describes a humble posture before God, knowing we can't save ourselves. Jesus said the kingdom of heaven belongs to the poor in spirit. Entry into the kingdom is about posture, as the tax collector in Luke 18 showed.