Lesser Known Characters 01 Anna - Abiding — Joseph Balsan

Out tonight and to hear that wonderful singing. My, it's just a little foretaste of heaven. What's it going to be like when all the redeemed are up there and we're going to sing? I would like you to turn to Luke chapter 2 tonight.

Simeon and Anna in the Temple

Luke chapter 2 and verse 21, and when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb. Verse 25,.

And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

And he came by the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him after the custom of the law, then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word.

For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people. A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. And Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him.

And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be spoken against. Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the daughter of Aser, or Asher. She was of a great age, and had lived with her husband seven years from her virginity. And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.

And coming in that instant, gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and faith of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee to their own city Nazareth.

And the child drew and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. May the Lord bless to us the reading of his word. We have read this incident that took place in the temple at the time of the offering of the sacrifice as the Jewish law required when a child was born in the nation of Israel.

I read the whole context of what I have before me this evening. What I have before me is especially three verses that are brought before us in this portion, the thirty-sixth to the thirty-eighth verses concerning a woman by the name of Anna.

Lesser-Known New Testament Characters

This morning we were speaking about Elisha, and that is what we hope to take up in the morning studies, lessons from the life of Elisha in days of ruin and declension. But in the evenings I am hoping the Lord enabling to take up, if I might give it a title, vignettes of virtue in seldom spoken of New Testament characters.

That is quite a long title, isn't it? I am sure that many of us have listened to messages on well-known characters in the Bible. Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah in the Old Testament, and even Elisha, of whom I am speaking in the morning, Lord willing.

We have all heard messages on Peter, Simon Peter, and Paul, and John. No matter how often we hear messages concerning these individuals, we always receive something for our souls, because their lives were brilliant lives for our Lord Jesus.

And sometimes we might think to ourselves, well, these people are way beyond my realm. Moses, Abraham, David, Elijah, Paul, Peter, and John, such great individuals who were in the public eye. And yet when we come to the Bible, we find that the Bible speaks to us of people that were, you might say, common, ordinary people.

And yet the very fact that they are mentioned in the word of God is a precious lesson to us, that though we may live, as it were, common, ordinary lives, God takes note, and God can record and write things concerning us that will endure for all eternity.

Some of these characters that we are going to look at are people of whom very little is said, and yet every word seems to be weighed in the very sanctuary of God, and presents to us a precious lesson, or a precious truth, for our own life only willing to listen and willing to take in the message.

Abiding in Christ and Bearing Fruit

I said a vignette of virtue. What virtue would I suggest concerning this woman that is brought before us? Well, you know, there is a wonderful verse in the fifteenth chapter of John, in which the Lord Jesus says to his disciples, Abide in me.

And I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, no more can ye except ye abide in me. How important it is to abide in Christ and to have Christ abide in me in a practical, everyday way, so that my life can be fruitful for the Lord Jesus Christ.

And you know, there is much confusion and misunderstanding about what is involved in this matter of abiding. What is included in this truth of abiding? Well, might I suggest to you that as we look at this character, Anna, we see in her what I would suggest as an example of what it means to abide.

There was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, and had lived with her husband seven years from her virginity. And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.

And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. Only eighty-five words, as I read these three verses, are spoken concerning this woman, and yet I think we have brought before us some precious lessons, or precious truths, that are, you might say, available to each and every one of us who are here.

Anna's Name: Grace, Happiness, and God's Face

The first thing I want you to notice is the sweetness of her name. Her name is Anna, or her name was Anna. You know, Anna is the very same as the woman whose name is brought before us in the Old Testament, and her name was Hannah.

Both of these names are the very same, and both of these names can be spelled the same backwards and forwards. Anna and Hannah. The sweetness of her name. What is so sweet about her name? Well, you know, the names in the Bible, of characters in the Bible, are not just dropped carelessly or aimlessly.

The names of scripture are just as significant as the plainest exhortations, as the plainest instructions of the Lord. Her name, Anna, means grace. Why, isn't that a wonderful name? Anna. Grace. I'm sure we've all heard the story of D. L. Moody, who used to read his Bible and study his Bible topically, and one time he was studying the subject of grace with his concordance, and as he was studying the subject, he studied it far into the night.

And as he studied that subject, next morning when he arose, he was so fulfilled with it that he had to go out into the street, and the first person that he met, he said to that person, Do you know grace?

And he said, Grace? Grace who? Why, do you know the grace of God? I just wonder tonight if everyone here knows the grace of God. Have you experienced the grace of God? You know, this is where salvation is so different from mere religion or religiosity.

Religion or religiosity is all based on works. What man is doing. But grace is something entirely different. Grace, my friends, is what God does and has done for us, and what he has bestowed upon souls because of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done.

Grace is God bestowing upon the individual that which he does not deserve. I'm sure, my friends, that if we really examine ourselves in the light of God's word, we have to acknowledge, well, I deserve the judgment of God.

I deserve the wrath of God. If the Bible says the wages of sin is death and the soul that sinneth it shall die, it is what I deserve. I deserve nothing but the judgment of God. But my friends, instead of giving us judgment, God wants to bestow upon us grace.

I remember our brother Harold Harper, a number of years ago, giving a little sentence on grace. He said, Grace is God's riches at Christ's expense. Grace is God's riches at Christ's expense. My friend, this evening, have you received those riches?

Do you know the joy of being saved by grace? By grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Whenever I think of that verse, I think of grace as being the hand of God stretching forth and offering salvation to the sinner because of what the Lord Jesus has done, and faith being the hand that appropriates and receives that salvation for itself.

My friend, tonight, if you sit in this meeting and you're not able to say, I know I'm saved, I know it's well with my soul, let me tell you tonight that God is not demanding of you something to do, but God is asking of you to receive something that he offers you by his grace, his salvation, full and free.

Grace. Her name was Grace. Isn't that sweet? And you know she was of the tribe of Asher, and Asher means happy. And you know that's what the one who has experienced grace is. The one who has experienced grace is a person who is happy.

Are you happy tonight? Happy in the knowledge of the forgiveness of sins? Happy in the assurance that you have eternal life? Happy in the assurance that you are on your way to heaven? Very happy was met by another person, and he said to him, Why, you look happy.

What do you have to be happy about? He says, You look to me as though you're on the downward side of life. He says, No. He says, I'm on the upward side of life. You are? He says, Why, you certainly look to me as though you're over fifty.

He says, Oh yes. He says, I'm over fifty, but he says I'm just that much closer to heaven. So he says, I'm on the upward side of life. Every day brings me closer to heaven. My friends, a Christian who has experienced the grace of God has much to be happy about.

And you know she was a daughter of Phanuel. And Phanuel means the face of God. The face of God. The Christian is a person who has experienced the grace of God and is happy, and he knows that the face of God shines upon him.

Oh yes, sometimes clouds may come between. Not so long ago it was my privilege to take an airplane ride and a jet from Des Moines to New York for a very brief visit to visit our son there. And you know, as we took off from Des Moines, it was a beautiful sunny day.

My, the sun was shining. But as we flew over Cleveland, up above the clouds, thirty thousand feet up in the air, we could look below and see the rolling clouds of thunder. But you know, friends, we had the sun shining on our plane.

We were above the clouds. People down there in Cleveland might have said, my, the sun is hidden from view. The sun doesn't shine, it's so dark. But you know, above the clouds, the sun was shining. My friends, it's the same with the Christian.

God's face is always shining toward the Christian. And if you belong to him tonight, his face shines toward you at all times. There's never, my friends, that that face has ever turned away from the child of God.

When the Lord Jesus died on the cross, when he hung upon that cross, as we were hearing this morning, the face of God was turned from his son and shrouded that scene in darkness. And my friends, he endured the hiding of the Father's face from him on Calvary's cross that the face of God might never be turned from the soul that trusts in the Lord Jesus.

His face shines upon me tonight. Isn't that sweet? It certainly is. But I want you to notice the second thing, and that is not only the sweetness of her name, but the simplicity of her life. The simplicity of her life.

Anna's Widowhood and Death to the Flesh

It says, There was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity. And she was a widow of about four score and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.

Now, you know, there's quite a bit of discussion about how old Anna really was. Was Anna 84 years old, as it says here? She was a widow of about four score and four years? Or was she older than that? Well, my friends, there is a difference of opinion among Bible students and commentators about this.

For myself, I believe that she was older than 84. I believe she was only a widow, or rather, not only a widow, but she had been a for 84 years. It says she was a widow of great age. God doesn't reveal her age.

God, as it were, keeps it a secret between himself and her. She was a widow for 84 years. And here, I believe that we have brought before us something that is very important. She was married for seven years from her virginity.

And Bible students, or historians, believe that that is perhaps about the age of 14. She perhaps was married about the age of 14. I'm just using those figures generally. No authority for it except what historians say, or geographers who have studied the land and the practices of the land.

But at the age of 21, she was suddenly widowed. It was quite a blow. Her husband, her pillar of strength, the one upon whom she depended, suddenly taken from her side. And at the age of 21, she was left a widow.

A desolate, very damaging blow to this young woman. In those days and in that land, that seemed to be the end of everything. Yet, my friends, I believe that it suggests to us a very important lesson that every one of us must learn in our Christian experience if we are to know the truth of abiding in Christ.

It's wonderful to know that I'm in Christ because I've experienced his grace, because his face shines upon me. But you know, there is something else we need to learn in our Christian experience, and that is death to the flesh.

Death to that upon which we are dependent. You know, someone has very well said, who are they who have not seen death and yet have died? The Christian is a strange person. He is a person who is alive and yet he has died.

Here was the one upon whom she depended, her flesh, her source of strength, her source of pleasure, her source of supply, her source of authority. Everything suddenly wiped out, and here she is left absolutely destitute.

Might I say that this is a lesson that every child of God must learn, that the Apostle Paul himself expressed in the words, I have been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me?

If there is a lesson that the Christian needs to learn, it is death to the flesh. You know, it's very significant that we have that she's the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity, and she was a widow of about fourscore and four years.

You know where that word Phanuel occurs for the first time? It occurs in the thirty-second chapter of Genesis. It was a lesson that Jacob had to learn. Remember when Jacob was returning and he was going to meet his brother Esau?

Remember how he dreaded meeting Esau? And he made preparations, he knew how he had wronged Esau. He prepared by sending his wives with their children and their possessions over before him, and it says,.

And Jacob was left alone that night. And there a man wrestled with him. Not Jacob wrestled with the Lord, but a man wrestled with Jacob. And he could not prevail against Jacob, and finally he touched his thigh.

And then Jacob, with the source of his strength gone, Jacob lays hold of him and refuses to let him go, and he says, I will not let thee go until thou bless me. And he held on to him. Now, Jacob didn't enter into the full experience of it, but the picture is this.

Jacob was brought to the end of himself, and brought to the place where he had to realize that all of his planning and all of his works and everything that he was doing, it only led to chaos. It only led to confusion.

He was brought to the place where he had to recognize, I am nothing. I can do nothing. I am absolutely dependent upon thee. Abraham had to learn it. Remember how Abraham wanted a son? He went about his own way, and he produced a son through Hagar, and the Bible tells us that for 13 years, from the age of 86 when Ishmael was born to the age of 99, not a word is said about fellowship with God or contact with God, 13 years lost in Abraham's life because he went the way of the flesh.

Abraham had to learn that the flesh could produce nothing for God, that the flesh is absolutely useless in God's sight, and he's dependent upon God for the fulfillment of his promises. Moses had to learn it, didn't he?

Oh, I'll deliver the people of Israel. I'm in a place of responsibility and authority, but remember what happened when he wanted to deliver the Israelites? Remember the man said to them, are you going to kill me just like you killed that Egyptian?

And Moses had to flee, and 40 years in the wilderness, alone with God, Moses had to learn the flesh profits nothing in the sight of God. We could go right through the Bible, we could take Peter, ah, Peter, self-confident, a man who had been converted, converted from his sins.

And yet the Lord said to him, Peter, when thou art converted. Why isn't Peter converted? Sure he was converted from his sins, but my friend, he had to be converted from self, and the Lord allowed him to fall.

The Lord says, I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not. Peter had to find out the flesh profits nothing. She was a widow. She came to that moment in her life when death severed her from the flesh, and she was absolutely dependent upon God.

Some Christians never learn it. Some Christians don't learn it until it's like Samson of old. Samson didn't learn it until he died. All of his life he went his own way, he did his own will. God went along with him until finally, stripped of his hair, blinded the poor slave of the Philistines.

He drowned there at the mill, and brought out to make sport for the Philistines. He prayed one more prayer, his last prayer. It was his greatest. It was the greatest thing that ever happened, because he says, O Lord, just once more, and let me die.

Someone has said Samson slew more in his death than he ever did in his life, and that's true of every child of God. He does more through his death. The only thing is, we don't want to wait until we die to die.

We want to understand that at the cross of Christ I have died, and it is that which I have set forth in my baptism. When I was baptized, I went down into the waters of baptism, signifying I have died, and I am burying that old man, the flesh.

Henceforth, no longer to walk after the flesh, but to walk after the Spirit. Eighty-four years a widow. Even the numbers of Scripture are significant. Eighty-four is a combination of twelve and seven, and twelve is the number of government, and seven is the number of completeness.

Here we have a life that is completely under the government and the control of God. Is your life and mine completely under the government and the control of God? Is he Lord of all? Is he Lord in all? That woman, the flesh dead, dependence upon the flesh gone, it says here, she departed not from the temple, but served God.

Living in God's Presence Through Prayer and Fasting

Oh, the simplicity. She departed not from the temple. What does it suggest? It suggests, my friends, that this life is lived constantly in the fellowship of God. Constantly in the presence of God, night and day, in darkness and in light, in the presence of God.

Is it possible to be living constantly in fellowship with God? Is it possible to be living constantly in the presence of God? I'm sure we've all heard the story of Brother Lawrence, that monk who cultivated the presence of God, who no matter what he was doing, whether he was serving at the most menial tasks in the monastery, whether he was on business for the brethren in the monastery, wherever he was, he was in contact and in fellowship with God.

He lived in the temple. We don't always have to be on our knees to be living in fellowship with God. There was a great Bible teacher and student, I think it was Mr. Bengel, Dr. Bengel or whoever he was, but he was a great Greek scholar and a young student who had listened to his teaching and was just enraptured with his learning of the scripture and his knowledge of Greek, thought he would listen to that man as he prayed, and so he went into his room and concealed himself, and when that man came in, why as he undressed and prepared for bed, he just got down on his knees and he says, Lord, I'm thankful we're on the same terms that we were on all through the day.

I'll just commit myself to thee for the night. And so saying, he laid himself upon his bed and went to sleep. He was a man who was constantly in the presence of God. We can be in the presence of God. She abode in the temple night and day, serving God with fastings and prayers, fasting.

Sometimes one could almost speak of the lost arts of Christianity. Fasting, it's a good thing to fast, but might I suggest to you that fasting suggests self-denial, self-denial. You know, self-denial is something that's almost lost sight of, isn't it?

Self-denial. You and I ask ourselves the question, what have I really denied myself? Self-denial, fasting and prayers, the two things go together. Self-denial and speaking to God. She lived in fellowship with God.

Is that beyond the reach of any one of us? Is that out of the realm of anyone? Here was a woman that was 84 years a widow. You might say that as far as her life was concerned, the world would say it's done.

It's one of the griefs of the present world system. When you get to a certain age, they set you aside and you're of no more use, but not with God. Not with God. I think that the older we get, the richer can be our lives.

The more fruitful, the more useful can be our lives. In the 92nd Psalm, it says the righteous shall flourish as the palm tree. It says he shall grow like the cedar in Lebanon. They shall be fat and flourishing.

They shall still bring forth fruit in old age. The older we get, the richer ought to be our experience, the deeper our knowledge of Christ, the greater our fervor for the Lord Jesus. She continued in the temple night and day, serving God with fastings and prayers night and day.

My, what a simple life. A life that begins with the experience of his grace, a life that continues in its simplicity, death with Christ, living in fellowship with him, continuing in prayer and fasting.

Anna's Fruitful Service and Being in the Right Place

But then you notice the third thing, the significance of her service. Because you know in that 15th chapter of John, it says, abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can he except he abide in me.

And we see that this woman, as a result of her experience and her life of constant touch and fellowship with God, is fruitful. There's significance in what she does. And my friends, I'd rather have these three verses spoken about me and written of me by God than have the world write myriads of books about what one accomplishes in this world.

Because all that is written in this world of what people do is written in sand. It's all going to pass away. But my friends, what God writes of a person, that endures, that's of value, that's eternal.

It says, she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and speak of him to all them that look for redemption in Jerusalem. You notice it says, she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord.

I want you to notice, my friends, that she was in the right place at the right time. She coming in that instant! I thought, my, that's wonderful, that word instant. Why is it possible to be right on the instant with God?

So I looked up the word, and the word is really hour. It occurs about 117 times in the New Testament. At any 89 times, it's translated hour. She coming in that instant, or in that hour, she came into the temple, and here she saw this sight.

She saw Simeon taking him up in his arms. She heard Simeon speak. She took in the whole thing. She was right there, at the right place, at the right time. Are you and I in the right place, at the right time?

My, it's very important to be in the right place, at the right time. And that is one of the privileges and experiences of abiding in Christ. We can go through the Bible, and we see people who were in the right place, at the right time.

In the 24th chapter of Genesis, we see a man seeking a bride for his master's son, and he comes to the right place. He comes to the well. My friends, he lifts up his eyes, his heart to the Lord. He says, Lord, let the woman whom you have chosen, let she be the one who will do so and so.

There's many a man and many a woman who's made the wrong choice because they've been in the wrong place. They've met the wrong mate because they've been in the wrong place. And I haven't been surprised at the way some marriages turn out in the world when I hear about where they met their partners.

How important to be in the right place, at the right time. He was in the right place, and Rebecca came out, and she fulfilled all the conditions. She was in the right place. He was in the right place to get a bride for his master's son.

In Genesis chapter 40, Joseph was in the right place. In prison? My, that certainly couldn't be the right place. But you know, there were two men who had dreams, and they needed an interpreter. Joseph might have thought, I'm in the wrong place, how miserable my life is.

But my friends, they needed an interpreter, and Joseph was the man who was there, and because he was in the right place at the right time to give the interpretation of the dreams, it led to the throne.

My friend, it's nice to be in the right place with the right message for the right people at the right time. Moses was in the right place when he was at the well, and Zipporah came with her flocks, and she wanted to water the flocks.

Moses was in the right place. He was there to help. He was there to help, and it led to his whole future. That little maid was in the right place, wasn't she? In Naaman's house. Here was a man who was sick.

He was dying of leprosy, and she says, oh, if he only knew the prophet. Now, we preach the gospel from it, and I enjoy to preach the gospel from it, but let's look at it as an actual historical event.

Here was a man who was sick, and she knew who the one would be that could heal him of his leprosy by the power of God, but nevertheless, she was at the right place to convey the message of physical healing.

Esther was in the right place, wasn't she? She was at the throne. She was right next to the king. Why? Because a nation was about to be destroyed, and she was in the right place at the right time so she could be used of the Lord.

My brother and sister, are you and I in the right place at the right time so that we can be used of the Lord? I was down in Houston a number of years ago. Sunday morning, the telephone rang, brother so-and-so has gone to be with the Lord.

There was a flurry of excitement, and so we started to go to the meeting, and all of a sudden the brother thought, where is the bread and the wine? This brother who was taken to be with the Lord for years had provided the bread and the wine for the meeting, and that morning, that early morning, he had been taken away.

There was no bread. There was no wine. He was a man who was in the right place at the right time, and he was missed. A couple of weeks ago, we had some of the Christians over to our home for supper, and a sister who was the wife of one of the elders in our assembly in Des Moines was telling us, how as a girl you were talking about some of the older brethren who have gone to be with the Lord, how they stood for God, what men they were for God.

As she was telling about how as a young person, many years before, the Lord had taken her father, or her mother rather, and she was so depressed and so discouraged that she stopped coming to the meeting.

She was getting cold and hard. Another death occurred in the area, and then one day, within a day or two after that death, the elder brother came to her and he says, Margaret, we need someone to sing at the funeral.

Oh, she says, I can't sing. I'm so discouraged. There's no use. And she says, he opened up the word of God, and what he brought before me so changed my thinking and so changed my ways. It was the turning point in my life.

He was the right man in the right place with the right word. Are you and I in the right place at the right time? Because when she was there, she saw something that caused her to give thanks unto God, service, thanksgiving to God.

Thanksgiving and Speaking of Christ

You know, I think that sometimes we're losing our sense of perspective. We're losing our priorities today. We're imbibing the spirit of the world, which emphasizes so much today, service to your fellow man, social reform and social activity.

Religion and Christianity is only of use if it does something for your fellow man. And God has lost sight of all together. My friend's Christianity, first of all, causes the soul to worship God, to praise God.

She gave thanks unto the Lord. My, what a wonderful spirit is the spirit of thanksgiving. Thanksgiving unto him. And it says she spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem. Now this word spake here is not a public utterance.

In other words, this was not public preaching on her part. In his Greek studies of New Testament words, J. H. Vincent says that it would be utterly impossible for this word spake of him to refer to a public utterance because of the fact of what follows, to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.

You know, we're living in the day today of women's so-called lib movement. We're living in a day today, well, just recently within the past month, I read two widely circulated magazines, Christian magazines, in which a professor, a feminine, female professor from one of the colleges in New York, wrote an article entitled, I'm Tired of Being a Second-Rate Christian.

And she was bringing up that the church needs to reappraise its viewpoint of the woman's place in the church. That the church has somehow or other neglected certain portions of the Bible that does not indicate that a woman has a place that is assigned to her in many places where they seek to carry out the word of God.

Now I noticed in reading the article that she quotes quite often, in fact altogether, from the so-called New English Bible. And I noticed secondly, that she minimizes the teachings of Paul, as though Paul was advocating some of his own ideas and biased views, which are not really the teaching of God.

Now I realize that in the epistles of the Corinthians, Paul in the seventh chapter says, I give my judgment. But my friends, let us now think for a moment that when Paul says, I give my judgment, that he is giving, as it were, an unspiritual or unspirit-controlled judgment.

When Paul says, these are the commandments of the Lord, those are direct commands that the Lord himself gives him. And when he does not so speak, what he does speak is the inspiration and the very words of the Holy Spirit.

And they are recorded with the same authority from the Spirit as from the Lord himself. But this dear sister is confused in her thinking, because she says, and she bases everything on Galatians 3 and 28, where it says, in Christ Jesus there is neither male nor female, bond or free, so on and so forth.

In Christ Jesus. Well I think she is confused in her theology, or she is confused in her biblical understanding. Because my friends, there is a great difference between in Christ and in the church. And if we don't distinguish between in Christ and in the church, we are going to come into confusion.

Because in Christ there is no difference. There is neither male nor female. There is neither circumcision or uncircumcision. That is our standing in Christ. And as far as our position in the body of Christ is concerned, there is no difference.