A. J. Gordon, Ministry of the Spirit, 46, 193, 195, 206--"Christ must be justified in the spirit and received up into glory, before he can be made righteousness to us and we can become the righteousness of God in him. Christ's coronation is the indispensable condition of our justification.... Christ the High Priest has entered the Holy of Holies in heaven for us. Until he comes forth again at the second advent, how can we be assured that his sacrifice for us is accepted? We reply: By the gift of the Holy Spirit. The presence of the Spirit in the church is the proof of the presence of Christ before the throne.... The Holy Spirit convinces of righteousness, '_because I go unto the Father, and ye see me no more_' (_John 16:10_). We can only know that '_we have a Paraclete with the Father, even Jesus Christ the Righteous_' (_1 John 2:1_), by that '_other Paraclete_' sent forth from the Father, even the Holy Spirit (_John 14:25, 26; 15:26_). The church, having the Spirit, reflects Christ to the world. As Christ manifests the Father, so the church through the Spirit manifests Christ. So Christ gives to us his name, 'Christians,' as the husband gives his name to the wife."
As Adam's sin is imputed to us, not because Adam is in us, but because we were in Adam; so Christ's righteousness is imputed to us, not because Christ is in us, but because we are in Christ,--that is, joined by faith to one whose righteousness and life are infinitely greater than our power to appropriate or contain. In this sense, we may say that we are justified through a Christ outside of us, as we are sanctified through a Christ within us. Edwards: "The justification of the believer is no other than his being admitted to communion in, or participation of, this head and surety of all believers."
_1 Tim. 1:14_--"_faith and love which is in Christ Jesus_"; _3:16_--"_He who was manifested in the flesh, Justified in the spirit_"; _Acts 13:39_--"_and by him_ [lit.: '_in him_'] _every one that believeth is justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses_"; _Rom. 4:25_--"_who was delivered up for our trespasses, and was raised for our justification_"; _Eph. 1:6_--"_accepted in the Beloved_"--Rev. Vers.: "_freely bestowed on us in the Beloved_"; _1 Cor. 6:11_--"_justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ._" "We in Christ" is the formula of our justification; "Christ in us" is the formula of our sanctification. As the water which the shell contains is little compared with the great ocean which contains the shell, so the actual change wrought within us by God's sanctifying grace is slight compared with the boundless freedom from condemnation and the state of favor with God into which we are introduced by justification; _Rom. 5:1, 2_--"_Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; through whom also we have had our access by faith into this grace wherein we stand; and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God._"