White Awake: An Honest Look at What It Means to Be White

by Daniel Hill

Dr. Snodgrass is quick to point out that there’s nothing theologically wrong with this invitation. In his studies of the apostle Paul, he has found that there are at least five places where the language of Christ “in us” or “in me” is used. We can detect an imbalance when we look at this through a larger frame. When the apostle Paul wrote about the nature of Christian faith, he most frequently noted how we are to be “in Christ,” a phrase used an astonishing 164 times. If we’re told that Christ can come “in us” five times, but we are told to be “in Christ” 164 times, where should the emphasis fall in the way we talk about this? To draw out this contrast, Snodgrass says, “If Christ is only in you, then how big is Christ? Not very big, and you can tuck him away when you don’t need him. But, if you and all other human beings are in Christ, as well as all of Creation, then how big is Christ?”