In Genesis 15, Abram laments that he has no son, and that a household servant will be his heir. But the Lord said, “This one will not be your heir; instead, one who comes from your own body will be your heir” (Gen. 15:4).

Isaac was the immediate fulfillment of the Lord’s promise to Abram. But God was ultimately speaking of Christ, as Paul tells us: “Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, ‘and to seeds,’ as though referring to many, but referring to one, and to your seed, who is Christ.”

God’s promise to Abram is also a promise to us. One comes from our own body as well–“Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27).

For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ like a garment. There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise (Gal. 3:27-29).

Christ, the seed, came from Abraham’s own body and was his heir (Gal. 3:16). If we belong to Christ, Paul says we are Abraham’s seed and heirs of God’s promise. It is easy, in the verses between Galatians 3:16 and 29, to begin thinking individually; that each of us in the church is a seed and heir. But Paul has just told us, “He does not say, ‘and to seeds,’ as though referring to many, but referring to one…who is Christ” (Gal. 3:16).

There is only one seed; we have been baptized, immersed in Him, and have put Him on like a garment. Whatever we were in the flesh–Greek, Jew, slave, free, etc–we are no more. Now we are One–Christ.

It is not another Christ that is in us. We do not have our own separate Christ. There is only One Christ, Abraham’s seed and heir. We are in the One, and the One is in us–the same substance, the same quality, the same Jesus. The only Jesus. Him and no other–now our life, our self, our totality.