Toon TheologyWhat does it mean to be "in Christ"?
This short visual parable shows the gospel in 10 seconds.
What happens in the video
A dark room opens onto a doorway of brilliant white light, where a robed figure stands with open hands. A small black stick figure, crouched in the dark, gets up and walks toward the light alone. The moment it steps into the brightness it bursts into smoke.
Light gathers in the robed figure's hands and becomes a glowing light bulb, which floats out into the dark room. A second stick figure climbs inside the bulb, and the bulb carries it into the light. This time the figure is unharmed: it stands beside the robed figure, smiling, waving and dancing inside the glass.
Then the figure climbs up over the rim of the bulb. As soon as it is outside the glass it bursts into smoke, and the empty bulb is left glowing in the light.
God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5). His holiness isn't something He turns on and off. It's who He is. So when a sinner walks into His presence alone, the result is disaster. Darkness can't survive in pure light.
But God wants fellowship with us, sinners as we are. So He sends Jesus Christ, shown here as the light bulb. Jesus invites us to come and abide "in Him" (John 15:4).
Inside Christ, the same light that would have destroyed us becomes the place where we live. We can stand in God's presence, enjoy Him, and share fellowship with Him. "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1, ESV).
Step outside of Him, though, and we're back where we started: a sinful person before a holy God. That isn't because God stops loving us. It's because of who God is. The danger was never a lack of love. It's the nature of holiness itself.
That's why Jesus says, "Abide in me."
For reflection
- 1 John 1:5–7 — God is light; walking in the light together
- Isaiah 6:1–7 — "Woe is me!" and a sinner before a holy God
- John 15:1–7 — Abide in me
- 2 Corinthians 5:17, 21 — In Him, a new creation; in Him, the righteousness of God
- Hebrews 10:19–22 — Confidence to enter by the blood of Jesus
Where I stand
This is a view on a question Christians disagree about. Other traditions read the ending differently.
The end of the video can be read as saying that a Christian can lose their salvation. That is not what I mean by it. Christians genuinely disagree about whether a believer can fall away, and a ten-second picture cannot settle that question.
I read the parable as being about fellowship and abiding, which is the language of the passages behind it. John writes about walking in the light and having fellowship with God (1 John 1:5–7). Jesus says "abide in me" (John 15:4). Those who are truly in Christ are kept there by Him: no one will snatch them out of His hand (John 10:28), and nothing can separate them from God's love (Romans 8:38–39).
So stepping outside the bulb pictures something real but different. It is the believer who wanders from Christ and tries to stand before God on their own terms, presuming on grace. Holiness has not changed, and on our own we have nothing to stand in. The figure going up in smoke is a warning about what we are apart from Him, not a claim that God lets go of His own. The answer is the one Jesus gives: come back, and abide.
Over to you
Where do you see yourself in this picture?