'In Christ' in the Bible

To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are at Colosse: Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints,

For God was very pleased to have all of [His] fullness dwell in Christ [See 2:9],

[and He will do this] if you continue in the faith, well-grounded and steadfast, and not shifting away from the [confident] hope [that is a result] of the gospel that you have heard, which was proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which [gospel] I, Paul, was made a minister.

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I am completing in my flesh what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for His body, that is, the church.

Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus:

For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ.

For it is in Christ that the fulness of God's nature dwells embodied, and in Him you are made complete,

And in Him you have been made complete [achieving spiritual stature through Christ], and He is the head over all rule and authority [of every angelic and earthly power].

In whom also ye are circumcised with circumcision made without hands, by putting off the sinful body of the flesh, through the circumcision that is in Christ,

and having divested principalitys and powers, he made them an example of obedience, and caus'd them to triumph in Christ.

These things are [only] a shadow of future things, but the body [i.e., the real substance of things] belongs to Christ. [Note: The idea here is that the ritual observances of the Mosaic law were like shadows pointing to the reality of life in Christ].

Children, always obey your parents, for that is commendable in Christians.