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INNER CIRCLE: Only In Christ

INNER CIRCLE: Only In Christ

Last updated on: July 16, 2026 at 9:17 pm by Keith Giles

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INNER CIRCLE: Only In Christ 2026-07-16T21:17:29+00:00 Keith Giles

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Only In Christ

2 Corinthians 3:14-16

“But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Origin, the veil is removed.”

The concept of being “in Christ” is all about perspective. Paul speaks of everyone and everything being in Christ (and Christ being in everyone) quite often, but sometimes, he speaks in ways that appear to suggest a conditionality, and this needs to be addressed.

For centuries, many Christians have emphasized those passages that suggest conditionality as a way of modifying the passages that suggest universality. Why? Simply because their theology depends upon the scarcity of Christ’s presence and the necessity of separation from God to operate.

But, even at face value, it makes no sense to modify a passage where Paul speaks of being “filled with the fullness of Christ who fills everything in every way” in such a way as to suggest that those passages do not mean what they say.

In other words, if we have a passage where the Apostle Paul teaches that God’s grace, or goodness, or mercy is unlimited, it is entirely inappropriate to interpret another passage to suggest that God’s mercy is limited.

So, if Paul teaches that Christ is “the One in whom we all live and move and have our being,” then we need to approach any other teaching from Paul with the assumption that this is our base reality: Christ is all and is in all.

In this passage above, Paul speaks as if being in Christ changes something about us, or makes something true now that wasn’t true before. In a way, yes, this is correct, but not in the way most Christians assume. The key is when Paul says, “But their minds were hardened.” The condition that changes is not God’s relationship to us, but our relationship to the reality of our Oneness in Christ.

As we shall see when we get to Paul’s statements at the beginning of Colossians, any separation we experience from God is on our side, not on God’s side. In other words, this separation is in our mind, but not in God’s mind.

If we have embraced the illusion of separation in our minds, then whenever we read the scriptures, we will do so through the lens of separation. Truthfully, no such separation actually exists, but we cannot see it until we experience the transformation (the “metanoia”) of our minds.

The only thing that removes this veil of confusion is to awaken to the reality of our Oneness in Christ. Once we are in Christ, we can see clearly.

As Paul phrases it here, “…when one turns to the (Kyrios) Origin, the veil is removed.” I have translated the term “kyrios” here as “the Origin” rather than as “Lord,” for several reasons. Mainly, because that terminology of Lord and servant, or master and slave, is outdated and, frankly, repugnant to me. I do not relate to God as a master, nor do I see myself as a slave. Jesus famously emphasized this paradigm shift away from thinking of God as a slave master when he said, “I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:15)

Therefore, if we go back to the meaning of the Greek term Kyrios here, we can see that it has several other meanings, including “one who has control.” To me, if Jesus teaches us not to think of ourselves as slaves, then God is not a Lord, and if that’s the case, then our relationship to God isn’t hierarchical but collaborative and entangled.

Perhaps it’s better to return to another metaphor that Jesus used: the Vine and the branches: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

Notice that this passage comes a few verses before the one where Jesus tells us not to think of ourselves as slaves. Perhaps this is the entire point Jesus is trying to make. We need to rethink (metanoia) our relationship to God. He is not our Lord. We are not his slaves. We are friends. We are branches emanating from the vine. Without the vine, there would be no branches, but without the branches the vine cannot bear any fruit. This is a collaborative, symbiotic relationship. One cannot tell where the vine ends, and the branch begins. And who really cares? The point is not to define one or the other but to enjoy the reality that comes when we experience our Oneness with the Divine.

In the quantum sense, “everything is the quantum field, and the quantum field is everything.” What both Jesus and Paul teach us is that we are not separate from God. Any notion of division in our minds, not in God’s mind. We are branches that extend outward from the vine. We are expressions of the divine quantum field that is everywhere, all the time.

It’s only when we turn to the Source, or the Origin, that we can clearly see who we are and who God is. This is how the veil is removed. This is how we begin to see clearly our relationship to the Universe, and to all creation.

So, when Paul says, “Only in Christ is the veil removed,” he’s not suggesting that the veil is anything real. It’s not a reflection of reality; it’s something false pulled over our perception of reality. Once the veil is removed, we can perceive reality for what it truly is. The veil suggests that everything is covered in darkness, but when the veil falls away, we realize that the light was always shining everywhere, for everyone.

My new book, The Quantum Gospel of Philip and the Valentinian Christ is now available on Amazon in Print and Kindle. Audiobook coming soon.

Keith Giles is the best-selling author of the Jesus Un series. He has appeared on CNN, USA Today, Coast To Coast with George Noory, BuzzFeed, and John Fugelsang’s “Tell Me Everything.” He co-hosts the Heretic Happy Hour Podcast.

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