When we come to faith in Jesus Christ, then we are in Christ. This is a work of God: But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who of God is made to us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30 MKJV). This scripture is a key truth. As believers, our position before God is that God sees us in Christ. Jesus is our righteousness and our sanctification. This means that we are perfect before God. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God (Col. 3:3 ISV).
The redemptive work of Jesus Christ has made this possible, and it is faith that makes this a personal fulfillment. To be in Christ is the same as being a child of God, being saved, and being a believer. One is then a new creation. This is no improvement of the old man or a modification of him. No, the old man is crucified, dead, and buried, and everything has become new.[1]
Union with Christ
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Our Perfection Is in Christ, Not in a Perfect Manuscript
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1 Corinthians 1:30 and Colossians 3:3 teach that God has placed us in Christ—He Himself is our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
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That means our standing before God does not depend on access to a “perfect TR” or a single translation (like the KJV).
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To insist that salvation or sanctification requires a flawless edition of Scripture diminishes Christ’s finished work and shifts faith away from the Savior to a humanly constructed text theory.
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The Old Man Is Dead—No Need for a New “Perfect Text” to Save Him
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When Scripture says the old man is crucified and we are a new creation in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17; Rom. 6:6), it highlights that redemption is a matter of spiritual transformation, not textual perfection.
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VPP and KJV-Onlyism confuse the gospel by suggesting that spiritual life depends on possessing a particular printed Bible, rather than on the redemptive work of Christ applied through the Spirit.
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Faith Unites Us to Christ, Not to a Version of the Bible
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The statement is clear: “The redemptive work of Jesus Christ has made this possible, and it is faith that makes this a personal fulfillment.”
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That faith is in Jesus, not in the “perfect preservation” of manuscripts or one translation. Paul never taught Timothy to cling to a “perfect text,” but to cling to Christ and the Scriptures he had, which were already sufficient (2 Tim. 3:15–17).
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New Creation vs. Sectarian Division
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In Christ, we are new creations, reconciled into one body (Eph. 2:15–16).
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KJV-Onlyism and VPP tear apart the unity of the body of Christ by exalting textual theories as tests of orthodoxy, dividing churches over secondary issues.
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The gospel makes us one in Christ, not one under the KJV or the TR.
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Conclusion
The heart of the gospel is that we are in Christ, made perfect before God by His righteousness, hidden with Him in God, and made new by His Spirit. The false doctrines of VPP, Perfect TR, and KJV-Onlyism redirect believers away from Christ to an idol of textual perfection. They substitute union with Christ with union with a text, undermining the very truth Paul proclaimed.
Our faith is not in the KJV, nor in the TR, nor in a theory of preservation. Our faith is in Jesus Christ crucified and risen, who alone is our wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
[1]
Frank E. Åbyholm, The Voice of God:
Experience a Life Changing Relationship with the Lord
(Greenville, SC; Belfast, Northern Ireland: Ambassador International, 2011),
57.
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