Dying and Rising with Christ

“We were therefore buried with him through the baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life / may walk in the newness of life.  If we have been united with him in his death we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.”(Romans 6:4-5).

 

Paul is writing to the people who are clearly alive. When did they die to sin? He refers to death to the old self. Death to sin! He recognises that humans would continue to commit sin until they die. Only death stops humans committing sin. There are a number of different senses in which we as Christians die to sin. Paul says: “we are baptised into Christ’s death”. This means that we actually share in Christ’s death. God sees us as included in Christ’s death all that time ago. When Christ died on the cross, we shared in that, we died too and so we died to sin.

 

Paul says:” I have been crucified with Christ; and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. And the life I now lives by faith in Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians:  2:20) and “For love of Christ urges us on, because we are convinced that one has died for all, therefore all have died” (2 Corinthians 5:14).  So, what happened to Christ happened to us. We died on the cross with Christ.

 

Imagine a room we live in is called sin. The only way to get out of the room is through the door marked death. The only way out of the room is to die. Christ has done that- he has died. But we have died with him and gone out through the door. In fact we were carried through the door by Christ. So we too have died and died to sin. But we also died in our baptism/conversion. So Christ’s death for us becomes real in our lives at our baptism/ conversion.

 

So why is the Christion not to go on sinning, perpetually, habitually and without caring? Because we have died to sin as we have been crucified with Christ. The old self has died; has been put to death when Christ died and this has been made real in our conversion. Paul says: “We have died with Christ” and we might expect him to say “we have been raised with him”. But he does not; we have not been raised in the same way, only Christ is now raised. But Romans 6: 4 says: “So we too may walk in the newness of life”. Not been raised but walk in the newness of life. We share his death but we do not share in his resurrection in the same way. In his resurrection we are not yet raised. But our hope is in Romans 6: 5 which says: “If we have been united with him on death we will certainly be united with him in his resurrection”. Note that the union with his resurrection is to take place sometime in the future.

[In Greek, the word of actual resurrection “anastasis”meaning standing up, is used almost exclusively of bodily resurrection. The words “zoopoieo” meaning to quicken or reanimate and “egeiro”meaning to awaken or rouse up are the ones mainly used in connection with our present subject. This does not mean, however, resurrection is not here contemplated; any more than thatquickening or awakening is not contemplated where bodily resurrection is concerned. It is simply a matter of emphasis. All three words are used in 1 Corinthians 15 with reference to the resurrection of Christ].

Most people know that Christ died for our sin. He died to take away our sins. Christ was sinless but God put our sins on him and he took it to the cross. Through his death we are cleansed of our sins. The narrative often stops there. The emphasis is on the cross. But, then why was he raised from the dead? What is the relevance of his resurrection?

He was raised for our salvation. The work of salvation did not end with the cross. The resurrection is part of Christ’s work for our salvation.

 

Let us look at the familiar story of the prodigal son. The son having squandered his inheritance realises that he would be better off if he return to his father and ask for his forgiveness and to be reconciled to him, not necessarily in his old status as his son. Consider for a moment that the son has gone and asked for forgiveness and the father had just let the son join the household without much fuss. Would the reconciliation have been complete? Isn’t the action of the father who rushed out and met his son when he was approaching but still far away that completed the reconciliation?

 

Thomas Aquinas lists five reasons for resurrection. Being a biblical theologian his answers are from the Scriptures.

1. The resurrection displays God’s justice.

Because Christ humbled himself even to death on the cross from love and obedience to God it befits him to be uplifted by God to glorious resurrection. (Philippians 2:8)

2. Christ was raised for our instruction in faith.

    He explains “Our belief in Christ’s Godhead confirmed by his rising again because according to 2 Corinthians 13:4  “For to be sure, he was crucified in weakness, yet he lives by God’s power.”

3. Resurrection was necessary for raising of our hope in our own resurrection.

     “Since through seeing Christ who is our head, rise again, we hope that we likewise shall rise again”

4. The resurrection transforms the way we live our lives.

  ”As Christ is risen from the dead by the glory of the father, so we also may walk in the newness of life.”.(Romans 6:4)

5. The resurrection completes the work of our salvation.

      He was delivered up for our sins, rose again for our justification. (Romans4:25)

 

The last element is often neglected. It is the justification - putting right with God - that completes the salvation. Christ’s resurrection means that his sacrificial death on the cross was sufficient and therefore our sins can be forgiven.  By his death, Christ liberates us from sin; by his resurrection, he opens the way to new life. The new life is above all justification that reinstates us with God’s grace.

 

Union with Christ

 

There are several texts in Paul’s writing that show the importance of our union with Christ.

Paul says in (Corinthians 1:30) “But by His (God’s) doing you are in Christ Jesus(united to Christ; have union with Christ), who became to uswisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification (holiness) and redemption”. By God’s doing we are in Christ. He creates union. We embrace it and express it by faith.

• In this union Christ becomes wisdom and this overcomes our blinding, deadening ignorance.
• In this union Christ becomes righteousness for us andthis overcomes our guilt and condemnation
• In this union Christ becomes sanctification for us and this overcomes our corruption and pollution
• In this union Christ becomesredemption for us and this overcomes in the end all the miseries and pain and the futility that comes from sin and guilt.
•  

Paul says; “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become righteousness of God”. (2Corinthians 5:21).” Christ was sinless and God put our sin to his account. We were sinful and God put Christ’s righteousness to our account and he did it because we were in him.” (Paul uses this term “in him” seventy-three times in his epistles.) This verse underlines the great truth that our justification, our initial being put right with God, is due to our union with Christ by faith. In Romans 8:11 Paul says; ”Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus .. ” Justified in Christ! No condemnation in Christ! There is nothing more precious than hearing God saying to us personally over our guilty heads, Justified! No condemnation! If you cherish this verdict and this standing with God, then cherish your union with Christ.

 

But in Romans 6:7 we are moving from justification to sanctification in Christ. In other words our union with Christ is not only the key to understanding justification; getting right with God by faith alone. Union with Christ is also the key to understanding sanctification- becoming a new kind of people who don’t continue to sin, who are no longer enslaved to sin, but who walk in the newness of life. The union with Christ is for our becoming morally and spiritually new people. In Ephesians 2:10 Paul says; “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. This is not justification, this is moral transformation. “If anyone is in Christ he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come” (Romans 5:17).In union with Christ God has created us as new people. In Christ we are new creature. This is who we are in Christ Jesus – in union with Christ. We are dead to sin. We become united with him in likeness to death.

 

Walking in newness of life.

 

Although God’s grace has come into the world to bring reconsciliation and justice there are still evil powers at work. Paul personifies these evils calling them such names as: sin (Romans 6:2), flesh (Romans 7:5), death (Romans ^:9) or this world (Romans 12:2. Human beings should choose, whether through their actions in daily life, to partner with God through Christ or with these evil forces. Pauls calls choosing to partner with God “walking win newness of life”. He compares walking in newness of life to Christs new life after being raised from life. “Just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the father, so we too may walk in the newness of life” (Romans 6:4). To walk in the newness of life requires us to abandon our judge mentalism and to do God’s justice rather than continuing in our self-serving habit. (Romans 6:12-13). As instrument of God’s justice, believers act in ways through which the life-giving power of God’s grace builds up people and communities in Christ. This is far more active than merely reframing from bad behaviour. Our calling is to become instruments of justice and reconciliation, working to root out the effect of sin in a troubled world.

 

Augustine makes the point “Having considered all the circumstances and the testimonies, we conclude man is not justified by the precepts of a holy life, but by faith in Jesus Christ – in a word not by the law of works, but by the law of faith, not by the letter but y the spirit, not by the merit of deeds, but by free grace”.

 

Martin Luther in one of his sermons referred to meditation on the passion of Christ thus:

“It is not simply a question of feeling sorry for Jesus”. Proper meditation on the passion involves becoming more aware of one’s own sinfulness and how one’s sins impacted on Christ’s suffering. Thorough this personalised meditation, the Christians would be able to fully comprehend the nature of his/her relationship to Christ. Realise that you are the one who is torturing Christ thus, for your sin have surely wrought this. For every nail that pierces Christ, more than one hundred thousand should in justice pierce you, yes; they should prick you for ever and ever more painfully. When Christ is tortured by nails penetrating his hands and feet you should eternally suffer the pain they inflict and pain of even more cruel nails. This awareness of personal culpability for Christ’s suffering brings understanding of why Christians need to die to self. The personalised element involved first despairing of one’s ability to be righteous or to act freely without the influence of sin. He believed that tis despair was a necessary prerequisite of true repentance for all Christians. He also held that each must come to this realisation on his/her own. It is certain that one must utterly despair before one is prepared to receive the grace of Christ”.

 

Conclusion

 

We as Christians are baptised into Christ’s death. God put our sins on Christ who was sinless so that we should be cleansed of our sins. Christ took our sins to the cross and he died on the cross. Hence we are partakers of his death in that we died to sin with him. Since we have died with Christ we are in union with him. Christ was raised from the dead as the confirmation that the sacrifice Christ made on the cross was accepted by God for us to be justified, that is being made right with God. Since we are united with Christ we are also partakers in the resurrection of Christ, not yet but at a future date. However through our justification as a result of his resurrection we are made new and are walking in the newness of life. We are dead to sin. We are made new creation and Christ lives in us. We can sin no more. “But now that we have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit we reap leads to holiness  - sanctification- newness of life and the result is eternal life” (Romans 6:22).