The Believer Is Raised Spiritually In and With Christ
Christ is alive forever, victor over death and Hell. We are one with Him in His resurrection. Therefore we also through Him are alive forever and a victor over death and Hell. "As he is, so are we in the world" (I John 4:17).
The indestructible, endless resurrection power of Christ lifts us up from the power of Satan, from the power of the spirit of the world, and from the power of our own self-willed, sinful fleshly nature. It enables us to purge ourselves from all sin and rebellion. The Holy Spirit imparts to us the desire to overcome sin and the necessary wisdom and strength to cleanse ourselves from all unrighteousness.
Separation from the sin and rebellion of the world and of the flesh, through Christ's atoning death and victorious resurrection, is portrayed by our coming up out of the waters of baptism.
Oneness with the Lord Jesus Christ in His death and in His resurrection is an important aspect of the development of Christ in us, of the building of the Temple of God in our life.
Will we continue in sin?
It may be observed in the sixth chapter of the Book of Romans that our participation through faith in the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord Jesus is demonstrated by whether or not we continue in sin after we become a Christian.
What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? (Romans 6:1)
The answer that we give to this question, both in our words and in our conduct, reveals whether or not we understand the significance of water baptism—what it means to be buried with Christ and risen with Christ.
If we keep on walking in the desires of the flesh after we become a Christian, stating that as long as we are in the world we are compelled to sin or that Christ has set us free and we are under no law of righteous conduct, we do not understand the nature or purpose of the redemption that is in Christ.
There are authority and power in our union with the death and resurrection of Christ that enable us to choose to live righteously. Chapter Six of Romans is a safeguard inserted by the Holy Spirit. Its purpose is to prevent a wrong conclusion from Paul's argument concerning the gift of grace—an argument directed toward Judaizers who were forcing circumcision and other works of the Law of Moses on Gentile converts.
The safeguard has not been heeded. The Gentiles have interpreted Paul's explanation of grace to mean that the individual who accepts Christ is not obligated to live in righteousness, holiness, and obedience to God. The goal of redemption has been subverted by ignorance. People keep on yielding to unrighteousness after being baptized in water.
The sixth chapter of Romans begins the next step of redemption after we enter the program by our acceptance of God's provision of the blood. The blood of Jesus is the door, and the only door, to the process of redemption.
Chapters One through Five of Romans describe the gift of justification—that is, righteousness apart from the works of the Law of Moses, on the part of the believer. The gift of justification must be understood and accepted before there can be any progress in overcoming sin by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Let us state at this point that the Apostle Paul never contrasts grace and godly behavior. Paul contrasts grace and the Law of Moses. When Paul refers to works of righteousness he means the works of the Law of Moses. Paul would never contrast grace and godly behavior because the purpose of Divine grace is to create godly behavior, a new creation, in the human personality. This is one of the great areas of confusion of the Church Age.
Commencing with the sixth chapter of Romans, Paul explains the procedures that lead to the goals of redemption—procedures available only after we enter through the doorway of the cross of Calvary.
Having begun the program by placing our faith in the blood of Christ we must continue by following the Holy Spirit as He destroys sin and self-seeking from us and creates the dwelling place of God through Christ in us.
If we do not press forward each day in the life of the Holy Spirit, thinking that Christ has set us free so we may conduct our life according to our own lusts and interests, not realizing He has purchased us so we may become His servant, then God's purpose in saving us through the blood is frustrated because of our ignorance of the program of redemption.
We must keep firmly in mind that God's purpose in forgiving us is not that we may continue to sin and rebel in the earth and then be admitted to Paradise when we die. God's purpose in forgiving us is that we may be changed into the image of Christ, providing a house for God and the means of accomplishing other goals that are part of His eternal plan in Christ.
Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? (Romans 6:3)
Water baptism is our entrance into the crucifixion and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. By faith we take our place with Him on the cross of Calvary. We become part of His death and His resurrection.
Christ is the true Seed of Abraham. We enter His death and His resurrection and are identified forever as being with Him, in Him, an inseparable part of Him. Therefore all that He Is we eventually will become in personality and in inheritance (Ephesians 5:29,30; Colossians 2:10; I John 4:17).
In water baptism we enter Christ's death and Christ's resurrection, not our own death and resurrection. We enter the suffering and death, and the power of the resurrection life, of the Lord Jesus Christ. The full identification of the believer with the death and the resurrection of Christ is essential to the life of victorious discipleship.
What is the purpose of entering Christ's death and resurrection?
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. (Romans 6:6)
God is not reforming and saving our first personality. God directs us to assign our entire first personality to the cross, not just our sin nature, but our entire personality. The old creation, the race of Adam, is finished, in the sight of God.
This is true even of our fleshly knowledge of Christ.
Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. (II Corinthians 5:16)
Our "old man," that is to say, our first self, our adamic, animal nature, the first personality that was born of our earthly mother and father, goes to the cross by faith as Christ went to the cross. We go there so the "body of sin," the fleshly nature of lust and self-will that leads us into sin and rebellion against God, may be rendered powerless as to its control over our daily behavior.
Assigning our first self to the cross opens the way both legally and actually for God to perform in us many wonderful spiritual works. For example, our death in Jesus on the cross frees us legally from the jurisdiction of the Law of Moses.
Our personality now is a candidate for re-creation, the re-creation that comes about as the events of our life bring us into ever-deepening death, and character transformation. We die not only to the lusts and passions of sin but also to self-will and self-centeredness.
The destruction of lust and self-love from our personality makes possible a new creature—the Word of God created by the penetration of Christ's death and resurrection into every aspect of what we are.
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature (a new creation): old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; (II Corinthians 5:17,18)
God has determined to bring into resurrection life every particle of our spirit, soul, and body. Our willingness to assign our whole first self to the cross of Jesus makes possible a resurrection, a new creation in Christ in which all things have been made new—completely new—and are of God.
The cross is the only route to resurrection life. The more of the cross we accept the more of the resurrection life we are able to experience.
The purpose of our crucifixion with Christ is that the fleshly nature in us may be rendered powerless so we may conduct ourselves in the righteous, holy, and obedient manner that is pleasing to God and that springs from and results in eternal life.
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4)
Newness of life.
What an act of creation the expression "newness of life" describes! If we are willing to go down into the waters of baptism in representation of the burial of our first personality, we then become eligible for the fullness of the glory of the Father—the glory that enters those who are crucified with Christ. The glory of the Father produces in them righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
There is astonishing, incomprehensible virtue, power, and wisdom in the "glory of the Father."
Will we enter His death voluntarily so we may receive the fullness of the Power that raised Christ from among the dead?
For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: (Romans 6:5)
The "likeness" of Christ's resurrection has to do with the separating of our spirit, our soul, and finally our body from every trace of the bondages of sin and death. Christ has been resurrected and now is filled to overflowing with Divine Life.
It is God's plan that each member of the Church, the Body of Christ, the Temple of God, be resurrected and filled to overflowing with Divine Life in spirit, in soul, and in body.
Total resurrection requires acceptance of and cooperation with the death and resurrection that God requires of us.
It is necessary always to keep firmly in balance our identification with Christ.
Everything we are and will become is in Him and is Him in a profound sense. We can become discouraged quickly in our attempts to live the overcoming life if we lose sight of the fact that we are one with Him in His death, His resurrection, His victory, His righteousness, His holiness, His inheritance, His power, His authority. He is the one Seed of Abraham. When we are in Him we are part of the one Seed and heirs with Him of the promises of God.
He is the Vine. We are the branches growing out from the one true Vine.
It is possible to overemphasize our dependence on the righteousness of Christ, to misapply the passages that describe our identification with Christ. It is possible to apply the gift of grace and identification with Christ in such a manner that we ourselves do not grow into the image of Christ.
There are steps in the life of faith that we must take by our own will and determination, meanwhile looking to the Holy Spirit for guidance, encouragement, and power. If we talk about how righteous Jesus is, and then keep on walking in the appetites of the flesh, we are missing the mark. We are ignoring the bulk of the admonitions of the New Testament writings.
Our acceptance of our identification with Christ's righteousness can cause us to grow spiritually lazy and passive if we do not proceed from the area of belief to the area of practice. Most of the writings of the Apostles are addressed to the disciples, exhorting us to pursue the life of faith and righteousness.
If we claim there is nothing we are to do, Christ did it all, we do not understand the operation of the new covenant.
It does us no good to cry Lord! Lord! if we do not do what He says.
As in all other areas of the Christian discipleship there is a balance to be sought. All that we are is in Him and through Him. Yet, we are commanded to seek Christ diligently so we may more perfectly lay hold on the Virtue that flows to us each day from Him.
There will be a visible working out of the life of Christ in us if we truly are in Him. There will be a new creation. The new creature is the Kingdom of God. We are entering the Kingdom of God as the new creature, Christ, is being formed in us.
This is why Paul, in the sixth chapter of Romans, directs us to live as though we have been raised from the dead.
Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. (Romans 6:13)
Paul informs us that the grace of God in Christ has freed us from the authority of sin. Having been freed from the authority of sin we are to choose to yield our members "servants to righteousness unto holiness."
Being saved and baptized in water does not mean we no longer are able to sin nor does it mean that it does not matter whether or not we sin.
Being saved and baptized in water means that God has forgiven our sins through Christ and now expects us, by the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, to choose to put off sinful behavior and to conduct ourselves in purity of deed, word, and thought.
Because we choose to serve God and not Satan, the world, or our own lusts or self-will, we begin to bear the fruit of holiness of conduct. The end result of holy conduct is eternal life (Romans 6:22).
Hidden with Christ in God
As soon as we are saved we are raised spiritually to sit with Christ on the highest throne of the universe, far above the forces of darkness, far above every other authority—wicked or righteous.
And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his majestic power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: (Ephesians 1:19-21)
The moment we are born again our spiritual position in Christ is as high as it can ever go. We never shall ascend higher than the throne of Christ. We are there as soon as Christ is born in us.
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ: (Ephesians 2:6)
We now are in the heavenlies in Christ. Our problem is our life in our physical body on the earth. Our body is not at the right hand of God. It is not above the forces of darkness. It is dead because of the fleshly nature, the sin and rebellion, that is in it.
The true Christian discipleship is that of choosing each day to walk on the earth according to our new born-again spiritual nature that is in Christ at the right hand of God, rather than according to the lusts of our flesh and mind that tempt us while we are on the earth.
We make that choice each day of our life on earth.
We can avail ourselves of the grace of God and live in resurrection joy and peace, or we can carelessly follow the impulses of our soulish nature, not giving attention to prayer, to Scripture reading, to gathering together with fervent believers to worship the Lord and to receive from Him the strength and wisdom we must have in order to make the right choices.
In several passages Paul warns us that if we choose to follow our flesh, rather than the Holy Spirit as He builds up our new spiritual nature, we will die spiritually. We will not attain the resurrection life that comes to those who choose to live according to the Spirit of God.
Our task while we are alive on the earth is to keep looking toward our spiritual position in Christ in the heavenlies; and by faith in God's Word, and by the strengthening that comes from the Holy Spirit, to bring the Divine Life down into our actions, our thoughts, and our speech.
Our behavior on the earth should reflect our position in Christ at the right hand of God in Heaven.
If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. (Colossians 3:1-3)
We are dead, in a spiritual sense, having died in and with Christ by faith. Our true life at this time is in Heaven, in Christ in God. Our battle on the earth is to keep on behaving according to our heavenly position.
Meanwhile, our soul is under pressure each day because of the sin and death that attack us on every hand. We must keep on seeking Christ with all our strength and attention; otherwise we yield to lust, to hatred, to murmuring, to envy, or to some other unclean deed, word, or thought.
When the Lord Jesus returns from Heaven there will be a reconciliation of our heavenly life with our bodily life on the earth, provided we do not destroy our new spiritual nature, our grasp on Heaven, by living in the appetites of the flesh.
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:4)
We who are saved are in Heaven now as to the spiritual aspect of our personality. When Jesus returns we shall return with Him. We then shall enter a new phase of our existence in which our spirit, our re-created, Christ-filled character, and our immortalized body are united.
The new creation will be a fuller manifestation of the Kingdom of God than is true of us in the present hour. It will occur at the revealing of the sons of God, at the appearing of the Lord from Heaven.
Since this is true, we are exhorted as follows:
Mortify (put to death) therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence(desires), and covetousness, which is idolatry: (Colossians 3:5)
But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: (Colossians 3:8-10)
As soon as Christ is born in us He is caught up to the throne of His Father. Christ always is at the right hand of the Father. Our new life is in Him in the Father from the moment of our new birth.
Let us therefore place our affections and interests at the right hand of God. By so doing we will be able to live according to the discipline of the Holy Spirit and not according to the lusts of our flesh.