“Raised with Christ”
“Raised with Christ.” This is how Paul describes the present condition of Christians. Let us pause for a second and try to let this apostolic message sink in. For to be raised with Christ is no ordinary event. But what does it mean to be raised with Christ?
The theological meaning of the word “raised” is quite clear, especially when it is used in reference to Christ: it denotes His resurrection from the dead--His real, historical, physical resurrection. To say Christ was raised is to say Christ was resurrected from the dead, leaving the grave hollow and empty. “Raised”--it is clearly a resurrection language.
So when Paul says that we have been raised with Christ, he means that we have been resurrected with Christ. It is easy to see what Paul did not mean. He did not mean that we died physically and were raised from the dead physically--that is obvious to see. Jesus Christ was raised from the dead physically and we too will be resurrected physically in the future. However, physical resurrection is not our present reality.
Then why does Paul use this language of resurrection to describe our present condition? Is he using it as a metaphor? A metaphor, of course, is a figure of speech, such as, “When the mother finally spotted her lost child, she flew down the aisle toward him.” We can be quite certain that the mother did not actually fly. But the writer is using a metaphor here to show how fast she ran toward her lost child. As you can see, a metaphor is not literally true but provides a more vivid description, often by means of attributing something else’s quality to the thing/person in view (as in our simple example of the mother flying).
Is Paul saying something that is not literally true when he says that we are raised with Christ? Let us assume, for the sake of the argument, that Paul is using a figure of speech here. What do you think he is trying to communicate to you and me? The sheer enormity of the change that comes when we are united with Christ!
When we see big changes, we use terms like “radical” or “revolutionary”. But for a truly amazing change we use the metaphor of “rebirth”. We do that because rebirth implies a complete new beginning--the death of the old self and the birth of a new self. This metaphor works because nothing in this world has a greater sense finality than death: death implies absolute finality. There is no sharper severance from the past, no more clear-cut departure from it, than to die.
What kind of change deserves the metaphor of rebirth? Completely changing your perspective on life after having a close brush with death in a car accident or on the battlefield? Having your worldview totally revolutionized after listening to a sage, or after traveling through a war-torn regions and witnessing unspeakable horrors of human cruelty and suffering? One thing is clear: only the most radical and complete changes imaginable deserve the metaphor of rebirth, or, for that matter, of resurrection.
Paul is saying at least that much about our conversion--even if “to be raised with Christ” were no more than a metaphor. After all, can we come to know Jesus Christ in a saving manner and not change in a profoundest way? Can we think the same way about God, about the world and about others and ourselves? Can we value the same things we used to value and hold them dear still? Can we have the same goals and ambitions in life for the same reasons? Can you meet Christ and not change in a profoundest and most radical and pervasive way?
But can we say that we have been really raised with Christ? Can we say that to have been raised with Christ is more than just a metaphor? Or is it just a Christian way of describing the transformation that the message of the gospel can effect in the Christian’s life? Is there anything really different and unique about the change that a person undergoes when he becomes a Christian? I am sure we all know someone with a radical conversion story, coming out of a life of debauchery and addition to alcohol and drug. But these radical conversion stories are not unique to Christianity, is it? People can change for all kinds of reasons. It doesn’t even have to be through a religion. Plenty of people have been changed at AA meetings. Plenty of people have been changed, some quite radically, by self-help books and seminars. Even a plastic surgery or a diet program can make people feel like a brand new person--notice the metaphor of rebirth here?
Paul is not using a metaphor when he says that we have been raised with Christ. Again, he is not talking about physical resurrection here. That is not to say that Paul does not believe in physical resurrection. All we need to do is read I Cor. 15 and see how he considers physical resurrection as an essential part of the gospel. But that is in the future. But there is a real sense (not a metaphorical sense) in which we have already been raised with Christ--that is, we have been raised with Christ spiritually.
Are you disappointed? Is it any less real because it is
“spiritual” in nature? No, the Bible affirms that God is a Spirit. We don’t
want to say that the physical does not matter, that the physical is only an
illusion. God made us out of the dust of the ground; therefore the physical is
an essential part of our being. That is why physical resurrection is an
essential part of our salvation. But we are not just flesh and blood.
God breathed into us the breath of life and we are made a living soul. For now,
until the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal put on immortality
(1 Cor.
So then, when Paul says that we have been raised with
Christ, he could not have been using a metaphor. It can only be a metaphor
if our spiritual death is only a metaphor, too. Paul says in
But to understand the reality of our spiritual death (and resurrection), we must understand how the Bible defines life and death. Life and death are usually defined in terms of activity and inactivity, movement and non-movement. Something that is alive has the power to act or at least some self-generated movement. When something is dead, no such thing exists in the organism. That is true physically because of the transient nature of our physical being. But the same definition of life and death cannot be applied to our spiritual aspect. For our spirit, once created, does not go out of existence: it continues to live on through eternity. So when the Bible talks of spiritual death, it is not talking about our spirit losing its existence or its power to act. Instead, spiritual life and death must be defined in relational terms--specifically, our relationship with God, our Creator and Maker, the Fountain of the true, eternal life, on the one hand, and with sin and Satan on the other.
This is how Jesus defined eternal life: “And this is eternal
life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have
sent” (John 17:3). As you can see,
Jesus does not eternal life in terms of existence as opposed to nonexistence,
or simply living forever. It is defined in terms of knowing, covenantally and savingly knowing, God and His Son.
And this is how Paul defined spiritual death: “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience--among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind” (Ephesians 2:1-3). Do you see how Paul’s description of spiritual death abounds with active verbs and images of activity--“walked”, “following”, “disobedience” “lived” “passions” “carrying out”? To be spiritually dead does not mean that your spirit lies dormant and inactive. Even while the spirit is dead, it is active, vigorously active, following the prince of the power of the air, indulging the passions of the flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind.
In what sense is our spirit dead? Our spirit is dead when it
has no loving, saving, covenant relationship with God, who is the true Life. Spiritual
life and death, therefore, have dual relational aspect. A clear expression of
this is given in Romans
We were really, really, dead in our trespasses and sins. No interest in God. In fact, hostile to God. Rom. 8:6, 7 say, “To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot.” Even those of us, who were born in a covenant home, might have had for a time only a superficial interest in God. We might have confessing things about God without really believing. We might have obeyed the law of God but only out of the fear of men and without loving God.
Spiritual death is a reality--as real as all the cruel and hateful things that we do to one another out of jealousy and hatred, out of pride and arrogance, out of selfishness and greed, out of anger and malice, out of indifference and unforgiving spirit, etc.--as real as all the horrific and unbearable pain we inflict on one another, often in ways that are unimaginable. But even more importantly, spiritual death is a reality that places us under the condemnation of the law, under the wrath of God, in the undying fire of hell!
And because the reality of spiritual death is real, the reality of our spiritual resurrection cannot be just a metaphor! The reality of our problem cannot be solved by a mere metaphor, by a mere figure of speech, however powerful it may be! Our real problem (of sin) requires a real solution. But how can our rebirth, our resurrection, be more than just a metaphor? Paul declares, “We have been raised with Christ!” The only reason that this statement can be true is because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ! For in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, our hope of eternal life and resurrection is no longer just a religious ideal that we wish for but can never be sure of attaining. In the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that religious ideal, which may exist in other religions, too, has become an actual, historical reality! Because Jesus Christ was raised from the dead on the third day, if we are raised with Christ, we are raised indeed from sin and death, not just metaphorically but truly and really.
How can we share in Christ’s resurrection? How can we, who were dead in trespasses and sins, who were by nature children of wrath, be raised unto eternal life in the kingdom of heaven? It is not just because Jesus died and rose again from the dead. He did not die and rise again simply as a trailblazer to show the possibility of resurrection. Jesus died and rose again for us! Every suffering He suffered, every humiliation He endured, was to bear the punishment of our sins. Think about all the anger that rages through your heart when somebody offends you--somebody who is close and dear to you, somebody who should have known you better, somebody who should have defended you. Imagine being offended, betrayed and sinned against by such a person. And multiply that by infinity and that is what we deserve from God because God’s honor is infinitely greater than ours. Think about all the shame that is ours when we are caught in the bed of fornication and adultery, in the act of cheating and lying--that was the shame He suffered in His humiliation (and much more). And He died our death and He underwent our execution to save us from sin and death. Because He died as our Substitute, our Redeemer, His resurrection is our justification; His resurrection is our life; His resurrection is our glory! There is no resurrection from the dead apart from Jesus Christ, whether spiritual or physical.
Yes, there are changes, radical changes, in other religions, too. But as long as one is alive, as long as one does not die and is raised from the dead, whatever change that happens in his life is still just a change, no matter how big or radical--a reformation, or even a revolution maybe, but still just a part, just a shift, in the continuum called life; it still falls short of rebirth, which is literally dying and starting a new life. If one is not in Jesus Christ, who died and rose again, if he is not put to death and raised with Christ, he does not have the true resurrection. In a sense, all the changes outside of Christ are no more than changing from death to death!
Our change, our resurrection with Christ, is not just a subjective change, or a self-imposed, psychologically manipulated positive thinking. Yes, our spiritual resurrection with Christ includes subjective changes--our changed perceptions, our changed attitude, our changed thoughts, words and deeds. But our change is much more than that because it is anchored in the objective, historical reality of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is not something we conjure up with some psychological manipulation; it is anchored in the solid, historical, actual reality of the death and resurrection of Christ--therein lies the power that gives us a new life. Therefore, we are really passed out of death into life. We are really justified in the court of God and no can bring charges against us, not even Satan. We are really joined to Christ and our life is hidden with Christ in God.
As we conclude, let us step back for a minute and appreciate the newness of this expression even in the Bible.
“You have been raised with Christ.” Who was the first audience that Paul addressed? Those who were once Gentiles in the flesh, dead in our trespasses and the uncircumcision of our flesh, full of transgressions against the Law of God, with the debt of certificate hanging over our heads, condemning us to hell. It was those Gentiles, of whom we were, who have been raised with Christ.
And we have been “raised” with Christ--from death to life, eternal life. Not only that, we have been raised from our bondage to the things of the earth (the place of perishable hopes) to the things above (the place of eternal glory)--from shame and humiliation to glory and honor.
It is a uniquely New Testament expression that we, who were once Gentiles, have been raised with Christ. But that reality is not unique to the New Testament: even the Old Testament saints were raised with Christ in their faith in the coming Messiah. You don’t have to have a name to exist: the law of gravity was working fine even before Isaac Newton discovered the law. But do you see the difference? Although we had the same reality, we have it in a fuller measure. How? Because now we not only have the promise but also its fulfillment. We not only have the reality but also have the reality clearly expressed in no uncertain terms: we have been raised with Christ! As surely as Christ was raised from the dead, leaving the grave empty and hollow, we have been raised with Christ. It is not merely a vague hope and possibility but it is a reality solidly anchored in the historical reality of Christ’s death and resurrection. So Paul says, “Keep seeking the things that are above.” Because we are raised from humiliation to glory, from earth to the heights of heaven.
What was the greatest turning point in your life, something that changed your life completely? Was it by reading something? Was it by meeting someone incredible? Was it through some extraordinary circumstances? But whatever it might have been, can it match in its significance and impact your being raised with Christ through your union with Him? You were raised with Christ! This is not just a hyperbolic metaphor, just a figure of speech; it is a reality. Shouldn’t it be by far the greatest change in your life to have met Christ, to have been raised with Christ, to have been passed out of death into life, out of this perishing world into the everlasting kingdom of heaven? Has your self-perception changed? Have your opinions and attitude changed? Have your goals and dreams changed--at least the reasons for pursuing them? Can you testify to the greatness of Christ through the changes that have taken place in your life? If not, repent! Because that is not you! Because the Bible declares that you, if you have placed your faith in Christ, [you] have been raised with Christ! You died and your life is hidden with Christ in God!
I’m sure most of us are ashamed of the lack of fruit in our life despite the fact that we know so much about the gospel with our mind. But take comfort from what Paul does. Paul does not just say that we are raised with Christ and ends there; he also commands us to keep seeking the things that are above. Why? Because we are still living in this world in our body of sin. We are living in the tension between the already and the not yet. We have not arrived at the perfection yet. Paul knows that it is so easy for us to forget what God’s words says who we are and go by what the world says who we are. So we fail. But we are not to despair. Our failure humbles us and reminds us that we have not arrived yet. So Paul wisely urges us not to give up but to keep seeking the things that are above, reminding us of who we are--those who have been raised with Christ!
But this struggle will not continue forever. We, who have been raised with Christ in spirit, will be raised with Christ in body as well! When we say then, “We have been raised with Christ,” all we know without a shadow of doubt what it means! For we shall be raised in the glorious body of Jesus’ resurrection and dwell in the presence of God forever in heaven! That is our destiny! And that glorious destiny is to dictate how we live in this world--to keep seeking the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Our time of struggle is not long--sixty, seventy years or even eighty. Let us persevere till the end!
© Copyright 2007 by Jeong Woo "James" Lee
All Rights Reserved.