UNITED WITH CHRIST

Gal. 2:20; Col. 3:1-4

Morning Meditation 4/12/16

Gal. 2:20 “I am crucified WITH Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” (Caps mine)

Col. 3:1-4: “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. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear WITH him in glory.” (Caps mine)

The words “with Christ” or “with him” occur four times in these verses that set before us our identification with him in the gospel and his coming. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16) and is defined in the book of First Corinthians 15:1-4 as the death, burial and resurrection. We stand in the faith of that truth and are God’s children based on faith alone, in Christ alone, by grace alone.

First, Paul says, “I am crucified with Christ . . .” John Stott said that to be with Christ “is more than to enjoy his companionship. It is to share in the major events of his whole saving career - his death, resurrection, ascension and return - in such a way that we have experienced the first three, and will one day experience the fourth, ‘with him.’” (Stott, Life in Christ, p. 67. Baker).

The words “I am crucified” (sustauroo) is a perfect passive indicative. A. T. Robertson says that this is one of Paul’s greatest mystical sayings. It means to be put to death for a crime worthy of that form of capital punishment. Jesus had no sin but we do. He didn’t die for himself but for us. We do deserved to die for our sins according to God’s Word. Therefore, God made him to be sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21), that he could so identify with us in our sins as to satisfy the justice of God for the full payment of those sins. When we believe in Jesus as God’s remedy for our sins, we are baptized into him and are so identified with him, that what he did for us in his death, is so looked upon by God that all charges against us exist no more. Now that we have believed in him as our Saviour, God sees his death as our death. So that Paul could say, “I am crucified with Christ.”

Gal. 3:13 says, “Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:” Our identification with Christ in his death means that we came under the curse of God with him and what was under the curse exists no more, i.e., the adamic nature the way God looks at it. Paul says, “Nevertheless I live,” and he tells us that it is the “Christ life” within. I have a new life in him that is not an extension of the adamic life but a new life altogether.

The next is “If ye then be risen with Christ” and we have. The “if” here is a first class condition and could be translated “since.” A. T. Robertson says it is a, “Condition of the first class, assumed as true.” It is an aorist passive indicative verb. The aorist tense represents an action as completed at a point of time in the past. The point of time is his resurrection. We were raised when he was raised. The passive voice is where the subject is acted upon. We are the subjects that were acted upon by his resurrection. His resurrection raised us. This means that we have been raised to a new life. The old life in Adam came to an end in his death and a new life began in his resurrection. This resurrection is not a fantasy but it is fantastic. What do you suppose resurrection life is? You say, “Freedom from death for one thing.” John 5:24 says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” The words “hath everlasting life” is a present tense verb. It means the believer has in the present tense of his life right here on this earth “everlasting life.” Do you understand I am not speaking as a Baptist? I am speaking as a Bible believer. This is what the verse says. Let’s go on. Are you ready for it? The verse says, “And shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” The words “shall not come” is a present tense verb. The present tense means that this is a fact that applies to believers right now in this world. We have everlasting life now and we have the promise from God that this life which is a present possession of the believer will never come into condemnation. Then he says, “But is passed from death unto life.” (metabaino) means “to pass over from one place to another, to remove, depart.” It is a perfect tense verb. The perfect tense means completed action in the past, that completed action having present results.. Now let me explain further. This simply means John is saying that those who believe in Jesus have everlasting life, they received it at a point of time in the past when they put their faith in Christ, now they are in present possession of eternal life. He also says that the matter of “passing from death to life” has already happened in the past and it stands as a fact in the present (perfect tense) so that they are presently on resurrection ground. So we are with Christ in his resurrection.

Next our life is “hid with Christ in God.” The verb “hid” is a perfect passive indicative. It means “to conceal from view.” This means our life was concealed from view in the past with the result that it remains that way at the present time. The passive voice means that it happened to us. We are not the cause. He concealed our life “with Christ” when he disappeared from view. Paul presents this same truth in Eph.. 2:6. We live in two places at the same time. Visibly we live on earth, invisibly we live in heaven. John Stott said, “Jesus himself, while on earth, enjoyed a hidden life which people could neither understand nor penetrate. Sometimes his divine glory broke through, as in the miracles, but usually it was veiled. So he was a riddle to everybody, an enigma . . . they could not reconcile his authority of word and deed with his lowly human origins.”

We have this new life in Christ. It shows itself in a new humble confidence toward God. It shows itself in a new serenity in the midst of the storms. The tranquility in the life of a Christian is the manifestation of that hidden life. Paul said, “That I am know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death” (Col. 3:10).

Next Paul says, “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” It is “with him” in his appearance. We live the hidden life as well as the visible life. But at his coming the visible life and the hidden will unite so fast that no one will see us leave. When he appears in glory, we won’t see him coming, we will be with him. Paul says in 1 Cor. 15:51-52: “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” Then the hidden life and the visible live with be united with Christ and we will come with him.

May the Lord bless you.

In Christ

Bro. White