“Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him: Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over Him” (Romans 6:8,9).
The bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead both guarantees the future bodily resurrection of the believer and associates us positionally with Him now. Since He died for our sins, we, in effect, were “dead with Christ.” Therefore, when He defeated death and hell, and revived His own dead body in immortal power, He broke any dominion of death over Him or over those who were, positionally, with Him.
This is one of the grandest Scriptural themes of the Christian life. We were dead with Christ, but now God “hath quickened us together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:5). Not only have we been “made alive” (I Corinthians
) with Him, but we have also been “raised” with Him up from the grave and then into heaven where we are “seated” with Him on His throne! “(God) hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6).
This means also that we have been glorified with Him and are actually reigning with Him. “The Spirit (Himself) beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: . . . that we may be also glorified together” (Romans
,17).
But if all this is only true in position, what meaning does His resurrection life have on our daily lives now? Simply this-that, knowing these truths gives us the incentive and power to live them. “If (or, literally, ‘Since’) 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). “For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you” (II Corinthians 13:4). HMM
