We Are Raised With Christ

Richard Thetford

Paul wrote in Colossians 3:1-2 “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” There are three reasons why God saw fit to give us this privilege, that is, the privilege to be raised with Christ. Those three things can be found in Ephesians 2:4-5. There it says “But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).” This means that God had mercy upon me, a sinner, and through His great love, sent His only Son to die so that I might have forgiveness of sins and be eternally saved (John 3:16). The grace (unmerited love and favor), that God offered man was His Son. Only those who take what has been offered by God can be saved. God has provided us with His grace freely, but it will only do us good if we grab hold of that grace, being determined to live for Him every day of our life.

Being Raised With Christ

Before we can be raised with Christ something must first be accomplished. There must first be a death, a burial, and then a resurrection. We must first “die” before we can be raised. In Romans 6:3-6 Paul explains the process that man must go through as a likeness to the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It says “Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.” When we are “raised” with Christ we have “died” to sin. If we really want to live for Jesus, looking to Him as our example in all things that we do, then we must die to sin. The “old man” has been “crucified” and we are now servants of Jesus. An “awakening” must take place in our life if we are going to forget the past and live for the future in Jesus. Paul writes “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light” (Ephesians 5;14).

How To Be Raised With Christ

Before we can be raised with Christ we must have faith in Jesus. The Bible says “buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead” (Colossians 2:12). It is through our faith that we are baptized into Jesus for the remission of sins. It is then, through baptism, that we are raised with Christ (Romans 6:4-5; Colossians 2:12).

Our Life – After Being Raised With Christ

When we make the commitment to serve Jesus then we must present ourselves to God. “And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God” (Romans 6:13). We now have a responsibility to be instruments of good, not of evil. We also are to set our sights on things above, not on things of the earth (Colossians 3:2). We must realize that “sin” no longer has dominion over us. Paul wrote “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace” (Romans 6:12, 14). We are now under the grace of God. We have taken hold of His grace that He offered us in the form of His Son Jesus. Now don’t let go! Hang on to God’s grace because once you have it, doesn’t mean that you’ll always keep it. Some have fallen from God’s grace (Galatians 5:4; 2 Peter 2:20-21). When we gain faith in Jesus (Romans 10:17), and are baptized for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38), we are then “...transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12:2).

To be raised with Christ means that we are forgiven (Colossians 2:12-13), and that we are justified (Romans 6:4-7). It is only through being raised with Christ that we believe that we can live with Him (Romans 6:8). If we truly want to be saved, to live forever with Jesus, then we must do His will (Hebrews 5:9; Matthew 7:21-23). Have you been raised with Christ?