Resurrection and Redemption, Part IV

As mentioned in the last post, Gaffin calls attention to four passages which clearly affirm that the resurrection of believers with Christ has in some sense already been completed in the present: Ephesians 2:5-6, Colossians 2:12, Romans 6:3-8, and Galatians 2:19.

1) Ephesians 2:5-6 even when we were dead in our transgressions, [God] made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus

He begins by noting an exegetical challenge posed by this verse and each of the others. As he puts it, "do they refer solely to what took place in the historical experience of Christ, or do they apply as well to what has happened in the actual life experience of the individual believer?" In other words, is the action in these verses something that happened to Christ and only to us as we are contemplated in Christ, so that the action is not something that took place, strictly speaking, within our own life experience? For example, in Hebrews it is said that Levi paid a tithe to Melchizedek when Abraham did so because Levi was "in the loins" of his ancestor. As a historical event, however, that payment took place in Abraham's life, not Levi's. Is something similar going on here, so that when it says we have been raised and seated with Christ it would be wrong to think this refers to something within our present life experience, or is there reason to think that the finished resurrection mentioned here has to do with an event in the life of the believer as well?

Gaffin suggests that it is difficult to avoid the conclusion that this verse has reference to an event in the life of the believer. The biggest indication of this is that the deadness mentioned at the beginning is a deadness in sin and the enlivening and resurrection involve some sort of "transformation and ethical renewal." These facts exclude these verses from referring exclusively to something which took place in the historical experience of Christ. Not only that, but the enlivening and resurrection are described later on in verse 10 as being "created in Christ Jesus", which seems to suggest that Christ is not the subject of these actions. Furthermore, the purpose in view for the subject of these actions is a walk of good works prepared beforehand, seemingly presented here to contrast with the walk of transgressions mentioned at the beginning of the passage. That seems to indicate that the subject of these actions once walked a transgressive lifestyle before being raised.

It seems, then, that in the actual life history of the believer there is a transition from wrath to grace [or, in the terms of the passage, from a walk of transgressions (vs 2) to a walk of good works (vs 10)] that is equated with having been raised with Christ and seated with Him in heaven. That Paul carries the action through to being seated with Christ indicates that this resurrection is not incomplete or partial, but full and complete.

2) Colossians 2:12-13 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,

Here again, the language of having been raised with Christ seems to indicate something that is a present reality in the life of the believer. One indication of this is that verse 13 and Ephesians 2:5-6 are structured similarly (as are, indeed, both epistles as a whole). Beyond that, the instrumentality of the resurrection is held to be a personal act of faith. Furthermore, in the first verse of the next chapter, Paul urges his readers to strive for a life of holiness based on the fact of having been already raised with Christ in the present (3:1).

3) Romans 6:3-8 Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; for he who has died is freed from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him...

Gaffin gives this passage a much more extended treatment and draws some extremely important conclusions. (more later)