Our Position in Christ, Part 2

“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, knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Romans 6:3-11

Located in Washington, D.C., are one hundred U.S. House of Representatives. Each represents the voting constituency of his or her home state. Some representatives from small districts represent only thousands of voters, while senators from large states - such as California and New York - represent millions. As our elected state officials, their votes legally represent their constituencies. For the record, their votes are our votes.

In a way this is how identification works. Jesus was not only our substitute on the cross, dying for us, but He was also our representative. John Scott, in his book The Cross, defines representation as “one who acts on behalf of another in such a way as to involved the other in his action...As our representative, He (Christ) did what we, by being united to Him, have also done: We have died and risen with Him.”

It was in His death, burial, and resurrection that Christ represented the entire human race. We are identified with Him, and we receive the merits of Christ’s work when we place our faith in Him and His redemptive labor. We are freed from the guilt and penalty of sin (died with Him) and empowered to live (risen with Him) an overcoming life.

“...through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life...” Romans 5:18