When are we "raised with Christ"? Eph. 2

In Ephesians 2:5-6, Paul says that when we were dead in our trespasses, that God made us alive together with Christ, raised us up with him and seated us together with (or next to) Christ.

So my question in studying this was, so when did this happen?? WHEN are we made alive with, and raised with, and seated with Christ??

To understand this, we need to back to chapter 1 of Ephesians to understand why he’s saying we do these things “together with Christ”.

Eph 1:19-20 God raised Jesus from the dead and seated Him at His right hand

Paul is going to take the words from Ephesians 1 (raised, dead and seated) and duplicate them, but also add another word, “SYN” and make a compound word.

“Syn” (sym/sy) is a Greek word that indicates a union: , union though action, or belief, or experience; process of a joined activity, shared situation - and can usually be translated as: with or together with. I think of synchronized swimming, ice dancing and synchronized diving - it’s something you don’t do alone.

Here is a comparison of Ephesians 1 and 2 how the words read in the original Greek:

We don’t see it in English, but if you are looking at this laid out in the original language, you see the emphasis that Paul is making here, these 3 words, indicating union with, or united with.

In union with Christ

In union with Christ

In union with Christ

The next part of Ephesians 2: circumcision

The next thing Paul is going to bring up strangely is circumcision: thing that God told Abraham to do to the male children. But why is he bringing up that?

Eph. 2: 11-1311 Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh—who are called “Uncircumcision” by what is called the Circumcision - that is made in the flesh by hands— 12 that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

He’s basically saying that you Gentiles were once totally out of luck: uncc in the flesh - that’s what the Jews (one’s who are cc in the flesh - made with hands) called you (uncc heathens). Uncc and heathen went together, only Jews/Israelites had God. If you were a Gentile: you were without Christ, not part of Israel, not part of the covenant, not included in the promises, no hope, without God.

So what does cc - made with hands - V. 11, have to do with being made alive with Christ???

To really understand why Paul refers to “the cc made with hands” in Eph. 2, we have to go to Colossians 2, because Colossians 2 (and the first verse of Colossians 3) are the only other place in the New Testament that we find the 2 words in Ephesians 2:

• made-alive-together-in-union-with (syzoopoieo ) (Eph. 2:5, Col. 2:13)

• raised-together-in-union-with (synegeiro) (Eph. 2:6, Col. 2:12, 3:1)

  
  

  Col. 2:11:1311. In Him (Jesus) you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands [humans hands], by putting off (taking off/removing) the body of sin of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ: 12. Buried-together-in-union-with (synthaptō) Him in baptism (immersion in water),in which you also were raised-together-in-union-with (synegeirō) Him through faith in the working of God, who raised (egeirō) Him (Jesus) from the dead. 13. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He makes-you-alive-together-in-union-with (syzōopoieō ) with Him, forgiving you all trespasses.
  

  Paul is explaining and giving us the answer to the when and how we are made alive with Christ and raised with Christ: Baptism (being immersed in water) is how and when we were buried in union with and raised in union with and made alive together in union with Christ and forgiven of our trespasses. In Acts 22:16, Paul is told to be baptized and wash away his sins.

  
  

  Now here’s a question: this was for a ladies class, so I asked, if the circumcision of Christ does not involve fleshly body parts, so can you be a woman and cc with the cc of Christ? Yes, the cc of Christ is not physical removal of flesh, it’s spiritual and inclusive.

  
  

• Acts 8:12 they believed Philip as he preached the things concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, and both men and women were baptized.

• Acts 22:16 Arise and be baptized, and wash away your sins (Ananias to Paul)

• Philip. 3:3 For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve (latreuō) God in the spirit. (we=men and women)

• Romans 2:25-29, circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit

• 1 Cor. 12:13 For by ONE SPIRIT we were all baptized into ONE BODY—whether Jews or Greeks. (baptism is uniting us together and uniting us with Christ.)

• Galatians 3:26-29, For you are all sons (and daughters) of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek… male nor female; for you are ALL ONE in Christ Jesus.

  
  

  By the way, the same word used in Colossians 2, buried in union with Christ, is also used in Romans 6, which explains what baptism is in a great way, when we are buried with (synthapto) and die with (apothnesko) and are crucified with (systauroo) Christ:

Romans 6:4 “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.

So in conclusion:

We are the recipients of the action done by God in Eph. 2 and Col. 2: God works. God loves. God buries us and raises us. God makes us alive. God forgives us. God saves us through our faith in God and through his actions.

Baptism (being buried/immersed in water) is not a “work” that we do (like many Christian denominations teach) just like regular dying or being buried is not a work that people do - but it is something that God says must be done in order to walk in a new life and be united with Jesus in his resurrection. (Please read Romans 6:1-11 here)

active and passive verbs: something important to note: In these verses, us being baptized/immersed in water/buried with Jesus is a “verb”, yes, but it’s a passive verb: meaning the person is the subject/recipient of the action, they are having something done to them, they are not the ones doing the action. God is doing the action, and we are the ones receiving the action done to us - therefore, being baptized/immersed in water/buried with Jesus and united with him in death - is not a work done by us, it’s a work done to us by God.

Colossians 2:12-13 having been buried with him (synthapto - passive) in baptism,in which you were also raised with him (synegeiro - passive )through your faith in the working of God, who raised him (egeiro - active )from the dead. God makes us alive together with Christ (syzoopoeio- active), forgiving our transgressions.

But if we only believe ( or think it is by faith alone) that Jesus is the messiah (something else that many Christian denominations teach), but we are not baptized, then we haven’t been circumcised with the circumcision of Christ, we haven’t died with, been crucified with, been buried with, or raised up with or made alive with Christ and had our sins washed away to walk in a new life and be one day united with Christ in the resurrection. (again, please read Romans 6)

Physical circumcision removes skin, the circumcision of Christ (baptism/immersed/buried in water with Christ ) removes sin.

Thanks for reading, I welcome comments! Have a great day!