“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.”

The fourth result of the work of Christ on the cross is God raised with Christ.

“in which you also were raised with Him”

The words “were raised with” mean to raise together. It points to participation in the resurrection of Christ. The resurrection of this verse is a co-resurrection. When Jesus rose, we arose. God identifies us with Christ in his resurrection. God did this to us at the moment of salvation (passive voice). We were dead spiritually, but Jesus caused us to live again. 

Immersion into water baptism portrays the burial of Christ, and coming out of the water represents the resurrection of Christ. However, this passage deals with spiritual resurrection. God views us as raised with Christ because he identifies us with him in heaven today. 

“through faith in the working of God”

The word “working” carries the idea of active power (Co 1:29; Eph. 1:19; 3:7; 4:16). God accomplishes salvation through resurrection power. The working of resurrection is God’s great work. When God goes to work, he always does a wonderful job. God’s work here is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Christianity is not a philosophy, a system, or a gimmick. It is a living relationship with a living Christ. 

The parallel verse to the verse we are studying is Romans 6:4, “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.” Both verses teach the same thing.

God raises us through faith, not feelings (2 Cor. 5:7; Eph. 2:8,9). Faith in the finished work of Christ is the means whereby God identifies us with Christ. We have stopped trying to save ourselves by personal effort. We gave up trusting anything but the grace of God. 

“who raised Him from the dead”

Since God raised Jesus from the dead, the Christian has the assurance of his position or status before God. If God can raise Jesus Christ from the dead, he can introduce us to new life.

PRINCIPLE: 

Faith is the operating principle by which we engage positional truth.

APPLICATION:

It is by faith in God’s work that we receive positional burial and resurrection. God joined us to a living Savior at the moment of salvation. When we personally experience positional truth by faith, the fact becomes real to us. If positional truth remains a cold doctrine, we will not benefit from its privileges. We need to take it out of the deep freezer and apply it to our experience.