11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in [not “through”] Christ Jesus our Lord.
Today we come to the second area we are to compute as a fact.
but [Greek—on the other hand] alive [continually] to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
There is another dimension to our association with Christ—the believer has the newness of the resurrection-life (“alive unto God”). These truths are not an issue of experience but of fact.
Note the contrasting language in this verse that was not translated in our English Bibles: “on the one hand…on the other hand.” There is a contrast between calculating our sins dead in Christ and, on the other hand, reckoning ourselves alive to spiritual life in God.
Another dimension that Christians are to calculate for themselves is that they are currently alive to God. We currently share the resurrection of Christ in our spiritual life. Christians live differently in relation to the power of sin. Sin is dead in principle by our identification with Christ’s death, and we are alive to God in principle.
We compute ourselves “alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” This is how God unites us with the resurrection of Christ (v. 5). This is a resurrection of the present life. We must count this to be true in daily living.
Notice the full title of Christ—“Christ Jesus our Lord.” It is through His glorious person and sovereignty that we are “alive unto God.” By virtue of our status “in” Christ Jesus our Lord, we are to compute that we are alive to God.
PRINCIPLE:
Calculation of our status with God rests on our identification with Christ’s death and resurrection.
APPLICATION:
God’s grace on our behalf requires humble response by faith. This is a proper corollary to grace. Faith engages God’s grace by calculating what He did as true in our experience. We can share in the epoch intervention of Christ into the world. We can begin in this life by a decisive act of reckoning to benefit from what Christ did in His resurrection. We are able to share what Christ did in our lifetime. Believers need to become what they are in Christ.
Co 3:1-3, 1 If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.
The difference is that God put new life in our souls, and this is called regeneration. Although sanctification does not inevitably follow from justification, the regenerative aspect to justification is a compelling factor in sanctification.
