The Profound Implication of Christ’s Resurrection

As Easter comes around, the resurrection of Christ takes its deserved place in the forefront of the church’s consciousness yet again. Easter marks a good and appropriate opportunity for pastors to carefully explain the necessity of the resurrection in God’s plan of redemption and argue persuasively for its reality as a historical event. Those are important matters, and churches will benefit greatly from their thorough instruction.

It seems to me, however, that fewer pastors and churches take the time to think carefully through the implications of the Lord’s resurrection, not just for our eternal well-being, but how we live our lives today and every day until he returns or we go to be with him. A close inspection of the New Testament reveals its authors understood the resurrection of Christ to be an event with profound implications for believers as they sought to walk as his disciples. 

‘Justified by His Grace’

Perhaps nowhere is this clearer than in the apostle Paul’s teaching in Romans 6. Earlier in the letter, the apostle made the devastating case that the natural state of all sinful human beings is spiritual death concerning God (see Romans 1:18-32, Romans 2:12-13, and Romans 3:22-23). He then moves on to declare that the good news of Jesus means that we are now “justified by his grace as a gift” (Romans 3:24) and reconciled to God (Romans 5:10-11). The apostle then tackles the obvious question – what difference does this salvation make in how believers live their lives? Surely, our experience of grace shouldn’t embolden us in sin (Romans 6:1) – but how can it be expected to help us live in holiness? If believers are not subject to the Law’s sanctions and wrath (Romans 4:15-16), how can grace motivate them to godliness? 

To answer this question, Paul makes a shocking statement that we can barely begin to wrap our minds around – when we come to Christ in faith, we participate in his death and resurrection so that in his death, we have died, and in his resurrection, we now live. The apostle writes: 

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 

(Romans 6:5-11)

Follow the Train of Paul’s Argument:

• Believers have been “united with him” in his death and resurrection (v 5). That is to say that we are spiritually connected to Jesus in such a way that his death on the cross and resurrection from the tomb are realities we have experienced. 
• Our old self has been crucified with him (v 6), and as such, we are set free from the slavery to sin that characterized our previous existence (v 7).
• Just as believers died to sin in the death of Jesus, so we will live to God with him by virtue of his resurrection (v 8 and v 10). Jesus’ resurrection means that all who are “in him” are as he is – dead to sin but alive to God. 
• This means that believers cannot continue in sin happily (this is Paul’s main reason for raising this issue – see Romans 6:1-2). Instead, we walk in a “newness of life” (Romans 6:4) consistent with the life the risen Christ lives toward God (Romans 6:10). 

This has the greatest significance for how we live – in eternity and now. The resurrection of Jesus – his triumph over the forces of sin and evil – is the foundation of a believer’s fight against those same forces in their life. After asserting some of the most significant and unfathomable spiritual realities in verses 1-10, Paul tells us what to do in verse 11: 

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 

(Romans 6:11)

Consider the Reality of Christ’s Resurrection

In light of the amazing reality of the resurrection, we are told to consider. We are to think carefully about a certain fact. Believers should meditate on the reality of, ponder the implications of, embrace the truthfulness of, and battle against thoughts and habits of mind that run counter to this glorious truth – that the old “us” is dead. Sin now has no authority over us to force us to do its will – for we are not spiritually dead but no less spiritually alive than the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

Paul says that when a Christian falls into sin, their failure is related, at least in part, to a failure of their thinking. They are not considering the reality of the resurrection of Jesus Christ in their life. They are acting like Jesus is still in the tomb, that they are still obligated in some way to the enslaving power of sin, and there is no way for them to be alive to God. They are not calibrating their lives according to the truth that we are united to the risen Lord Jesus, and so we have a new spiritual life right now. 

The resurrection of Jesus is not merely a truth that ought to be dragged out and remembered every Spring. It’s not even just a way that we get to heaven someday, as wonderful as that is. Rather, it is also the world-shaping event that defines our spiritual lives now. Because we are united to the risen Jesus, his resurrection creates the entire reality of our spiritual existence. When we preach the risen Christ to his people, we declare that their Lord’s great victory is also their victory. We who are his people are dead to sin in his death and gloriously alive in his resurrection – empowered and compelled to live in a way pleasing to God. That’s good news, and it’s a message that we need to hear throughout the year! 

©2024 Michael McKinley. Used with permission.