A New Bible Series
“Our
Position in Christ # 2”
It
is not my intention to bore you with a study of New Testament Greek grammar,
but it is very important that I say something regarding one of our New Testament
Greek verb tenses referred to as the “aorist tense”.
q The six historical events
that we partook “TOGETHER WITH” the Lord Jesus Christ are all in the “aorist
tense.” This is most
important!!
The
“aorist tense” in the Greek, can be compared to our “past
tense” in the English. Simply speaking, it describes a past
occurrence. However, the Greek aorist
tense is stronger than our English past tense.
This verb tense has the element of “punctiliar action.” This fancy word in reality means nothing
more than a “punctuation” or “punctuation mark” in
the succession of time. Can you see the
similarity between punctiliar and punctuation? Whenever we place a question
mark, a period, and a comma as we write, we insert one mark with our pens in
the sequence of time and go on with our writing. This one single event jotted
down in one moment of time, is called punctiliar action. I call the use of the aorist tense, “punctuation
in time.”
The crucifixion, the death, the burial, the
resurrection, ascension, and the sitting down to reign of Jesus Christ in
heavenly places, were all historical punctuation marks in the universe’s timetable.
Nothing can be added to them, and
nothing can be taken away from them.
q
Because we
are IN CHRIST, and are “TOGETHER WITH HIM”, we likewise partook
in these historical events.
The Six Events
q Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that
our old man is crucified
with him(Aorist Indicative),
that the body of sin might be destroyed( Aorist Subjunctive), that
henceforth we should not serve sin.
q Rom 6:8 Now if we be dead with( Aorist Indicative) Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
q Rom 6:4
Therefore we are buried
with(
Aorist Indicative) him
by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the
glory of the Father, even so we also should walk(Aorist Subjunctive) in newness of life.
q Ephesians 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together(Aorist
Indicative) with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;-) {by…: or, by whose grace}
q Ephesians 2:6 And hath raised
us up together (Aorist
Indicative), and made us
sit together (
Aorist Indicative)in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus:
7 That in the ages to come he might shew(Aorist Subjunctive) the exceeding riches of
his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
As we study the six events, I want you to take
special notice of the glorious beauty of the Lord’s accomplished works as seen
in the scriptures above. His
crucifixion, death, burial, coming back to life, ascension, and sitting down at
God’s right hand to reign, are all in the aorist indicative! This tells us that without fail, He faithfully
executed theses six events to utter completion! Hallelujah!
More glorious even than this, is the fact is that because
we are “IN CHRIST”; these occurrences are likewise accomplished facts in our
lives, now and forevermore!
Now comes the sobering part of our daily walk with
the Lord. You will notice that as we
progress through this section of our study, that whereas Christ has once and
for all unmistakably accomplished all in the aorist indicative,
our walk with the Lord is tied up in the aorist subjunctive.
Our
daily Christian walk is nothing else than taking the accomplished events of the
Lord, which dwell in the spiritual realm, and making them a reality in the
earthly realm, through the obedient exertion of our free will. Our Christian lives have two facets that make up one whole. As I said at the very beginning of this
teaching, on the one hand there is the REALITY of our finished
position in Christ. The second aspect
is that of our daily CIRCUMSTANCES , as we deal with the very
real struggles of sin, the world, and the devil. The key to our success as Christians lies in a thorough knowledge
and obedience to the REALITY of our accomplished position in
Christ. We can then bring the circumstances of our daily lives to line up with
God’s reality concerning us, until it, and not our circumstances, becomes the
daily REALITY for us.
The big problem
throughout history is that the church, through its ignorance of its position in
Christ, and by a disobedient free will, has left the accomplished tasks of
Christ in the heavenlies, unaccomplished on earth. I don’t think that we yet understand the eternal ramifications of
our not habitually completing the accomplished tasks of Christ on earth through
a life of disobedience. It is most
sobering for us to know that in our hands lies the responsibility to become
free, Spirit filled Christians, which can bring, or fail to bring, the
spiritual kingdom of God into the earthly realm, through the obedient or
disobedient exercise of our free wills. A free will, which is uncompromisingly
obedient and continuously yielded to the Spirit of God, will bring forth the
reality of God’s accomplished acts into the earth, and will cause all
circumstances to line up in accordance to it.
Crucifixion
For
the sake of time, and preserving the lengths of our studies, we will only deal
with the crucifixion of the Lord, which also automatically includes His death.
Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is
crucified(Aorist Indicative) with him, that the body of sin might
be destroyed,(Aorist Subjunctive)
that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Our old man was crucified “TOGETHER WITH” Christ. Please notice the aorist indicative. In that the Lord died two thousand years ago,
we died two thousand years ago together in Him. The apostle Paul stresses that
it was “our old man” which died. Our old man was made up of the body, or the
whole essence of the sin that dwelled within us. The “old man” is all that
embodied and defined sin in us. In the
reality of our spiritual position in Christ however, we are sinless. There are
several reasons for this.
Rom 6:7 For he that is
dead is freed from sin.
The King James mistranslates verse seven of Romans chapter
six. This verse should read as “For he that has died is justified from sin.”
Justification is a fancy word for innocence. Let us call upon our “friendly
corpse in the casket” to come to our rescue once again. A corpse has no sin. Therefore,
he cannot sin, or can he be tempted by sin.
Because of his sinlessness, and his inability to sin, he is innocent
from, or of sin. A corpse is therefore justified from sin. When we died and
were buried together with Christ, we became a corpse.
Ephesians 1:20
Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead(Greek: nekroon; a corpse ), and
set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
Every instance in scriptures in which I have
encountered the Lord being raised up from the dead, the word for “dead” in the
Greek is always “corpse” (Greek: nekroon;
like our word necrophilia or necromancy.)
Gal
2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I,
but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by
the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
Col 3:3 For ye are dead, and your
life is hid with Christ in God.
Furthermore, Galatians two and twenty tells us that we
no longer live, and Colossians three and three tells us that we died off. As to our “position in Christ”, everything
that contained sin and expressed sin in us, is once and forever gone. Our sinful self, the old man, is now a
corpse which once had been crucified and then died with Christ. Hallelujah!
Christ has set us free from sin!
Right at this point of our understanding is the
beginning of our complete victory over sin, the devil, and the world. We are sinless;
we cannot sin, and cannot be tempted by sin, because we are corpses. Once we
get the revelation of this and believe it by faith, we shall see the victory
over all sinful struggles and bondages gradually manifest itself. We do not struggle to overcome sin. We
simply believe the reality of our position in Christ and our faith will
manifest it.
Remember
though, our victory lies in the revelation of the person of Christ in our
life. We are crucified in Him.
We died in Him. In
the Person of the Lord Jesus resides or dwells our crucifixion and our
death. As He is revealed in us, the death that we died two thousand years ago becomes
a reality in our lives.
Now I know that in our daily circumstances we are
sinful, we do sin, and we are very much tempted by sin. So much is the fact that the apostle John
had the following to say about us.
1 Joh 1:8 ¶ If we say that we have no
sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 If we
confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
As to our daily walk with the Lord, as found in
verse eight of First John one, sin is very much a problem to us. I believe though
that in verse nine, John takes us out of our circumstantial walk into the
spiritual reality that we have in Christ. We have the potential to be cleansed
from all unrighteousness.
The Marriage Of Our Position
To Our Circumstances
Romans 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
q
God’s righteousness,
are the works and deeds which He executes in our lives to marry our
“circumstantial” daily walk to that of our accomplished position in Christ, and
make it one. God’s righteousness brings
the reality of “who we are in Christ” into our daily walks, and makes it a reality
to our daily circumstances. His grace
gradually conforms our circumstances to “who we are in Christ.”
q
This process
is called the righteousness of faith, because it involves the deeds and works
of God as released or activated into our lives through our faith.
q
We can only
obey the Lord in relationship to how thoroughly and accurately we know His
written or logos word, which in turn will teach us how to
thoroughly and accurately hear the voice of the Spirit through His rhema
word. Every act of faith then is
initiated by the voice of the Spirit operating through the rhema word, even if
it is a rhema word concerning the logos or written word.
Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the ( Rhema) word of God.
q
God’s
righteousness then, is always released by our faith, which has in turn been
prompted by His word.
q Now that we know that we died with Christ, and are freed from sin, we can believe and thus activate the righteousness of God, which is by faith, to make our spiritual reality, and our daily walk, one. We shall enjoy an ongoing daily freedom from the bondage of sin. Secondly, we shall witness a gradual freedom from the love of the world as we realize that our sinful passions died two thousand years ago. Finally, the deception of the enemy will also diminish, as the devil knows that we now know, that we have been freed from sin and are innocent from it. Our old enemy has no legal grounds to touch us and must back off from us.
Rom 6:6 Knowing this, that our old man is
crucified(Aorist Indicative) with him, that the body of sin might
be destroyed,(Aorist Subjunctive)
that henceforth we should not serve sin.
Let us not forget however Romans six and
six. We have died with Christ, the
apostle Paul tells us, so “that the body of sin might be
destroyed”. If our obedience to the
Lord is half hearted, the body of sin, which is active in our daily
circumstances, will not be destroyed through the disobedience of our free
wills. We will not be able to activate the fullness of the righteousness of God,
which is by faith. Our spiritual
position will not become one with our daily life before Christ and we shall
remain in the bondage of hurts and sins.
God
Bless You,
Jose
Alvarez