When were we united with Christ on the objective side, and when were we united with Him on the subjective side?
We were united with Christ objectively at the time Christ died on the cross: “One died for all, therefore all died” (2 Cor. 5:14). When Christ died He brought the whole world to the cross with Him. Therefore, all men died in Him.
We were united with Christ subjectively when we were regenerated in the Lord’s resurrection. By reading Romans 6:3-5 and 8, we can see one thing: our subjective union with Christ is altogether in His resurrection. What does baptism signify? It signifies burial. When we are baptized, we are objectively declaring that we have died, because only dead people are buried. We acknowledge that our death is real. Therefore, we agree to our burial. Resurrection comes after a burial. When we rise up again after our burial, we are resurrected. In our daily life, we are not seeking death. Rather, we acknowledge that we have died in Christ, and we daily allow the resurrection life to be lived out through us. Romans 6 requires us to do one thing, which is to consecrate ourselves. Many people focus their attention on death. This is why they can never die. After we believe in the Lord, the first thing we should do is be buried, not die. We have to acknowledge our death instead of begging for death.
We should pay attention to another point. Suppose someone talks about the cross and says, “First, the Lord died on the cross for me; second, the Lord died on the cross in my place; and third, the Lord died on the cross with me.” Is such a statement scriptural? Let us lay aside the first and second points and focus on the third point: the Lord died on the cross with me. Is it wrong to say this? If we search the entire New Testament, it does not mention that Christ died with me; instead, it says, “I am crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2:20), and “Through whom the world has been crucified to me and I to the world” (6:14). Just by reading these two verses, we should know that we died with Christ and not that Christ died with us. This is because our union with Christ’s death is objective. Christ’s death is accomplished once and for all. We died in His death. Saying that Christ died with us would be turning from the objective to the subjective side and would imply that Christ has to be offered up several times. For example, Christ dies with Mr. Chang today, and tomorrow He dies with Mr. Yu. If a thousand people believed in Him, He would need to die a thousand times. We must remember that the Bible only tells us the truth: “We have died with Christ,” not “Christ died with us.” Do not think that reversing the order is a trivial matter. By reversing the order, the truth is no longer the truth. The Lord’s word must not be twisted or reversed.
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