At present, we are working with the light of truth presented by Dr. Francis Schaeffer from his book True Spirituality where we are discussing the basic considerations of the Christian life, or true Christianity.

Part 11

Continuing….

(Yesterday I suggested there were 5 points to be made…there are actually 6.  So here are points 3-4)

(Friends:  This week’s posts from Dr. Schaeffer’s book are wonderful foundational truths.  It is nutritious and building for your spiritual growth.  It takes some work…read, re-read, digest. pray.  You have to work at it 🙂)

Third, we died with Christ when we accepted him as Savior. If I have accepted Christ as Savior, this is now a past thing in history. The individual Christian’s salvation is rooted in two space-time historic points. The first is the finished work of Jesus on the cross of Calvary, and the second is the point of time when, by the grace of God, the individual accepted Jesus Christ as Savior. Here are two space-time points upon which our salvation rests. And if I have accepted Jesus as my Savior in the past, then Paul can speak concerning me: “Therefore being justified [in the past] by faith, we have [in the present] peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). This is clearly the thrust of the whole statement, from the tenses of the Greek text.  

In Romans 6:2, this is connected in this way: By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?   

The verb “died” is in the aorist tense. When we accepted Christ as our Savior, in God’s sight we died with Christ. “Therefore we are [that is, were] buried with him by baptism into death” (Romans 6:4). That refers to the time when we accepted Jesus as our Savior. “Knowing this, that our old man is [that is, was] crucified with him” (6:6). So here we have the third historic point. Christ died in history; Christ rose in history; we died with Christ when we accepted him as Savior. This, too, is a historic thing. It is something that happened (past tense) at a point of history.  

The fourth point is that we will be raised by him as he was raised. And this will be a point of future history. The clock keeps going. And when the Christian is raised from death, the great trumpet sounds, the word is spoken and every Christian comes forth from the grave at the command of Jesus Christ; the clock on the wall will not stop, it will still turn. The clock is almost ready to strike three as I write this. It is conceivable that Jesus will come before five past. If such is the case, the clock on the wall will not stop turning. At ten past, the clock will still run on. This is the biblical picture. The future resurrection, with this present body, and our future changing will take place in a twinkling of an eye: in history, in space-time, true history.  

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. (Romans 6:5)  

This truly refers to his resurrection, but “resurrection” is the emphasized thought. In the Greek, the “his” is left out; the emphasis is upon resurrection. “We shall be [future] in the likeness of resurrection.”  

Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.  (Romans 6:8)  

This is the future tense. We died with Christ when we accepted him as Savior in history. We will be raised physically or changed in the twinkling of an eye in a moment of history.  

(Pts 5-6 tomorrow)

Thoughts developed or used directly from the work of Schaeffer, Francis. True Spirituality . Tyndale House Publishers, Inc