Identified with Christ
by
Robert C. Brock
A 3 demensional study of 28 Greek words
showing the Past, Present, and Future
relationship of the believer with the Lord
Jesus Christ
Preface
An important aspecty of Christian teaching for the believer in Christ is taht of being identified with Christ. This relationship to Christ is not usually emphasized in the teaching process. This truth is not tob e limited tot he past work of Christ, as it is so freguently taught. Identification with Christ covers the past, the present, and the future of the individual believer in Christ.
There are no less than 28 Greek words in the New Testament that belong with identification truth. Twenty six of these words are prefixed with the preposition SUN, which means ‘with’ or ‘together with’. The 27 th word is SUN itself, used separately ‘together with’, and is used tweice in theis respect.
Seventeen to these words are used only by the Apostle Paul, and one word is used of the Holy Spirit. They describe unique doctrine that is related only to saved people of this present Dispensation. Words that describe human relationships, such as working together, praying together, etc. have been left out.
Maybe some of these relationships could have been added, since they are a result of b eing saved, but my purpose in writing is to emphasize the God-ward aspect of this work of God, and how the believer enters into the marvelous truth of being indentified with Christ.
I used the King James Version of the Bible in the quatation of Scripture verses, Words in parenthesis are the italicized words of the KJV. I took the liberty of capitalizing the personal pronouns when referring to Deity. The literal translations are my own, being based on the Received Tekst from which the KJV was translated.
I kept the technical aspects of Greek grammar to a minimum. They can be rather boring if too much is included.
I want to thank two beloved brothers in the Lord, Pastor Otis Wasson and Mr Robert O. Hume, fort heir valuable contributions tot he manuscript.
Word studies such as this are a very important method of Bible study. The Holy Spirit has inspired the words of the Bible in the original manuscripts, and He uses these God given words to help us to understand the truths of God.
I hope the truth contained herein will enlarge your thinking and help you to see the tremendous relationship we have with our wonderful Lord and Saviour, Christ Jesus the Lord.
CHAPTER ONE – PAST IDENTIFICATION
CRUCIFIED WITH
There are six Greek words associating the believer with past identification with the Lord Jesus Christ, and three of these words deal with our Lord’s death.
- The first Greek words is SUSTAUROO, which means ‘to crucify along with’, and is used only 5 times in the New Testament. It is used 3 times in the four Gospels of the thieves who were crucified along with the Lord on the cross (Matthew 27: 44; Mark 15:32; John 19: 32). This doesn’t mean they were crucified with Christ on the same cross, fort hey had their own crosses, but that they were crucified at the same time as the Lord. Thsi crucifixion was an actual, literal, physical crucifixion that took place on Golgotha.
The other two uses of this word are found in Romans 6:6 and Galatians 2: 20.
Romans 6:6 – “Knowing this, that our old man IS CRUCIFIED WITH (Him), that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin”
Galatians 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”
These two verses speak of an actual, literal, spiritual crucifixion that also took place at the same time and on the same cross as our Lord’s. Believe it or not, God reckoned every believer in Christ during this Age of Grace as having been on the cross with Christ, spiritually speaking. This is the difference between the thieves being crucified with Chris tand the believer being crucified with Christ.
The word ‘crucified’ is a verb, and tha tense of the verb is very important. In Romans 6: 6 the verb is in the Aorist tense, which is the simple past tense of the Greek language. The King James Version used the present tense ‘our old man WAS CRUCIFIED WITH (Him) ‘. This verse states the fact of our co-crucifixion with Christ , and makes it personal with the use of the word ‘our’. The ‘old man’ is another name fort he sinful human nature that we are born with. Both Romans 6:6 and Galatians 2:20 make this crucifixion a personal one. It is MY old nature which was crucified, and all members of the Body of Christ can say the same thing.
In Galatians 2:20, the verb is in the Perfect tense. The perfect tense is actually related tot wo time periods, the past and the present. It signifies action done in the past with the results continuing on into the present time. It speaks of endurance, that the death of Christ in relation to believers endures forever, as we shall see when we come tot he future aspect of identification with Christ.
So then, the translation of this tense in Galatians 2:20 is by the words ‘have been’, so that the beginning of this verse be translated “I HAVE BEEN CRUCIFIED WITH Christ’. We can see, then, that these two verses complement each other. Romans 6:6 deals with the past and Galatians 2:20 carries the truth a step further by bringing i tinto the present.
- The second Greek word that teaches identification with Christ in His death is SUNAPOTHNESKO, which means ‘do ie together with’, and is used only 3 times in the New Testament (Mark 14:31; 2 Corinthians 7:3 ; 2 Timothy 2:11). Only 2 Tim. 2:11 concerns us here.
2 Timothy 2:11 – “It is a faithful saying: For if WERE DEAD WITH (Him), we shall also live with Him”
The tense of the verb, here, is the simple past tense, the Aorist tense. And this verse states a fact, not a possibility, fort he ‘if’has the force of ‘since’, and it should be translated: “For since we died together with Him, we will also live together with Him”
The fact of co-crucifixion with Christ was preached and taught by Paul all through his ministry, for it is contained in his first epistle (Galatians) and in his last epistle (2Timothy) as well as being mentioned in other epistles. So when we preach and teach about our Lord’s death, it is important that our part in it be emphasized and what it means to Christian living.
- The third Greek word gthat teaches identification with Christ in His death is SUMPHUTOS, which means ‘planted together, united together, born together with or joint origin’. It is a unigue word used only once in the New Testament, in Romans 6:5.
Romans 6:5: - “For if WE HAVE BEEN PLANTED TOGETHER in the likeness of His death, we shall be also 9in the likeness) of His resurrection”
This verse also states a fact, fort he ‘if’ should be translated ‘since’. The verb is in the Perfect tense, which means that it signifies present results based on a past work, so it is a repeat of Galatians 2:20 with some added meanings given by this Greek word. It would seem taht the death of Crhist is the seed-bed from which we spring into life. Our Lord said something like this in John 12:24 – “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but it it die, it bringeth forth much fruit”. We have been planted togetehr with our Lord in His death.
In a sense we were like seeds, having been planted and sprung up into eternal life when we believed. One of the results of the death of Christ is eternal life. If He hadn’t died, no one would have eternal life . Our Lord would have abided alone, as John 12:24 states.
The significance of the perfect tense is that we are growing up into Him as we daily live in His will for us (Ephesians 4:15). We are to grow in grace and become spiritually mature adults.
There are then, three Greek words teaching us that believers have died with Christ. This is doctrinal teaching.
These verses provide the foundation fors ome very important relationships in the Christian life, and this is where practical teaching comes in. This is where the perfect tense fits in—the results continuing on into the present time.
Now there has tob e a reason why we were crucified with Christ; and when we study Paul’s epistles closely, we find that there are four reasons why God’s children were crucified with His Son.
(1). The first reason is the FLESH. According to Galatians 5:24, we have crucified the flesh: “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts”. The flesh is one of our worst enemies. In fact, most believers have more problems with the flesh than they do with anything else. And the Bible has much to say about the flesh. The Greek word is SARX, and in reading some of the verses where this word appears in the New Testament we notice some important facts. The flesh refers tot he whole person – the body, the sinful human nature, the reason – apart from the Holy Spirit. Notice that the Word of God says:
To be continued