061. Sermon XVI: Ephesians 2:6

SERMON XVI And hath raised us sit together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.—Ephesians 2:6.

Here are two benefits more, two parts of that salvation spoken of before; ‘By grace ye are saved.’ As the Apostle saith there were three causes of sin in us, (in the 1st, 2d, and 3d verses,) the world, the devil, and the flesh or corrupt nature; so he saith there are three causes of our salvation in God. There is mercy, love, and grace: ‘For his rich mercy, and great love wherewith he loved us; by grace ye are saved.’ So there are three parts of our salvation, which is perfected by degrees:—

1. Our quickening; he hath quickened us together with Christ.

2. He hath raised us up. And—

3. Made us sit together in heavenly places.

These two latter are parts of our salvation, and they answer and correspond to what was done in Christ, who is our pattern and head. If you read Ephesians 1:10, he speaks of a mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places. Here he saith, making up the reddition in this verse, ‘He hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.’ The difficulties of these words are indeed great; I shall endeavour, by way of interpretation, to assoil them as I am able. The first difficulty is this: How to distinguish that work of quickening, mentioned in the 5th verse, from what is here, ‘hath raised us up together.’ Whether this work of resurrection, as here it is mentioned, is intended that of the soul which we partake of here, or that of the body, or of the whole man rather in the world to come? Or more generally, whether that these two here that now follow are works wrought in this life in us? Or whether those which his power is engaged to work in us in the world to come?

Now that which makes the difficulty are these things—

First, In that we are said as well to be raised with Christ in this life, both in respect of sanctification and justification, as that we are said to be quickened by him. I shall not need quote many places; that in Romans 6 makes it clear and evident that it is so, where we are said to be ‘planted into the likeness of his resurrection.’ And you know, the resurrection of the soul is called the first resurrection. And so now ‘hath raised us up together,’ should be but the same thing with what formerly he had said, ‘hath quickened us.’ And Musculus, in his comment upon this place, gives this reason why the Apostle addeth to quickening, ‘hath raised us up’ here in this life; namely, to explain the words. For, saith he, men or things may be said to be quickened which were never dead; there may be a quickening without a resurrection, as it is said, in 1 Timothy 6:13, that God is he who quickeneth all things,—that is, that doth put life into all things: now all things were not dead before such time as they had life put into them. Adam might be said to be quickened when he had the breath of life breathed into him, yet he could not be said to be raised again; therefore, saith he, for more distinct explication sake, after the Apostle had said, ‘He hath quickened us,’ he addeth, ‘and hath raised us up, to shew that it is a quickening by way of resurrection, we being dead in sins and trespasses. So that indeed the word ‘quickened us,’ saith he, noteth out the substance of the work of God upon us in this life; but this ‘hath raised us up’ noteth out the modus, the manner, that is by resurrection of them that are dead. And so he would have quickening and resurrection here to be both one, and to be both meant of the soul; as elsewhere the resurrection of the body is called quickening. Romans 8:11, ‘He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies;’ that is, saith he, shall raise them up. And so it is used of Christ, 1 Peter 3:18, ‘He was put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.’ And that which yet strengthened the objection more, viz., that the resurrection of the soul should be here intended, is this. Because that that parallel epistle to this, the Epistle to the Colossians, which we have so often had recourse unto to interpret things in this epistle, when it speaks of quickening and of resurrection with Christ, as it doth in Colossians 2:12-13, it makes them both to be works of God upon us in this life. ‘You are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God: and you, being dead in your sins, hath he quickened together with him.’ You see he mentioneth both, as he doth here; and it is evident he speaks of the resurrection which we have through faith, through the work of God upon us here in this life. And that the work of faith is a resurrection, I remember I opened at large upon the 19th verse of the first chapter. And that which yet addeth to this difficulty is this, that the Apostle here speaks of this resurrection as a thing that is already done, like as he did of quickening before. ‘He hath quickened us,’ saith he, ‘and hath raised us up, and he hath made us sit together in heavenly places.’ But yet for all this, I find that most interpreters, and I confess myself of that mind also, do judge it to refer rather to that glorious resurrection of the body which is to come; the which, why it is said ‘hath raised us up,’ as a thing for the present, or as a thing past rather, I shall give you an account of anon. And the reasons are these:—

First, Because the Apostle’s scope is to comprehend the whole work of God upon us wherein we are made conformable to Jesus Christ, yea, unto Jesus Christ in glory. And his scope is to shew that that power which wrought in Christ that resurrection of his body, which raised him up to that glory which he hath in heaven, the same power works in us this whole work enumerated here. It relateth to, and correspondeth with the whole work upon Christ spoken of in the first chapter, Ephesians 1:18, and so on; where he speaks of Christ, who is there made the pattern of this work upon us, and saith thus, ‘According to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places.’ Therefore now, in making up the reddition, or the parallel upon us, and of the mercy and grace towards us which he works in us conformable to what he wrought in Christ, he must intend the whole work of our salvation first and last, and especially that in glory, because he speaks of that mighty power which wrought in Christ in raising him up to glory. He speaks there also of a power which is begun in us, that shall go on, and never leave us, till it hath made us like to Christ in all things; a power towards us, which begins in working faith and in quickening, begins there, and hath engaged itself to do all that for us which it did in our head Christ Jesus. Now then, the raising up of our bodies at last, and the glorifying of them in heaven, is the great work of power; and therefore he, speaking of the whole power that works in us, answerable to the whole work that is in Jesus Christ, must mean the whole work of salvation under these three heads, of quickening, and raising us up, and making us sit in heavenly places in him.

Secondly, That these two works, ‘hath quickened,’ and ‘hath raised us up,’ are distinct, there are these three clear appearances for it from the text here:—

1. Do but consider that he severs, as it were, quickening from being raised; for when he had said, ‘hath quickened us together with Christ,’ he comes in with this parenthesis, (‘by grace ye are saved,’) as putting not only a period, but a partition there, ere he went any further, by that parenthesis, as a note upon that; then shewing them those two parts of salvation which are to come, whereof he had spoken when he had said ‘by grace ye are saved:’ that at the resurrection, and that in heaven. And then—

2. Having severed them thus by a partition, you see he yokes and joins these two, ‘hath raised us up, and made us sit together in heavenly places,’ together, as works and benefits of a sort and kind. And therefore, as ‘sitting in heavenly places’ pertains to the glory to come, so also ‘hath raised us up’ refers to the resurrection of the body, which is the foundation of that glory, and indeed is the preparation to, and foundation of it.

3. And further, to shew that he did intend this distinction, when he speaks of quickening, he addeth, τῷ Χριστῷ, together with Christ; but when he comes to speak of these two, to shew that they are works of a kind, he doth not say ‘hath raised us up together with Christ’ a second time, but he defers the mention of Christ till he added the other which is of the same kind with it: ‘hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus;’ that same ‘in Christ Jesus’ referring to both in common. Whereas if that quickening and raising up had been all one in his intention, he would have added ‘with Christ’ after this word ‘raised us up,’ or in common added here rather than with quickening, and so have made the period there. But you see he doth not only sever them thus by a parenthesis, making a full period of the other, viz., of quickening, and adds ‘with Christ’ to it, and then joins these two together, but he brings in ‘in Christ’ in common as to both. So that now, as we are said to sit now in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, in respect of that glory we shall one day have; so we are said to be raised up also in Christ Jesus, in respect of that resurrection we shall then likewise have. But—

Thirdly, That which most of all convinceth me is this: that when the Apostle speaks of these two latter, ‘raised us up, and made us sit together in heavenly places,’ he adds the phrase ‘in Christ Jesus;’ but when he speaks of the other, viz., of quickening us, he doth not put in ἐν τῷ Χριστῷ, ‘hath quickened us together in Christ Jesus,’ but ‘hath quickened us together with Christ Jesus.’ Which evidently and critically intendeth to hold forth this, as a main and eminent difference between these two latter works and that other of quickening, which is worthy your observation: that when he speaks of quickening, it is a work already done in us; as it was once done in Christ for us, so it hath had its accomplishment in a measure, therefore we are said so to be quickened together in Christ, as also with Christ; for that is a true rule, that those works which were done in Christ for us, after they are begun to be wrought in us, we are said to have them wrought in us together with Christ, as I shall shew you anon. But when he comes to those works which yet are to be wrought in us, as this resurrection and this sitting in heavenly places is, which are but in hope; of these he only saith that they are wrought for us in Christ, but not they are wrought in us with Christ, because that we are not yet actually in our persons partakers of them, but only as yet in our head; but when he saith. we are quickened together with Christ, (as likewise in Colossians 2:13 the phrase is,) his meaning is that we have been actually partakers in our own persons of quickening, as well as Christ was; but, I say, when he comes to speak of these, he saith only ‘in Christ.’ And let me throw in another observation towards it:—

Obs.—What is the reason that the Apostle in the beginning of his speech, at the 19th verse of the 1st chapter, whereof this is the conclusion, speaks of the mighty power of God which works in them that believe; and here in this place, when he comes to make up the return and the reddition, he speaks of grace, and mercy, and love? The reason is plainly this, because though his power is engaged by grace, and mercy, and love to this resurrection to come, and to setting of us in heavenly places in Christ, yet notwithstanding his power is put forth only in quickening of us; but grace, and mercy, and love are put forth both in quickening of us and in raising us up again, and making us sit in heavenly places in Christ; by grace we have these two latter now. We are not only quickened by his power already working in us, but by grace we are raised together in Christ, and by grace we sit in heavenly places in Christ; but by power we do not yet,—that is, the power that hath engaged to work it one day hath not already wrought it, not wrought it with Christ, only wrought it for us in Christ our head. And this is a far better and more observable criticism than that of Musculus, for it notes out one of the greatest truths of the gospel, that is, the representation of Christ for us: that he as a common person hath received all benefits fur us, and we in him are said to have received them; for that is said to be done for us in Christ which yet is not wrought upon us. And as for that which he observes, that ‘hath raised us up’ is added by the Apostle to shew that it is quickening from the dead, there needed no such addition; because he had said in the words before, ‘when we were dead, he quickened us.’ Now a man cannot be quickened when he is dead, but it must needs be a resurrection; and therefore the resurrection of the soul in this life is fully included in those words, and these words ‘hath raised us up’ needed not be added to shew the manner of quickening, as he would have it. And so it is an argument rather for the contrary; for he would not have repeated the same thing again if he meant by quickening and raising again one and the same thing. And for that in Colossians 2, where ‘rising with Christ,’ and ‘quickened with him,’ are both mentioned as here, and both as past, I answer, first, it is not said there we are raised in Christ only, as here, but with Christ. And besides, the Apostle here puts a distinction also, to shew the difference, for he saith we are ‘risen with him through the faith of the operation of God.’ If he had said so here indeed, we must needs have concluded that ‘hath raised us up is meant of that resurrection of the soul, which is all one with quickening. So that to conclude, though that quickening of us, and raising us again, are terms equivalent, and one is often put for the other in the Scripture, as was observed before, and is plain in John 5:21, yet there is a double resurrection and a double quickening: the one of the soul in this life, and that the Apostle means, Ephesians 2:5; and the other of the body after this life, and that the Apostle intends here in this verse. You shall find them both in John 5:24-25, compared. There was a double resurrection wrought in Christ: there was one of his soul, as I may so speak, when it was made heavy to the death, when the brunt of his Father’s wrath was over, when he cried, It is finished; for, I take it, that word, ‘It is finished,’ hath relation to that conflict he had with his Father, which began in the garden and ended upon the cross: and indeed as those pangs that seized upon his soul, which made him say, My soul is heavy unto the death, were the greater of the two; so that resurrection was the greater of the two. Then he had a resurrection of his body, which was raised up the third day; and, I take it, both these are included in Acts 2:24, as I shewed in handling the 19th and 20th verses of the 1st chapter. Now then, the Apostle here intending to shew how that we are raised up answerably to Jesus Christ, first, he mentions the resurrection of the soul in this life under that of quickening; and then brings in the resurrection of the body under this phrase, ‘and hath raised us up;’ and then the glory of heaven in this, ‘hath made us sit in heavenly places in Christ.’ And so much for the first difficulty. The second difficulty is this: How the Apostle can speak in the time present, or in the time past, and intend the resurrection of the body to come, and our being in heaven, and say, ‘hath raised us up, and hath made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ.’ To assoil this difficulty also:—

First, Jerome and others upon this place refer it to God’s decree; say they, what God hath decreed to be done, though it be to come, the Scripture speaks of it as if it were now present, yea, as if it were past. As in Romans 8:30, ‘Whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified.’ Because in God’s decree these things are so sure as if they were done at the present, yea, as if they were past; they are tanquam prateritum, as things past, which cannot be undone again. But though this be a truth, yet it is not so spoken here, in respect of God’s decree only or chiefly, that we are said to be raised up again, and to sit together in Christ in heavenly places. For if you mark it, it is something that was done upon Jesus Christ’s having been raised up, and set at God’s right hand first, as a head, as Ephesians 1:20 of the first chapter hath it, that we are thereupon said to be raised up and to sit together with him. He doth not therefore wholly refer this to God’s decree, but he refers to what was done in Christ when he was raised up, and now sitteth in heavenly places. He doth not, I say, refer to God’s decree, which was before all worlds, but to the resurrection of Christ, which was done long before the world began.

Others say this, that it respecteth the work of faith and hope in us: for by faith and by hope we may see ourselves raised and set in heavenly places; and we believe we shall be raised with Christ and shall sit together with him in heavenly places. And because that faith doth make things to come as present, therefore, say they, the Apostle doth speak in the language of faith. He hath raised us up, and he hath made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ. Nos cum illo in cœlo per spem, et ille cum nobis per Spiritum;—He is here with us below by his Spirit, and we with him in heaven by faith and by hope. And this also is a truth. Romans 6:8, ‘If we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.’ And as all things are present to God that are to come, who calleth things that are not as if they were; so it is true that all things are present to faith, for it enableth us to look upon things, in our proportion, as God doth: as in Romans 8:11, ‘If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.’

Now for this meaning also, I deny not but that it is part of it, as I shall shew you anon; but it is not all. For if so, as Zanchy well observeth, then, in the first place, they in the Old Testament who by faith saw the promises afar off, might believe themselves raised and set together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus that was to come. But I say still, the Apostle here pitcheth upon what was actually done in Christ already, after the time of the Old Testament, when Christ did rise again; and upon his being raised and set in heaven, we are said to be raised and to sit with him. And then, in the second place, it is not said to be past, because faith believes it shall be done; but it is propounded here as really done in Christ, and therefore propounded to our faith to believe in it; so as faith believes it, because in Christ it is done for us.

You will then say to me, What is it that is imported here?

I take the words to import our being raised in Christ as in a head, as in a common person; and in his being raised and sitting in heavenly places, we are said also to be so. For the distincter understanding of this:—

Some do interpret the words, ‘we are raised in Christ,’ and impute it only to this, that Christ having raised our nature in himself, it is as a pawn that we shall be advanced likewise, and so though Christ rose but as a single man, yet because the human nature is carried up to heaven, that is an evidence that our nature shall come thither too; that he being advanced, we being his kindred, shall be advanced also: and so now it is a pledge of our resurrection. And this also is a great truth; for when Christ went to heaven, there were mutual pledges given of our coming thither; he carried our nature to heaven, to shew that our nature being carried thither is a pawn of our coming thither likewise. John 14:3, ‘I go to prepare a place for you; and if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.’ And as he carried our nature thither, so he being in heaven, he gives us his Spirit as an earnest that we shall come thither also; as in Romans 8:11, ‘If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.’ Therefore the Spirit is called the earnest of our inheritance. This, I say, is a blessed truth, and a certain evidence we shall come to heaven; yet it is not all that is held forth by this phrase. For though the Spirit dwelling in us be a pawn we shall be raised, and thereby our resurrection is made sure, because we have the Spirit in us that raised up Christ,—who therefore is a working Spirit, and will never leave what he takes possession of to dwell in till he hath raised it up,—yet we are nowhere in the Scripture said to be raised in the Spirit, but we are said, as here in the text, to be raised in Christ; therefore it must be more than having a pawn of our resurrection in Christ’s resurrection. And yet, if that were the intent of it, it might as well be said we are raised in the Spirit as in Christ; for the Holy Ghost is a pawn of that himself, as well as Christ’s resurrection. Yea, we are said to ‘sit in Christ.’

Others therefore interpret it thus, that we are said to sit together in Christ, because of a conformity we shall be wrought to, like to Christ; that look, as Christ was raised up from the dead, so shall we be; we shall have the name resurrection of the body which he had, and the same glory in heaven, in our measure, which he hath. But mark it, still I say, it is not said that we are raised as Christ is raised,—that the Apostle eminently holds forth in Romans 6,—but here it is said we are raised in Christ.

Others say, that we are raised by right, that by Christ’s resurrection a right is conveyed to us to rise again; we have a right to sit in heavenly places, which is made good by Christ’s sitting there, therefore we are said to be co-heirs with Christ, Romans 8. This sense I should determine and rest in, if the full foundation of that right be taken in also; which is, that Christ as by death he purchased it for us, so in our names and stead hath taken possession of it for us, which is more than all the former, and yet supposeth them all, and includes them; namely, that by way of representation he is there in our stead, being a common public person representing us, he being raised, and he rising as a common person, he sitting in heaven, and he sitting there as a common person for us, that in this respect we are said to be raised up, and to sit together in Christ, in Christ as our head. And so Chrysostom also doth interpret it. The head sitting there, the body must needs be accounted to sit there also, and for this cause he addeth, ‘in Christ.’ And this is certainly the most genuine meaning of this place, though it may include many of the other senses in it. For first, in Ephesians 1:22, Christ is not only said to sit in heaven himself, but he sits there as a head. ‘He gave him to be a head,’ saith he there, ‘over all things to the church;’ as for influence, as there, so also, as here, by way of representation. So that in him, representing us as the head doth the body, we are said, being united to him, to sit there also. This notion, of Jesus Christ being a common person, and representing us, I have at large handled, and shewed the parallel made between Adam and Christ herein. In Romans 5 we are all said to have sinned in Adam,—in whom all have sinned, saith Paul, speaking of Adam,—and were cast out of Paradise in him, to have died in him, and we were all cursed in him. ‘In the day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt die the death;’ this brought a universal law upon all mankind to die, in Adam all died by virtue of this. So in Jesus Christ; in his being raised again we are raised, in his sitting in heavenly places we sit. But I will not enlarge upon this anything to what formerly I have spoken. Jesus Christ sits in heaven, not only as a person receiving heaven for us,—as a guardian that hath received from a father jewels and writings to be kept for a child; thus indeed Jesus Christ did receive heaven and all things else for us, in God’s everlasting purposes: as in Timothy there is mention of a ‘grace given us in Christ before the world began;’ and so you have it in Ephesians 1:5, God ‘blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus,’ before the world began. But Jesus Christ is gone to heaven, as one legally authorised to take possession of heaven in our stead, so as that possession of it which he takes shall be in law reckoned as if we ourselves had taken it. The notion of a public representative, to do acts that in law are counted theirs whom he represents, is common among all nations. You know that Rachel is said to have worshipped Joseph, though she was dead long before, because she was represented in Jacob her husband, Genesis 37:10. So Levi, before he was born, is said to pay tithes to Melchizedek in Abraham; and so we are said to sit in heavenly places in Christ: for all these public persons, and all these types, were but representations of what Jesus Christ is to his church, and of that union which Jesus Christ and his church hath. Christ therefore is called ‘the first-fruits of them that sleep;’ and he is called ‘the first-begotten from the dead.’ Now the first-fruits were blessed; and when they were blessed, all the crop that stood in the field was blessed also, though it was not reaped. And that blessing of the crop in the first-fruits, it was not only jure, or potestate, in respect that it had a right to blessing, but it was actu; only with this difference, not in their own proper individuals, but in the first-fruits that represented them, yet it was an actual bestowing of it, and may rightly be said so. Therefore because that when Jesus Christ rose he represented us in his person, and now he sits in heaven he represents us in his person, therefore we are said to be raised in him, and to sit in heavenly places in him. And we have it not only by faith, or by hope, not only potentate et jure, but actu; but how? Not in our own persons, but actually possessed thereof by such a legal act, as by law it is attributed unto us, because our Head has done it in our stead.—And so much now for that second difficulty.

There is yet a third appearance of a greater difficulty than either of these, which I must also remove. You see he puts here ‘he hath raised’ after ‘he hath quickened.’ Now, if this ‘hath raised,’ and ‘hath made us sit in heavenly places in Christ,’ should be meant of a representative sitting in Christ; and that he by way of representation in our stead, bearing our persons, our persons are reckoned to sit there in him when he began to sit there, and so our being raised when he first rose; and then if so, here lies the objection: these Ephesians might be said to have been made to sit in heavenly places in Christ Jesus long before they were converted, even from the first time that Christ did sit down there, and might also be said to have been raised again long before they were converted, even when Jesus Christ was raised; for in these acts he, as a common person, represented them according to this interpretation. But if you eye the words, they will seem to speak of such mercies under them as we come to have in Christ, after or together with our quickening. ‘God,’ saith he, ‘who is rich in mercy, hath quickened us, and hath raised us, and hath made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ;’ namely, upon our quickening. Whereas I say, if it should be meant of a representative sitting of Jesus Christ in heaven, and so they in him, that was done long before they were quickened; for from the first time that he sat down there, he did it in the name of all believers.

Now to assoil this difficulty, which hath troubled me more than all the former—

First, I would say this, that these Ephesians were said to be raised up, and to sit in heavenly places, even long before they were converted, in Christ as a representative person; but why then doth he mention these after quickening, that work of conversion? He mentions them because that these are mercies to be wrought in us after quickening. All were wrought in Christ, and done at once; but if you come to the execution of them, to the degrees of accomplishment, quickening is first, being raised is next, and sitting in heavenly places is last: and because they are last in execution, hence it comes to pass that he names these after the other. So that the reason why that these come in after quickening in the Apostle’s rehearsal is not that they were not true of them before, but it is that they are in order of execution performed afterwards. But then there is a second answer, and that is this: that though we are made to sit in heavenly places in Christ before conversion, coram Deo,—before God, between Christ and him,—and it may be said of all the elect in the abstract that they are so before their conversion; yet we must consider that here the Apostle speaks to these Ephesians by way of application. Mark it, for it is a real answer. Paul could not personally have applied it to these Ephesians before their conversion; but being quickened, that he might add this moreover, God hath raised you up; he hath not only quickened you, but now you may see with open eyes that God hath done more for you when you knew not of it; you have a head in heaven, in whom, and by whom, and with whom you are quickened; in whom also you are raised up and sit together in heavenly places, and have done so ever since Christ ascended thither. So that now, because he speaks to the Ephesians by way of application, and that he could not have applied it thus in concrete to them personally before they had been quickened, therefore he mentioneth quickening first. For then comes the comfort of what was done for them in Christ before. And so he holds forth the greatness of the mercy and grace God hath shewn, that he had not only quickened them here by the virtue of Christ’s resurrection already, but he had made provision for their being in heaven long ago, by their head being there; one of these coming in, in his rehearsal after the other, not that they were not true before, but that now they have the comfort of them, and that now they are applicable to them, and not before. The mention of these two comes in therefore most fitly after quickening, for the comfort of their faith, though long before; and this because they seeing the power of God, which he tells them was engaged towards them, Ephesians 1:19 of the first chapter,—that it had already shewed itself in quickening them, and had shewed itself by virtue of this, that they had been quickened in Christ when he was quickened and raised,—this might be an evidence to them that one day they should be further raised up in their bodies together with him, and sit in heavenly places, and in the meantime they did sit together in him. It comes in therefore, I say, well after quickening, because that quickening is a pawn, an evidence to them that they do sit in Christ, and shall sit together with him one day. And thus the Apostle doth clearly reason from what is already wrought to what is done for us in Christ, and shall be one day wrought. Romans 6:5, ‘If we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.’ And, Romans 6:8, ‘If we be dead with Christ,’—mark the phrase, for he speaks of mortification begun,—then ‘we believe that we shall also live with him,’ and so be raised. Why? Because, Romans 6:9, ‘As Christ being raised up dieth no more, but liveth unto God;’ so, Romans 6:11, ‘reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive unto God:’ for you may see your persons to be in Christ, and you may have hope to be raised one day with him, because you see already that by virtue of your communion with Christ, the power of God hath wrought something of what Christ hath done for you, by way of representation; you are dead with Christ already, and are quickened with him, and therefore shall one day be raised up together with him, and sit together with him in heavenly places.

But, lastly, to give yet a more full answer to this objection, I do grant these two or three things:—

1. That upon a man’s being converted or quickened, he may be said anew to be raised up in Christ, and to sit together in heavenly places in him. There is a new act done by which Christ becomes, upon a new engagement, a public person for those who are thus quickened. I shall express myself to you in this as clear as I can, because there is a difficulty in it. My brethren, I lay this for a ground, that upon any new kind or degree of union or being in Christ, all we have communion with Christ in is anew confirmed to us, and that not only between Christ and us, but between God and Christ also. All must needs grant this, that our union or oneness with Christ is the foundation of our communion and fellowship with him and being made partakers with him of all he did for us: that we are said to be risen with Christ as in a common person, and to sit in heavenly places in him, is because we are one with him, for these are things whereby we have fellowship with him. Now then, upon any new way of union and oneness with Christ, there must needs be a further communion or fellowship, degree, or declaration, or authorisation at least, of communion with him of all the blessings we are to have in him.

Now, I say, when we are turned to God, there is certainly a new fresh declaration made before God, and the angels, and all, of our union with the Lord Jesus. In Php 3:12,—which place I quote for this purpose, and you shall see it will come home to the point in hand, of the resurrection, and heaven, and all, by and by,—saith Paul there, speaking of his seeking to attain unto the resurrection of the dead, ‘I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.’ He speaks of his conversion unto God; he had spoken of the resurrection from the dead, and that state which the text here mentioneth, as that which in his own person he had not yet attained. I have not attained it, saith he, in my own person; he speaks of the resurrection from the dead, in the perfection of it. ‘If by any means,’ saith he, ‘I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.’ It is ἐξανάστασιν, it is not only ἀνάστασιν simply, as Grotius well observes; it is that perfect state of the resurrection which death shall have no dominion over. Now as Paul fully aimed to apprehend this, so he did it under this notion that Jesus Christ had, for this and all else that was to be wrought in Paul, apprehended him when he was turned. ‘That,’ saith he, ‘I may apprehend that for which I am apprehended of Jesus Christ.’ Clearly then here is the meaning of it. When Paul was first turned to God, when Jesus Christ first took him by the hand and put him into this way, then did Jesus Christ own him as his publicly before God and himself in heaven, and sent his Spirit into his heart; and owning him as a public person, he declares, This soul is one with me, to be perfectly raised up one day with me, and to be perfectly glorified one day with me, and to that end I do send my Spirit into his heart, that he by degrees may come to attain and apprehend all that for which I now do comprehend him. This I take to be clearly the meaning of the place. And if this be true, here is now a new declaration, a new way indeed of union with Christ, a new act of union, rather than a degree added to what was before. My brethren, do not stumble at this; I will tell you why. We were one with Christ before the world was; there is one way of union then. Jesus Christ in the human nature cometh down, and represents us, doth what we have to do; here now is another way of union. Why? This is the reason, for we were one with Christ by his undertaking for us only from everlasting, but we were one with him by an active representation when below on earth, he acting all he undertook when he was here below. Now answerably, when he is in heaven, and turns any soul unto God, he seizeth upon that soul by his Spirit, comprehends it, and declares that he owneth it, to attain by his Spirit all that which he, as a common person, beforehand did for him. Now then, upon our quickening we may very well be said, as here in the text, to be raised up in Christ, and to sit in heavenly places in him. Though it was done before by way of representation in one respect, yet now there is a new authorisation, a new declaration of it, not only between Jesus Christ and that soul, but between God and Christ, who now doth, before the other two persons of the Trinity,—perhaps the angels themselves know so much, for there is joy in heaven at the conversion of a sinner,—take this soul, to work in it all that he as a common person hath wrought for it. Jesus Christ comprehended us then, to raise us up perfect one day. Therefore saith Paul, I aim to attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Why? Because Jesus Christ, when I was turned, comprehended me, that I might attain this; and he comprehendeth us to sit together in heaven with him. And therefore now, as you will say, by virtue of that act which Christ performed when he rose again, that we rose in Christ as in a common person,—and we may be said to sit in heaven when he first began to sit there,—so upon this new act of Christ’s comprehending us when we were first turned to him, and did publish and declare this, all these are ratified to us afresh, and we have now a new and further act or degree, as I may so speak it, of Christ, in becoming a common person for us and sitting in heaven for us, a new public act in heaven. Jesus Christ presenteth himself to his Father as he that rose for that soul, that it might rise both body and soul; therefore he putteth in his Spirit to raise up the soul now, and the body afterwards. Jesus Christ presenteth himself, as sitting in heaven in the room of that soul, and sendeth his Spirit to quicken it with a life that is heavenly; and that Spirit shall never leave till he hath brought the body to heaven also. These things Christ comprehendeth us for. You read in the Revelations of two books, though they come all to one; the one is the book of the Lamb, and the other the book of life. There is a registering as it were upon public record of our names in both. Our names are recorded in the book of life by eternal predestination and the decree of God. When Jesus Christ comes to comprehend a soul, our names are anew written. There is a new record made between God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, that he owneth such a soul, that he represents it, takes that soul to work all that in it which he did representatively as a public person for it. Therefore in this sense it might well be said that we are raised in him, and sit together in heavenly places in him; we are reckoned as risen in him, and as sitting in heaven in him, from that day he quickened us. For from that day he comprehendeth us that we may attain thereunto.

2. However, in the second place, by faith by which we are quickened we may be said to possess the resurrection of the dead, and to ‘sit in heavenly places in Christ;’ upon quickening therefore it cometh in afterwards. Faith instateth us into all these in such a manner as not before; and these things are all likewise things to come: for though Jesus Christ hath represented us when first he went to heaven, yet every moment he sitteth there he still representeth us. Therefore after quickening this may well be said of us, and we may then reckon ourselves alive to God as fully as Christ is, or as ever we shall be. Faith aims to comprehend all that for which we are apprehended and comprehended by Jesus Christ, and so possesseth itself of it. And now, as heirs will please themselves beforehand with the thinking of what they will do with their estate before they come to it, so faith doth; it setteth us down in heaven, setteth us upon the shore of the other world, thinketh of the glorious condition we shall be in there, and what a glory will be put upon body and soul when we shall sit in heavenly places with Christ. Why? Because, as the Apostle saith, we see Jesus Christ already crowned with glory and honour. Therefore now he that believeth is said to be entered into rest in Hebrews 4:6; Hebrews 4:9; Hebrews 4:11, and yet that rest is to come. Nay, in Hebrews 6:19, we are said to cast anchor within the veil. And in Hebrews 10:21-22, compared with all went before, we do by faith enter into the holy of holiest, and have boldness so to do. Alas! the poor people of Israel stood without, and no man was to look within the veil; but we enter into the veil, and cast anchor there, and may with boldness come there. Why? Because we have a High Priest sitting there. Now because that upon quickening, faith begins to work thus, hence the Apostle therefore mentioneth these two, our rising again, and sitting in heavenly places, after quickening; and makes them as it were a new work upon quickening, because that faith then comes to apprehend them and to have the comfort of them.

I might add now, in the third place, that when a man is thus quickened and turned to God, the state of that man is altered, even in this respect, that he doth now actually sit with Christ in heaven. Before, the threatenings of death to hold him in the grave were, according to that state he stood in good against him, good against him in foro verbi, according to the covenant of the word, which God will judge all men by; but now his state is so altered that all these threatenings cannot come out against him. Why? Because he is so comprehended by Christ as that he sitteth in heaven for him, and he below is in that state as that all the threatenings of hell and the grave have nothing to do with him. They had nothing to do with his person in respect of God’s decree before, but in respect of his state, and in foro verbi, they had.

I shall now give you an observation or two, and so end. The great observation, which I thought to have largely handled, is this:—

Obs. 1.—That in Christ as a common person, and as a pattern of us, we may be said to have done what Jesus Christ did or doth, or what befalleth him; and we are reckoned by God to have done it. My brethren, this is one of the greatest hinges of the gospel. But the second observation that I make is this:—

Obs. 2.—That our salvation is in God’s gift; and in Christ’s personating of us and apprehending of us, it is perfect and complete; though in our persons, as in us, it is wrought by degrees. This you see is clear; for he tells us that the grace and love and mercy of God is such as he hath quickened us with Christ, but for the rest it is done in Christ. Our salvation, my brethren, hath been perfected between God and Christ over and over and over. It was perfected in God’s eternal decrees; he then did bestow all grace and benefits upon us before the world began, and he hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things before the world was. When Jesus Christ was here upon earth, the text tells us, in Hebrews 10:14, that ‘by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.’ When he rose, he perfected our resurrection for ever. When he sat down in heaven, he perfected our sitting down there for ever. When we are converted, when he comprehendeth us anew, then he doth own us as those for whom he did all this, and professeth to represent us, and professeth to send his Spirit down into our hearts to work all that in us for which he hath comprehended us. And upon that Paul’s heart and desires are in a flame after the resurrection of the dead; no less could serve him: for, saith he, Jesus Christ hath comprehended me for that end when he first turned me to him. All this, my brethren, hath been wrought over and over and over; our whole salvation hath been perfected between God and Christ by I know not how many acts, and each do make the whole sure, sure over and over. Here now is all the difference: when it comes to be wrought in our persons, there indeed he goes by degrees, as it is applied unto us. The truth is this, that God the Father, in bestowing blessings upon us at once in election, found Jesus Christ work to purpose. Christ came, and by degrees he did purchase it; fulfilled the law, died, rose again, ascended, sitteth in heaven. By these acts once done doth Jesus Christ find the Holy Ghost work for ever, and the Holy Ghost is a-perfecting for ever of what God the Father intended and gave at once; of what Jesus Christ did, as a common person, both purchase for us and did for us by way of representation. And as man was a-making six days, so we are by degrees a-perfecting for heaven, and what God will do for us there we know not. And take this for thy comfort: hath Christ begun to quicken thy heart with spiritual life? Do as Paul did; set upon attaining the resurrection of the dead, if by any means thou mayest attain that holiness thou shalt have there; for Jesus Christ hath comprehended thee for it, and he sitteth in heaven now, presents himself to his Father as he that rose for thee, to the end the resurrection of the dead may be completed in thee. He presents himself as sitting in heaven in thy stead, thy name is entered into the Lamb’s book, and therefore say with thyself as Paul doth, Though I have not yet attained unto the resurrection of the dead, yet this is my state in Christ, this is that for which I am comprehended of him. My brethren, the truth is this, that all the grace and happiness we shall have is nothing but life; for what is Christ? He is still called life; so John 1:4, and 1 John 1:2. And these three things here are but three several degrees of life—first, your souls are quickened: then your bodies and souls shall live another life, the body shall be raised up a spiritual body; this is done in Christ: and then you shall be taken up into glory and live with God. ‘Your hearts shall live for evermore.’ It is all but the life of Jesus Christ, which doth spring and by degrees rise up in us, and he as our life doth sit in heaven for us, as the Apostle tells us in Colossians 3. A third observation I would make is this:—

Obs. 3.—That God, as he hath perfected our salvation, as you see he hath done over and over, so he would have us for our comfort take a view of that whole that God will do for us, and by faith he would have us to take it that he hath done it, and he hath made sure work for it in our Redeemer Jesus Christ. We should not therefore only look to what is behind, but look to what is before. My brethren, Jesus Christ waits in heaven till all he did for us as a common person be perfected and completed; and in the meantime he comforts himself with this, that we shall be such one day, and he goes over it in his thoughts again and again; and so should we. ‘Reckon yourselves,’ saith the Apostle,—go and take a leap over the state of this world, and ‘reckon yourselves alive in Christ.’ We translate it through Christ, but the truth is, it is in Christ, for he speaks there of Christ’s being raised again and sitting at God’s right hand. Reckon yourselves, saith he, alive in Christ, as he is. And we should do this both to provoke us to attain to this life, for it did provoke Paul, to labour to have as much of your portion here as you could, to get as much of the resurrection as you can. Therefore saith the Apostle, in Php 3:20, ‘Our conversation is in heaven.’ Why? Because Christ hath comprehended us, as sitting in heaven for us, and he hath comprehended us to attain to whatever he hath done for us. That is another consequence Paul makes of Jesus Christ comprehending us. My brethren, when you come to die, reckon yourselves, I am risen with Christ, and this grave must give up my body again; I commit it unto it as to a jailor. I thank my God through Christ, saith Paul, that hath given me victory over the body of death; and he gives the same thanks in 1 Corinthians 15 for the victory over the death of the body. God would have us consider these things, that we might act all as men in heaven. Would a man sitting in heaven do this? ‘If you be risen with Christ,’ saith the Apostle in Colossians 2, ‘why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances?’ Take you as worshippers, saith he, you are not to receive neither the doctrine of faith from men in a worldly way, neither are you to receive the commands or inventions of men in worship; and he urgeth it upon this ground, because they were risen in Christ, therefore, saith he, act accordingly: ‘Seek the things that are above.’ The fourth observation I have out of these words is this in general, for these are but generals:—

Obs. 4.—You see now that we may apply all in Christ, piece by piece, to the like to be done in ourselves. The Apostle here doth apply Jesus Christ’s being raised in his body, and that body raised a spiritual body, to this, that we also shall be raised, and that we are raised in him; the resurrection of Christ to our resurrection, and his sitting down in heaven at God’s right hand to our sitting there, as the cause of it. It is a question now, whether, yea or no, we should reckon the active obedience of Christ as that which standeth in stead of our active obedience; the passive obedience of Christ as that which standeth in stead of what we should have suffered? I answer, yes; even as his sitting in heaven is the cause of our sitting, that part is the cause of this part in a more eminent manner. It is not but that the whole is the cause of the whole: my sins are forgiven by the active obedience of Christ as well as the passive, and the passive obedience of Christ standeth for the fulfilling of the law; yet for my comfort I may apply every piece in Christ to what I would have from him. So the Apostle, you see, doth; for what is in Christ is but the idea, the mere pattern and exemplar of a Christian. The last observation I will make is this:—

Obs. 5.—You see the distinction between in Christ and with Christ. We are said to be quickened with Christ. Why? Because that that work, as it is wrought in Christ once for us, hath now some accomplishment in us; but speaking of the resurrection to come, he doth not say we are raised up with Christ; but raised up in Christ. Do but learn to distinguish, for the want of this makes many men mistake. A man, before he is called, is justified in Christ, but not with Christ; that is, it is not actually applied to the man’s person—his person is not put in joro verbi in the state of justification. Learn, I say, to distinguish between receiving a thing in Christ, and receiving it with Christ. You receive it with Christ when it is actually applied to your person. We now sit together in Christ in heaven; would you desire no other sitting in heaven with Christ than now you have? Certainly you would. As you sit in Christ, so likewise you would sit with Christ. So take a man before such time as he believeth and is converted to God, would he have no other sanctification? Would you have for your child, suppose you believe him to be elect, or had an immediate, infallible warrant so to think, no other sanctification or justification than he hath then? No, you would have him sanctified with Christ, and justified with Christ, which is to have that which he had in Christ applied to him, and he put actually in his own person in the state of it. The want of the consideration of these things causeth a great mistake in this age. You shall find that still the Scripture useth that phrase of those things which we not only have in Christ, but have some actual possessing of them in our own persons. I yield it is attained in Christ as in a common person, but it must be applied to our own persons also; for would any man desire to be no more glorified than he is now? Yet we are perfectly glorified in Christ now, so we were perfectly justified in Christ when lie rose, and perfectly justified from all eternity. Who shall condemn the elect of God? saith the Apostle. Yet these must be applied to our own persons, and our persons must actually be put into this condition. When we come to heaven, then he saith we shall sit with Christ on his throne, Revelation 3, but while we are here on earth, then it is sitting in Christ. The consideration of this distinction would in a word clear the great controversy that is now between the Antinomians, as they call them, and others, about being justified before, conversion; whether a man be justified before conversion or no? Or whether he be not so justified afterward as in some sense he was not before? I say, we are justified in Christ from all eternity, and we are justified with Christ when we believe.