Have become united with (4854) (sumphutos from sun/syn [word study] = together speaks of intimate union + phúo = grow up, spring up, of men, to beget = engender or generate, to produce, to bring forth, to put forth shoots) means growing up or spring up together. It was a word commonly used for the joining of two tings that proceed to grow together as a unity, as in the fusing together of a broken bone or in the grafting of a branch into a tree. Indeed, Paul may have the process of grafting in mind for young branches were grafted on the tree to be nourished by the main stock. The practical point is that believers now actually share in the life of Christ, just as a limb grafted into a tree shares the life of the tree. The life of Christ is our life now, beloved. When we are "united with" Christ, His resurrected life flows into us and we continue to grow with Him into spiritual maturity (in the process known as sanctification or "Present Tense Salvation"). Charles Hodge notes that in regard to the meaning of sumphutos Calvin and many others translate the Greek here as “inserted,” “engrafted,” as though it were derived from the word “to plant.” It is, however, from the Greek “to bear” and “to grow.” Hence the word here sometimes means “born with,” in the sense of “innate”; sometimes it expresses unity of origin or nature, in the sense of “cognate,” “congenial”; and sometimes it is used to refer to things born or produced at the same time. There is always the idea of close union, and that is the idea here." (Bolding added) (Romans Commentary - Online) With (4862) (sun/syn [word study]) As discussed below the preposition sun speaks of intimacy in contrast to meta which speaks of nearness without the idea of intimacy. An excellent illustration of this difference is the two thieves on the Cross. The believing thief was crucified (physically but more importantly spiritually) with (sun) Christ (see word study on crucified with = sustauroo) while the other thief was crucified (physically next to) with Christ. The first thief experienced intimate union with Christ, while the second experienced only close proximity to Christ, the result of which was eternal separation from Christ. Wayne Barber has an excellent illustration to help understand the difference between the two prepositions for "with", (3326) meta versus (4862) sun...(click here also for a discussion and list of the multiple "sun" words in Ephesians) "One Greek word for "with" is meta. We are with one another (Ed note: he is speaking this to his congregation, those who are "with" him to listen). The Lord Jesus was with them when He was on this earth. He was alongside them, in a room together with. That’s the word meta. Another word for "together with" is the little word sun, which means not only are we together with one another, but we are so mixed in that nobody can tell the difference one from the other. We can’t get apart from each other. Let me give you the illustration... making biscuits. Let’s just say you take all the ingredients and put them out on a piece of waxed paper. You put the flour down and the shortening or whatever else goes in them. You put it all on the piece of paper. Now all of those ingredients can be separated, but at the same time they are with each other—meta. Okay? But take all of those ingredients and mix them together. Just stir them all together. Cut them out and put them on a pan. Let’s put them in the oven, and let’s bake them. After they have baked for a while they come out as luscious biscuits. Once they are baked, that’s that little word sun. No scientist has ever been able to separate those ingredients out again. "You mean to tell me that I’ve been united so much into His death that now I am united in His resurrection? When He raised from the dead, that’s when the newness of life started for me?" Absolutely. Now let me ask you again. Can a believer, one who has put his faith into Jesus Christ, go back and live as if he is still in Adam? You make up your own mind! No wonder John says you can’t habitually sin and call yourself a Christian! You are dead to that lifestyle! You have been united. The word has the idea of planted together with. It’s like taking a branch and grafting it into a tree. The life of the tree now floods into the branch. Jesus used that same picture in John 15. He said, "I am the vine; you are the branches. And because you abide in Me, you will bear much fruit. It’s not you doing it, it’s Me in you doing it!" This is the resurrected life that we are now intertwined into. There is nothing that can separate us from that! When you were in Adam, sin caused you to do what you were doing. You couldn’t get away from it. But now that you have put your faith into Christ, you have been taken out of Adam and put into Christ and you are so united with Him that His Spirit lives in you. The "Divine Referee of God" has changed you from within. That’s regeneration. "You mean I sinned before because I was a sinner, so now if I sin it is only because of choice. Is that right?" You are exactly right! When you find a Christian saying, "Hey, I can’t stop sinning," you have a Christian who is really saying, "No, I won’t!" You have the life of Jesus in you now! You can’t go back and live like you want to live. There is no way you can do that! You bring total blasphemy to everything Jesus Christ did for you. You shame what salvation is all about. You are a new person in Christ. You’re saved "out of sin" and "into Him." Why do I still sin? Paul is going to tell you that the lust of our flesh is entrenched in this physical body that we still live in. This lust still pulls us away from what our spirit is trying to get us to do. But we are no longer in Adam. That means that I am responsible for choices of sin. You see, when I come to Christ... I confess my sins to give evidence that I am a sinner. I’m saved from sin—the sin of Adam that I was tagged with and which made me do what I did! Now God has changed me. ("newness of life") Now I have to deal with sins... As a believer, we must remember that we don’t sweep sin under the rug. We must put it under the blood. John tells us how to deal with it. There is only one way to deal with it. Confess it with a willingness to turn away from it in the power of His life that now lives resident within us. We can live in the victory that God gives to us." (Barber, W: The New Life in Jesus) The root (no pun intended) verb phuo means to grow and the compound word, sumphutos, means to grow up together with and pictures the believer in living, vital union, growing up together with Christ. When we placed our faith in Christ, God placed us into Christ on the Cross, to share His death, burial and resurrection. One commentator paraphrased this section as "fused into one"—almost as if we were speaking of Siamese twins who share the same vital organs. How close are you to Jesus? Beloved, if you know Him, His life is your life, His strength is your strength, His mind is your mind, His power is your power. Barnes comments that sumphutos... "...properly means sown or planted at the same time; what sprouts or springs up together; and is applied to plants and trees that are planted at the same time, and that sprout and grow together. Thus, the name would be given to a field of grain that was sown at the same time, and where the grain sprung up and grew simultaneously. Hence, it means intimately connected, or joined together. And here it denotes that Christians and the Saviour have been united intimately in regard to death; as he died and was laid in the grave, so have they by profession died to sin. And it is therefore natural to expect, that, like grain sown at the same time, they should grow up in a similar manner, and resemble each other." (Barnes, A: Notes on the NT) The truth of this passage gives the reader even more insight regarding the believer's union and communion with Christ in Jesus' declaration "I am the vine, you are the branches (genuine believers); he who abides (remains or stays around = keep in fellowship with Christ so that His life can work in and through us to produce fruit) in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing (the Greek means absolutely nothing!)." (Jn 15:5). A vine branch has one great purpose—to bear fruit. It is useless for making furniture or for building homes. It does not even make good firewood. But it is good for fruit bearing—as long as it abides in the Vine. As Warren Wiersbe puts it "Our union with Christ is a living union, so we may bear fruit; a loving union, so that we may enjoy Him; and a lasting union, so that we need not be afraid." (Wiersbe, W: Bible Exposition Commentary. 1989. Victor) John Gill has some insightful comments on what "we have been planted together" entails writing that... "when they are transplanted from a state of nature, and are ingrafted into Christ; have the graces of the Spirit of God implanted in them, and grow up under the dews of grace, and shinings of the sun of righteousness upon them, and bring forth much fruit; now as these persons, by virtue of their secret union with Christ from eternity, as their head and representative, with whom they were crucified, in whom they died representatively, share in his death, enjoy the benefits of it, and feel its efficacy, and through it become dead to the law, sin, and the world" (John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible, 1690-1771) "Copy and paste the address below into your web browser in order to go to the original page which will allow you to access live links related to the material on this page - these links include Scriptures (which can be read in context), Scripture pop-ups on mouse over, and a variety of related resources such as Bible dictionary articles, commentaries, sermon notes and theological journal articles related to the topic under discussion." http://www.preceptaustin.org/romans_64-7.htm#u