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Reckoning and Reality
(A sequel to the series entitled "Emmanuel, God with us")
No.8.
The Fifth Reckoning, "Raised with Christ".
pp. 10 - 13
These mortal bodies have received a "quickening". We live a life now in the flesh, by
the faith of the Son of God. This does not confer upon us here and now the gift of
immortality; that awaits the glorious day of resurrection, but it is the first of these
"reckonings" that partakes of some measure of reality. We now proceed. Following the
words of Eph. 2: 5 which formed the theme of the preceding article, come the words
that must occupy our attention during the present, "and hath raised us up together"
(Eph. 2: 6). Before we can attempt any exposition or application of this passage, one
most serious consequence of the indiscriminate use of the English translation must be
exposed and rectified.
Some time ago an article appeared which informed the reader that the Greek word for
resurrection was anastasis, a word derived from anistemi, and then went on to expound
the wonder of being "raised with Christ", instructing the reader that the preposition
translated "with" is sun. It was only logical that the reader would assume that, just as
there was the compound exanastasis "out-resurrection", so sun was found in combination
with either anastasis or anistemi "proving" by the association of the "out-resurrection"
with the doctrine of being "raised together with Christ", that such took place immediately
at death, because as the writer put it, "the believer had been ALREADY RAISED with
Christ", and so could not but be with Him, even now, in resurrection life.
The answer to his high-sounding yet false doctrine is that it is built upon a foundation
of sand. There is not one single occurrence of the words sunanastasis, or sunanistemi in
the N.T. Yet the reader may glance back to our quotation from Eph. 2: 6, and read
again the words "raised together with Christ", and wonder whether we have introduced a
contradiction into our studies. To supply the answer and to provide positive truth, we
shall be obliged to defer our examination of Eph. 2: 6, until we are in possession of
some essential facts.
Let us first of all quote one or two passages which use the words "raise" or "risen with".
"Buried with Him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with Him through the faith of
the operation of God, Who hath raised Him out from dead ones" (Col. 2: 12).
"If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ
sitteth on the right hand of God" (Col. 3: 1).
"And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus" (Eph. 2: 6).
In neither of these passages does the word anistemi or anastasis occur, even though
anistemi is translated elsewhere "to raise up" (John 6: 40; Acts 2: 24); and anastasis IS
translated elsewhere "resurrection" (John 5: 29; Acts 2: 31). The preposition sun