With Christ

As a kid, I went to school with other students. In my various jobs, I have worked with other employees. I went to the Del Mar fair many years with thousands of people from San Diego county. I spent many days at the beach with surfers, swimmers, sunbathers, sand castle builders, and volleyball players. I’ve gone to movies and parties with friends. I’ve bought groceries with other shoppers. I’ve flown with other travelers.

We use the word with in various ways. In the above examples, with could simply mean there were other people in the same place at the same time that I was. People I didn’t know and with whom I didn’t have a relationship. But with can also be used for a closer relationship. When I attend church or travel to Germany with my husband, with designates a familiar, close relationship. We are worshiping together. We are experiencing Germany together. Hand-in-hand togetherness.

The Greek language is similar. There is a general word for with (μετα meta) which means alongside or proximity. The Greek word that is used in Ephesians 2:5-6 is (συν sun-).  “When followed by a γ (g) or κ (k) — [sun] expresses a close connection, a joined activity, shared situation or maintained coalition, and can usually be translated as: with or together with.”[1] Sun communicates intimate relationship, intimate union.

Let’s read verses 1-10 one more time.

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— 6 and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.[2]

Ephesians 2:1-10 (emphasis added)

I have a friend whose emphasis in seminary was Greek. He is my go-to when I have a Greek question. I don’t know how many times he has studied through the book of Ephesians, but he is currently going through it again. This time through, the word sun jumped out at him. He was overwhelmed with the rich meaning behind the word and shared it with me. The more I have thought about it, the more I thought we should spend a little more time meditating on this word and its meaning.

I already know my words will be woefully inadequate, so I pray that the Holy Spirit would overwhelm you with the beautiful truth of sun.

There are three phrases in our above verses where sun is used.

• “made alive together with Christ”

• “raised us up with Christ”

• “seated us with him in the heavenly places”

I know I have read those three phrases like this: Jesus is alive. I’m spiritually alive too. Christ rose from the dead. I’ve been raised from spiritual death to spiritual life, and one day, I will also experience the resurrection of the body as Christ did. Christ is seated at the right hand of God. It is a certainty that I will be seated in the heavenly places as well, maybe several chairs down from Jesus, but we will both be in the heavenly places.

Following that understanding, I am alongside or in proximity to Jesus. We are doing the same things, but there isn’t necessarily a connection or togetherness in them. That is not what Paul is conveying. Apply the meaning of sun to these phrases. In each instance, we are in intimate union with Christ. There is an inextricable togetherness – inseparably intertwined. Our new spiritual life is in inextricable union with Christ. We are raised up in inextricable union with Christ. We are seated in inextricable union with Christ. We are so closely identified with Christ that it is like a mass of two strings in a twisted, knotted mass where you can’t tell where one begins and the other ends, and there is no hope of separating them.

When I consider this intimate union with Christ, my mind is drawn to Romans 8:35, 38-39: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?... For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor power, nor height nor depth,  nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ. Nothing can break the intimate union we have with Christ that Paul details in our verses. Nothing can change our status before God. Nothing can change the future God has determined for us. We are eternally secure in Christ. Nothing can change our identity in Christ. We are in intimate, inextricable union with Christ. None of these truths will ever change because God is faithful to do what He says He will do. He is omnipotent. There is no power that can thwart His purposes. He is sovereign over our union with Christ. God is good and does good. He has blessed us in uniting us with Christ. God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, made us to be intimately, inextricably united with Christ. Not only do we have the precious truths that God made us alive, raised us up, and seated us in the heavenlies, but each of these truths is with – sun, intimately, inextricably united with – Christ.

Reflection

1.    How does being intimately, inextricably united with Christ impact your understanding of these verses?

2.    Take time now to meditate on and thank God for this glorious truth that He made you alive, raised you up, and seated you in the heavenlies in intimate, inextricable union with Christ. Praise Him for the “God is…” truths that are the basis for your union with Christ.

[1] “Συν: Abarim Publications Theological Dictionary (New Testament Greek).” Abarim Publications, Abarim Publications, www.abarim-publications.com/DictionaryG/s/s-u-n.html. Accessed 18 Nov. 2024. 

[2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Eph 2:1–10.