Do you see how often death is mentioned in this chapter? We died with Christ, we were also buried with Him. We are never said to have been born with Christ nor baptised with Him. We born of the Spirit, and we are baptised by Christ and in His name (along with the name of the Father and Holy Spirit). And we are of course raised with Him. We are seated with Him now in the heavenly realms, and we will reign with Him in glory. Jesus came into the world to rescue us. He lived a life that we could not live. Having lived that life He died for us, and we share in that death and all the benefits that it bestowed upon us.
Why does Paul mention burial? It emphasises the reality of Christ’s death. It is always terrible to lose someone, but it is even worse if you just hear of their death but there is no body. Being able to bury the person somehow makes us more able to accept the death, somehow makes it more real.
But Christ did not stay in the tomb, He was raised and we were raised with Him. The aorist tense is used of both buried and raised, stressing the decisiveness of both actions.
Christ was raised “through the glory of the Father”. Elsewhere I have said that part of the meaning of glory is splendour, moral excellence, and significance (it is only part of the meaning, for it will take us eternity to fully grasp the glory of God). This meaning can be applied here. It was certainly a demonstration of the splendour of the Father. Death could not hold His Son. Death was defeated. It is also a demonstration of the moral excellence of God, and the righteousness of God. In 1 John 1:10 it says that if we confess our sins God is just and forgives us. Our sins have been fully paid for, there is no price left to pay. God’s forgiveness to those who believe is an act of justice. It is of course an act of unlimited grace and kindness, that the perfect Son should die for the evil sinners that we were. In every respect the raising of Christ was an act of moral excellence. It is also an act of unlimited significance. It has changed the history of the universe, and it changes the destiny of you and me.
And the goal of the cross and resurrection is that we may live a new life. It is most definitely not that we may continue to live our old life but get away with the penalty of our sin. “Live a new life” is better translated “walk in newness of life”. When we come to Christ our lives are set on a completely new direction.
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