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Quickened Together With Christ

An awesome truth which the apostle Paul presents to us is in the second chapter of his epistle to the Ephesians. In Ephesians 2:1 Paul wrote, "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins."However, the words "hath he quickened" do not appear in the original letter which Paul wrote to the Ephesians. He did, however, write that in the fifth verse, where we read, "Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ." Plainly, then, what Paul meant in verse one is that we who were dead in trespasses were quickened, made spiritually alive.

There is so much false doctrine today that denies this truth that we all come into this world dead in trespasses and sin. Much preaching presents us as weak and helpless, but not dead spiritually. It is claimed that we can accept Christ when God offers Him to us. With this error we deny what God wrote through Paul. It denies what God said to Adam, namely, that the day he sinned, he would die, not merely get weak and sick. Adam did die spiritually that day. Physical death began to come over him; but he died spiritually and had no spiritual life left to give to us. Note that in verse 5 Paul includes himself. He says WE were dead in sins ¾ not dead in our fleshly bodies, but dead in sin.

If you are now spiritually alive with Christ, you are going to say what God says. You are going to say that God had to make you spiritually alive before you could even want salvation. Yes, by nature we want to escape the punishment of hell. Satan wants that too, but he is spiritually dead. If we desire to be saved from sin, which Satan does not want us to be, and if we find the beginning of love toward God in us, then we have been raised from our spiritual death. Then God has quickened us, that is, made us spiritually alive.

Then we have been quickened with Christ, made alive to be spiritually like Him in hating sin and loving God. 
Read: Ephesians 1:1-10 .


Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
II Kings 18:13-37 
II Kings 19:1-37 
Acts 21:1-17 
Psalm 149:1-9 
Proverbs 18:8 
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Quote for Reflection:
John Gill on Psalm 87:4-6: "... many persons in those several countries, [will] be born again of water and of the Spirit, of the corruptible seed of grace, by the ministry of the word; who because they should be regenerated ... in Zion, therefore are said to be born there; and besides, being born again, they are admitted members of Zion, and to all the privileges of Zion, as true-born Israelites; and are brought up there, are nourished with the sincere milk of the word, and nursed with the breasts of Gospel ordinances there administered; and so Zion, or Jerusalem the Gospel church, is truly the mother of them all, Gal. 4:26."