He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions

by Mike Ratliff

9 For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form, 10 and in Him you have been made complete, and He is the head over all rule and authority; 11 and in Him you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; 12 having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. 13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him. (Colossians 2:9-15 NASB)

The mark of one who has been truly made alive together with Christ is not sinless perfection, but rather one who is actually fighting the “good fight” of being a living sacrifice and walking in repentance. That being said, let’s look at two passages in which is found the only New Testament occurrences of the Greek Word συζωοποιέω or suzōopoieō, “to make alive together with another; to make a sharer of the quickening of another.”

The two passages where we find this word in the New Testament are Ephesians 2:5 and Colossians 2:13, which is contained in context at the top of this post.

Here is Colossians 2:13 from the NASB, “When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions,”

Here is Colossians 2:13 from the NA28 text, “καὶ ὑμᾶς νεκροὺς ὄντας [ἐν] τοῖς παραπτώμασιν καὶ τῇ ἀκροβυστίᾳ τῆς σαρκὸς ὑμῶν, συνεζωοποίησεν ὑμᾶς σὺν αὐτῷ, χαρισάμενος ἡμῖν πάντα τὰ παραπτώματα.”

Here is my personal translation of v13, “And you being dead in trespasses and the uncicumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses;”

Paul made sure in the structure of this passage to make it clear that we understood that all who are in Christ were once spiritually dead because of the uncirucmcison of their flesh, but because He has forgiven those in Christ, they have been made alive together with Him. One commentator says it like this when referring to being dead in trespasses, “These are unbelievers who are bound in the sphere of sin, the world (Eph 2:12), the flesh (Rom. 8:8), and the devil (1 John 5:19) so they are unable to respond to spiritual stimuli, totally devoid of spiritual life.” This same commentator then says, when referring to God making these saved people alive together with Him, “Only through union with Jesus Christ (vv. 10-12) can those hopelessly dead in their sins receive eternal life. Note that God takes the initiative and exerts the life-giving power to awaken and unite sinners with His Son; the spiritually dead have no ability to make themselves alive (cf. Rom. 4:17; 2 Cor. 1:9).”

Notice also that before this “quickening together with Christ” happens that all believers are first forgiven all their trespasses (Colossians 1:14). God’s free (Romans 3:24) and complete (Romans 5:20); Ephesians 1:7) forgiveness of guilty sinners who put their faith in Jesus Christ is the most important reality in sacred Scripture (cf. Psalm 32:1;  Psalm 130:3, 4; Isaiah 1:18; Isaiah 55:7; Micah 7:18; Matthew 26:28; Acts 10”43; Acts 13:38; Titus 3:4-7; Hebrews 8:12).

1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, 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 ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as 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 so that we would walk in them. (Ephesians 2:1-10 NASB)

Above is the passage where we find the second occurrence of the Greek Word συζωοποιέω in v5.

Here is Ephesians 2:5 from the NASB, “even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ ( by grace you have been saved),”

Here is Ephesians 2:5 from the NA28 text, “καὶ ὄντας ἡμᾶς νεκροὺς τοῖς παραπτώμασιν συνεζωοποίησεν τῷ Χριστῷ, – χάριτί ἐστε σεσῳσμένοι –”

Here is my personal translation, “Even when we were dead in the trespasses, He made us alive with Christ, – by grace you have been saved –“

Once again, it is important to look at this in the context of the passage. Paul is actually emphasizing what he stated in v1 that all in Christ were once dead in trespasses and sins in which they once walked. Notice that this is the condition of everyone in the world, but God being rich in mercy, because of the great love which he loved us… then he goes into v5. Who is loved? It is those who were just as dead in their sin as the rest of the world, but those whom he has made alive together with Christ are the ones who have been saved by Grace and they are now alive together with their Saviour.  In vv8,9 we have it made very clear that this salvation was not of our own doing, but was a gift from God and was all His doing.

Those who are quickened together with Christ are those chosen by God. Yes, many are called because the Gospel goes out to all the world, but few are chosen and these few are the ones we read of here whom God loves and makes alive in Christ. They are not immediately taken home to be with their Saviour, but are left here for their sanctification, to obey Him in learning to put sin to death in their members to deny themselves, take up their crosses and follow their Saviour. Through this they become usable servants in this life to draw others to hear the Gospel and some of those who hear will also be chosen, will believe and will do likewise.

On the other hand, there are multitudes of what I call “religious christians.” We have talked about this in our discussions about the Invisible Church and the visible church. There are many who profess to be Christians who are only religious or who once were, but who were never quickened together with Christ. They are still in their sins. They are still controlled by their flesh and we see that all around us in an increasingly worldly visible church. When I deal with professing Christians who use the methods of the world, full of bitterness and vengeful anger in their attempts to either silence this ministry or get it to change course or whatever with absolutely no trace of the graciousness of Christ in any of it then it can be quite discouraging. That is, until I get my eyes back on my Saviour and know that He is on His throne and God is Sovereign and as long as I obey Him then those people can make all the noise they want for that is all it is.

Soli Deo Gloria!