Understanding "In Him" (Ephesians 2:5-6)

UNION

EPHESIANS 2:5-6

"Even when we were dead in sins, 'hath quickened us together with' Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and 'hath raised us up together', and 'made us sit together' in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (KJV).

THREE-FOLD

There are a three-fold "together with" (syn-) compounds. This is built on three Greek verbs, each with the prefix syn- ("with/together"):

(synezōopoiēsen), 4806, 'made alive together',

(synēgeiren), 4891, 'raised up together'

(synekathisen), 4776, 'seated together'.

PAST TENSE

This is a striking grammatical choice — the scripture isn't just saying these things happened to believers, but that they happened to believers in union with Christ, as if his own death, resurrection, and exaltation swept believers along with him. All three verbs are in the Greek aorist tense — a completed past action.

The connection to Christ's own resurrection and ascension.

EPHESIANS 1:19-23

"...what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenlies, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and has put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that fills all in all"

EXPLANATION

The verses in Ephesians 1:19-23 states what has happened, and Ephesians 2:5-6 echos that same series of actions, but states that we were "in" Christ, and that the resurrection; exaltation of authority; and seating of Christ, is what happened to every Believer too. The passage in Ephesians 2:5-6 teaches not merely that believers benefit from what Christ did, but that they are so identified with him that his death becomes their death (to the old life), his resurrection their resurrection (to new life), and his heavenly enthronement their present positional standing.

HEBREWS 7:9-10

"...as I may say, Levi also, who receives tithes, paid tithes in Abraham. For He was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchizedek met him".

MELCHIZEDEK

In a similar fashion to Believers being "in Christ", the scriptures state that when Abraham paid tithes to Melchizedek, Levi — his great-grandson, not yet born — effectively paid tithes too, "for he was yet in the loins of his father when Melchizedek met him." Descendants are present "in" their ancestor, such that what the ancestor does can be reckoned as done by those who will come from him. One person acting in a way that legally or really encompasses those who will descend from or belong to him, and as such, the acts of the ancestor are legally enforceable as being credited to the offspring.

ROMANS 5:12, 17-19

"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned... if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ. Therefore, as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men to justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous"

ADAM

Believers are incorporated into a representative head whose past actions (death, resurrection, exaltation) are reckoned as theirs. Romans 5:12-19 makes this explicit with Adam and Christ as two contrasting heads — what Adam did is imputed to all "in" him, and what Christ did is imputed to all "in" him. 1 Corinthians 15:22 states it most compactly: "as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." Hebrews 7:9-10 and Romans 5:12, 17-19 are both stating the same factual evidence: identity and consequence transmitted through the ancestor to the descendants.

BIBLICAL PATTERN

EPHESIANS 2:5-6 is describing a transformative union — believers don't just get credited with something Christ did, they are made alive, raised, and seated with him in a real sense. HEBREWS 7:9-10 gives an independent biblical warrant that this way of thinking — one person's action or status being reckoned to those "in" him — is not a Pauline invention or a philosophical import, but is native to Hebrew covenantal and genealogical thought, showing up even in a fairly incidental argument about tithing. That strengthens the case that the "in Christ" union language in Ephesians 2:5-6, far from being a novel mystical abstraction, draws on a deep-rooted biblical pattern of corporate representation that runs from Adam through Abraham and Levi and finds its climactic form in Christ as the last Adam and true head of his people.

PRACTICAL

By virtue of the fact that we were "in Christ", in His death, burial, resurrection, and exaltation to the ultimate position of authority, we also share in every aspect of those transformative occurrences, including authority over "...all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and has put all things under His feet...", which means all things are also under our feet, because we are "in Him", practically, historically, positionally, and presently.

You are God's Best and God's Best is Yours