The tension between the ‘already’ and the ‘not yet’ isn’t merely a future hope. It’s a present power, reshaping the believer’s life here and now (Rom 8:23; Eph 2:4-7; Col 3:1-11).
‘The connection between justification and sanctification is Christ himself.’
What Paul Says About It
In Philippians 3:7-10, Paul points out that ‘the power of the resurrection is a transforming power in the life of the believer.’ Summarised: ‘The resurrection of Jesus is a source of new life. There has been a death to sin and now there is a new life to God.’1Thompson and Doyle, ‘Risen and Triumphant,’ 2.
Paul develops the same connection at greater length in Romans 6, where ‘he insists that our newness of life in line with our death to sin is linked to [Jesus’] resurrection following his death for sin (v 4). Indeed, the connection between justification and sanctification is Christ himself: the Christ who died to deal with sin rises to give us new life. It is important for our identity and the shape of the Christian life that Jesus not only died but was raised up (vv 10-11).’2Thompson and Doyle, ‘Risen and Triumphant,’ 5.
Follow the logic there. Justification and sanctification aren’t linked by a rule or a mechanism. They’re linked by a person — the one who died to deal with sin and rose to give life.
Take Good Courage
This same confidence — that the risen Christ supplies the very strength his people lack — has stirred Christian preachers across the centuries:
‘Truth it is that sin is strong, and affections unruly. Hard it is to subdue and resist our nature, so corrupt and leavened with the sour bitterness of the poison which we received by the inheritance of our old father Adam. But yet take good courage, says our Saviour Christ, for I have overcome the world and all other enemies for you. Sin shall have no power over you, for you are now under grace, says St. Paul. Though your power be weak, yet Christ is risen again to strengthen you in your battle; his Holy Spirit shall help your infirmities.’3Homilies, 14, ‘Of the Resurrection,’ 437-38.
Note the honesty before the encouragement. Sin is strong. Our nature is corrupt. The comfort doesn’t depend on pretending otherwise — it depends on someone else’s victory.
What Only He Can Say
This same risen Christ who transforms believers in the present is the one who, in John’s first vision in Revelation, speaks a word of comfort only the conqueror of death could speak:
‘Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one; I died, and behold I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and hades’ (Rev 1:17-18).
Why This Is the Word for Today
David Seccombe draws together the full scope of what this resurrection gospel means for the contemporary world, and why it remains the church’s urgent and most sufficient word to it:
‘The gospel of the resurrected Christ is exactly what modern man needs to hear. It is not a philosophy in the sense of a humanly constructed theory of reality — though it will have enormous implications for people’s thinking. It is not a religion in the sense of a community of rituals and a way of life — though some of these will grow out of it. It is a gospel: a significant announcement about something extraordinary that God has done. … Christ and the resurrection of the dead meet the doubts of the modern world about whether there is a God. It answers the question whether all religions are the same — placing Jesus at the centre of God’s plans for the future world. The resurrection answers the modern uncertainty about life after death. It says no to the dream that somehow death may just be the stripping away of the husk from the indestructible human spirit, but yes to Jesus’ great act of disempowering death and bringing life and immortality to light in the gospel. Resurrection places Jesus’ Kingdom mission in centre place. It forces us to revise our human-centred individualistic notions of salvation, and pay attention to his plan for the eternal future of the whole creation. … [T]he resurrection of Christ was the cutting edge of the gospel in the New Testament, and can be so again today. Nevertheless, we should beware of losing sight of the cross. It is always the resurrection of the crucifiedKing we preach. Moderns may be more reachable through their fear of death than their sense of sin, but they cannot embrace the resurrected Lord without coming to terms with him as the one who died for their sins. Guilt is the root cause of the world’s suffering. Sin is the sting of death. These things must be acknowledged if a person would be saved.’4Seccombe, The Gospel of the Kingdom, 184-86.
That final caution earns its place. Fear of death may be the more accessible door for people today. But you cannot walk through it and skip the room marked sin.