Ephesians 2:6-7 (JDV)

Ephesians 2:6 He also raised us up with him and seated us with him in the sky realms in Christ Jesus,

Ephesians 2:7 so that in the coming ages he might display the immeasurable riches of his favor through his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

raised up and seatedPaul’s language in Ephesians 2:5–6 is deliberately startling. He does not say that believers will be raised and seated with Christ someday—though that is certainly true. He says that God already raised them with Christ and already seated them with Christ in the heavenly realms. The timing is crucial. According to Paul’s grammar, this happened when God raised and exalted Jesus Himself. The verbs συνεγείρω (“raise together with”) and συγκαθίζω (“seat together with”) each contain the idea of “with Him” inside the verb itself. Paul is not adding a separate prepositional phrase; he is describing a single divine action in which Christ’s resurrection and the believer’s new life are inseparably linked.

This means that the decisive moment for the believer’s spiritual position was not the day of personal conversion but the day Christ walked out of the tomb. God’s act toward Christ included, in God’s intention, His act toward all who would belong to Christ. When Jesus was raised, the future resurrection-life of His people was already secured. When Jesus was enthroned, the future destiny of His people was already established. Believers appropriate this reality “by faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead” (Colossians 2:12). Faith does not create the reality; it receives and participates in what God has already done.

Yet Paul is equally clear that this present participation is figurative, not physical. Believers do not yet possess resurrected bodies, nor do they presently sit on heavenly thrones. What they possess now is the status, identity, and power that flow from Christ’s resurrection. They share His life, His victory, and His access to the Father. They are no longer under the dominion of the flesh or the tyranny of the evil one. They live in the overlap of the ages—already raised in spirit, not yet raised in body.

This “pre‑resurrection” shapes the entire Christian life. Because believers have been raised with Christ, they are called to seek the things above (Colossians 3:1). Their conduct, desires, and priorities must align with the new realm to which they already belong. The Christian life becomes a process of learning to live according to this new status—rejecting the patterns of the old world and embracing the life of the risen Christ.

The present resurrection is therefore both a gift and a summons. It assures believers of their future glory and calls them to live now in the power and identity that Christ has already secured.

Lord, when we feel at our lowest, remind us where we are in your sight.