2 Tim. 2:11-13; Rom. 5:17-21; 6:12-14, Reigning in Life (1)

In Rom. 8:17 we read, The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.  There is an eternity of “glorification” that awaits us, but only after a life of suffering with Christ.  In our recent posts we talked about living in the “already but not yet” reality of the Christian life.  This verse speaks of this life.

But what do we have in 2 Tim. 2:11-13a?  This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, We shall also live with Him. If we endure, We shall also reign with Him.  Is this another reference to the “already but not yet” life?  Which parts are “already” and which are “not yet?”  I would like to suggest to you that that all four phrases above are “already” for the Christian.  We see the “reign” with Christ and might immediately conclude this is talking about our future reign with Christ in His Kingdom.  Jesus spoke of this in His letters to the churches, that those who overcome would have power over the nations to rule with Him (Rev. 2:26-27) and that He would grant (them) to sit with Me on My throne (Rev. 3:21).  He promised the Twelve that they would judge from twelve thrones (Mt. 19:28).  The future reign is part of the believer’s hope.  But is that what Paul had in mind?

Consider the following from Romans 6.

4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection. … 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.

“Living with Christ” does not require waiting until our future resurrection.  Both “dying” and “living” with Christ are “already” aspects to our life in Christ.

Again, from Romans 5 …

17 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.) … 20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, 21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Here we see that those who have received the abundance of grace (believers in Christ) “reign in life.”  Grace reigns “through righteousness” in the life of the believer.  This sounds like the life we have in the “already” and is not just waiting for the “not yet” time.  Let me share one other passage from Rom. 6:

12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Clearly there is an issue of “reigning” in this life.  If the “poetry” of 2 Tim. 2 is Hebrew, as you would expect from Paul, “dying with Christ > living with Christ” and “enduring > reigning with Christ” go together.  They both speak of the life we have in Christ, called “eternal life,” the life that begins when we receive Christ, a life that we begin to live in the “already.”  This leads us to our study in Mark’s Gospel where Jesus teaches His disciples what it means to reign in this life.