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"Skin for skin," said Satan, "all that a man hath will he give for his life." He was wrong, however, as the event proved. There is one thing a man will not give for his life if he has got it; and that is, the favour of God. And vet let us do justice to the maxim, for there is great truth in it: What is life? "In Thy favour is life"; so that if a man holds this favour at all costs — if he will be content to part with anything and everything in the universe before he will part with God's favour, it is but carrying out Satan's maxim thoroughly. My text develops to us the great secret of life.

I. "IF WE BE DEAD WITH CHRIST." It does not say, if we are dead in Christ; but dead with Christ. It is not a case of conformity, but of identity; not of imitation, but of participation. But the question is, In what sense did Christ die, or to what purpose? "He died unto sin." Now, when you say that we die unto sin, and that Christ died unto sin, do you mean the same thing? In the common way of expression, when a man says that a Christian dies unto sin, he means that he dies unto its influence. Now, sin never had any influence over Christ, and therefore how could He die unto sin in that sense? What did Christ die unto?

1. He died under the condemnation of sin. "The Lord laid upon Him the iniquity of us all." He died "under the law," met its demands, bore its penalty; then what followed? The condemnation was completely averted. But if that is true you must adopt that interpretation exclusively in regard to ourselves, i.e., we die unto the condemnation of sin. "Therefore there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ." That is a blessed truth; and does not the whole history of Christian experience depend upon the recognition of it? All the experience of sorrow and suffering, of bondage and of a servile spirit, result from not entering into that truth. You cannot have a stronger term than the word death.

2. Prior to Christ's dying to sin He died under the condemnation of sin. The law did its full work upon Him; He was never emancipated from its condemnation until He thoroughly realised it. The believer experimentally passes through something of that kind before he dies with Christ to the condemnation of sin. Who ever comes to Christ to escape condemnation, but the man over whom that condemnation is pressing? Here is the great distinction between real and nominal conversion. One man has gone through a process of self-condemnation, and the other has not. The one man apprehends the value of salvation; the other does not. The one man has learnt the curse of sin; the other has not. Death is the necessary consequence of sin. If I sin, it must somehow or other pass on me. I must die, or I must be connected with One who has died. In some way or other God's righteous sentence must be executed.

II. "WE SHALL ALSO LIVE WITH HIM." As sure as life followed in Christ's case, so surely will it follow in our case. The life spoken of in the text is the resurrection life; it is the life that follows death. Mark, concerning that life, that it is —

1. An endless life. He died unto sin once. Death hath no more dominion over Him: He dieth no more. Then there is no more death to you. We have done with death if we are believers. "If a man believe on Me, he hath eternal life, and he shall never die." "He is passed from death unto life." You may say, "There go the mourners in the street, and the man of God is in the hearse." No, he is not. Death was a laying aside of the body of sin and death, that life might be emancipated. Life is locked up here. To open the door, and let the man free, is that death?

2. A life unto God. But did not Christ "live unto God before He died"? Certainly; but He lived under the law, and died under it. It was a kind of bondage that He was under. Hence He says, "I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!" From the moment of His death, what followed? Complete emancipation; the law was no longer over Him; the curse was no longer on Him. Now, till we die with Christ, we are under the law, cursed by the law; the spirit of bondage is in our hearts. Our consciences must be "purged from dead works to serve the living God." It is only when a man is emancipated, and knows it, that he leads a life of liberty; it is then he feels, "Condemnation is gone; God is my Father; we are reconciled"; and then he runs in the way of God's commandments.

3. A life in heaven. At His ascension Christ went to heaven; and there He is at the right hand of God. And so we are risen with Christ; we are seated with Christ in heavenly places; our conversation is in heaven. The way is laid open — that new and living way through the body of Christ. So that we do not wait for the final glory to know something of the blessedness of heavenly experience.

4. The life of an acknowledged Son of God with power. It is true that during Christ's ministry a voice from heaven said before the disciples, "This is My beloved Son"; but there was no declaration of that with power. Christ walked about as "a Man of sorrows." At the resurrection there was indeed a proclamation of the Son with power. And how is it in our case? "To as many as receive Him" to them does He "give power to become the sons of God." The power of Christ becomes theirs. "We can do all things by the power of Christ, which dwelleth in us." "When I am weak then am I strong." "My strength is perfect in weakness."

5. A life which involved the full reception of the Holy Ghost. Christ never had that to dispose of till "He ascended up on high." Now, from the moment we are dead with Christ we receive, and are temples of, the Holy Ghost.

6. A life of glorious anticipation. His experience is not perfect; He is still waiting. Christ has not got His Church; and do we wait for our body? When we die, as it is called, we are separated from the body, and we wait to be united to it. Is not that like the intermediate state of Christ, who is waiting above for His body?

(Capel Motineux, B. A.)

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KJV: Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:

WEB: But if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him;