[1.] Christ died before he rose, and usually God killeth us before he maketh us alive. First we find the word a killing letter before we find it a word of life. This is God's method. Paul saith, Rom. vii. 9, ' The coraraandment came, and sin revived, and I died.' A man is broken in heart with an apprehension of sin and God's eternal wrath, before he is made alive by Christ : Gal. ii. 19, ' I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.' He must be himself a dead man. The law must do the law work before the gospel doth the the gospel work ; soEom. viii. 2, ' But the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.' He is under the law of death and sin, as it convinceth of sin and biudeth over to death.
[2.] The same Spirit of holiness, or power of God, that quickened Christ, quickeneth us. It is said, Eom. vi. 4, ' That as Clirist was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so should we be raised to newness of life ; ' that is, by his glorious power : 2 Cor. xiii. 4, ' For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he livetli by the power of God.' What is there said to be done by the power of God is said elsewhere to be done by the Spirit of sanctitication : Rom. i. 4, ' And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.' So are believers quickened by the same Spirit: Rom. viii. 11, 'If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Jesus from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.' Christ will quicken us by his grace, as he did his own dead body. The same quickening Spirit that is in Jesus Christ doth also quicken us.
[3.] Again ; Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more ; as the apostle telleth you : Rom. vi. 9, ' Knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more ; death hath no more dominion over him.' His resurrrection instated him in an eternal life, never more to come under the power of death again. He might have been said to be alive after death if he had performed but one single act of life, or lived only for a while; but he rose to an immortal, endless life, a life co-eternal with tlie Father. So is a christian put into an unchangeable state : sin hath no more dominion over him, — should not, shall not, as the apostle proveth there, applying it to the christian. When Christ telleth he is the resurrection and the life, he asserts two things : John xi. 2.5, 26, ' That he that believetii on him, though he were dead, yet shall he live, and shall never die ! ' Though formerly dead in sin, he shall live the life of grace, and when he liveth it once, shall never die spiritually and eternally ; otherwise how shall we make good Christ's speech ?
Christ, in that he liveth, he liveth with God, and liveth unto God, Rom. vi 10, that is, with God, at his right hand ; and to God, that is, referring all things to his glory ; for, Phil, ii, 10, 11, all that Jesus Christ doth as mediator is to the glory of God the Father. So a christian liveth with God and unto God ; with God, not at his right hand now, but yet in a state of communion with him : 1 John i. 3,
VeR. 15.] SERMONS UPON 2 CORINTHIANS V. 205
'And truly our fellowship is with the Father, and his Son Jf3siis Christ.' And he liveth to God, as in the text — 'Not to^ our- selves, hut to him that died for us, and rose again;' that is, no longer to our own lusts and desires, nor for our own ease, profit and honour, but according to the will and for the service and honour of God ; as more fully hereafter. AVell then, that new state, into which Christ was inaugurated at his resurrection, is a pattern and example of our new spiritual life.
2. How it is a pledge of it. Christ was our common person, and we make one mystical body with him ; and therefore his resurrection and life was not for his own person and single self alone, but for all those that have interest in him. As he died, so he rose again in our name and in our stead, as one that had satisfied the justice of God, and pro- cured all manner of grace for us, and as a conqueror over all our spiritual enemies. And therefore he is called the first-fruits from the dead, 1 Cor. xv. 20 : as a little handful of the first-fruits blessed the whole harvest, and sanctified it unto God ; it blessed not the 'darnel and the cockle, but blessed and sanctified the corn. Christ's quicken- ing after death was a sure pledge that every one who in time belongeth to him shall in his time be quickened also ; first Christ, and then they that are Christ's, every one in their own order. We must not think that when Christ was raised it was no more than if Lazarus or any other single person was raised. Ko ; his resurrection was in our name ; therefore we are said to be raised with Christ, Col. iii. 1 ; and not only so, but quickened together with Christ, Col, ii. 13, and Eph. ii. 4, 5. Though we were quickened a long time after Christ's resurrection, yet then was the pledge of it. It was agreed between God and Christ that his resurrection should be in eftect ours, and in the moment of our regeneration the virtue of it should be communi- cated to us. The right was before faith to all the elect ; but when faith is wrought, the right is applied by virtue of the covenant of redemption. He rose in the name of all the redeemed, and they are counted to rise in him, and we are actually instated in this benefit, when converted to God.