Eph. 2:6 "seated with Christ"

[moselle]

This is from a blog I read today:

"Can we lift God up too high in our minds and hearts? My answer is “kind of.” Let me explain. Technically, we are seated with Christ in heavenly places, so by lifting God up higher, we, in effect, are lifting ourselves up as well. And what feels great about lifting Him up in worship from this position is that we can sense ourselves soaring above our problems.

But what I sense is this: without realizing it, we tend to see God way up high and ourselves way down low. He becomes unreachable. Sometimes when we lift God up “high” in worship, it can be easy to become somewhat disconnected from God. He becomes way too “holy” and supreme (which He is, of course), but we view ourselves as lowly; we are way too sinful and unworthy to interact with Him, forgetting that we are clean and holy through Christ.

Without realizing it, we put God up out of reach, separating ourselves from Him in our minds and hearts, when in reality, He wants to be intimate with us. God wants to be “face to face” with us, like He was with Moses (Exodus 33:11); He wants to be our friend, like He was with Abraham (2 Chron. 20:7).

We need to remember that His goal is always relationship. We were created for love. When we lose sight of this, we lose sight of Him. So please, don’t lift God up too “high”!"


Besides the obvious issue with the infinite holiness of God, what does it mean in Eph. 2:6 "...and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus..."?

 

[py3ak]

Well, at the very least it implies that our union with Chris is real, not merely potential or future, and consequently involves that what is true of Christ is true in its appropriate measure of His members.

 

[Andres]

sounds like that was from a Rick Warren writing. It actually had scripture references so it couldn't be Osteen.

 

[Reforming]

We are one in the invisible Church; saints both dead and alive currently bowing to the King.

 

[Romans 9:16]

Because Christ is raised up and seated at the Father’s right hand (1:20), by our union with him we too can be said to be there also (2:6). This shows the very real union we have with Christ. Much of what is true of the head can be attributed to the body as a whole. This is true even though it is not (yet) literally true of us. I illustrated it this way when I recently preached upon Eph 2: If a man is drowning and suddenly his head pops up out of the water we say that he has surfaced. Even though its just the head, we speak of the whole man surfacing. In like fashion, though the body (that is, those members of it still living on earth) is not yet literally seated in the heavens, because our head is (Christ), this status can be attributed to the whole. This also grounds our hope in eschatology. What is true now for Christ, the first-fruits, will be true of the whole future resurrected and glorified bride. Moreover, even now the benefits of the right hand of God “drop down” to the body on earth (through the gifts, graces, and ministries of the Spirit that Christ appoints and dispenses. This is what the latter portion of Ephesians addresses).

 

[moselle]

Ok - that makes sense. So this doesn't really apply to "raising Christ up" in worship and ourselves right up along with Him?


I'm thinking that the more we understand the greatness and holiness of God (even with our limitations), the more we understand our need for Christ, our Mediator. And love Him all the more for His supreme love and mercy to the sinful and unworthy.