The California Collection/TheCaliforniaCollection.cdr/his091/identity.lzh/IDENTITY.TXT

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INS:IDENTIFICATION with Christ  by Allen Fincher

   (Unless otherwise noted all Scripture is taken from the Holy Bible,
New International Version.)

   By "identification" we mean that God identified us with Christ in
his redemptive work (death, burial, resurrection, etc.). Webster's
Collegiate Dictionary says, to identify means to make identical, to
consider or treat as the same. God considered us to have died with
Christ, to have been buried and raised, etc. This identification of us
with Christ is based on two facts:

   1. Jesus was our substitute, acting in our place, so that we were
credited with what he did. "But God demonstrates his own love for us in
this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).
What he did was set down to our account, since it was done for us (on
our behalf).

   2 Corinthians 5:14--For Christ's love compels us, because we are
convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.

   Amplified ...For the love of Christ controls and urges and impels
us, because we are of the opinion and conviction that [if] One died for
all, then all died.

   A. S. Way ...to this conclusion have we come--One died for the sake
of all: in Him then did all die.

   Conybeare ...if one died for all, then all died in Him.

   Laubach ...We know that Christ died for all of us. So our old self
died with Him....

   2 Corinthians 5:19--that God was reconciling the world to himself in
Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to
us the message of reconciliation.

   Amplified ...It was God [personally present] in Christ, reconciling
and restoring the world to favor with Himself, not counting up and
holding against [men] their trespasses [but cancelling them], and
committing to us the message of reconciliation (of the restoration to
favor).

   Wand ...That ministry is based on the fact that God was in Christ
reconciling the world to Himself, wiping out the debit balance of our
transgressions and setting His reconciliation to the credit of our
account.

   2. Jesus became exactly what we were in spirit, so that God viewed
him as being us. He was treated as though he was us. He was identified
with us; we were identified with him.

   2 Corinthians 5:21--God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so
that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

   Isaiah 53:9--He was assigned a place with the wicked, and with the
rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit
in his mouth.

   Matthew 27:46--About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice,
"Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?"--which means, "My God, my God, why have
you forsaken me?"

   We were dead in sins (Ephesians 2:1, 5). Jesus became sin and died
in spirit, becoming exactly as we were. He was identified with us; we
were identified with him.

   Now, here are the Scriptures, and some confessions to make covering
each stage of this work:

   I Was Crucified With Christ

   Galatians 2:20--I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer
live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by
faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

   Amplified ...I have been crucified with Christ [in Him I have shared
His crucifixion]; it is no longer I who live, but Christ (the Messiah)
lives in me; and the life I now live in the body I live by faith in (by
adherence to and reliance on and [complete] trust in) the Son of God,
Who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

   A. S. Way ...Yes, I have shared Messiah's crucifixion. I am living
indeed, but it is not I that live, it is Messiah whose life is in me....

   Laubach ...Christ took me to the cross with Him, and I died there
with him.

   CONFESSION: I was crucified with Christ. My old self was crucified
with him. Christ took my old self to the cross with him, and I died
there with him. The cross was God's way of doing away with the old
"me." I have been crucified with him, and now it is not I who lives,
but Christ lives in me. My old self was done away with on the cross.
Christ lives in me. I live by faith in the Son of God. I walk by faith,
not by sight. I govern my life by faith in the word of God and who he
says I am and what he says I have in Christ.

   Galatians 6:14--May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I
to the world.

   Amplified ...But far be it from me to glory [in anything or anyone]
except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) through Whom
the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world!

   CONFESSION: I was crucified with Christ. By his cross I have been
crucified to the world, and the world has been crucified to me. I am in
the world, but not of the world. The world holds no delusions and holds
no sway over me. (The cross with its shame and reproach meant absolute
separation from the world--its glamour and deceitfulness.) I have been
crucified to the world with Christ.

   Romans 6:6--For we know that our old self was crucified with him so
that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer
be slaves to sin

   A. S. Way ...This we recognize, that our former self was nailed to
His cross with Him, so that the body which was the instrument of sin
might be made impotent for evil, so that we could not any longer be
slaves of sin.

   20th Century ...For we must recognize the fact that our old self was
crucified with Christ, in order that our body may cease to under the
tyranny of Sin, so that me may no longer be slaves to Sin.

   Amplified ...our old (unrenewed) self was nailed to the cross with
Him in order that [our] body [which is the instrument] of sin might be
made ineffective and inactive for evil....

   CONFESSION: My old self was crucified with Christ. My old being was
crucified with him. My old nature was crucified with him. The old
person I used to be was nailed to the cross with him. I am a new self,
a new being, a new creation. My sinful nature has been wiped out. I am
no longer addicted to sin. My body is no longer the instrument of sin.
My body has been made impotent and inactive for evil. I am no longer a
slave of sin. Sin's tyranny over me has been broken. My old self, by
old being, my old nature was crucified with Christ. I know and
recognize that my old self was crucified with Christ. The old (name)
was crucified with Christ.

   I Died With Christ

   Romans 6:8--Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also
live with him.

   20th Century ...And our belief is, that, as we have shared Christ's
death, we shall also share his life. Conybeare Now if we have shared
the death of Christ, we believe that we shall also share His life.

   Moffatt ...We believe that as we have died with Christ....

   CONFESSION: My old self died with him. I shared in his death. His
death was my death. My old nature died with him. I died with him to the
world, to sin, and to sickness. I now share his life. I died with
Christ.

   Colossians 2:20--Since you died with Christ to the basic principles
of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit
to its rules

   Amplified ...If then you have died with Christ to material ways of
looking at things and have escaped from the world's crude and elemental
notions and teachings of externalism, why do you live as if you still
belong to the world?

   Conybeare ...If, then when you died with Christ, you put away the
childish lessons of outward things....

   Wuest ...In view of the fact that you died with Christ....

   CONFESSION: I have died with Christ. I died with him to the world's
way of looking at things. I have parted company with worldly
principles. I am no longer dominated by the world. I am no longer under
the world's control. I died with Christ. I died with him to the curse
of the law he bore for me. I died to sin, sickness, and poverty.

   Colossians 3:3--For you died, and your life is now hidden with
Christ in God.

   A. S. Way ...You have died to things of earth, and your real life
now has been hidden, by its union with Messiah, in the being of God.

   Amplified ...For [as far as this world is concerned] you have died,
and your [new, real] life is hidden with Christ in God.

   CONFESSION: I have died and my life is now hidden with Christ in
God. I died with Christ to this world and the things of this world. My
desire for this world died with Christ. My real life, my true self, is
hidden with Christ in God. I have entered with Christ into the secret
life of God. My new self is hidden from human sight in union with
Christ, in the being of God.

   Romans 6:10, 11--The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but
the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves
dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

   Amplified ...For by the death He died, He died to sin [ending His
relation to it] once for all; and the life that He lives, He is living
to God [in unbroken fellowship with Him]. Even so consider yourselves
also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to God
[living in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus.

   A. S. Way ...In respect if His death, He passed by dying, once for
all, out of the sphere of sin; but, in respect of His new life, He is
living in relation to God. In the same manner you also are to account
yourselves to be, in relation to sin, dead men; but in relation to God,
living men, whose life is absorbed in the life of the Messiah, Jesus.

   Wuest ...be constantly counting on the fact....

   CONFESSION: I died to everything Christ died to. Just as Christ died
and passed once for all out of the sphere of sin, in the same manner I
account myself to be dead to sin. I have died with Christ and finished
with sin. I consider myself, I count myself, I think of myself, I see
myself as actually dead to the power of sin. Since Jesus died to
sickness as well as sin, and I died with him, I died to sickness also.
I died with him to the dominion of sin, the world, and sickness. I am
alive to God. I have the life of God in me. My life is absorbed in the
life of Jesus. I am fully alive to serve God in union with Christ. I am
alive to righteousness; I am alive to health.

   I Was Buried With Christ

   Romans 6:4--We were therefore buried with him through baptism into
death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through
the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.

   Amplified ...We were buried therefore with Him by the baptism into
death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious
[power] of the Father, so we too might [habitually] live and behave in
newness of life.

   Moffatt ...Our baptism in his death made us share his burial, so
that, as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we
too might live and move in the new sphere of Life.

   CONFESSION: The person I used to be was entombed with Christ. My
diseases and bondages were sealed away in the tomb with him. Just as he
was raised by the Father's glorious power, I, too, walk in possession
of his wonderful new life. That life is in me and controls me. I live
and move in a new sphere--of life. His own resurrection life is in me.
The life that enabled him to conquer hell and Satan is in me. I am free
from all he became and bore for me including sin, sickness, poverty,
and bondage.

   Romans 6:5--If we have been united with him like this in his death,
we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.

   Amplified ...For if we have become one with Him by sharing a death
like His, we shall also be [one with Him in sharing] His resurrection
[by a new life lived for God].

   Williams ...For if we have grown into fellowship with Him by sharing
a death like His, surely we shall share a resurrection life like his.

   CONFESSION: I have become a part of him, having died with him, and
having been buried with him. I now share his new resurrection life,
having also been raised with him.

   Colossians 2:12--having been buried with him in baptism and raised
with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from
the dead.

   CONFESSION: Water baptism represented my identification in his
burial and resurrection. I was buried with him; I was raised with him.
My past was buried with him. My diseases were buried with him. My
failures and bondages were buried with him. I now have new, victorious,
risen life in me. I am a partner in the power and life of his
resurrection.

   I Was Made Alive With Christ

   (He was made alive in spirit before he was raised in body.)

   Colossians 2:13--When you were dead in your sins and in the
uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ.
He forgave us all our sins.

   Amplified ...And you who were dead in trespasses and in the
uncircumcision of your flesh (your sensuality, your sinful carnal
nature), [God] brought to life together with [Christ], having [freely]
forgiven us all our transgressions.

   A. S. Way ...you God thrilled with that same new life of Jesus.

   20th Century ...to you God gave Life in giving Life to Christ!

   CONFESSION: I was made alive with Christ. The Father made us alive
together; he co-quickened us. His resurrection life is now in me. God
thrilled me with the same new life he made Jesus alive with. I share in
the life os Christ. My spirit is full of his life.

   Ephesians 2:4, 5--But because of his great love for us, God, who is
rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in
transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved.

   Amplified ...But God--so rich is He in His mercy! Because of and in
order to satisfy the great and wonderful and intense love with which He
loved us, even when we were dead (slain) by [our own] shortcomings and
trespasses, He made us alive together in fellowship and in union with
Christ; [He gave us the very life of Christ Himself, the same new life
with which He quickened Him, for] it is by grace (His favor and mercy
which you did not deserve) that you are saved (delivered from judgment
and made partakers of Christ's salvation).

   20th Century ...even though we were dead because of our offenses,
gave Life to us in giving Life to the Christ.

   A. S. Way ...Even when in trespasses we lay dead, thrilled us with
the same new life wherewith He quickened our Messiah--by free grace
alone have ye obtained salvation!

   CONFESSION: God gave life to me in giving life to Christ because I
was identified with him. God saw me crucified. God saw me dead. God saw
me buried. He saw me made alive. I was made alive with Christ. That
same new life has now been breathed into me, into my spirit. He gave me
the very life of Christ himself, the same new life with which he
quickened him. The same life that made Jesus the master of hell's dark
forces is in me.

   I Conquered With Him

   Colossians 2:15--And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he
made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross*.
(*Or "them in him")

   Amplified ...[God] disarmed the principalities and powers that were
ranged against us and made a bold display and public example of them,
in triumphing over them in Him and in it [the cross].

   Conybeare ...And He disarmed the Principalities and the Powers
[which fought against Him], and put them to open shame, leading them
captive in the triumph of Christ.

   Wand ...he stripped away like a cast-off garment every demonic Rule
and Authority and made a public exhibition of them....

   Laubach ...And He tore the swords from the hands of all the spirit
rulers and the power in the spirit world.

   KJV ...And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show
of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

   CONFESSION: His victory is my victory, for I was identified with
him. He conquered principalities and powers for me. He triumphed over
them for me. His triumph was my triumph. I share in his victory. Satan
is a defeated foe as far as I am concerned. Christ's conquest was my
conquest. Satan's dominion over me has ended.

   Hebrews 2:14--Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared
in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds
the power of death--that is, the devil.

   Amplified ...Since, therefore, [these His] children share in flesh
and blood [in the physical nature of human beings], He [Himself] in a
similar manner partook of the same [nature], that by [going through]
death He might bring to naught and make of no effect him who had the
power of death--that is, the devil

   A. S. Way ...He did this that He might be able to die, and by His
death might annihilate the power of him who sways the scepter of
death's terrors--that is, the devil.

   Wuest ...He might render inoperative the one having the dominion of
death....

   Centenary ...he might render powerless him....

   Rotherham ...He might paralyze him....

   Moffatt ...he might crush him who wields the power of death....

   Goodspeed ...he might dethrone the lord of death, the devil....

   CONFESSION: Satan has been rendered powerless towards me by Christ's
victory. He has been dethroned, defeated, put to naught, made of no
effect, overthrown, neutralized, paralyzed, crushed, destroyed, and put
out of commission as far as I am concerned. I conquered with Christ.
His victory is my victory because I was made alive and raised with him.

   I Was Raised With Christ

   Colossians 3:1--Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set
your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand
of God.

   Amplified ...If then you have been raised with Christ [to a new
life, thus sharing His resurrection from the dead], aim at and seek the
[rich, eternal treasures] that are above, where Christ is, seated at
the right hand of God.

   20th Century ...Since, therefore, you were raised to Life with the
Christ....

   Wand ...Since then you have risen with Christ....

   Wuest ...In view of the fact, therefore, that you were raised with
Christ....

   CONFESSION: I have been raised with Christ to enjoy the things which
are above where Christ sits at the right hand of the Father. The rich,
eternal treasures of that heavenly sphere are mine to grasp and enjoy.
All the things of God in Christ are mine. I was raised with Christ. I
share in his glorious resurrection.

   I Was Seated With Christ

   Ephesians 2:6--And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with
him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus

   Amplified ...And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit
down together [giving us joint seating with Him] in the heavenly sphere
[by virtue of our being] in Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed
One).

   Kleist & Lilly ...Together with Christ Jesus and in him, he raised
us up and enthroned us in the heavenly realm.

   CONFESSION: I was raised with Christ. The same mighty power that
raised him up victorious over all man's old enemies raised me up, too.
I was seated with him, enthroned with him in the heavenly realm. I
share the authority of his throne. I rule with him over sin, poverty,
sickness, demons, and circumstances. All that is under his feet is
under my feet because I have been seated with him. All principalities,
powers, and demonic forces are under my feet. Sickness and poverty are
under my feet. Satan is under my feet. I have authority to tread on
serpents and scorpions and over all the power that the enemy has.

   Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION.
Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by
permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

   Scripture taken from THE AMPLIFIED NEW TESTAMENT, copyright 1958,
1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

   The copyrights of the other translations have expired.

   Allen Fincher