Do you live with an alter ego — another self? When you are “not yourself” — who are you? Do you know what it is to be dead to the world (and I don’t mean asleep)? Christians are “dead to the world” in the sense that they are unresponsive to what it offers.
Paul the apostle writes of our past sinful conduct and of God’s mercy toward us. “God has made us alive together with Christ, and has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” The secret to a glorified life is not just a crucified one but a dead and buried one.
Paul’s figurative expressions follow in the same order as Christ’s literal experiences. We were “crucified with Christ” and “buried with him in baptism” and were made alive “together with” Christ”, and raised up “together with” him and made to sit “together with” him in heavenly places. These “together” expressions identify us with his suffering, death, resurrection and glorification. Paul uses figurative terms to describe a series of real experiences.
We are “in Christ” in a positional sense, because he represents us in heaven. Our heavenly Father sees us in the person of His Son. We do not need to be there with Jesus physically because we are there in the person of Jesus spiritually!
Our heavenly standing is untouchable, because Jesus experienced death, burial and resurrection for us 2000 years ago – when our family tree was likely not even planted! Believers in Jesus were justified when our Saviour shed his blood for us on the Cross.
Sanctification — being set apart and made holy — is different, in that it takes place daily as we allow the Holy Spirit to make us more like our Lord. Our heavenly standing was established the moment we trusted in the finished work of Jesus on the Cross, but our earthly state needs the Holy Spirit to change us until our earthly state matches our heavenly standing.