12 - Living with Each Other | Uniting Heaven and Earth

In Christ, we have been raised with him and are called to live this new life together – not only with God, but also in our relationships with spouses, children, parents, and fellow believers.

Originally, God created humanity to serve as a channel of his love on earth and to pass this love on to all of creation. Through self-deception, this connection was lost. God created the solution in Jesus Christ, the second Adam. Through his death, the old life died. Through his resurrection, the new life came into being. Whoever dies with Christ through faith and rises with him receives a new identity. The Holy Spirit imparts this life and writes the new reality into our hearts.

In the new life, we regain something crucial: a free “no.” In error and in our attachment to people, we lose the ability to say a genuine “no.” We become dependent, controlled, and can no longer act out of love, but only out of compulsion or fear. The love in the new life, on the other hand, gives us 100% freedom and 100% responsibility at the same time. It fully respects the other person and enables a voluntary “yes” or “no” from the heart.

In Colossians 3:18–25, Paul specifically shows what this new life together looks like. This includes “submission” to one’s spouse, parents, the church, and even the state (Romans 13). Submission, however, does not mean blind obedience. It is not submission to control or human power, but a voluntary attitude born of love and respect. True submission respects the freedom of others and comes from the heart “as unto the Lord” (Colossians 3:23). Blind obedience springs from the old nature and leads to bondage.

Many of us suffer in relationships because we still exercise control or blindly submit out of the old nature. The liberating truth is this: our life is hidden with Christ in God. When we live together out of this new life, heaven and earth are united in our relationships. And from this spring forth genuine love, freedom, and mutual appreciation. We will explore what this means in depth in the twelfth part of the series “Uniting Heaven and Earth.”