J. I. Packer wrote, "Thus knowledge of Christ's death for us as our sin-bearing substitute requires us to see ourselves as dead, risen, and alive forevermore in him. We who have died, painlessly and invisibly, we might say, in solidarity with him because he died, painfully and publicly in substitution for us."
The apostle Paul testified, I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:20). Believers are crucified with Christ, by faith in the Son of God.
Christ is every believer's substitute, through his death, burial and resurrection (Romans 6:3-4). He died in our place and for our sins. He took our judgment at the cross. We are risen with him to new life through the Holy Spirit.
Paul understood that Christ is every believer's substitute in his death and resurrection. Believers trust Christ as our substitute. He was crucified in our place. He is risen from the dead as our justification. So it is with all true believers. We died in Christ as our substitute. We are risen in Christ as our living Lord.
As we were born unto sin in Adam, so we are born again to new life in Christ. Therefore, we have become a new creation in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). As true believers, we died to our old life. We died in Christ as our substitute.
