Articles

The Whole Portion

‘We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.’
—Romans 6:4

What is newness of life?

We can turn to the Acts, where the entire book could be summarized into that exact phrase: newness of life in the resurrected Christ.

What is this newness of life? Recall when Peter and John were walking by the Temple gate, and they met a beggar who was lame from birthday: God healed him, and he immediately began to walk. Acts 3:16 quotes Peter, saying:

‘The faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.’

This term, ‘perfect health,’ is one word in the Greek, the language in which the New Testament was originally written. The word is holo-klaria. A compound word of holo, meaning ‘whole’, and klaria, meaning ‘what is assigned by portion.’

Put the two together now: ‘what is assigned by portion’ and ‘the whole’.  In other words, you get ‘the whole portion.’

Jesus has given this man ‘the whole portion’ of what was assigned to him in the beginning—life! He’s getting everything God intended life to be when he breathed his own massive, beautiful life into the nostrils of man. This messed up man is not just getting back the use of his legs, he’s getting the whole portion, through the name of Jesus.

This man is getting fullness of life, resurrection life: what the risen Jesus has. He’s getting everything God intended life to be when he created it.

Do you have this life? Do you have the wholeness of the life of the resurrected Jesus? Are you newly, truly, wholly alive?

The answer is yes, Christian! You have it. The whole portion.

If you have put your trust in the name of Jesus, then you are no longer the messed up person you were, but you are wholly alive. The old you is wiped out, and the new you is refreshed. You have newness of life.

But here’s the problem…you don’t know it! You’ve got a seat in the heavenly places, and you don’t know it.

How often do we act as though our life still depended on ourselves?  We worry that we’ll never get what we really want. We get discouraged when events don’t line up like we planned them to. We fear that we’ll lose what we have.

Stop living in ignorance of the life you have, that can never be taken from you!

Trust in Jesus for your life. He’s there. He’s always there. He will never not be there. He reaches out to you with his nail-pierced hand.He wants you to see his love and know your newness of life in the resurrected Christ.