Discuss Gaffin’s statement: “the locus of Christ’s ascension-power is the suffering church.”

The ultimate promise of Christ’s ascension is that we, as his church, will walk the same path of suffering as he did as we are brought into perfect union with him and his death and resurrection. We can not partake in the beauty and hope of his resurrection without first being married to his death and suffering.

John the Baptist foretold of this suffering to come in John 1: 32-34, when he said, “The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.” This baptism with the Holy Spirit will truly be a propitiatory event as Christ will take upon himself the suffering that we should endure and cover us up with his righteousness uniting us with Christ. If we are united to Christ and are to gain everlasting life it will only come at the expense of this life and the uniting of our lives to his death and suffering.

Paul experienced this suffering throughout his ministry as he was forced to bare many hardships and pain, so that he could also bare witness to the risen Lord, Jesus Christ. He expounds in 2 Corinthians 12: 10, “That is why for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” This strength comes from the sufficiency of God’s grace as seen earlier in 2 Corinthians 12. As we are united to Christ’s sufferings and hardships, his grace, his power, his love are seen through our lives.

Finally, we see that our salvation only comes as our lives are united to Christ and life becomes intertwined with death. In similar passages of Luke 9 and Mark 10 Jesus Christ says, “…and whoever wants to be first must be a slave to all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” In order to gain life, we must die and must suffer. We must always act in contradiction to the old man, the sinful nature that seeks to preserve life and comfort at all cost. Jesus Christ calls us to forsake our comfort, to forsake our lives for a life of service to those around us. We are to take up his cross daily and follow him in suffering, in death, but ultimately in hope and life. For being united to Christ’s death, also means being united to Christ’s resurrection, which is our ultimate hope. Even in our daily suffering for Christ, there is hope that is made perfect in our weakness and fragility. That is how Christ’s ascension-power is realized through the suffering of the church.