CWS: #761 - "Christ is With Me"

“Christ is With Me,” is a relatively new hymn. The text was written by Gerald Patrick Coleman, copyrighted by Concordia Publishing House in 1992.  It is very much a paraphrase of a few passages in Holy Scripture in a free verse style, in which the lines do not rhyme. Coleman also wrote the tune for this text, a tune called CHRIST IS WITH ME.

1  We were buried with him into death,

That as he was raised by God’s glory,

We might walk in life made new by grace.

Having died with Christ, we shall live with him.

Refrain

Christ is with me ev’rywhere I go.

Never to leave me, this I know.

2  I have now been grafted to the vine,

Drawing life from roots rich in mercy,

Bearing fruit as I abide in him:

Fruit forever fresh, glorifying God.

Refrain

3  I have now been crucified with Christ.

I no longer live; Christ lives in me.

Now I live by faith in God’s own Son,

One who loved me so—gave himself for me.

Refrain

1. Where were we buried with Christ into His death and then raised to a new life?

We were buried with Christ in baptism as our Old Adam, our sinful nature, was drowned in our baptismal waters. It was those same waters that raised us to a new life in Christ, with a new nature made in His image. St. Paul writes in Romans 6:3-5 “Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.”

2. What does it mean to die with Christ and then live with Him?

In Romans 6:8, St. Paul writes, “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.” In this verse, Paul is talking about our sanctification. But in 2 Timothy 2:11, St. Paul writes, “Here is a trustworthy saying: If we died with him, we will also live with him.” In this verse, Paul is talking about resurrection. That is the great comfort – Christ is with us wherever we go – in this life and the next.  

3. What is most important when it comes to bearing good fruit on a vine? Is it the soil or the climate or the pruning or the watering? Or is it the graft?

Jesus makes it clear that it is the graft. “I am the vine; you are the branches,” Jesus teaches in John 15:5. He reveals the special nature of being connected to Him. Since we are separated from the vine by nature, we must then be grafted to the vine of Christ through Word and Sacrament.

4. Jesus teaches, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.” In these words, Jesus gives a promise and a command. Which is which?

Often people get the command and the promise confused. The command is not to bear fruit – that is the promise. The command is to remain in Christ. When that is done, we will bear fruit. The fruit that God desires. The fruit that only God can produce. Fruit that is forever fresh and glorifying to God.

5. What does it mean to be “crucified with Christ?”

Jesus taught, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23). It means that we deny our sinful nature its lusts and cravings. It means that we allow Jesus to prune the dead, unfruitful branches in our lives, so that we can bear fruit for God. We are no longer living for ourselves, but we are living for Christ.

6. Why do we live for Christ?

St. Paul writes, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). We crucify ourselves. We die to ourselves. Now we live by faith in God’s own Son. The Son who loved us enough to give Himself over to death for us. Because of that great love, we now love and live for Him in return.