Paul: "Even when we were dead in our trespasses, God made us alive together with Christ". In v. 6, Paul writes "seated," not "will seat," and the tense is significant. Martin Luther used the analogy of marriage to explain what it means to be "in Christ". Paul tells us that every last one of us who is in Christ gets to enjoy this privilege. We are not waiting for some promised kindness that has yet to materialize.

God's purpose in all this is to shower us, even as we complete our lives on earth, with kindness. Each of us for whom Christ died is now and forever seated with the ascended Christ in the very throne room of heaven. We enjoy this intimacy with God not because of anything that we have done, but entirely because of what Christ has done. The ascended Christ will never be driven from the Father's presence; nor will we who are in Christ.