Most Basic Element
"Raised with Christ" is not a general metaphorical usage subject to a theologically more precise delination, but a realistic description of the event that inaugurates individual Christian experience. It is a most basic element in Paul's soteriology; apart from it the structure of the whole cannot be grasped.
Richard Gaffin. Resurrection and Redemption (Philippsburg, NJ: Baker Book House, 1978), 59