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: A Study in Paul's Soteriology, pg. 59