Position and Power – The Power of His Resurrection

Position and Power – The Power of His Resurrection develops T. Austin-Sparks’s conviction that spiritual power is inseparable from spiritual position. The book does not present power as an added force that believers obtain while remaining on the old ground of natural life. It begins with what God has already accomplished in Christ: Christ has been raised, exalted, and seated above every principality and power, and believers have been made alive and raised with Him. Spiritual power is therefore known as the believer lives by faith in union with the risen Christ and from the heavenly position given in Him.

Ephesians 1–2 provides the strongest biblical framework. Sparks returns to the “exceeding greatness” of God’s power manifested in raising Christ from the dead and seating Him at God’s right hand, above rule, authority, power, and dominion. Ephesians then places the Church in vital relation to that exalted Head and speaks of believers as raised and seated together with Christ in the heavenlies. For Sparks, position and power cannot be divided: the authority of the risen Christ over hostile spiritual powers becomes the ground on which the Church is called to stand. This makes spiritual warfare a substantial part of the book. The issue is not human aggressiveness toward evil powers but the spiritual ascendancy that belongs to Christ and is shared only through living union with Him.

Colossians 2–3 develops the same reality from another angle. Christ’s Cross and resurrection have broken the old ground, exposed hostile powers, and introduced a new sphere of life. Those who have been raised with Christ are to seek the things above because their life is hidden with Christ in God. Resurrection is therefore more than the future raising of the body or the historical fact that Jesus rose. It is a present life and position in which the old order governed by death no longer supplies the believer’s resources. The risen Christ Himself is the life by which the Christian is to live.

Philippians 3:10 gives the experiential burden of the book: knowing Christ and the power of His resurrection. Sparks stresses that resurrection power becomes known precisely where natural ability, human resource, or the apparent finality of death proves insufficient. The believer is brought into circumstances in which only the life of the risen Christ can carry the testimony forward. Romans 8:11 supports this emphasis by connecting the indwelling Spirit with the life of the God who raised Jesus from the dead.

The book also uses Old Testament pictures to make the position practical. Israel’s passage through Jordan and conflict in the land, including Jericho, illustrate the relation between the Cross, resurrection ground, heavenly inheritance, and conflict with opposing powers. Ezekiel’s vision is used to portray spiritual intelligence and a vessel governed from the throne. These pictures serve the book’s central teaching rather than becoming independent Old Testament studies.

Sparks repeatedly brings the teaching back to the Church and Christian experience. Christ is Head, the Church is His Body, and spiritual effectiveness comes from living correspondence with Him rather than from natural energy, organization, or religious effort. Faith means recognizing and standing in what God has done in Christ. The Cross remains the necessary basis because resurrection does not improve the old creation; it brings the believer onto another ground. Near the close, Sparks also warns of false spiritual life and deceptive light, making spiritual discernment necessary when believers seek spiritual power.

The book answers practical questions such as: What is the power of Christ’s resurrection? Why is spiritual power connected with the believer’s position in Christ? What does it mean to be seated with Christ in the heavenlies? How does union with the exalted Christ relate to spiritual warfare? How can resurrection life operate when natural strength fails? And why must Christian service proceed from Christ’s life and authority rather than from religious effort? Its governing answer is that true spiritual power is the expression of the risen Christ in those who live from their God-given position in Him.