Jesus, Our Representative

A good illustration of the vicarious and representative nature of Christ is the relationship between fans and their favorite sports teams. A die-hard fan lives and dies by their favorite team. This is because of the inherent vicariousness involved in sports fandom. The team represents the fan and the fan lives vicariously through the team. When the team loses, the fan loses. When the team wins, the fan wins. In the same way, Jesus is our representative who acts vicariously for us—such that his victories are our victories and his accomplishments are our accomplishments. The clearest example of this is his resurrection from the dead, which guarantees our resurrection from the dead.