In many situations, the phrase has negative connotations. It describes opportunism or a lack of individual effort. It infers that you are using someone else’s success as a means to achieve your own. But the phrase can have some positive elements to it. It might be that the success you were able to achieve was based on help secured from another person. The phrase, in case you haven’t already guessed it, dates back to the 19th century when formal men's jackets had long flaps (tails) in the back. “Riding on someone’s coattails” - the imagery points to a person literally grabbing onto those fabric flaps to be pulled forward without walking themselves. In view of a positive element of the phrase, that of achieving something based on help secured from another, there are some significant achievements that we can only access by being dependent on Christ Jesus: 1. We can be redeemed: “And are justified by his grace as a gift, through the re...