Inside this Issue...

 Union with Christ in Scripture, History,

and Theology— A Book Review
 When Self-Confidence is Lethal
 Union with Christ: The Double Cure
Page 2
Union with Christ Page 3
 Page 4

Table of Contents
 Editor’s Corner Page 6
By Dave Jenkins
 The Puritans on Union with Page 8
Christ, Justification, and
Regeneration
By Joel Beeke
Page 22
 How a Familiar Truth Forever
Changed Hudson Taylor
By John Piper
 Union with Christ: The Double Page 26
Cure
By Michael Horton
 When Self-Confidence is Page 36
Lethal
By Greg Gilbert
Page 40
 Union with Christ
By Richard Gaffin
 10 Things You Should Know Page 49
About Union with Christ
By Marcus Johnson
 10 Things You Should Know Page 54
About Communion with Christ
By Benjamin Skaug
 Union with Christ When You Page 61
Don’t Fit In
By Heather Nelson
 Union with Christ Page 5

Table of Contents (Continued)

 Practical Suggestions for Page 64
Cultivating Communion with
God
By Kelly Kapic
 The Doctrine of Union with Page 68
Christ
By Robert Culver
 Communion with Christ Page 82
By B.B. Warfield
 Union with Christ in Scripture, Page 92
History, and Theology
(A Book Review)
By Dave Jenkins
 Recommended Reading on Page 95
Union with Christ
By Dave Jenkins
 About the Authors Page 96
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Editor’s Corner
EXECUTIVE EDITOR In Romans 8:1, Paul uses the word therefore to state
Dave Jenkins a critical summary statement of what has already been
CONTENT EDITOR said previously in the book. In the previous chapter, he
states that the Christian's victory comes “through Jesus
Sarah Jenkins
Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:23-25), which is linked to Ro-
DESIGN DIRECTOR
mans 7:6, where the idea of new life in the Spirit is men-
Sarah Jenkins
tioned. Paul is completing his whole argument that began
in Romans 3:21-5:21 about salvation in Christ. Now in Ro-
mans 8:1 he matches the “now” in Romans 7:6, showing how
ADVERTISING the new era of redemptive history has begun because of
To advertise in Theology Christ Jesus for those who are now in a right standing be-
for Life Magazine, email fore God because they are united to Christ.
[email protected].
No condemnation in Romans 8:1 echoes the state-
ment of Romans 5:1, “Therefore we have peace with God”,
COPYRIGHT © underscoring the teaching of the gospel first announced by
Theology for Life Magazine Paul in Romans 1:16-17. There is no condemnation for the
grants permission for any Christian because God has condemned sin in the flesh by
original article to be quot-
ed, provided Theology for sending Jesus (Romans 8:3) to pay the penalty for it
Life is cited as the source. through His death on the Cross. Romans 8:4-11 demonstrate
For use of an entire arti- that indwelling sin is overcome through the power of the
cle, permission must be
granted. indwelling Spirit.
The word “no” in Romans 8:1 in the Koine Greek is
Please contact
[email protected]. an emphatic negative adverb of time and carries the idea
of complete cessation. In the Parable of Jesus about the
king who forgave one of his slaves an overwhelming debt
(Matthew 18:23-27), the Lord Jesus pictures the forgiveness
of sins for those who humbly come in faith to Christ. The
parable in Matthew 18:23-27 gets to the heart and soul of
the gospel—Jesus completely and permanently paid the
debt of sin and the penalty of the law for every person who
humbly asks for mercy and trusts in Christ alone. In 1st John
2:1-2, God assures His people that, “if anyone sins, we have
 Union with Christ Page 7

an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation
for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.”
Jesus not only pays the Christian’s debt, but He also cleanses them “from all unright-
eousness” (1st John 1:9), and imputes and imparts to each believer the perfect righteousness
of Christ (Hebrews 10:4; Romans 5:17; 2nd Corinthians 5:21; Philippians 3:9). Jesus shares His
vast heavenly inheritance with those who come to Him in faith (Ephesians 1:3; 11, 14). Such
an immeasurable grace caused Paul to encourage Christians to continually be “giving
thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in
light” (Colossians 1:12). Having been qualified by God the Father, every Christian will nev-
er—under any circumstance—be subject to divine condemnation. How blessed it is, as a
Christian, to be placed beyond the reach of condemnation.
In this issue of Theology for Life, we are discussing the idea of union with Christ and
communion with Christ. As we return now to Romans 8:1, we discover the phrase, “in Christ”.
A Christian is someone who is in Christ Jesus.
Being a Christian is not merely being outwardly identified with Christ, but being
part of Christ; not merely of being united with Him, but united in Him. Our being in Christ
is one of the most profound mysteries, which we will not fully understand until we meet
Him face to face in Heaven. However, Scripture does shed light on that marvelous truth.
We know that we are in Christ spiritually, in a divine and permanent union. “For as
in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive,” Paul explains in 1st Corinthians
15:22. Believers are also in Christ in a living, participatory sense. “Now you are Christ’s
body,” Paul declares in that same epistle, “and individually members of it” (12:27). We are
a part of Him, and in ways that are unfathomable to us now, we work when He works,
grieve when He grieves, and rejoice when He rejoices. “For by one spirit we were all bap-
tized into one body,” Paul assures us, “whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and
we were all made to drink of one Spirit” (1st Corinthians 12:13). Christ’s own divine life pulses
through the people of God.
As you read this issue, my prayer is that you’ll not only be familiarized with the con-
cept of our union and communion with Christ, but that you’ll grow in your understanding
of this vital subject, helping you to grow and enjoy in the grace of God in Christ.

In Christ Alone,

Dave Jenkins
Executive Editor, Theology for Life Magazine
 Page 8

The Puritans on Union with

Christ, Justification, and
Regeneration

By Joel Beeke

A true and real union, (but which is only passive

on their part,) [the elect] are united to Christ
when his Spirit first takes possession of them,
and infuses into them a principle of new life: the
beginning of which life can be from nothing else
but from union with the Spirit of Christ…. Fur-
 Union with Christ Page 9

ther, since faith is an act flowing from the prin-

ciple of spiritual life, it is plain, that in a sound
sense, it may be said, an elect person is truly
and really united to Christ before actual faith. —
HERMAN WITSIUS (1)
How does regeneration relate to the believer’s union with Christ and
his justification by faith alone? As on other matters, the Puritans were
not silent on this question. Thomas
Halyburton (1674–1712), a Puritan-
minded minister and theologian in the
Church of Scotland, provides a particu- “How can the object of jus fica on be
larly incisive look into the relationship
a renewed saint, which would seem to
between regeneration and justification
in his work, A Modest Inquiry Whether contradict Romans 4:5?”
Regeneration or Justification Has the
Precedency in Order of Nature.(2) Does
justification, “in the order of nature, precede the renovation of our na-
tures by the spirit of Christ…Or, on the other hand, are elect sinners first
renewed, regenerated, and furnished with a principle of life…whereon jus-
tification follows in the same instant of time, yet as consequent in order of
nature?”(3) Sensitive to the intricacies bound up with this question, Haly-
burton catalogs a number of difficulties on both sides of the question.
Supposing that regeneration precedes justification, Halyburton lists
the following seven difficulties: (1.) How can God, in His wisdom, impart
His image to a sinner who is under a curse? (2.) How then can a sinner
who is under God’s curse be “dignified with the image of God”? (3.) How
can the object of justification be a renewed saint, which would seem to
contradict Romans 4:5? (4.) Can a soul partake of spiritual life before un-
ion with Christ? “Union is by faith, by which we come to Christ for life:
but this renders it needless, because we have life before union.” (5.) This
 Page 10

order would make receiving the Spirit antecedent to union and faith, but
we receive the Spirit by faith (Galatians 3:14). (6.) This would make the
heart purified before faith, but the heart is purified by faith (Acts 15:9).
(7.) A person becomes a Christian by the
Word; the Word is received by faith,
which suggests that faith should precede “Those who were elected in Christ in
regeneration.(4) These various problems
eternity past are those for whom
and mysteries follow from the view that
regeneration precedes justification. Christ died and rose again in me
On the other hand, if justification past…”
precedes regeneration, there are also
several difficulties involved. The first is
ecclesiastical in nature, namely, Reformed divines “harmoniously teach
the contrary”; and the Reformed confessions likewise deny that justifica-
tion precedes regeneration. Moreover, how can acts of life exist if there is
not an abiding principle for them from which to proceed? Even more per-
tinently, how can a dead soul “be the subject of this noblest act of faith
that unites to Christ”? After all, there are many acts of justifying faith,
such as assenting, choosing, approving, and resting in Christ. Can a dead
soul do these things? The fruit of faith needs a root, and a dead root will
not do.(5) Halyburton claims that these and other difficulties exist with
the view that justification precedes regeneration.
Threefold Union
Reformed theologians in seventeenth-century Britain typically posit-
ed a threefold union with Christ in terms of God’s immanent, transient,
and applicatory works. Some even spoke of justification in relation to
these three stages, which led to the doctrine of eternal justification.(6)
“Immanent union” refers to being elected in union with Christ from all
eternity, before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4); “transient
union” refers to believer’s union with Christ in time past, in His mediato-
rial death and resurrection (Romans 6:3–11); and “applicatory union” re-
 Union with Christ Page 11

fers to the believer’s experience of union with Christ in the present time
(Ephesians 2:5–6). Peter Bulkeley (1583–1659) follows this threefold pat-
tern when he refers to the doctrine of justification, first, “as purposed
and determined in the mind and will of God…Second, as impetrated and
obtained for us by the obedience of Christ…Third, as actually applied
unto us.”(7) The third stage of union with Christ is often referred to as
our “mystical” union with Christ.
Halyburton notes these distinctions and stresses that each part of
this threefold union with Christ is related to the others in a fundamental
way. Those who were elected in Christ in eternity past are those for
whom Christ died and rose again in time past, and they are the ones to
whom the Holy Spirit applies all the benefits of Christ’s mediatorial
work. There is a unity in God’s will. All three persons of the Godhead
concurred in the work of salvation in the eternal covenant of redemp-
tion. That is to say, the salvation of the elect is certain because it is root-
ed in the eternal, unchangeable decree of God. Moreover, there was a
“general justification” effected by Christ’s oblation, but this is not
“justification properly and strictly called.”(8) Even for those who spoke of
justification as eternal (e.g., Thomas Goodwin [1600–1680]), a sinner
nevertheless abides under the wrath of God until he or she believes.(9)
Clearly, therefore, there are various ways in which believers are
united to Christ, and they are all necessary for salvation. No one will
come to faith in Christ who has not been elected in eternity, and not
without the benefit of Christ’s oblation and intercession. The Puritans
seemed to be agreed on the relationship between the believer’s experien-
tial union with Christ and the believer’s personal regeneration.
The Chief Blessing?
Of all the blessings of salvation, which is the chief or primary bless-
ing? Is it justification by faith, that “article of faith by which the church
stands or falls” (articulus stantis aut cadentis Ecclesiae)?(10) In the judg-
ment of several significant Puritan theologians, union with Christ, not
 Page 12

justification by faith, is the chief blessing a Christian receives from God.

The believer’s union with Christ enables him/her to receive all the bene-
fits of Christ’s work, including justification, adoption, and sanctification.
To have Christ is to have all.
John Calvin’s famous statement in the opening words of the third
book of the Institutes, on the importance of union with Christ, shows the
basic continuity between the Reformers and the Puritans on this point.
(11) Calvin asks, “How do we receive those benefits which the Father be-
stowed on his only-begotten Son—not for Christ’s own private use, but
that he might enrich poor and needy men?” He answers, “First, we must
understand that as long as Christ remains outside of us, and we are sep-
arated from him, all that he has suffered and done for the salvation of the
human race remains useless and of no value for us.”(12) In plain terms
therefore, Calvin argues, the absolute necessity of union with Christ for
salvation. So long as we stand apart from Christ, nothing He did as medi-
ator can be of use to us.
The Puritans agreed with Calvin on the necessity of union with
Christ. For John Owen (1616–1683), union with Christ is the “principle
and measure of all spiritual enjoyments and expectations.”(13) He notes
moreover that the first spiritual grace is “dignity”, that is, “it is the great-
est, most honourable, and glorious of all graces that we are made partak-
ers of.”(14) Thomas Goodwin similarly comments that “being in Christ,
and united to him, is the fundamental constitution of a Christian.”(15)
These comments provide insight into how union with Christ relates to
justification, adoption, and sanctification.
Union with Christ and the Ordo Salutis
As Halyburton notes, the common Reformed view on the order of
justification and regeneration is that the latter precedes the former. But
what about the role of union with Christ in relation to regeneration and
justification? Goodwin affirms, as one would expect, that union with
Christ is the “first fundamental thing of justification, and sanctification
 Union with Christ Page 13

and all.”(16) Thus, in specific relation to justification, Goodwin maintains

that “all acts of God’s justifying us depend upon union with Christ, we
having him, and being in him first, and then thereby having right to his
righteousness.”(17)
But in relation to regeneration or, more specifically, effectual call-
ing, Goodwin argues that union with Christ precedes regeneration.
Christ first “apprehends” the believer: “It is not my being regenerate that
puts me into a right of all those privileges, but it is Christ [who] takes
me, and then gives me his Spirit, faith, holiness, etc. It is through our
union with Christ, and the perfect holiness of his nature, to whom we
are united, that we partake of the privileges of the covenant of grace.”(18)
This statement appears to indicate that union with Christ logically (not
chronologically), precedes not only justification—a typical Reformed
view—but even regeneration (narrowly considered).
What makes Goodwin’s views on this matter perplexing is the fact
that within the space of six pages he affirms there is a “threefold union
with Christ”(19) and a “twofold union with Christ.”(20) The first union is
a relational union, like the union between a husband and wife. “And this
union is fully and completely done when first we are turned to God, and
when Christ takes us.”(21)
The second union involves the indwelling of Christ in the human
body (Ephesians 3:17)—“an actual inbeing of his person.” The third is
objective; that is, having Christ as an object of faith “as the faculty doth
view an object.”(22) When Goodwin later speaks of the twofold union, he
has in mind the first two under the heading of a “substantial union and
communicative union.”(23)
The union that we are especially concerned with is the first union,
the union whereby the sinner is married to Christ. How does this hap-
pen? Returning to Goodwin’s comment above that “Christ takes me, and
then gives me his Spirit, faith, holiness, etc.”, we are faced with the
question of whether union with Christ precedes faith itself.
Goodwin’s book, The Object and Act of Justifying Faith, is helpful in
 Page 14

answering this question. In it, he speaks of the act of the will completing
the union between Christ and the believer, which makes believers
“ultimately one with him.”(24) However, as the Bride, we are simply con-
firming the union that has taken place. So, contrary to the common view
of marriage, which requires the consent of both partners since a man
cannot marry a woman against her will, there is a spiritual union on
Christ’s part to the elect that does not require assent from the sinner
“because it is a secret work done by his Spirit, who doth first apprehend
us ere we apprehend him.”(25) That is to say, Christ establishes a union
with the elect sinner by “apprehending” him and then giving the Spirit to
him. But this union is only complete (“ultimate union”) when the sinner
exercises faith in Christ. This basic pattern is confirmed later in Good-
win’s work on justifying faith:
It is true indeed the union on Christ’s part is in order of nature
first made by the Spirit; therefore Philip. iii. 12, he is said first to
“comprehend us ere we can comprehend him;” yet that which
makes the union on our part is faith, whereby we embrace and
cleave to him…It is faith alone that doth it. Love indeed makes us
cleave to him also, but yet faith first.(26)
Goodwin is at his finest when he speaks of Christ “taking”,
“apprehending”, and “comprehending” the sinner. Christ “takes hold of us
before we believe” and “works a thousand and a thousand operations in
our souls to which our faith concurs nothing…Christ dwells in us and
works in us, when we act not and know not our union, nor that it is he
that works.”(27)
Before the new believer is aware, our Lord unites us to Himself
(“takes hold of us”) and works in us. The Spirit then regenerates the sin-
ner, who in turn exercises faith toward Christ and completes the union.
From that union flows all other spiritual blessings.
Owen highlights a number of ways in which union with Christ func-
tions as the “greatest” of all graces. In terms of the present question, his
point that union with Christ is the “first and principal grace in respect of
 Union with Christ Page 15

causality and efficacy” is most pertinent to how we locate union with

Christ in the ordo salutis. Like Goodwin, Owen claims that union with
Christ is the cause of all other graces a believer receives: “Hence is our
adoption, our justification, our sanctification…our perseverance, our
resurrection, our glory.”(28)
Therefore, union with Christ is the ground of the imputation of
Christ’s righteousness to believers.(29) Owen’s lengthy work on justifica-
tion (volume 5) confirms the logical priority of union with Christ before
other graces such as justification.(30) But regarding the relationship be-
tween union and regeneration, Owen seems to take a view similar to
Goodwin’s. At first glance it appears this is not so, for Owen argues that
no one “who hath not been made partaker of the washing of regeneration
and the renovation of the Holy Ghost, can possibly have any union with
Christ.”(31)
This seems to posit a logical priority of regeneration to union. But
Owen then remarks immediately after that statement: “I do not speak
this as though our purifying were in order of time and nature antecedent
unto our union with Christ, for indeed it is an effect thereof; but it is
such an effect as immediately and inseparably accompanieth it, so that
where the one is not, there is not the other.”(32)
With a little more precision than Goodwin, though basically affirm-
ing the same position, Owen asserts that the act whereby Christ unites
Himself to His elect is the same act whereby He regenerates them.(33)
Dutch theologian Herman Witsius (1636–1708), writing on the
Continent in the same period as Owen and Goodwin—his work was a
contribution to the British Antinomian and Neonomian debates—takes a
similar position concerning the relationship between regeneration and
union with Christ. He affirms:
“By a true and real union, (but which is only passive on their
part,) [the elect] are united to Christ when his Spirit first takes
possession of them, and infuses into them a principle of new life:
the beginning of which life can be from nothing else but from un-
 Page 16

ion with the Spirit of Christ…. Further, since faith is an act flowing
from the principle of spiritual life, it is plain, that in a sound
sense, it may be said, an elect person is truly and really united to
Christ before actual faith.”
Witsius sounds very much like Goodwin and Owen in insisting that
the elect are united to Christ when Christ’s Spirit “takes possession of
them” and regenerates them. And he likewise affirms that union precedes
actual faith. But then he makes a similar point to Goodwin’s, namely,
that a “mutual union” inevitably follows from the principle of regenera-
tion:
“But the mutual union, (which, on the part of an elect person, is
likewise active and operative), whereby the soul draws near to
Christ, joins itself to him, applies, and in a becoming and proper
manner closes with him without any distraction, is made by faith
only. And this is followed in order by the other benefits of the cov-
enant of grace, justification, peace, adoption, sealing, persever-
ance, etc.”(34)
Not only is the “mutual union” emphasized by the act of faith in
the sinner, but also by the fact that the benefits of the covenant of
grace (e.g., justification) flow out of this union.
Goodwin, Owen, and Witsius are affirming what John Ball (1585–
1640) had said earlier in A Treatise of Faith. Speaking of the order of spir-
itual blessings that believers receive from Christ, Ball affirms that faith is
the “band whereby we are united unto Christ; after Union followeth Com-
munion with him; Justification, Adoption, Sanctification be the benefits
and fruits of Communion.”(35) Commenting on the importance of union
with Christ, Ball later affirms that after we are made one with Christ, “he
and all his benefits are truly and verily made ours; his name is put upon
us, we are justified from the guilt and punishment of sin, we are clothed
with his righteousness, we are sanctified against the power of sin, having
our nature healed and our hearts purified.”(36)
John Preston (1587–1628) likewise affirms that “to be in Christ is
 Union with Christ Page 17

the ground of all salvation.”(37) Thus, union with Christ is the motive
for good works since all graces and privileges flow from this union.(38)
Christ will take away not only the guilt but also the power of sin in
those to whom He is united, which explains the importance of union
with Christ for soteriology.(39)
Thomas Cole (1627–1697) entertains a very important question
that helps explain the subtle ways in which regeneration and justifica-
tion relate. He asks, “Whether the first step in Regeneration be from Sin
to Holiness, or from a sinful state and nature to Christ, that we may be
made holy by him?” That is, are we made clean first, or are we joined to
Christ first? Cole explains:
“There can be no Change made in our Nature by the Spirit of
Christ in our Sanctification, but upon a Change of State from our
closing in with the Blood of Christ for Justification. The Spirit of
Christ doeth always follow the Blood of Christ; ’tis the Purchase
of that Blood; so that the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, extends
himself in all his saving Operations, no further than the Body of
Christ; none but Members vitally joined to Christ their Head, can
be quickened by him; therefore no man or woman can be sav-
ingly wrought upon by the Spirit of Christ, who continue in a
state of separation from him.”(40)
Cole has carefully noted how all these benefits come from Christ,
and therefore regeneration must be seen in the light of our union with
Christ. He then offers a very precise definition of regeneration, saying
that “Regeneration is the Implantation of the Soul into Christ.”(41)
William B. Evans has recently argued that for the Puritans, com-
munion with Christ “tended to displace ‘union with Christ.’”(42) This
charge is utterly unconvincing as the evidence above shows. Union with
Christ is the basis for communion with Him and, like Calvin, the Puri-
tans viewed union with Christ in His divine-human person as the nec-
essary context in which, and the means by which, redemptive benefits
were applied to the elect. Evans’s point assumes that the Puritans devi-
 Page 18

ated from a Reformed Christological focus, but clearly they understood

how union and communion worked together. William Bridge (1600–1671)
said that “union is the root of communion” and “union is the ground of
communion.” In context, Bridge is explaining the benefits of our union
with Christ. He did not displace union with Christ but instead affirmed it
as the foundation for his practical theology.(43) Similarly, Obadiah Grew
(1607–1689) said, “Union is the ground of all our comfort, and privilege
we have by the Lord Jesus Christ: Our communion springs from our Un-
ion with him.”(44) Bridge and Grew did not sever the believer’s commun-
ion with Christ from his union with Him.
There is a reason union with Christ is first in the order of nature
and regeneration precedes justification. When Christ takes and unites the
sinner to Himself, the Spirit regenerates the sinner. In regenerating the
sinner, he is still guilty, that is, legally in a state of sin. True, he has a
new nature, but that has not altered his legal status for past offenses
(and all offenses thereafter)—no more than a murderer is exonerated be-
cause afterwards he becomes a model citizen. According to Stephen Char-
nock (1628–1680), it is when the sinner looks in faith to Christ that his
status changes.(45)
Justification “gives us a right, the other [regeneration] a fitness.” He
also says, “In justification we are freed from the guilt of sin, and so have a
title to life; in regeneration we are freed from the filth of sin, and have the
purity of God’s image in part restored to us.”(46) A sinner is not justified
because he/she was regenerated, but because Christ has paid the penalty
of his/her sins and has applied all His benefits to him/her.(47)
The real is before the legal because both are needed, and in one
sense neither depends on the other; both depend on the believer’s union
with Christ from whom the believer derives all saving benefits. Yet there is
another sense in which justification depends on regeneration—that is, the
person is enabled to believe by regeneration and is justified by faith alone.
Charnock says, “Justification is relative; regeneration internally real. Un-
ion with Christ is the ground of both; Christ is the meritorious cause of
 Union with Christ Page 19

both.”(48)
Another aspect of union with Christ is addressed by William Lyford
(1598–1653). He very precisely stated that we are united to Christ before
we exercise faith, and that we in turn exercise faith to lay hold of Christ.
Such a statement may be misunderstood, however carefully stated. Ap-
parently the Synod of New England charged John Cotton (1585–1652) of
teaching an error when he allegedly
stated “that we are completely united to
Christ, before, or without any faith
“How can someone else’s wrought in us by the Spirit.”(49) Cotton
refuted the charge to the Synod’s satis-
righteousness become ours?”
faction, yet it seems the word
“completely” was the source of his prob-
lem. Lyford believed it could be mislead-
ing to distinguish between the act of
faith we exercise and the habit of faith we possess in our union with
Christ, for “it seems to favour of the Leaven of Antinomianism and Enthu-
siasm.”
Yet he also recognized that it does impart some truth as long as the
“Faith is begun in action”—he was weary of viewing this union as being
complete without the immediate exercise of faith. “The Union then is be-
gun by action of the Spirit on us, and of Faith put forth by us to lay hold
on Christ.”(50)
Lyford adds one more point that is critical to the Puritans’ view of
union with Christ and justification. How can someone else’s righteous-
ness become ours? This was a question raised by the Papists. Lyford an-
swers by pointing to our union with Christ: “Christ and the Believer be
not Two, but One.” He explains, “Peter cannot be saved by the righteous-
ness that is in Paul, because they be two; but the Members are saved by
the righteousness of their Head, because Head and Members are not
two.”(51)
The same answer is offered by Obadiah Grew. “A man’s capacity for
 Page 20

such propriety in Christ’s righteousness, is this union with Christ.” Union

with Christ is the ground on which His righteousness can become ours.
“As by marriage-union the Wife is honourable by her Husband’s honour…
Thus comes it to pass by our union of espousals to Christ, My beloved is
mine, and I am his: that we have an interest and propriety in his merit
and spirit, in his righteousness and life.”(52)
Lyford and Grew believed that our union with Christ was the best
refutation of the Papists’ denial of the imputation of Christ’s righteous-
ness. Because we are united to Christ, His righteousness can be and is
imputed to us by faith.
Conclusion
For the Puritans, the doctrine of regeneration was a fundamental as-
pect of soteriology, and its relation to the believer’s union with Christ was
hugely significant. Union with Christ was typically understood in a three-
fold manner: immanent/eternal, transient/redemptive-historical, and ap-
plicatory/mystical. The redemption purposed by God in eternity and ac-
complished by Christ in time is incomplete until it is applied in the expe-
rience of the believer.
The special work of the Spirit is to apply the benefits of Christ’s me-
diation to the elect. There is a strict correspondence between Christ’s
work and the Spirit’s work. For this reason, regeneration must never be
considered apart from Christ; positively stated, regeneration must always
be understood in relation to union with Christ.
What this article has shown is not only the fundamental necessity of
regeneration for salvation, but also its close connection to union with
Christ. The risen Savior first apprehends the elect and makes them alive
by His Spirit operating as the Spirit of Christ, so they can receive from
Christ all the benefits of the work He accomplished on their behalf, as
their mediator.
Faith is only possible because Christ, through the Spirit, has joined
Himself to the sinner. In response, the sinner exercises faith toward
 Union with Christ Page 21

Christ, as an effect of regeneration. With the union complete, the sinner

receives from Christ everything that Christ merited, including justifica-
tion, adoption, and sanctification. This, in a nutshell, is the Puritan un-
derstanding of the relationship between regeneration and union with
Christ.
References:

1. Herman Witsius, Conciliatory, or Irenical Animadversions on the Controversies Agitated in Britain, under the Unhappy Names of Antinomi-
ans and Neonomians, trans. Thomas Bell (Glasgow: W. Lang, 1807), 68.
2. Thomas Halyburton, A Modest Inquiry Whether Regeneration or Justification Has the Precedency in Order of Nature, in The Works of the
Rev. Thomas Halyburton… (London: Thomas Tegg & Son, 1835).
3. Halyburton, A Modest Inquiry, in Works, 547.
4. Halyburton, A Modest Inquiry, in Works, 547.
5. Halyburton, A Modest Inquiry, in Works, 548.
6. See chapter 8, “Thomas Goodwin and Johannes Maccovius on Justification from Eternity.”
7. Peter Bulkeley, The Gospel-Covenant (London: Tho[mas] Parker, 1674), 358.
8. Halyburton, A Modest Inquiry, in Works, 550.
9. That is, “until the Holy Spirit doth in due time actually apply Christ unto them” (WCF, 11.4).
10. Interestingly, Robert J. McKelvey has shown that Martin Luther may never have called justification the article by which the church stands
or falls, even though the concept belongs to him. McKelvey writes: “Though the ‘stands or falls’ wording is often attributed to Martin Luther a
primary source has never been cited. He could still be the originator of the phrase, as attribution to him comes as early as the seventeenth
century. For example, William Eyre refers to justification as ‘articulus stantis aut cadentis Ecclesiae, as Luther calls it’…. Thus, Richard John
Neuhaus…wrongly argues that the ‘stands or falls’ phrase did not originate until the eighteenth century.” Robert J. McKelvey, “That Error and
Pillar of Antinomianism: Eternal Justification,” in Drawn into Controversie: Reformed Theological Diversity and Debates within Seventeenth-
Century British Puritanism, ed. Michael A. G. Haykin and Mark Jones (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2011), chap. 10.
11. Three recent studies on Calvin that address his doctrine of union with Christ are worth considering, though they are not without their dif-
ferent emphases and disagreements in places. See Cornelis P. Venema, Accepted and Renewed in Christ: The “Twofold Grace of God” and
the Interpretation of Calvin’s Theology (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2007); Todd J. Billings, Calvin, Participation, and the Gift: The
Activity of Believers in Union with Christ (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007); and Mark A. Garcia, Life in Christ: Union with Christ and
Twofold Grace in Calvin’s Theology (Milton Keynes: Paternoster, 2008). Cf. Lee Gatiss, “The Inexhaustible Fountain of All Goodness: Union
with Christ in Calvin’s Commentary and Sermons on Ephesians,” Themelios 34, no. 2 (July 2009): 194–206.
 Page 22

How a Familiar Truth

Forever Changed Hudson
Taylor

By John Piper

On September 4,
1869, when he
was thirty-seven
years old, Hud-
son Taylor found
a letter waiting
for him at Zhen-
jiang from John
McCarthy. God
used the letter to revo-
lutionize Taylor’s life.
“When my agony of soul
was at its height, a sen-
tence in a letter from
dear McCarthy was
used to remove the
scales from my eyes,
and the Spirit of God
revealed to me the truth of our oneness with Jesus as I had never
known it before.”1
 Union with Christ Page 23

Notice two things about that sentence. One is that the change in
Taylor didn’t come through new information. Taylor knew his Bible, and
he knew what Keswick teachers were saying. Just that year, the maga-
zine Revival had carried a series of articles by Robert Pearsall Smith on
“the victorious life”2—one of the catchphrases of the Keswick teaching.
These articles had been the inspiration for McCarthy’s own experience
that he was now sharing with Taylor. It was not a new teaching. It was
one familiar sentence. We have all had experiences of this sort: the same
truth we have read a hundred times explodes with new power in our
lives. That happened for Taylor.
The other thing to notice is that the truth that exploded was his
“oneness with Jesus”. And Taylor says it carefully: “the Spirit of God re-
vealed to me the truth of our oneness with Jesus as I had never known it
before.” He knew it before, but this time the Holy Spirit gave him a new
sight of the wonder of it. This is exactly the way he understood it.
The prayer of Ephesians 1:18 was answered as never before:
“having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know...” Taylor
said:
“As I read, I saw it all! [...] I looked to Jesus and saw (and when I
saw, oh, how joy flowed!) that He had said, ‘I will never leave thee.’3
“I saw not only that Jesus will never leave me, but that I am a
member of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. The vine is not the
root merely, but all—root, stem, branches, twigs, leaves, flowers, fruit.
And Jesus is not that alone—He is soil and sunshine, air and showers,
and ten thousand times more than we have ever dreamed, wished for or
needed. Oh, the joy of seeing this truth!”4
This was not new information. This was the miracle of the eyes of
the heart being opened to taste and see at a deeper level than had been
tasted and seen before. “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good!” (Psalm
34:8). And the center of what he saw and tasted was union with Christ:
“The sweetest part, if one may speak of one part being sweeter than an-
other, is the rest which full identification with Christ brings.”5
 Page 24

The experience came to be known as the “exchanged life” because of

Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live,
but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith
in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”
Union with Christ
Along with a new sight of Christ’s fullness and his union with
Christ, there was also a new
“yieldedness”, which he described as:
“Surrender to Christ [he] had long
“Taylor experienced such a powerful
known, but this was more; this was a
new yieldedness, a glad, unreserved revela on of the inexpressible reality
handing over of self and everything to of union with Christ, as an absolute
Him.”6 This new yieldedness was so and glorious fact of security and
powerful and so sweet—so supernatu- sweetness and power, that it carried in
ral—that it rose up like an indictment
against all vain striving. When you have it its own effec veness.”
been swept up into the arms of Jesus,
all previous efforts to jump in seem vain.
At the heart of the discovery was this—the fruit of the vine comes
from abiding, not striving:
“To let my loving Saviour work in me His will, my sanctification, is
what I would live for by His grace. Abiding, not striving nor strug-
gling; looking off unto Him; trusting Him for present power; resting
in the love of an almighty Saviour.”7
From the consciousness of union springs the power to abide. Let us,
then not seek, not wait, not pursue, but now accept by faith the Saviour’s
word: “Ye are the branches.”8 When you have been swept up into the
arms of Jesus, all previous efforts to jump in seem vain.
Taylor experienced such a powerful revelation of the inexpressible
reality of union with Christ, as an absolute and glorious fact of security
and sweetness and power, that it carried in it its own effectiveness. It
 Union with Christ Page 25

gave vivid meaning to the difference between the works of the flesh and
the fruit of the Spirit: “Work is the outcome of effort; fruit, of life. A bad
man may do good work, but a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.”9
“How to get faith strengthened? Not by striving after faith, but by
resting on the Faithful One.”10 Unlike many who claimed a higher-life ex-
perience, Taylor really was lifted to a plane of joy and peace and strength
that lasted all his life. He wrote, “Never again did the unsatisfied days
come back; never again was the needy soul separated from the fullness
of Christ.”11 Just before turning sixty, Taylor was in Melbourne, Austral-
ia. An Episcopalian minister had heard of Keswick, and after spending
time with Taylor, he wrote: “Here was the real thing, an embodiment of
‘Keswick teaching’ such as I had never hoped to see. It impressed me
profoundly. Here was a man almost sixty years of age, bearing tremen-
dous burdens, yet absolutely calm and untroubled.”
References:

1. Cited in Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor, Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret, 149. *The Works of J. Hudson Taylor* (Douglas Editions, 2009),
Kindle edition, Location 2955.
2. J. Broomhall, The Shaping of Modern China: Hudson Taylor’s Life and Legacy, Vol. 2 (1868–1990) (Pasadena, CA: William Carey Li-
brary, Piquant Editions, 2005), 109 (originally published as vols. 5–7 of Hudson Taylor and China’s Open Century).
3. Cited in Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor, Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret, 149.
4. Cited in ibid., 149–50.
5. Cited in ibid. Italics added. 30 Ibid., 154.
6. Cited in ibid., 144.
7. Cited in J. H. Taylor, Hudson Taylor’s Choice Sayings: A Compilation from His Writings and Addresses (London: China Inland Mission,
n.d.), 7.
8. Cited in James Hudson Taylor, A Ribband of Blue, and Other Bible Studies, Kindle edition (May 12, 2012), Locations 246–49.
9. Cited in Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor, Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret, 149.
10. Cited in ibid., 153.
11. Cited in ibid., 215.
 Page 26

Union with Christ:

The Double Cure
By Michael Horton

Salvador was a Cuban

spy, sent to Miami as a
mole in order to learn
military secrets from
the United States gov-
ernment. However, Cuban
nationalists with whom Salvador
associated incognito eventually
led the clever spy to renounce
his loyalties to Castro. As a re-
sult, Salvador turned himself in
to the United States government
and they offered asylum, protec-
tion, and a new identity. The
government masterminded a
“murder” of Salvador so Castro's
officials would assume the death
of their spy, and once this plan
was carried out Salvador was is-
sued new documents, a new
name, and a new life.
Paul appeals to this sort of lan-
guage when he answers the
 Union with Christ Page 27

question, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace
may abound?” with his familiar response, “Heaven forbid! How shall we
who have died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as
many of you as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his
death? Therefore, we were buried with him through baptism into death,
that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father,
even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been unit-
ed together in the likeness of his death, certainly we also shall be in the
likeness of his resurrection” (Romans 6:1-5).
The apostle goes on to speak of the crucifixion of our old identity
and its burial, as the believer is raised with a new life. “Let us never for-
get that our old selves died with him on the cross that the tyranny of sin
over us might be broken—for a dead man can safely be said to be free
from the power of sin” (Romans 6:7, Phillips Translation).
Israel had long sought its identity in conforming to the Law. By out-
ward observance, many thought union with the Law and with Moses
would lead to the identity which brought fulfillment, hope, and salvation.
But Christ alone possessed in Himself, in His essence as well as in His
actions, the righteousness which God required of humanity. Therefore,
only through union with Christ could the believer enjoy the identity of
belonging to God. “For sin can never be your master—you are no longer
living under the Law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14).
This new identity is not something we achieve by converting our-
selves or by trying to enter into it. It is given to us graciously by God,
apart from and outside of ourselves. Just as Salvador could never again
return to his former identity and owed his loyalty to those who had given
him the new identity, so “released from the service of sin, you entered the
service of righteousness” (Romans 6:19). Before, righteousness made no
claims on us to which we could respond favorably, but now, because we
are united to Christ, new affections and new loyalties produce new ser-
vice.
It is important to realize that Christ does not come to improve the
 Page 28

old self, to guide and redirect it to a better life; He comes to kill our old
self, in order to raise us to newness of life. He is not the friend of the old
self, only too happy to be of service. He is its mortal enemy, bent on re-
placing it with a new self. Notice that the new birth is not the same as
justification. The contemporary Wesleyan theologian, John Lawson, con-
fuses justification and the new birth in precisely the same manner as me-
dieval scholasticism: “To be justified is the first and all-important stage in
a renewed manner of life, actually changed for the better in mind and
heart, in will and action.” Further,
“regeneration is an alternative word for
the initial step in the life of saving faith
in Christ. The legal term ‘justification’
“While none of our righteousness is has in mind this step...” (Introduction to
our own, Christ is!” Christian Doctrine, pp. 226-7).
We are not justified by conversion; ra-
ther, conversion or the new birth is the
gift of God given to those who are spiritu-
ally dead and, therefore, unable to
choose Christ. In the new birth, God grants the faith necessary to re-
spond positively and it is through this faith, not conversion itself, that
one is accepted by God.
What Is “Union With Christ”?
If this doctrine is, as John Murray wrote, “the central truth of the
whole doctrine of salvation”, what does it mean and why is it so im-
portant?
First, union with Christ describes the reality of which Paul wrote in
Romans chapter six. As a husband and wife are united through marriage
and a parent and a child are united through birth, so we are united to
Christ through the Spirit's baptism. Those who are familiar with the his-
torical (if not contemporary) discourses of Reformed and Lutheran
preaching will immediately recognize the emphasis on the objective work
 Union with Christ Page 29

of Christ in history. Themes such as election, the incarnation, the sub-

stitutionary atonement, the active and passive obedience of Christ, justi-
fication, adoption, and the objective aspect of sanctification (i.e., the dec-
laration that we are already holy in Christ), form the diet of the best and
most biblically faithful preaching. Each of these themes serves to remind
the believer that his or her righteousness is found not within, but out-
side.
Nevertheless, there is a subjective aspect to our union with Christ
which receives equal attention in Scripture and, therefore, commands
equal attention from us. Calvin wrote, “We must understand that as long
as Christ remains outside of us, and we are separated from him, all that
he has suffered and done for the salvation of the human race remains
useless and of no value for us...All that he possesses is nothing to us un-
til we grow into one body with him” (Institutes, III.i.1).
All of our righteousness, holiness, redemption, and blessing is
found outside of us—in the person and work of Christ. This was the dec-
laration of the Scriptures and, following the sacred text, of the reformers,
in the face of a subjective righteousness located in the believer. And yet,
as Calvin points out, this “alien righteousness” belonging to someone
outside of us would mean nothing if this righteous one remained forever
outside of us. An illustration might help at this point. In my junior year
of college, I went to Europe with some friends and ran out of money.
Happily, my parents agreed to deposit enough money in my account to
cover my expenses. Was that now my money? I had not earned it. I had
not worked for it. It was not my money in the sense that I had done
something to obtain it. But it was in my account now and I could consid-
er it my own property.
While none of our righteousness is our own, Christ is! While none
of our holiness belongs to us, properly speaking, Christ does! The devils
know Christ is righteous, but they do not, cannot, believe that He is their
righteousness.
It is essential, therefore, to point unbelievers and believers alike to
 Page 30

Christ outside of their own subjective experiences and actions, but that is
only half the story! The Christ who has done everything necessary for our
salvation in history outside of us now comes to indwell us in the person of
His Holy Spirit. “God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the
glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glo-
ry” (Colossians 1:27). While our assurance is rooted in the objective work
of Christ for us, it is also true that “We know that we live in him and he in
us, because he has given us of his Spirit” (1st John 4:13).
John employs this language of union in his Gospel, where Jesus is
referred to as a vine, with believers as branches (John 15). As the branch
is dead apart from the life-giving nourishment of the vine, so humans are
spiritually dead unless they are connected to the vine. Elsewhere he cap-
tures Jesus’ words, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains
in me, and I in him” (John 6:56). As baptism is a sign and seal of our at-
tachment to the vine (the beginning of our union), the Lord's Supper is a
sign and seal of our perpetual nourishment from the vine.
Paul appeals to this doctrine as the organizing principle for his en-
tire systematic theology. The First Adam/Second Adam contrast in Ro-
mans five depends on this notion. “In Adam” we possess all that he pos-
sesses: original sin, judgment, condemnation, fear, alienation; “in Christ”
we possess all of His righteousness, holiness, eternal life, justification,
adoption, and blessing. Further, “Even when we were dead in trespasses,
God made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),
and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places
in Christ Jesus...” (Ephesians 2:5). “I have been crucified with Christ,” Paul
declares, “and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).
Thus, this doctrine is the wheel which unites the spokes of salvation
and keeps them in proper perspective. “In Christ” (i.e., through union
with Him) appears, by my accounting, nine times in the first chapter of
Ephesians. Chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, God has
thus “made us accepted in the Beloved.” He cannot love us directly be-
cause of our sinfulness, but He can love us in union with Christ, because
 Union with Christ Page 31

He is the one the Father loves. “In Him we have redemption”; “in Him we
have an inheritance”, and so on.
Union with Christ and Conversion
This doctrine is another way of saying, “Christ alone!” All spiritual
blessings in heavenly places are found in Him. Even the gifts of the Holy
Spirit are through and for the ministry of Christ the Mediator. No one is
baptized in the Holy Spirit, but baptized by the Holy Spirit into Christ.
Regeneration, or the new birth, is the commencement of this union.
God brings this connection and baptism even before there is any sign of
life—“while you were dead...he made you alive” (Ephesians 2:1). The first
gift of this union is faith, the sole instrument through which we live and
remain on this vine. But this is a rich vine, pregnant with nourishing sap
to produce an abundance of fruit. Though we are not attached to nor re-
main attached to this vine by the fruit (what branch depends on the
fruit?), those who are truly members of Christ inevitably produce fruit.
Through union with Christ, we receive His righteousness imputed
(justification), as well as His righteousness imparted (sanctification).
So conversion to Christ is one aspect of a prior work of God's grace
in uniting us to His Son. At this point, then, it is essential to relate this
to contemporary concerns.
1. Two-Stage Schemes
Human-centered religion has always created two paths to life: one
for the spiritually-gifted and another for those who settle for heaven, but
not the “abundant life”. Roman Catholicism (medieval and modern) has
offered this in terms of distinguishing between the priesthood and others
in the category of “the religious” on one hand, and “the seculars”. Fur-
ther, there are those who have indulged in venial sins (those which can
interrupt fellowship with God) and mortal sins (those which can clear the
board and make one start from scratch).
Evangelicals have done this, in part, by following the “Higher Life”
version of conversion and the Christian life, in which super-saints (often
 Page 32

involved in “full-time Christian ministry”) are “filled with the Spirit”, while
normal (i.e., “carnal”) Christians make it to heaven, but without having
any of the gifts of the Spirit.
“The Holy Spirit will fill us with His power the moment we are fully
yielded,” declares Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ. “God
would be breaking His own spiritual laws if He forced man to do His bid-
ding.” It's a tragedy that “at the time of conversion the will of man is tem-
porarily yielded to the will of God”, but “after conversion, the heart fre-
quently loses its first love” and therefore requires us to seek another fill-
ing. Just as the medieval believer required some ritual in order to fill up
the bathtub of grace that had begun leaking from a venial sin, Bill Bright
urges, “If a Christian is not filled, he is disobedient to the command of
God and is sinning against God.” What is required is for the carnal Chris-
tian to follow the steps which would have been familiar to the medieval
monk: First, “meditate”; second, “make it a practice to spend definite time
each day in prayer for God's guidance...”; one must also confess each sin,
since “unconfessed sin keeps many Christians from being filled with the
Holy Spirit” (Handbook for Christian Maturity, pp.133-145).
Charles Finney is even approvingly quoted by Bright: “Christians are
as guilty for not being filled with the Holy Spirit as sinners are for not re-
penting. They are even more so, for as they have more light, they are so
much the more guilty.” And Norman B. Harrison is cited: “The Spirit-filled
life...is the only life that can please God.” Of course, the Reformation heirs
reply to today's medieval heirs, that there is only one life that can please
God, and that is Christ's. And because His life is accepted and we are in
Him, hidden as it were, we are pleasing to God and are filled with the
Spirit because every believer possesses everything of Christ's.
What kind of father shares himself and his possessions with only a
few favorites and withholds his best from others? Perhaps some would
answer, “It's not a matter of the generosity of the father, but of the chil-
dren's willingness to receive.” While that is logically coherent, it reveals a
fundamentally different theological perspective. Union with Christ is not
 Union with Christ Page 33

the result of human decision, striving, seeking, yielding, or surrender-

ing, but of Christ's. While we are called to be “filled with the Spir-
it” (Galatians 5:18), it is a figure of speech: “Do not be drunk with
wine...but be filled with the Spirit.” In other words, make sure you're un-
der the right influence!
2. Confusing Indicative and Imperative
Everywhere the Scriptures provide both the declaration of who we
are in Christ (indicative) and the command to respond to that particular
declaration in a certain way (imperative). For instance, Paul does not
simply issue an imperative like, “Stop living with your boyfriend.” He
says, “How should we who have died to sin live any longer in it?” Paul
does not call people to die to sin; he does not invite them to enter into a
higher level of abundant life; there are not appeals to become something
which the believer is not already. The believer has died, is buried, is
raised, is seated with Christ in the heavenlies, and so on. These are not
plateaus for victorious Christians who have surrendered all, but realities
for every believer regardless of how small one's faith or how weak one's
repentance.
Thus, we must stop trying to convert believers into these realities
by imperatives: “Do this”, “Confess that”, “Follow these steps”, and so
on. Union with Christ ushers us into conversion, and conversion ushers
us immediately into all of these realities so that, as Sinclair Ferguson
writes, “The determining factor of my existence is no longer my past. It is
Christ's past” (Christian Spirituality: Five Views, p.57).
For those who speak as though the filling of the Spirit, the gifts of
the Spirit, justification, the new birth, and union with Christ are things
to be attained by obedience to imperatives, Paul insists, “But of him [God]
you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and right-
eousness and sanctification and redemption—that, as it is written, ‘He
who glories, let him glory in the Lord’” (1st Corinthians 1:30-31).
3. Quietism & Legalism
 Page 34

Some Christians so emphasize a “let go and let God” passivity that

even after conversion they act as though they believe they are still “dead
in trespasses and sins” and do not “understand the things of the Spirit of
God”. Wanting to attribute everything to grace and God's work, they con-
fuse justification and sanctification, just as surely as those who want to
underscore human involvement. In our initial conversion we are passive:
acted upon rather than active, as Luther put it. We are justified through
receiving what someone else has earned for us. But we grow in sanctifica-
tion through living out what someone else has earned for us. Both are
gifts we inherit from someone else, but the former is passively received
and the second is actively pursued. If I were a pauper who had some ben-
efactor deposit one billion dollars in my bank account, I would be regard-
ed a billionaire; but there would be the need to share this new wealth
with friends living on the street. The gift was received passively, but in
turn it was put to use for good actively.
If sanctification is confused with justification, it will lose the tension,
reality, and rigor necessary for the battles of the Christian life; if justifica-
tion is confused with sanctification, the product will be of no redemptive
value.
Therefore, let us distinguish conversion from justification and realize
that initial conversion is a passive reception of God's gracious acceptance
of us in Christ, while the life-long conversion process is an active pursuit
of holiness and righteousness, the very thing which the gospel promises
that we already possess fully and completely in Christ.
Final Thoughts
In conclusion, let us meditate on the wonderful promise that in
Christ we possess all of His riches, not just one or two of them. Do we try
to imitate Him? Yes—not merely as our moral example, the way Greek
sailors may have venerated Neptune, or Greek philosophers venerated Ar-
istotle's ethics, but as our indwelling Head. As the little brother stands in
awe of his elder sibling, let us imitate our Elder Brother because of the
 Union with Christ Page 35

fact that through His incarnation, death, resurrection, ascension, and

mediation, we are flesh of His flesh and bone of His bone. For “both the
one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same
family” (Hebrews 2:11).
The call to the converted, therefore, is not, “Come to Christ; only He
can give you the power to live the abundant Christian life!” Rather, it is,
“Come to Christ; only He can be your abundance”, as the Father has on-
ly “blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in
Christ” (Ephesians 1:3).
 Page 36

When Self-Confidence is
Lethal

By Greg Gilbert

I have a teenage
son who plays bas-
ketball. Recently, his
coach recommended that
he start going to the gym
and lifting some light
weights. So occasionally
my son has been accompa-
nying me to the gym where
I’m a member and doing
workouts with me. But
here’s the thing: my son
isn’t a member of the gym.
When we walk up to the
desk, I’m the one who calls
up the membership infor-
mation on my smartphone
and buzzes us into the
gym. And when I do, I
point to my son and ex-
plain that he’s with me,
and the attendant nods
 Union with Christ Page 37

and waves us through.

Once that’s done, though, my son is free to do anything I’m free to
do in the gym. Whatever equipment I’m authorized to use by virtue of
my paid membership, he’s authorized to use because he’s there with me.
Whatever privileges I have—to use the locker room, the pool, the
weights, the basketball court—he shares them all because he’s with me.
I have access to the gym by right of a paid membership; he has access to
it not at all by right but by virtue of his relationship with me. What does
all this have to do with your assurance of salvation? Everything in the
world.
Confidence in Christ
Take a look at Hebrews 10:19-22:
“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy plac-
es by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened
for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we
have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a
true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean
from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”
This passage is all about having access to God’s presence—that is, hav-
ing a right to stand before Him. Thus, the author of Hebrews writes that
we as Christians should “have confidence” to enter into God’s presence,
and we should “draw near” to Him, not with an “evil conscience”—that
is, with fear that we don’t belong or that we’ll be cast out—but “in full
assurance of faith.” That’s the goal—to stand in the presence of God and
enjoy His blessings with full assurance and confidence that we belong
there.
Our confidence and assurance that we can enter God’s presence…
are actually created by recognizing that our access to Him is based not
at all on anything in us or about us. But did you see how that kind of
assurance and confidence is created? It would’ve been easy enough for
the author to write, “We draw near with the confidence of a paid mem-
 Page 38

bership, with the full assurance that we’ve done what’s necessary to earn
access to the presence of God.” But he didn’t write that. Instead the au-
thor mentions three reasons why we can have this kind of confident as-
surance to stand in God’s presence without fear.
First, we have this confidence “by the blood of Jesus”; second, “by
the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain”; and
third, because “we have a great high priest over the house of God.” All
three of those reasons for confidence—Christ’s blood, the torn curtain of
the temple, and Christ’s role as great high priest—have to do with Jesus’
death in the place of His people.
Do you see the point the author of Hebrews is making? Our confi-
dence and assurance that we can enter God’s presence—that we can in
fact stand before Him with no fear of being thrown out—are actually cre-
ated by recognizing that our access to Him is based not at all on anything
in us or about us, but rather on Jesus Christ’s work for us.
Full Assurance
This is a critical point to grasp in our fight for assurance. Most
Christians would readily affirm that our right to enter the presence of
God, to draw near to Him, was won for us by Christ in His life, death, and
resurrection. That’s not what causes our problems.
Our trouble begins when we ask, “Well, okay, but how can I draw
near to God in confidence, with full assurance?” And for many of us, the
answer that lurks in the back of our minds is that even if Jesus has
brought us into the presence of God, we dare not enjoy being there, or
have any assurance of the appropriateness of our being there, or have
any sense of the safety and rightness of our being there unless we now
earn it ourselves.
Jesus may have gotten us here, we think, but now we need to prove
we belong. But do you see how these verses from Hebrews 10 cut hard
against that way of thinking? Jesus doesn’t barely sneak us into the pres-
ence of God; it actually gives us every right in the universe to be there—
 Union with Christ Page 39

and to be there with confidence and joy. And therefore the work of
Christ on our behalf actually creates confidence and assurance; it is a
source of assurance. The more we understand it, embrace it, and cherish
it, the greater our sense of confi-
dence and assurance will be.
Our confidence that we belong in
the presence of God is not self-
“We should stand in God’s presence with
confidence; it’s Christ-confidence.
confidence and assurance, he says, but not The fact is, our minds and hearts
because we’ve paid our own dues…” will always look for a way to find
self-assurance. More than any-
thing else, we desperately want to
justify our presence before God’s
throne, to show the universe and
maybe even God Himself that even if we’re saved by grace, God ultimate-
ly made a good choice. We want to make it clear that we belong, and
then we’ll stand in God’s presence with confidence. But the author of
Hebrews rules that kind of thinking right out of bounds.
We should stand in God’s presence with confidence and assurance,
he says, but not because we’ve paid our own dues or proved our own
mettle. We stand there with confidence solely because of what Jesus has
done for us. Our confidence that we belong in the presence of God is not
self-confidence; it’s Christ-confidence.
 Page 40

Union with Christ

By Richard Gaffin

The expres-
sion “union
with Christ”
refers the be-
liever’s soli-
darity or asso-
ciation with
Christ, by the
Holy Spirit
and through
faith, by vir-
tue of which
believers partake of His saving benefits.
This article explores the meaning and significance of union with
Christ in its various dimensions and concludes with a brief examination
of two related questions: union with Christ as it relates to the unity of
the history of salvation and to the believer’s justification.
Union with Christ: An Overview
While the expression “union with Christ” does not occur in the Bi-
 Union with Christ Page 41

ble, it describes the fundamental reality of the salvation revealed there,

from its eternal design to its eschatological consummation.
Human beings are created in God’s image, to live in fellowship and
communion (covenant) with God, trusting His promises and obeying His
commands, loving and being loved. Sin, however, has destroyed this fel-
lowship bond by rendering humanity both guilty and corrupt, alienated
from God and deserving death. In response, God, as Savior, has under-
taken to restore and perfect the life and communion lost. This saving
purpose, intimated already in Genesis 3:14-15, unfolds toward its fulfill-
ment primarily through God’s ongoing dealings with Israel as His cove-
nant people.
This covenant bond between God and Israel is expressed in various
ways, but perhaps most evocatively in the description of God Himself as
their “portion” (Psalm 73:26; 119:57; Jeremiah 10:16). Reciprocally—
within the fellowship bond of the covenant—Israel is “the Lord’s por-
tion” (Deuteronomy 32:9; Isaiah 53:1), “Therefore I will divide him [the
messianic servant of the Lord] a portion with the many,” a prophetic ref-
erence to the Church as Christ’s “portion”).
The climactic realization of this covenantal bond between the triune
God and His people centers in union with Christ. The Emmanuel princi-
ple—“God with us”—that marks and controls covenant history from be-
ginning to end comes to its consummate fulfilment in union with Christ.
This union finds its most prominent New Testament expression in
the phrase “in Christ” / “in the Lord” (with slight variations), occurring
frequently and almost exclusively in Paul’s letters (John 14:20; 15:4-7; 1st
John 2:28). Scholarly debate about the meaning of the phrase ranges
from a purely instrumental understanding of the preposition “in”, to a lo-
cal or atmospheric sense, and even the notion of an actual physical un-
ion between Christ and believers. In fact, Paul’s usage is varied, its scope
best gauged by the contrast between Adam and Christ, as the second or
last Adam (Romans 5:12-19; 1st Corinthians 15:20-23; 45, 47). What
each does is determinative for the destiny, respectively, for those “in
 Page 42

Him”.
For those “in Christ” this union or solidarity is all-encompassing; it
extends from eternity to eternity. They are united to Christ not only in
their present possession of salvation, but also in its past, once-for-all ac-
complishment (Romans 6:3-7; Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 2:5-6; Colos-
sians 3:1-4), in their election “before
the foundation of the world” (Ephesians
1:4, 9), and in their still future glorifi- “In applica on there is only a single
cation (Romans 8:17; 1 Corinthians
st
union, with dis nguishable but
15:22).
inseparable legal and renova ve
Accordingly, we may categorize,
being “in Christ” as either predestinari- aspects.”
an, or past/redemptive-historical—the
union involved in the once-for-all ac-
complishment of salvation (historia salutis)—or present, looking towards
Christ’s return—union in the actual possession or application of salva-
tion (ordo salutis). Another way of distinguishing these different aspects
of union is “the eternal, the incarnational and the existential” (S. Fergu-
son).
In making such distinctions it is important to keep in mind that
they refer to different aspects or phases of the same union, not to differ-
ent unions. One ought not to think, as sometimes happens, in terms of
two different unions in the application of salvation (the ordo salutis)—the
one legal and representative, the other mystical and spiritual in the sense
of being renovative, with the former seen as antecedent to the latter. To
do that sacrifices the integral unity of the Bible’s outlook on the believer’s
union with Christ, who can’t be “divided” (Calvin). In application there is
only a single union, with distinguishable but inseparable legal and reno-
vative aspects. At the same time, it is certainly no less important to
maintain both aspects and to do so without equivocating on them—either
by denying either aspect or blurring the distinction between them.
Present union, union in the actual appropriation of salvation, pre-
 Union with Christ Page 43

supposes the continuation of the representative and substitutionary na-

ture of union in both its predestinarian and past redemptive-historical
aspects. To see Christ only as a representative for those in union with
Him, particularly as no more than a representative example and not also
as their sin-and-wrath-bearing substitute, seriously distorts biblical
teaching about the work of Christ and the bond between Him and His
people.
Present union, then, may be considered as marked by four interre-
lated aspects: mystical, spiritual, vital, and indissoluble. Both mystical—
a standard, classical designation—and spiritual are subject to misunder-
standing. This view is not a mysticism of ecstatic experience at odds with
or indifferent to reasoned understanding. Rather, union with Christ is a
mystery in the New Testament sense of what has been hidden with God
in His eternal purposes, but now, finally, has been revealed in Christ,
particularly in His death and resurrection (Romans 16:25-26; Colossians
1:26-27; 2:2).
Certainly, the full dimensions of this revealed mystery are beyond
the believer’s comprehension. Involved here as much as in anything per-
taining to salvation is the hallmark of all true theological understanding:
the knowledge of Christ’s love “that sur-
passes knowledge”, the knowledge of
what in its depths is beyond all human
“The clima c comparison is to the knowing (Ephesians 3:18-29; 1st Corin-
unique union in being between Father, thians 2:9).
Son, and Spirit.” Ephesians 5:32 highlights the intimacy
of this union (“a profound mystery”, NIV)
by comparing it to the relationship be-
tween husband and wife. Elsewhere,
other relational analogies bring out various facets of union: the founda-
tion-cornerstone together with the other stones of a building (Ephesians
2:19-22; 1st Peter 2:4-6); a vine and its branches (John 15:1-7); the head
and the other members of the human body (1st Corinthians 12:12-27);
 Page 44

the genetic tie between Adam and his posterity (Romans 5:12-19). The
climactic comparison is to the unique union in being between Father,
Son, and Spirit (John 17:20-23).
Similarity is not identity, but especially this inner-Trinitarian analo-
gy shows that the highest kind of union that exists for an image-bearing
creature is the union of the believer with Christ, as He has now been ex-
alted. “The greatest mystery of creaturely relationships is the union of
God’s people with Christ, and the mys-
tery of it is attested by nothing less than
this, that it is compared to the unity
“As Spiritual, then, mys cal union is that exists in the Trinity” (John Murray).
Mystical union is spiritual, not in an im-
also inherently vital.”
material, unsubstantial sense, but be-
cause of the activity and indwelling of
the Holy Spirit. To avoid misunderstand-
ing, using Spiritual, capitalized, is advis-
able. Spiritual circumscribes the mystery and protects against confusing
it with other kinds of union. As Spiritual, the union involved is neither
ontological (like that between the persons of the Trinity), nor hypostatic
(between Christ’s two natures), nor psycho-somatic (between body and
soul in the human personality), nor somatic (between husband and wife),
nor merely moral (unity in affection, understanding, purpose).
Spiritual union stems from the climactic and intimate relationship
between Christ and the Holy Spirit. Because of His resurrection, the in-
carnate Christ (“the last Adam”) has been so transformed by the Spirit
and is now in such complete possession of the Spirit that He has
“become life-giving Spirit” (1st Corinthians 15:45) and as a result, “the
Lord [Christ] is the Spirit” (2nd Corinthians 3:17). This view—without any
compromise of the eternal ontological distinction between the second and
third persons of the Trinity—is the functional or working identity of
Christ as exalted and the Spirit, their oneness in the activity of giving
resurrection-life and eschatological freedom.
 Union with Christ Page 45

In the life of the Church and within believers, then, Christ and the
Spirit are inseparable (John 14:18), and mystical union, as it is Spiritual,
is reciprocal. Not only are believers in Christ, He is “in them” (John
14:20; 17:23, 26); “Christ in you, the hope of glory”, (Colossians 1:27). In
Romans 8:9-10, “in the Spirit”, “the Spirit in you”, “belonging to
Christ” (equivalent to “in Christ”), and “Christ in you” are four facets of a
single union. To have “His Spirit in your inner being” is for “Christ…[to]
dwell in your hearts” (Ephesians 3:16-17).
As Spiritual, then, mystical union is also inherently vital. It is a life-
union (cf. “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus”, Romans 8:2, KJV/
NKJ/NASB). Christ indwelling by the Spirit is the very life of the believer:
“I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20 NIV), “your life is
hidden with Christ in God”, “Christ who is your life” (Colossians 3:3-4).
Finally, union with Christ is indissoluble. It is rooted in the uncon-
ditional and immutable decree of divine election “in him [Christ] before
the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4). The salvation eternally pur-
posed for believers “in Christ” is infallibly certain of reaching its eschato-
logical consummation in their future resurrection-glorification “in
Christ” (Romans 8:17; 1st Corinthians 15:22-23). This hope, especially as
it involves the enduring, unbreakable permanence of their union with
Christ (Romans 8:38-39), finds quite striking expression in the Westmin-
ster Shorter Catechism (Answer 37): “The souls of believers are at their
death made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory; and
their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves till the res-
urrection” (emphasis added).
Related Issues
Two further matters may be addressed to round out this overview of
union with Christ.
1. Union with Christ and the Unity of the History of
Salvation
Union with Christ is present only in the New Testament. Union is
 Page 46

specifically with Christ as He has been exalted—with Christ who is now

who He has become because of His incarnation and consequent obedi-
ent life, death, resurrection, ascension, and present heavenly session.
As such, exalted, He is the source of all the benefits of the salvation He
has accomplished as these benefits are applied to believers.
This raises the issue of salvation under the Old Covenant. How
were sinners saved before Christ’s coming into history in “the fullness of
time” (Galatians 4:4), before His death and
resurrection—in other words, when union
with Him as exalted was not yet a reality? “There is, then, fundamental
The answer lies in recognizing that union con nuity in the applica on of
with Christ—a distinctive privilege of believ- salva on…”
ers under the New Covenant—is fellowship in
covenant with God in its ultimate, eschato-
logical form. As noted above, union with Christ is the consummate reali-
zation of the Emmanuel reality—God with us—that has governed cove-
nant history from its beginning. Prior to the coming of Christ and the in-
auguration of the New Covenant, this bond of covenantal fellowship be-
tween God and His people already existed in its provisional and less
than climactic form, beginning at the fall with God’s commitment to be
their God and Savior (Genesis 3:15; Exodus 6:7; Jeremiah 11:4).
Under the Old Covenant, then, salvation was by way of trusting
God’s promise to be fulfilled in the future coming of the Messiah, Jesus,
who “will save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). So certain was
the future fulfillment of that promise in Christ’s once-for-all accomplish-
ment of salvation (historia salutis), that its basic benefits—both judicial
and renovative—were applied (ordo salutis) to Old Covenant believers
ahead of time; prospectively, prior to and in anticipation of the finished
work of Christ in history.
So, in the New Testament we find that primary examples of justifi-
cation by faith are Old Covenant believers—whether before or after the
giving of the law at Sinai makes no difference—Abraham (Romans 4; Ga-
 Union with Christ Page 47

latians 3) and David (Romans 4). Further, their justifying faith is hardly
something they had of themselves or in their own strength, but only be-
cause they had been regenerated by the Spirit. Both Old and New Cove-
nant believers are “children of promise”, as both have been “born ac-
cording to the Spirit” (Galatians 4:28-29).
There is, then, fundamental continuity in the application of salva-
tion (the ordo salutis) between the Old and New Covenants. Under both,
the benefits of Christ’s work are received within the bond of covenanted
fellowship with the Triune God (cf. Westminster Confession of Faith 7.5–
6; 11.6 for a helpful formulation of this state of affairs). The great, un-
precedented difference, however, is this: New Covenant believers are
privileged to enjoy that fellowship bond in its consummate and most in-
timate form as union with Christ now exalted.
2. Union with Christ and Justification
Especially since the Reformation, a perennially important issue,
both in interpreting Scripture (especially Paul) and formulating church
doctrine, has been the relationship between union with Christ and justi-
fication, between the participatory and the forensic aspects of salvation
applied.
On the one hand, these are not merely alternate metaphors, as if
one or the other may be ignored or otherwise dispensed with without
sacrificing anything essential to and for salvation. But neither may un-
ion simply be coordinated as just one in a series of acts or facets in the
application of salvation (the ordo salutis), with union viewed as following
justification logically and causally as its result. Rather, as Calvin has al-
ready pointed the way, faithful to the New Testament, being united to
Christ by faith through “the secret energy of the Spirit” (Institutes, 3.1.1)
establishes the all-embracing bond within which the believer—without
either separation or confusion of either benefit of the basic “two-fold
grace” flowing from union—is both reckoned righteous and renewed in
righteousness.
On the much discussed relationship of union and justification it
 Page 48

seems difficult to improve on these words of Calvin, as incisive and as

they are eloquent (Institutes, 3.11.10):
“I confess that we are deprived of this utterly incomparable good
[righteousness] until Christ is made ours. Therefore, that joining to-
gether of Head and members, that indwelling of Christ in our
hearts—in short, that mystical union—are accorded by us the high-
est degree of importance, so that Christ, having been made ours,
makes us sharers with him in the gifts with which he has been en-
dowed. We do not, therefore, contemplate him outside ourselves
from afar in order that his righteousness may be imputed to us but
because we put on Christ and are engrafted into his body—in short,
because he deigns to make us one with him. For this reason, we glo-
ry that we have fellowship of righteousness with him.”
 Union with Christ Page 49

10 Things You Should Know

About Union with Christ

By Marcus Johnson

To some,
our union
with Christ
is a mys-
tery; an am-
biguous
thing that
seems ra-
ther unde-
finable. In this
article, we will
discuss 10
things concern-
ing our union with Christ and how it affects our everyday walk with
Him.
One
The Bible contains an astonishing number of terms, expressions,
and images that bear witness to the reality of our being made one with
Christ Jesus. In the New Testament we find literally hundreds of refer-
ences to the believer’s union with Christ. To cite merely a few examples,
believers are created in Christ (Ephesians 2:10), crucified with Him
 Page 50

(Galatians 2:20), buried with Him (Colossians 2:12), baptized into Christ
and His death (Romans 6:3), united with Him in His resurrection
(Romans 6:5), seated with Him in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6),
Christ is formed in believers (Galatians 4:19) and dwells in our hearts
(Ephesians 3:17), and the Church is the Body of Christ (1st Corinthians
6:15, 12:27). Christ is in us (2nd Corinthians 13:5) and we are in Him
(1st Corinthians 1:30), the Church is one flesh with Christ (Ephesians
5:31-32), believers gain Christ and are found in Him (Philippians 3:8-9).
Furthermore, in Christ we are justified (Romans 8:1), glorified
(8:30), sanctified (1st Corinthians 1:2), called into fellowship with Him
(1st Corinthians 1:9), made alive (Ephesians 2:5), created anew (2nd Co-
rinthians 5:17), adopted (Galatians 3:25), and elected (Ephesians 1:4-5).
Whew! All this without reference to the Gospel and letters of John! Suf-
fice it to say, union with Christ is an absolutely fundamental gospel
conviction of the Apostles—dear to them because it was so dear to their
Lord.
Two
When we are joined to Jesus, we are included in the greatest mys-
tery of the universe—the Incarnation of God. C.S. Lewis calls the incar-
nation of God the Son the “central miracle” of Christianity. He is right.
The redemption, restoration, re-creation, and reconciliation of sinners—
and all of creation besides—depends entirely on the supreme fact that
God, without ever ceasing to be fully who He is, became fully who we
are in and as Christ Jesus. Why did God do this? Why is it, in other
words, that the “Word became flesh”? The principal reason underlying
all the other magnificent reasons that God the Son united Himself to
our humanity is this: that by the Holy Spirit we may be united to Christ
and so enjoy His fellowship with the Father forever. This is eternal life
(John 17:3).
Three
Our union with Christ is profoundly real and intensely intimate.
 Union with Christ Page 51

Union with Christ is not a sentiment, metaphor, or illustration—or even

primarily a “doctrine”. Nor is it a way of speaking about something else—
whether justification, sanctification, or any other benefit of Christ (even
if it includes all of these and more!). Our union with the living Christ is
the essential truth of our new and eternal existence. In a way that glori-
ously transcends our finite understanding, we are really and truly
joined—spiritually and bodily—to the crucified, resurrected, incarnate
person of Christ. There is no better news than this!
Four
Because union with Christ is so central to the Gospel, it has reso-
nated in the teaching and preaching of the Church throughout the ages.
Unsurprisingly, given the ubiquity of the theme in the Scriptures, there
is a massive chorus of churchly voices who have emphasized the signifi-
cance of being united to Christ. This historic theological chorus includes
the likes of Irenaeus, Athanasius, Augustine, Cyril of Alexandria, Ber-
nard of Clairvaux, Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Cotton, and Jona-
than Edwards (to name but a few).
According to Calvin, our union with Christ is to be accorded “the
highest degree of importance.” Why? Because being joined to Jesus is
the whole point of the gospel: “For this is the design of the gospel, that
Christ may become ours, and that we may be in-grafted into his body.”
Five
Justification is a magnificent benefit of being united to Christ. We
are not united to Christ because we have been justified. It is quite the
other way around: we are justified because we have been united to
Christ, who is Himself our justification (1st Corinthians 1:30). We receive
Christ’s benefits precisely and only because we receive Christ. Martin
Luther knew this well: “But so far as justification is concerned, Christ
and I must be so closely attached that He lives in me and I in Him. What
a marvelous way of speaking! Because He lives in me, whatever grace,
righteousness, life, peace, and salvation there is in me is all Christ’s;
 Page 52

nevertheless it is mine as well, by the cementing and attachment that

are through faith, by which we become as one body in the Spirit.”
Six
Sanctification is a magnificent benefit of being united to Christ.
Christ is our justification, and He is no less our sanctification (1st Corin-
thians 1:30). Thus, united to Him, we are not only forgiven and account-
ed righteous, we are also transformed into His holy image. In giving us
Himself, Christ will no more leave us condemned and guilty (unjustified)
than He will leave us corrupted and depraved (unsanctified). This is be-
cause, as Calvin so incisively put it, “Christ cannot be divided into piec-
es.” Jesus is not a partial Savior of a piecemeal gospel. When we are
joined to Christ, we receive all of who He is for us.
Seven
Adoption is a magnificent benefit of being united to Christ. Christ’s
self-giving is extravagant. He binds us so completely to Himself that we
come to share in all that He is as Savior. The gift of sharing in His son-
ship (adoption) is perhaps the most extravagant gift of them all. When
we are joined to Christ by the Spirit, we come to share in the love be-
tween the Father and the Son—the very same love the Father has for
His beloved Son (John 17:23). As such, God the Father loves us no less
than He does His own eternal Son. This love is the love of all loves: it is
indissoluble, it brooks no opposition, and is endlessly and everlastingly
life giving and joyful. In Christ, we really and truly are the sons and
daughters of God forever.
Eight
The Church is constituted by her union with Jesus Christ. The re-
ality of salvation and the reality of the Church are in fact one and the
same reality. To be united to Christ is what it means to be saved. At the
same time, to be united to Christ is what it means to be the Church: the
Church, after all, is the body and bride of Christ. A distinction, therefore,
between a doctrine of salvation and a doctrine of the Church can only be
 Union with Christ Page 53

but artificial. There is no salvation outside the Church, historic evangeli-

cals have always asserted, just exactly because there is no salvation out-
side of Christ. We are saved in Christ, and we are the Church in Christ. It
is the same wonderful gospel.
Nine
Baptism is God’s pledge to us of our union with Christ. In the wa-
ters of baptism, God impresses upon our bodies the truth and reality of
our incorporation into the death, burial, and resurrection of the living
Christ. Baptism, in other words, is a visible and tangible experience of
the exceedingly good news (gospel) that we have been crucified in
Christ’s death and raised to new life in Christ’s resurrection. Baptism is
the sacrament (“mystery”) of our new crucified and resurrected identity
in Christ Jesus. Baptism is the “gospel in water”, allowing us to experi-
ence in our bodies the truth that we are immersed forever into Jesus
Christ.
Ten
The Lord’s Supper is God’s pledge to us of our union with Christ. In
the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper, God impresses in our bodies
the truth and reality of our ongoing participation in the living Savior. The
Lord’s Supper, in other words, is a visible and edible experience of the
exceedingly good news (gospel) that Christ dwells in us and that we dwell
in Him.
Christ brought us into the eternal life that He is by giving us Him-
self, and He continues to nourish and sustain us through His real pres-
ence. We have really and truly become one with Christ through His gos-
pel, and we continue to receive Christ through the gospel of bread and
wine that He has ordained as means of His ongoing presence to His Body
and Bride. “Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a par-
ticipation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a par-
ticipation in the body of Christ?” (1st Corinthians 10:16). Yes, indeed. His
body and blood, our salvation.
 Page 54

10 Things You Should Know

About Communion with
Christ

By Benjamin Skaug

Commun-
ion with
Christ is
central to
our rela-
tionship
with Him.
This article will
provide us with
a look at 10
basic concepts
that every
Christian
should know re-
garding his/her communion with Christ.
1. Our Communion with Christ Assumes Being in
Union with Christ.
In Communion with God, John Owen states, “Our communion with
God consists in his communication of himself to us, with our return to
him of that which he requires and accepts, flowing from that union
 Union with Christ Page 55

which in Jesus Christ we have with him.”

Before we can have communion (or fellowship) with Christ, we must
first be in right relationship with Him. That relationship can only come
from our being in union with Christ. Our union with Christ is a mon-
ergistic act of divine grace that calls, cove-
nantally binds, and applies all of Christ’s
redemptive work to us. Through our union
“His Kingdom is now our kingdom
with Christ, we have regeneration, conver-
and His glory is now our daily sion (faith and repentance), justification,
pursuit.” sanctification, and glorification. It is rooted
in divine election and grounded in the
salvific work of Jesus. For the saints of God,
this binding union relationship cannot—and
will not—be changed. At the moment of conversion, we are forever the
adopted sons and daughters of God through Christ.
2. Our Communion with Christ is Our Enduring
Fellowship with Christ.
Now that we are united to Christ, we are called to have authentic
fellowship with our Lord and Savior. Paul reminds us that we have been
given this privilege by the Father: “God is faithful, by whom you were
called into the fellowship (koinonia) of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1st
Corinthians 1:9). We have not been called into the type of union whereby
two strangers are dwelling together under the same roof. Rather, we are
called into a sweet and intimate type of koinonia, in which our lives are
necessarily interwoven with Christ. His will, plans, and affections must
grow into and become our will, plans, and affections. His Kingdom is
now our kingdom and His glory is now our daily pursuit.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told His disciples that they are
to put away the normal worries of this world and “seek first the kingdom
of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to
you” (Matthew 6:33). As King Jesus builds His kingdom, part of our com-
 Page 56

munion with Him is our joining with Christ to seek and pursue His
kingdom.
3. Our Communion with Christ is Fueled By Our
Love for Christ.
The greatest command in Scripture is to “love the Lord your God
with all of your heart and with all of your soul and with all of your
mind” (Matthew 22:37). This command certainly applies to our love of
Jesus Christ: “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not wor-
thy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy
of me” (Matthew 10:37). Our love for Christ must be our greatest desire
as we live out our communion with Him, since it drives and shapes our
side of the fellowship. Just as God’s love for us was demonstrated in the
Father’s sending of the Son to save sinners (Romans 5:8), and the Son’s
love for us was seen in His laying down His life for the people of God
(John 15:13), so too our love for Christ syn-
chronizes our lives as we seek deeper and
more intimate communion with Him.
“We need to learn to hate sin 4. Our Communion with Christ is
because God hates sin.” Celebrated through Our Obedi-
ence to Christ.
In John 14, Jesus points out that our love for
Christ is displayed in our obedience to God.
He says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15)
and “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves
me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him
and manifest myself to him” (John 14:21).
Paul reminds us that through our being baptized into Christ Jesus
(union with Christ) that we are also baptized into Christ’s death, burial,
and resurrection (Romans 6). Since Christ was raised, we too are made
alive in Christ in order to live to God in obedience (Romans 6:8-10). By
the grace of God (Romans 6:14), believers are called and equipped to
 Union with Christ Page 57

“present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to
life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness” (Romans
6:13). Thus, as we seek to deepen our fellowship with Christ, we must be
willing to live a life of daily obedience. Now that we are united to Christ,
we are called to have authentic fellowship with our Lord and Savior.
5. Our Communion with Christ is Impeded by Our
Sin.
While our union with Christ cannot be hindered or broken, the
sweetness and intimacy of our fellowship with Christ can be hampered
through sin. Much like a marriage can be hurt when a covenant partner
commits wrong, so too can our communion with Christ suffer when we
fail to demonstrate our love to Him through obedience. Each moment of
willful sin can erode and chip away at our communion with Christ: “If
we say that we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we
lie and do not practice truth” (1st John 1:6).
Moreover, when we sin against the God of perfect holiness, He will
bring loving discipline as a Father to a son: “My son, do not regard lightly
the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the
Lord disciplines the ones he loves, and chastises every son whom he re-
ceives” (Hebrews 12:5-6).
So how can Christians enjoy communion with Christ this side of
glorification knowing that our sin harms the tenderness of the relation-
ship? We need to learn to hate sin because God hates sin. We have to re-
member that just as Christ has made us alive together with Him in His
resurrection, He has also baptized us into His death (Romans 6:3). This
means that we are no longer bound to our former fallen natures as the
old self has died to sin (Romans 6:2), been buried in Christ’s burial
(Romans 6:4), and crucified in Christ’s crucifixion so that we are no
longer enslaved to sin (Romans 6:6). In other words, we should “consider
ourselves dead to sin” (Romans 6:11) because sin is no longer our goal.
Rather, our new goal is to live for Christ’s glory in righteousness
 Page 58

(Romans 6:19). By the power of the Holy Spirit indwelling us, we can say
no to sin and walk in obedience.
6. Our Communion with Christ is Re-energized
through Our Repentance.
When we sin, we distort our communion with Christ. However,
when we authentically repent of our sin and seek forgiveness, God is
faithful to forgive us: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves,
and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to
forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1st John
1:8-9). This repentance is not the initial repentance of sin that takes
place in our union with Christ (we understand that all of the sins of the
people of God are forgiven at the moment of conversion: faith and re-
pentance). Rather, this is the repentance of sin that understands that
our continued iniquities hurt our communion with Christ. Thus, with
hurting hearts and authentic sorrow, we seek a mended fellowship with
Christ through the confession and repentance of sin.
7. Our Communion with Christ is Grounded in Our
Commitment to the Word of God.
We cannot love that which we do not know. Moreover, as sinful
creatures, we can love the idea of someone more than we love the actual
person. This must not be the case in our communion with Christ. God
has uniquely revealed Himself to us through His word. Thus, if we are to
sincerely know the Lord whom we are united to, then we must be com-
mitted to the study of God’s word.
The Bible communicates who Christ is: He is the Son of God
(Matthew 8:29), the revelation of the Father (Hebrews 1:3-4), the Lamb
of God (John 1:29), the Root of David (Revelation 5:5), Immanuel
(Matthew 1:23), our bridegroom (Matthew 9:15), the “I Am” (John 8:56-
58), our Redeemer (Romans 3:24), the seed of the woman, the Good
Shepherd (John 10:11), our propitiation (1st John 2:2), and our great
high priest (Hebrews 4:14-16). All of these names and titles are found in
 Union with Christ Page 59

the word of God and await the adopted child of God who seeks to under-
stand Christ. As we grow in our understanding of Christ, we also grow in
our fellowship with Him.
8. Our Communion with Christ is Demonstrated
through Our Love and Service to Others.
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just
as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people
will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one anoth-
er” (John 13:34-35). Certainly, our communion with Christ is a private
and intimate matter. But there is a large portion of it that is public and
authentically demonstrated (avoiding the heart of hypocrisy; see Mat-
thew 6:1-8) by our love for others. Since we are called to love God and
love the things/people that He loves, then we are also called to love peo-
ple. In fact, Jesus says that loving God and neighbor are the two com-
mandments which the entire law and prophets depend upon (Matthew
22:37-40). Put another way, no one can love God and fellowship with
Christ without loving others. Thus, our true love, devotion, and service
to others in the name of Christ is an authentic demonstration of our
communion with Christ.
9. Our Communion with Christ is Tested through
Persecution and Suffering.
Every authentic believer will face suffering and persecution because
of Christ: “Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater
than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute
you” (John 15:18). Peter reminds us that these ordeals are tests:
“Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to
test you, as though something strange were happening to you” (1st Peter
4:12). Our union with Christ ensures that we will suffer and these mo-
ments of suffering are tests of our communion with Christ.
When we suffer as believers, we have a few options concerning our
response. We can suffer with a hard heart and complain against God,
 Page 60

grumble against Him, and question His sovereignty in our lives. This ap-
proach will not enhance our communion with Christ. Or we can cry out
to God, lean upon Him, trust Him, and depend upon Him to deliver us
from or persevere us through our sufferings. This later approach will im-
prove our communion with Christ since it brings increased trust and
communication with Him.
10. Our Communion with Christ is Strengthened
through Consistent Prayer.
Prayer is our opportunity to communicate with God through
Christ. While forsaking prayer does not break our union with Christ, it
certainly harms our fellowship with Him. When a marital partner ne-
glects the other through a failure to communicate, the relationship is
hindered. On the other hand, when husbands and wives communicate
positively with one another in consistent patterns, then the marriage is
enhanced. The same holds true for our communication to Christ
through prayer. When we pray, we tend to feel more connected to
Christ. Through prayer we can seek God’s: wisdom, protection, healing,
will, counsel, direction, abundance, closeness, and sanctification in our
lives (and those of others). All of our godly communication with Christ
through prayer greatly strengthens our communion with Him.
 Union with Christ Page 61

Union with Christ When You

Don’t Fit In

By Heather Nelson

Social shame asks the

questions: Where do I be-
long? Who am I? Who
are my people? Who can
be trusted? None of these
questions can or will be answered
perfectly by any person, place,
community, or church. Your expe-
rience tells you this truth.
But the truth is that in order to be
in safe, secure relationships within
safe and secure communities and
churches, someone has to go first.
Someone has to take the risk, the
plunge, into vulnerability. It’s the
only hope of connection. I cannot
empathize with pain that I do not
know about—that you have hidden
from me or others. One troubling
aspect of the modern-day church
in America is that there are few
 Page 62

people who are brave and courageous enough to risk going first (which
contributes to the church’s reputation as a community where it’s not
safe to be real and vulnerable). The trailblazer always has a more diffi-
cult time than those who follow.
The problem then is how will you have courage to be the trailblaz-
er, to pioneer your way forward past the relational barriers shame cre-
ates between us, barriers of fear and insecurity and people-pleasing?
There is only one I know who can make us brave enough for such a
task—who can give us the honor and secure belonging we desire. He is
the one who made the way for us to return to God—who repaired the sin
-broken trail of relationship to God through His life, death, and resur-
rection on our behalf. Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the
life” (John 14:6), and then did the impossible so that we could live cou-
rageously in relationship with God and lead the way in restoring rela-
tionships with others. Jesus was excluded by all and abandoned by His
friends in a time of need so that we could always be welcomed into rela-
tionship. At His greatest hour of pain and separation, even God the Fa-
ther turned His back on Him. God’s “Beloved Son, in whom I am well
pleased” became the one who alone cried out, “My God, my God! Why
have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 3:17; 17:5; 27:46). God rejected Jesus
in a moment of agony on the cross in order that we would be eternally
embraced through faith in this sacrificed Savior.
Jesus’ closest friends on earth—His disciples—abandoned Him
when they fell asleep during His hour of greatest need, and then fearful-
ly fled as soon as He was arrested. Trailblazing the way to salvation was
a lonely path, filled with social shame, as Jesus was repeatedly rejected
and abandoned. Jesus is ready and waiting for you to call on Him.
He is Quick to Answer
What motivated Him? It was love and joy. Hebrews talks about “the
joy that was set before him”, which helped Him to “endure the cross, des-
pising the shame”, and which led Him to the victorious, secure place
where He “is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews
 Union with Christ Page 63

12:2). This throne is described no longer as a throne of judgment, but a

throne of grace—where we may receive help in our time of need (Hebrews
4:16). And, oh, how we need help! How needy we are! We need grace to
first admit how much we need it. Ephesians 2:8 says that even this is a
gift of God—faith to believe in grace. And we need courage to believe we
have the grace for which we ask.
When you cry out to this Savior—this made-vulnerable-to-you
One—He is quick to answer. There is no waiting for a response, as we
must do with every other person. Even the most attentive friend, spouse,
roommate, or parent is not available 24/7. God gives us the Holy Spirit
through Jesus, who is interceding for us even when we sleep (Romans
8:26-27; Hebrews 7:25). Jesus is ready and waiting for you to call on
Him.
This perfect love begins to drive out your fear of shame. That’s what
social shame is at its core. It is fear of being shamed, of experiencing re-
lational rejection or exclusion. Andy Crouch writes, “Shame is always
seen and recognized by the community. Social shame, as well as honor,
is all too obvious to all concerned.”1 Add to this Ed Welch’s words in
Shame Interrupted: “At the very heart of shame is the absence of rela-
tionships, the absence of being known, personal isolation.”2 God never
excludes you, but is always calling out for you and seeking to know you;
and He has made you part of a community where you have eternal be-
longing.

References:

1. Andy Crouch, “The Good News about Shame,” Christianity Today (March 2015): 37.
2. Ed Welch, Shame Interrupted: How God Lifts the Pain of Worthlessness and Rejection (Greensboro, NC: New Growth Press, 2012), 229.
 Page 64

Practical Suggestions for

Cultivating Communion with
God

By Kelly Kapic

Does the idea of commun-

ion with God draw you in
or push you away? There is
much in our lives that distracts and
prevents us from experiencing genu-
ine communion with God. Living in
a fast-paced society, with endless
demands and countless opportuni-
ties, can mean that slowing down to
commune with God can seem indul-
gent, if not outright impossible.
Amid our busyness, we can even
find ourselves feeling guilty when we
are not constantly accomplishing
things.
But interpersonal relationships
are not “things” to be accomplished.
They are more about “being” than
“doing”, and they need attentive-
ness, mutual exchange, and care to
flourish. Relationships cannot be
 Union with Christ Page 65

life-giving sources of strength if we are not present in and to them. Com-

munion with God is a deep need for every human, whether we
acknowledge the need or not. Communion with God is how we were
made to function, and it is ultimately about a loving and very present re-
lationship with the triune Creator. Communion with God is how we were
made to function.
As Christians, we are called to cultivate loving concern for other
people, but this must always be understood in light of how we are drawn
into a life-giving relationship with God Himself (Deuteronomy 6:4-5; 7:7-
9; Leviticus 19:34; 1st John 4:19). We are commanded to love and obey
God, not because God is a tyrannical dictator, but because He created
human beings to be lovers and He knows what makes for human flour-
ishing. His is the way of “life and good” as opposed to the way of “death
and evil” (Deuteronomy 30:15-20).
We were made to enjoy our Creator, to bask in His faithful pres-
ence. He knows how life-giving communion with Him works, and He
grieves over how sin threatens to distort our fellowship with Him. Love,
even with the Creator, is meant to be mutual, not simply unidirectional:
we are to listen and speak, to receive and give. Being in communion with
God and with others is the key to human flourishing (Ephesians 4:32-
5:1).
The Challenge
So why is communion with God so challenging? Our sin and the sin
in the world destroy communion and drive us to flee from God. But we
were designed to delight in our Creator, to find His presence and power
as our great comfort and strength. As believers we not only have been
rescued from the damning consequences of sin, but also have been invit-
ed into restored fellowship with God.
The world is still broken, and so are we. This brokenness affects
every part of us, including (and especially) our relationship with God.
Once we discover forgiveness and the promise of communion with the
God of the universe, we are ushered into a holy sanctuary. In His divine
 Page 66

presence we inevitably see our sin, but we also discover the depth of His
grace and the incredible truth that He desires to be with us. He desires
communion with us so much that He died in order to make it possible
(Romans 5:6-8).
Once we have been embraced by
Christ, our vision should focus much less “Biblically, there is a strong
on our sin and much more on the riches of
connec on between loving
God’s mercy and love. But how do we get to
this place of restored vision and hope? It is widows, orphans, prisoners, and
in and through our renewed communion the poor, and loving Jesus…”
with the triune Creator that we experience
genuine security, the intimacy of being a
child of God, and the transforming power that comes through fellowship
with Him. This side of glory, we have only tastes of such unhindered
communion, but these tastes point forward to what is to come and give
us strength for ourselves and strength for those around us.
How to Cultivate Communion with God
We don’t need to go on a three-day retreat or read extensive theo-
logical treatises in order to enjoy communion with God. What we do
need is to learn to savor the love, grace, and fellowship of our triune God
(2nd Corinthians 13:14). As we meditate on the mercy of God in Christ,
we are slowly soaked in the life-giving love of the Father and the trans-
forming grace of the Son. All of this occurs in and through the presence
and power of the Spirit, who secures us in our fellowship with God.
Here are a few practical suggestions. First, cultivate a hunger for
the Scriptures. Meditate on them, for here we can be confident that we
discover the truth about our God and what it means to be in relation-
ship with Him (Joshua 1:8; Psalm 1:2). Second, partake of the Lord’s
Supper on a regular basis, for this is a normal means of God’s grace to
us (1st Corinthians 11:23-26). Third, seek opportunities to care for the
needy and vulnerable. Biblically, there is a strong connection between
loving widows, orphans, prisoners, and the poor, and loving Jesus
 Union with Christ Page 67

(Matthew 25:35-40; James 1:27). As God’s love moves through us to oth-

ers, we ourselves often grow in our love for Him (1st John 4:16-21).
Fourth, seek refuge in God through times of prayer. Adopted by God, we
confidently approach the Father because He has “sent the Spirit of His
Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 1:3
-6).
Think of a healthy relationship that you have
been in or one that you have observed between oth-
ers. The things that mark that strong relationship likely include care
and attentiveness, time together, communication, mutual understand-
ing, and shared joy. Human beings were created for such life-giving rela-
tionships, and they are the fuel of our souls. As a Christian, you are se-
cure in your union with Christ, and this union makes communion with
God a joyful possibility. Be assured of your union with Christ and go
flourish and gain strength in communion with Him.
 Page 68

The Doctrine of Union with

Christ

By Robert Culver

Though “nothing is more central or basic than

union and communion with Christ” according to
 Union with Christ Page 69

John Murray, it is equally true “this mystery of

Christ’s union with the devout is by nature incom-
prehensible”.1 It is so much so that God “shows its figure and im-
age in visible signs best adapted to our small capacity”, according to Cal-
vin.2 The importance of this union is clear in plain statements by Jesus
such as, “I am in you and you in me” and “apart from me you can do
nothing”. Eating and drinking the emblems of our Lord’s body and blood
in the recurring ordinance of the Lord’s Supper brings home the im-
portance of this union to those who observe the ordinance “with the un-
derstanding also”.
It is not quite correct to describe the union of the believer with
Christ as an experience. It is rather a truth to be made known and by
faith embraced. As stated by the learned preacher-missionary, L. L. Leg-
ters:
“When a person begins to apprehend what it means to be unit-
ed to the Son of God and what he has through this union, he
will at once realize that his spiritual growth depends upon a
clear understanding of truth rather than an experience.”3
That Bernard of Clairvaux preached and wrote of the benefits of
this union is cited by Calvin.4 Calvin was only one of many Protestant
leaders to see the necessity of first knowing this truth, then of reflecting
upon it and feeling in our hearts the comfort and power to be drawn
from it. (Calvin discusses this union in over fifty paragraphs throughout
the Institutes as well as in the Commentaries.)
For these reasons, wise theology and fruitful response to the revela-
tion of this “mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glo-
ry” (Colossians 1:27) do not treat it as an “intellectual puzzle” to be ex-
plained. Like the mystery of the incarnation (1st Timothy 3:16), and of
the Church as the Body of Christ (Ephesians 5:32), we must humbly
seek to master as much as scripture makes known about it and apply
the same to our lives individually as individual believers (1st Corinthians
 Page 70

6:17–20) and corporately (1st Corinthians 3:16, 17) as members of His

Body, the Church.
False Notions of the Union
Some utterly false notions about the presence of the divine—
whether person or essence—in every person are abroad and imbedded
deeply in some religious movements. “New Age”-isms bid their hapless
seekers to find God within themselves. The same appears in the roman-
tic and nature English poets in greater and lesser degree. William
Wordsworth (1770–1850, Poet Laureate), for example, could hold in ten-
sion the notion that human mind could be spelled with a capital M, as a
name for God’s presence in man, but also “nature’s self, which is the
breath of God”, also of human “powers, for-
ever to be hallowed” along with orthodox
faith in God’s “pure Word by miracle re-
This union is previous to all else vealed”.5
in the “order of salva on”, even “Union with Christ” in salvation must also
to elec on. be distinguished from the logos doctrine of
universal presence of Christ in several the-
ologies ancient and modern; also from the
true doctrine of the immanence of God in all
His creation. Scripture does say God is immanent in all creation (e.g.
Psalm 139:1–10) and “In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts
17:28). There is a divine efficiency that interpenetrates everything in all
creation for God “works all things in all” (1st Corinthians 12:6, NASB)
and Christ is said to “fill all in all” (Ephesians 1:23). But the scriptural
doctrine that God’s elect are “in Christ” and He in them must be under-
stood as different and special. This is rightly said to be:
“A union of life, in which the human spirit, while then most tru-
ly possessing its own individuality and personal distinctness is
interpenetrated and energized by the Spirit of Christ, is made
inscrutably but indissolubly one with him and so becomes a
member and partaker of that regenerated, believing, and justi-
fied humanity of which he [Christ] is the head.”6
 Union with Christ Page 71

Identification with Christ or Forensic Union in God’s

Counsel and in Redemption—to Be Distinguished
from Vital, Spiritual Union
We have already noted that every aspect of the application of re-
demption is by grace and is “in Christ”. From the standpoint of the eter-
nal counsels of God and appointment of the Father, God “chose us in him
[emphasis added] before the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4). Be-
fore Jesus came we were already “in Christ” for His name was to be
called Jesus because He would “save his people from their sins” (Matthew
1:21). From this heavenly point of view, that union is as ancient as eter-
nity past, presently prevails, and—according to Romans 8:11; 18–25—
will never end. Yet, as the last quotation above indicates, the union is ac-
tually effected together with regeneration and faith. It is in this sense
that union with Christ (“The Mystical Union”, as some tradition calls it)
has a place in ordo salutis.
We may, therefore, correctly affirm that—in the broad sense—
salvation has its origin in union with Christ in the mind of God. We were
not elected one by one in isolation, either from one another or from the
Son of God. Rather, “he chose us in him [emphasis added] before the
foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4). This union is previous to all
else in the “order of salvation”, even to election. Not literally, of course,
but in God’s reckoning, in the history of procurement of salvation we
were present “with Christ” in His death, burial, resurrection, ascension,
exaltation, and seated at the right hand of power (Romans 6:1–11; Ephe-
sians 1:7; 2:1–6; Colossians 3:3, 4).
As John Walvoord suggests, perhaps this relationship is better des-
ignated as “identification with Christ” rather than union with Him.
“Hence,” says John Murray, “We may never think of the work of redemp-
tion wrought once for all by Christ apart from the union with his people
which was effected in the election of the Father before the foundation of
the world…we may never think of redemption in abstraction from the
mysterious arrangements of God’s love in wisdom and grace by which
 Page 72

Christ was united to his people and his people were united to him when
he died upon the accursed tree and rose again from the dead.”7
As elect believers in Christ we have been identified with Him at eve-
ry stage of His redemptive work. We are said to be crucified with Him
(Galatians 2:20), we died with Him (Colossians 2:20), we were buried
with Him (Romans 6:4), made alive and raised up with Him (Ephesians
2:5, 6). Presently we are positionally seated with Him in the heavenlies
(Ephesians 2:6).
We are ideally and de jure complete in Him, as it is written, “And
ye are complete in him” (Colossians 2:10, KJV), defective and immature
as de facto we are just now. As I look at myself and those I love with our
syndromes of mental and physical defects—especially as for ten years I
daily watched a precious wife deteriorate before my eyes, yet beholding
her wavering, but unfailing, trust in God, I tried each day to see her as
God presently beholds and shall bring to pass when we behold one an-
other in the resurrection of the last day and the Marriage Supper of the
Lamb for which the Bride shall have made herself ready.
The Effected Union of Believers with Christ
Now as to inception of the relationship, the actual union with Christ
occurs in the history of each believer. Exactly when is known to God but
not necessarily in each case to us. The hymn writers have it right. There
is a moment, however, when “silently how silently the wondrous gift is
given, when God imparts to human hearts” the gift of life “in Christ”. “I
once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.” Believers are
reminded that even though “he chose us in him [emphasis added] before
the foundation of the world” (Ephesians 1:4), as Paul wrote, the same
people were once “dead in the trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1). “But
God…even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together
with Christ [emphasis added] (by grace you have been
saved)” (Ephesians 2:4, 5; KJV). This happened in God’s time. In anoth-
er epistle, Paul points out that “God is faithful, by whom you were called
into the fellowship [emphasis added] of his Son” (1st Corinthians 1:9).
This call is more than an invitation; rather it is a summons, like the
 Union with Christ Page 73

Lord’s “cry of command”, the archangel’s “voice” and “the trumpet of

God” on the day of our future resurrection (1st Thessalonians 4:16). It
brings the one “dead in the trespasses and sins” to life. Jesus spoke of
this spiritual call and resurrection in John 5:24-25, connecting this
event with hearing the Word, believing it, and passing from death to life.
From our human point of view—another point of view also to be
found in Scripture—the call of God is an invitation like the one in Reve-
lation 22:17, “let the one who desires take the water of life without price”
or Isaiah 55:1, “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters…without
money”, etc.
John the “Revelator’s” version of the invitation appears to para-
phrase Isaiah’s. Many of us are familiar with the “invitation hymn” and
moments for “decision” at the end of church services and evangelistic
meetings. Many “come to Jesus” in such a setting. Yet, in whatever set-
ting one comes, upon reflection guided by Scripture, one must know he
or she was brought to Jesus, even though the mind moved the legs to re-
spond to the call to “come forward” or perhaps to apply for Christian
baptism.
How is the Union Effected?
The union is effected wholly by the Holy Spirit—One who is also
called “the Spirit of Christ” (Romans 8:9). Similarly, “Whoever abides in
the teaching has both the Father and the Son” (2nd John 9; cf. John
10:38). Therefore, though in some mysterious sense the members of the
Godhead cannot be separated, in another sense they must be distin-
guished as to peculiar office. Throughout the Gospels and the first chap-
ter of Acts the “coming” of the Spirit is a promise. John 7:37–39 brings
this into clear focus: “Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who
believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given,
because Jesus was not yet glorified”. That complete glorification was fu-
ture still when the risen Jesus last appeared to the disciples. They were
promised, however, it would not be “many days from now” (Acts 1:5).
During His last evening before crucifixion, Jesus spoke at length of this
future event.
 Page 74

Let us not confuse the clear teaching by supposing some single

covenant of which Old Testament and New Testament are only two ad-
ministrations. He plainly said that as believers, before the closing events
of His life on earth, the Spirit had already been “with [emphasis added]
you” but when He should come the Spirit “shall be in [emphasis added]
you” (John 14:17).8 Further, it was necessary for Jesus to leave as to His
personally incarnate self, otherwise the Old Testament stage of revela-
tion and salvation history would remain in effect.
He who had always been with His people and already “dwells with
you” (John 14:17) by the special coming of the Holy Spirit would not
come in this way until the incarnate Son should depart for heaven. Here
are Jesus’ words: “I will come to you” (John 14:18). But it would be a
“spiritual coming” for He had just said: “Nevertheless…it is to your ad-
vantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to
you. But if I go, I will send him to you” (John 16:7). The event of Pente-
cost was a scheduled, epochal, “dispensational” event. The relation of
believers then living and of all future believers was changed and im-
proved. Together with the events of the previous fifty days it was and re-
mains the hinge of salvation history.
The gift of the Spirit to the redeemed was quite as essential to the
plan of redemption as the gift of the Son, as N. B. Harrison said:
“The two gifts are likened to the unfolding of the Father’s plan.
Of the Son it is said, ‘When the fullness of the time was come,
God sent forth his Son … to redeem … that we might have the
adoption of sons’ (Galatians 4:4, 5). And when He had accom-
plished redemption, and men could be brought as sons into his
family, then [and only then, not before] ‘God sent forth the Spir-
it of his Son’ (Galatians 4:6) to make this an experimental reali-
ty.”9
Near the end of that momentous day, Peter publicly explained the
amazing event by tracing it to the fact that Jesus, of whose death they
were the cause and whose resurrection was well known had been “by
the right hand of God exalted” (Acts 2:33, KJV), had just now that very
 Union with Christ Page 75

day “poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing” (Acts
2:33).
The Nature of the Individual Believer’s Union with
Christ
There is nothing spectacular about initiation of this union. There is
no shaking of the house or mighty wind. Though sometimes there is
great inward commotion, more often there is an immense tranquility,
both of mind and body. This leads us to consider what Scripture has to
say about the nature of the union. In what does it consist and with what
consequences?
It is a Spiritual Union
Spiritual (a) in the Pauline sense, constituted and controlled by the
Holy Spirit; (b) as opposed to physical or natural; (c) as opposed to a
moral union of love or sympathy; (d) as opposed to union of essence; or
(e) as opposed to sacramental union as held by Roman Catholic dogma
and some Lutherans. Let us consider each of these points briefly.
Firstly, we’ll consider (a) the Pauline sense. Paul said, “You, howev-
er, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in
you” and “Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong
to him” (Romans 8:9). Also, in Ephesians 3:16 Paul affirms that we re-
ceive strength “with power through his Spirit in your inner being” and in
verse 17, “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith”. So as the
“spiritual body” of the resurrection is a body of flesh and bone empow-
ered and directed by God’s Spirit, a “spiritual” person is one so directed
and controlled by the Spirit (1st Corinthians 2:13, 15, 16; see also 1st Co-
rinthians 12:13; 1st John 3:24; 4:13). A spiritual union is a union of the
believer’s spirit with Christ in virtue of the indwelling Spirit of Christ.
Next, let us consider (b), it is not that natural creaturely connection
every human being has with the Creator by virtue of each being God’s
creation and object of preservation and providence. People everywhere
are vaguely aware of this concursus inasmuch as Paul spoke of this as
already known to the pagan Greeks at Athens—“In him we live and move
 Page 76

and have our being as even some of your own poets have said” (Acts
17:28, 29), “in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17).
And to the next point: (c) it is not a natural union such as various
philosophers propose. In the view of G. W. Hegel (1770–1831): “Spirit…
signifies not a metaphysical ghost, but that totality which is realized in
each individual thing.”10 In several varieties of personalism from the log-
os philosophy of Heraclitus (480–410 B.C.), Anaxagoras (500–430 B.C.)
and Protagoras (480–410 B.C.) the “reason” or logos in each of us is a
fragment of the divine logos (reason, word, logic, mind) which permeates
every man—on to Rudolph Lotze (1808–1881) for whom the universe is a
connected whole, by individual miracles, with the Monad.
Which brings us to point (d), it is not a union of mere sympathy,
common love or loyalty, such a unity as the first believers of Jerusalem
are said to have had: “[T]he company of those who believed were of one
heart and soul…they had everything in common” (Acts 4:32). Nor is it like
the union of soldiers who go through a long series of battles together, a
nation that unites against some common enemy, such as the British
displayed in World War II. The unity of believers in Christ in the Upper
Room discourse is of a far deeper sort, illustrated (not identical with) by
the inter-participation of the Father and the Son: “That they all may be
one; as thou, Father, art in me…that they also may be one in us” (John
17:21, KJV).
And finally, we consider point (e): nor is it a union of essence or
substance. There is a streak of this false doctrine in Eastern Orthodoxy
whereby the mystical tendency in oriental (i.e. Eastern) thought grasps
the phrase “partakers of the divine nature” (2nd Peter 1:4) and develops
out of it an ascetic, mystical theology. Salvation reaches climax, it is
said, in enosis (union) with God or theosis (deification).
In the context of 2nd Peter 1:4, the ascent of the soul is not mysti-
cal, but practical and ethical, from root in faith developing through vir-
tue, knowledge, temperance, endurance, godliness and brotherly kind-
ness to love (1st Peter 1:5–7). The “partaking of the divine nature” issues
from “God’s precious and very great promises” (2nd Peter 1:4). The pur-
 Union with Christ Page 77

pose of the promises, says Peter, is for us to have “escaped from the cor-
ruption that is in the world because of sinful desire” (2nd Peter 1:4). The
“promise” relates not to a “beatific vision” as climax to a life of moral and
spiritual effort or self-denial but to the experience of the new birth: “if
anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2nd Corinthians 5:17); “we are
his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:10). Though
there is a “mystical union” and some speak correctly of “identification
with Christ” in His death, burial, resurrection, etc., meaning a forensic
union, yet as L. Berkhof warns, it is a “dangerous error” to assert it is “a
union of essence, in which the personality of the one is simply merged
into that of the other”.11 The union Jesus described in John 14:23, “we
[the Son and the Father] will come to him and make our home with him”, is
entirely beyond our ability to explain—like all supernatural events.
The ascent is not to the solitary beatific vision of asceticism but to
love of both man and God as a climax to growth in the company of other
people. Nor is it a sacramental union, wherein by an ecclesiastical cere-
mony such as baptism or by consuming the emblems of our Lord’s body
and blood, faithful believers receive direct spiritual nourishment from
the real presence of Christ’s body and blood, whether in or with the ele-
ments (some Lutheran doctrine) or their real presence by mystic trans-
formation of the elements (as in Roman Catholic doctrine). Both theories
lack the support of Scripture and contradict the fact that the physical
body of Christ is in heaven, where His local physical presence shall re-
main, as Peter said, “until the time for restoring all the things about which
God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets” (Acts 3:21).
It is a Supernatural or Mystical Union—If Properly
Defined12
We relate the idea of mystical to the word mystery in the New Testa-
ment, not to mysticism. “Mystical” is shorthand for something which “no
eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined…revealed to
us through the Spirit” (1st Corinthians 2:9, 10). The specific scriptural ba-
sis usually cited is Colossians 1:24–29. Parallel texts in two of Paul’s
 Page 78

other letters (Ephesians 3:1–10 and Romans 16:25–26) should be read

with the text of Colossians. The mystery in each of the three passages
has to do with something unknown in former ages—that sometime in
the future (the present age) Jews and Gentiles would be undifferentiated
as members of one Body and that therefore a mission was mounted to
let all the peoples of the whole world know about it.
Hence “Christ in you” (Jews and Gentiles individually as saved per-
sons and collectively as the Church or Body of Christ) is the mysterious
(till now) union.13 L. Berkhof modifies this explanation: “Subjectively the
union between Christ and believers is effected by the Holy Spirit in a
mysterious and supernatural way, and for that reason is generally desig-
nated as the unio mystica or mystical union.”14
A. H. Strong prefers to call it “an inscrutable union”, cautioning, “If
we call it mystical at all it should be only because, in the intimacy of its
communion and in the transforming power of its influence, it surpasses
any other union of souls we know, and so cannot be fully described or
understood by earthly analogies.”15
The mystery of this union of the believer individually and of the
Church collectively—both the living and the dead—has some of the same
indescribable mystery about it as the union of Father and Son in the
Trinitarian relationship. I well remember my own puzzlement when I
first heard the doctrine preached as a young adult. The preacher was no
less than L.L. Legters, one of the founders of what became Wycliffe
Translators and the related enterprises now putting the Bible in dozens
of languages around the world. He dragged a large leafy grapevine to the
pulpit, tried to tear it apart and could not, explaining the unique inter-
twining of branches with the main stock. Then turning to John 17 (the
union of Father and Son) and John 15 (the Parable of the Vine and
Branches) he drew the lesson: “Without me you can do nothing” (John
15:5).
Yet, neither Legters nor any other theologian can explain this un-
ion16 In addition to these two analogies Scripture also compares the un-
ion to that of the holy temple of God. Believers are the stones of which it
 Union with Christ Page 79

is built; Jesus Himself is “the chief corner stone”; “apostles and proph-
ets” were its foundation; and God Himself its resident (Ephesians 2:20–
22; 1st Peter 2:4, 5). The union is like the connection of a body of many
members with its head (1st Corinthians 12:2) and like that of husband
and wife who are “one flesh” (Romans 7:4; Ephesians 5:22–33).
Yet, as must be acknowledged by all, we only know by biblical reve-
lation that the union exists; it is true for me only as I believe. Yet like all
truth partaking of heaven and God, “though now we see him not, yet be-
lieving, we rejoice with joy unspeakable”. James Montgomery Boice com-
mented on these illustrations as follows:
In each of these cases the central idea is the same: perma-
nence. Because Jesus is the foundation and is without change,
all that is built upon him will be permanent also. Those who are
Christ’s will not perish but will endure to the end.17
Because of the danger of being understood in the context of ascetic
mysticism, the term “mystical union” should not be used, I think, unless
with careful explanation. I have introduced the “mystical” only to inform
the reader how, when the term is met in discourse, one should under-
stand the term. For us it has none of the connotation found in asceti-
cism and mysticism as an approach to salvation.
It is a Vital Union
That is another way of saying it is an organic union. One member of
such a living body has organic—that is, reciprocal—relation to every oth-
er member-organ as well as to the whole. “God gave us eternal life, and
this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life” (1st John 5:11, 12). In
Christ’s Body one is not a replaceable part but of the essence, not merely
juxtaposed to one another with Christ the chief engineer and architect.
Christ works “on” us from within, as the lifeblood, so to speak, of each of
our spirits. We have “come to fullness of life in him” (Colossians 2:10,
RSV).
It is a Complete Union
This union is a complete union of the believer’s whole being, body
 Page 80

and soul, with his Lord. When the Spirit of God indwells me He dwells in
all of me. This truth is the basis of one of Paul’s most earnest exhorta-
tions. Many of the Corinthian believers had each harmed himself (not
the Church, per se)—as in our time, the loose mores of the ambient hea-
thenism had found answer in the lusts of the flesh with the result of for-
nication (sexual immorality) in more than one Corinthian Christian.
Paul addressed forty-eight verses in the heart of the first epistle to this
problem and brought forth this: “Every other sin that a man can commit
is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against his own body. Do you
not know that your body is a shrine of the indwelling Holy Spirit, and the
Spirit is God’s gift to you? You do not belong to yourselves; you were
bought with a price. Then honour God in your body” (1st Corinthians 6:18
–20, NEB). Earlier it is said, “Your bodies are limbs and organs of
Christ” (1st Corinthians 6:15, NEB). Theft or murder or covetousness,
etc., as the text says, of course, are pollutions of the spirit of man, but
have no debilitating effect or pollution of the body, but one can be a vir-
gin only once. Unlawful sexual intercourse takes away unsullied purity
of another sort forever—forgivable, but not restorable from the human
side. David became an adulterer and then a forgiven one, and history
has never forgotten the fact. Therefore the union of Christ with all of me
or of you is a strong restraint against fornicating. The text of 1st Corin-
thians 6 provides much more of both comfort and threat for our age of
the Church.
The Union is Permanent
It remains to be said that the union is permanent. The union of the
Corinthian fornicator with a temple prostitute did not end his union
with Christ any more than Peter’s thrice denial of Christ ended his ties
to the Lord. He showed up at the Upper Room on Easter evening with
the other Ten. Judas had no spiritual connection and ended up in the
city dump and incinerator. There is, by the Spirit of Christ, a permanent
connection with the One who “lives and reigns” above, whose life is both
with us and in us.
As a result, Paul argues, “If, while we were enemies, we were rec-
 Union with Christ Page 81

onciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled
[He holds nothing against us] shall we be saved by his life” (en tē dzōē
autou) (Romans 5:10, ASV). The argument is from the greater to the less:
before we came to Christ—long before—He died for us. It stands to rea-
son, therefore, that now alive and able, He will rescue us again and
again from our sins and backslidings. For “if anyone does sin, we have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1st John 2:1).
Let this article end with a singular benefit of the believer’s union
with Christ. All self-effort toward transformation of character is futile.
The vile pictures hung upon the walls of memory by indulgence in illicit
imaginations, in obscenity, in habits of profligacy; the remorse that lin-
gers from animosities, jealousies, ugly self-seekings—how have men
sought in vain to purge their souls of these! How many suicides tell the
tale of hopeless effort to be free from their relentless lashings. No, it is
only the Holy Spirit of God who, coming into the life, can impart purity of
mind and holiness of heart, where sin had wrought its havoc. To set sin’s
captives free—this He has power to do; this He delights to do.18
References:
1
John Murray, Redemption Accomplished and Applied (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publ., 1955), p. 161.
2
John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion iv, ed. J. T. McNeil, trans. and ed. by F. L. Battles (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster Press,
1960), art. 17.1
3
L. L. Legters, one of the founders of the Wycliffe Translation Mission, Union with Christ (Philadelphia, PA: Pioneer Mission Agency—
forerunner of Wycliffe Translators, 1933).
4
Calvin, Institutes iii, 2.25.Institutes John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2 volumes
5
Wordsworth, The Prelude, Book v. line 45; lines 17, 221, 222.
6
A. H. Strong, Systematic Theology (Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 1907), p. 795.
7
John Murray, Redemption Accomplished and Applied, p. 162, 163.
8
There is some textual evidence that ‘shall be’ (estai) should be ‘is’ (esti). Bruce Metzger, A Textual Commentary on The Greek New Testa-
ment (New York: United Bible Societies, 1975), p. 295, states: ‘A majority of the Committee interpreted the sense of the passage as
requiring the future estai, which is adequately supported …’ Authorities still are not in full agreement.
9
Norman B. Harrison, His Indwelling Presence (Chicago: Moody Press, 1928), page number lost.
10
‘Philosophy of Hegelianism’, in Twentieth Century Philosophy, ed. D. D. Runes (New York: Philosophical Library, 1943), p. 168.
11
Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology 2nd rev. ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publ., 1938, 1979), p. 401.
12
There is a long history of the notion of mystical union with God or Christ supposed to be superior to the union with Christ which all believers
have. For a start, read D. D. Martins short article ‘Unio Mystica’ in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, ed. W. Elwell (Grand Rapids,
MI: Baker Books, 1984, 1991), p. 1126.
13
The above explanation of appropriation of the term ‘mystical’ in this connection agrees with John Murray’s thoughts (Redemption Accom-
plished and Applied, p. 166 ff.).
14
Berkhof, Systematic Theology, p. 447.
15
Strong, Systematic Theology, p. 801.
16
Legters, Union With Christ, chap. v. ‘Scriptural Illustrations of Our Union’.
17
James M. Boice, Foundations of the Christian Faith (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1986), p. 395, commenting on ‘The Mystery of the
Union’.
18
Harrison, Indwelling Presence, p. 22.
 Page 82

Communion with Christ

By B.B. Warfield

“Faithful is
the saying:
For if we
died with
Him, we
shall also
live with
him: if we en-
dure we
shall also
reign with
him: if we
shall deny
him, he also
will deny us;
if we are faithless, he abideth faithful; for he can-
not deny himself” (2nd Timothy 2:11-13, KJV).
The words which are before us this afternoon form one of those
“faithful sayings” taken up by Paul from the mouth of the Christian
 Union with Christ Page 83

community and given fresh significance and force by his employment of

them to wing his own appeals and point his own arguments to his fellow
Christians. It is exceedingly interesting to observe the Apostle thus act-
ing as a member of a settled community with its own standards of belief
and maxims of conduct already to a certain degree established; and none
the less so that he was himself the founder of the community, who had
impressed on it the faith to which it was now giving expression.
The special “faithful saying” he now adduces bears in it traits which
point back to his teaching as the germ from which it had grown, but also
to the teaching of our Lord Himself, a witness to the wide diffusion of
which in the churches it thus supplies. If the phrase, “If we died with
him we shall also live with him” is Pauline to the core and takes the
mind of the reader irresistibly back to such a passage as Romans 6:8;
and the next succeeding phrase, “If we endure we shall also reign with
him”, reminds us more remotely of such passages as Romans 5:17; 8:17;
the clause which follows that, “If we deny him, he, too, will deny us”,
cannot fail to remind us of Matthew 10:33, or rather, of the saying of Je-
sus there formally recorded.
How this “faithful saying” had been formed in the Church, whether
merely as a detached gnome, or maxim, which Christians were wont to
repeat to one another for their enheartening and encouragement; or, as a
portion of some liturgical form often used in the church service, until its
language had become fixed; or as a passage from a hymn that had grown
popular, as its rhythmic form may perhaps suggest, it may be difficult or
impossible to decide. The way in which the Apostle adduces it appears in
any event to bear witness that the words were a current formula in the
Church, to which he could appeal as such, and which would, from their
familiarity and devout, if not sacred, association, appeal powerfully to
Timothy’s heart. Perhaps we may venture to say that the Apostle himself
felt the appeal of these devout associations, and employs the “saying”
precisely because it had become by use the natural expression of his
own strong feelings, at the moment aroused to a particular fervor. He,
the great Apostle, yet leans with comfort on the Church’s own expression
 Page 84

of its faith.
What a testimony we have here to the solidarity of the Church of
God; or, as we prefer to put it, to the communion of the saints. And
what an enforcement of the great commands that we bear one another’s
burdens, that we neglect not the assembling of ourselves together, that
we do not indulge the vanity of living each one to himself. The Church is
ever to Paul—the inspired teacher of the Church, in a deep and true
sense—the pillar and ground of the truth, on the testimony of which he
gladly rests.
The purpose for which he adduces this particular “faithful saying”
is to clinch his appeal to Timothy to steadfast adherence to his high du-
ty and privilege of teaching the Gospel, despite every difficulty and dan-
ger besetting the pathway. He appears in this context to be urging three
motives upon Timothy to induce him to face bravely the hardships of the
service he is pressing upon him.
He points him first to the source of his strength: “Remember Jesus
Christ as risen from the dead, of the seed of David”; keep your eyes set
on the heavenly majesty of the exalted Christ, our King. Surely he who
keeps vivid in his consciousness that He with whom, he has to do is the
Lord of heaven and earth, who, though He had died, yet lived again, and
is set on the throne of universal dominion, should have no fear in boldly
obeying His behests.
Paul points Timothy next to the im-
portant function performed by the preacher “Was ever warning and
of the Gospel, faithfulness in proclaiming
which he is urging upon him as so prime a encouragement so subtly
duty that no danger must be allowed to in- blended in a single composite
termit it. It is by it that the elect of God at- appeal?”
tain the salvation destined for them in
Christ Jesus. Who will draw back when he
realizes that he is a fellow-worker with God in bringing to their salvation
God’s own elect—those elect whom God has loved from the foundation of
the world, for whom He has given His Son to shame and death, and sent
 Union with Christ Page 85

His Spirit into the foulness of men’s hearts?

Surely he who apprehends that it is laid on him to carry this salva-
tion to those whose own it is will never weary in conveying it to them. Let
us learn how a brute beast may respond to an appeal to share in such a
service of good by reading Browning’s “How they brought the good news
to Ghent.” Shall we be less responsive to such appeals than even the
brutes? Lastly Paul plies Timothy with this “faithful saying”, the force of
whose appeal lies in its subtle blending of encouragement and warning:
encouragement because it tells us what a glorious prospect lies before
him who gives himself to Christ unreservedly here; warning because it
discloses to us the dreadfulness of the award that lies before him who is
unfaithful here to the service he owes his Lord.
“We died with him, we shall also live with him; if we steadfastly en-
dure we shall also reign with him,” but also, “if we shall perchance deny
him, he will also deny us”; though of one thing we may be firmly assured,
“though we prove faithless, He abideth ever faithful, for He cannot deny
Himself.”
Was ever warning and encouragement so subtly blended in a single
composite appeal? So subtly indeed that one remains in doubt whether
the appeal comes to its close on a note of hope or on one of despair. Is it
that God will remain faithful to His gracious purposes of love despite our
weakness; that, though we prove untrustworthy, yet He abides ever
trusty—is it on this note of high hope and encouragement that the
Apostle’s great song sinks down to rest? Or is it rather, that the God who
has threatened to deny those that deny Him, will abide ever faithful to
this dreadful threat, so that he who disowns Him here need cherish no
hope that he shall escape the announced disavowal there—is it on this
note of profoundest warning that the Apostle pauses?
The language is flexible to either sense; the context leaves the way
open to either; the appeal would be alike strong under either interpreta-
tion; but it is strongest of all, doubtless, under the subtle blending of the
two, to which the phrasing of the whole “faithful saying” seems to invite
us.
 Page 86

For this “faithful saying” has the characteristic pregnancy and sub-
tlety of all its fellows, which is the hall-mark of all true popular sayings
that have passed from mouth to mouth until they have been compacted
into the thought of a whole community. For its interpretation we should
confine ourselves primarily to its own narrow compass and remember
that the context in which it comes to us is not its own original context,
and can help us to its interpretation only so far as the propriety of its
adduction here is concerned. So looking at it, it is clear that much of the
current exposition of its clauses falls away of itself.
For example, it seems obvious that the “dying with Christ” here ad-
duced is not physical dying with Christ, martyrdom, but forensic dying
with Christ, justification. It is clear that our fragment is a fragment of a
piece in which the main theme is Christ’s work of redemption. It is espe-
cially clear that we have no right to supply “with Christ” with the second
clause. It is not endurance “with Christ”, but “steadfast endurance to
the end” alone that is intended, and the conjunctive preposition is left
off of this verb just to advise us of that. Nor may we omit to note and
give effect to the changes of tense: first the aorist, then the present, then
the future, then the present again; all of which changes are significant.
Lastly, a careful observation of the consecution of the clauses will
certainly bid us pause before we fall in with their division into two pairs,
the first encouraging, the last warning; a division far too simple to do
justice to the subtlety of the whole thought, or even the surface consid-
erations derived from the sequence of the tenses and verbs. Let us look
at the saying then a moment in its own light and then ask how it lends
itself to Paul’s purpose in adducing it here.
We perceive at once that the passage consists of four conditional
sentences which stand, therefore, in a certain formal parallelism with
one another. The first of these sentences declares that sharing in
Christ’s death entails sharing in Christ’s life.
The idea is a frequent one in the New Testament and must, indeed,
in all Pauline churches at any rate, have become long ere this a Chris-
tian commonplace. The language in which it is expressed is the same as
 Union with Christ Page 87

that which meets us in Romans 6:8, and stands in express relation with
that of, say, 2nd Corinthians 5:14. It would be most unnatural violently
to separate the statement here from the or-
dinary connotation of the language. This is
reinforced by the fact that the aorist tense
is employed, and thus a dying with Christ “The reference is neither to
already accomplished by every Christian martyrdom, not yet merely to a
who took this language on his lips, most Chris an death.”
naturally suggested. It is most unnatural,
therefore, to understand here a dying with
Christ not yet accomplished, perhaps never
to be accomplished; the language implies rather a dying which has been
the invariable experience of every Christian heart.
Are we to say that the passage teaches that only if we share in
Christ’s death in the sense that we like Him die for the Gospel, are we to
share in his life? Or, are we to say that the meaning is rather that every
faithful Christian that dies shall live again? The latter is too flat a sense
to be attributed to our passage; the former, obviously too narrow. The
reference is neither to martyrdom, not yet merely to a Christian death.
The death here is obviously ethical or rather, spiritual, and yet not quite
in the exact sense of Romans 6:8, but more in that of 2nd Corinthians
5:14.
The simple meaning obviously is that he who is united with Christ
in His death shall share with Him His life also; that all those “in Christ
Jesus” as they died with Him on Calvary, as that death which He there
died, since it was for them, was their death in Him, so shall share with
Him in His resurrection life, shall live in and through Him.
The appeal is clearly to the Christian’s union with Christ and its
abiding effects. He is a new creation; with a new life in him; and should
live in the power of this new and deathless life. For there is a stress laid
also on the persistence of this life and a pointing of the reader to the
deathlessness of the life in Christ. “Know ye not,” says the Apostle in ef-
fect, “that if ye died with Christ ye shall also live with Him, and that the
 Page 88

life ye are living in the flesh ye live by the power of the Son of God, and it
shall last forever?” The pregnancy of the implication is extreme, but it is
all involved in the one fact that if we died with Christ, if we are His and
share His death on Calvary, we shall live
with Him; live with Him in a redeemed life
here, cast in another mold from the old life
of the flesh, and live with Him hereafter for- “The companion clause presents
ever. This great appeal to their union and
communion with Christ lays the basis for the other possibility.”
all that follows. It puts the reader on the
plane—sets him at the point of view—of “in
Christ Jesus”.
Now, the second and third clauses present the contrasting possibil-
ities, emerging from the situation presented in the first clause, and be-
long as such together, as positive and negative statements. He who is in
Christ may by patient continuance in well-doing abide in union with his
Lord, and he shall not fail of his reward. The metaphysical possibility re-
mains open, however, that he may deny his Lord, in which case, he
shall, himself, in accordance with our Lord’s own express threat, be de-
nied by Him.
Observe the precise justice of the contrasting expressions employed
in these alternatives. The tense changes first from the aorist to the pre-
sent, because not the act of incorporation in Christ, but the process of
steadfast endurance, is in question. The verbs in the apodosis are also
varied to meet the exact case; we begin as sharers in Christ’s life; if we
continue steadfastly in that life we shall share in its glories. The thought
is precisely that of Romans 8:16, 17; if we are God’s children, we are
heirs, joint heirs with Christ, “if so be that we suffer with Him, that we
may be glorified with Him also.” Only in our present passage the matter
is not conceived so distinctly as suffering or as suffering with Christ; in
preparation for the companion clause yet to come the idea of “with
Christ” falls away here. The two cases rest with us—abiding steadfastly
or disowning. The “reigning with Christ” is an advance on “living with
 Union with Christ Page 89

Christ”; it throws the emphasis on the reward: if we have died with Him
we are sharers of His life; if we abide in this life we shall inherit with Him
the Kingdom.
The companion clause presents the other possibility. The “deny”
corresponds to “the steadfast endurance” and Christ’s disowning us cor-
responds to the “reigning with Him”; both as opposite contrasts. The
tense is changed in accordance with the new nature of the case. It is not
a matter of continually disowning Him; it is a matter of breaking the con-
tinuance of our steadfast endurance. This is done by an act. Hence the
future, expressing the possibility of the act: “should we disown Him”—if
we shall disown Him, why then, He (emphatic), also will disown us!
This is the dreadful contingency; all the more dreadful on account
of three things: (1) the simple brevity of its statement as a dire possibility
to be kept in mind and steadfastly guarded against; (2) the express remi-
niscence of our Lord’s own words in Matthew 10:33 carrying the mind
back to the most solemn of associations possible to connect with the
words; (3) the emphatic “He” thrusting the personality of Christ for the
first time upon the consciousness of the reader; as before, He is only
gently kept in mind by the implications of the “with”.
This emphatic “He” is partly due, of course, to the change of con-
struction, by which a new subject is needed for the succeeding verb;
though it would be, perhaps, better to say the desire for emphasis is the
cause of the change of construction. We might have had a passive verb,
“If we deny we shall be denied,” with or without the “by Him.” But the
personality of Christ is too strongly felt here for mere suggestion or even
for relegation to the predicate. The change to the active construction and
the expression of the subject and its expression by the demonstrative
“He”, all pile emphasis on emphasis; “If we disown, HE, too (not merely
He, but HE, too), will disown us!” This is the climax of the sentence and
a fitting pause is reached. “If we died with Him we shall also live with
him; if we steadfastly endure we shall also reign with him; but if we shall
ever, by any possibility, deny Him, He, too, will deny—us!”
The thought is complete with this. Both alternatives are developed.
 Page 90

And the effect of the whole is a powerful incentive to abide in Christ. Pa-
tient endurance— nay, bold, steadfast, brave endurance—has its re-
ward—reigning with Christ. But if we fall from this and disown Christ,
do we not remember His dreadful threat: “He, too, can and will disown—
even us!”
Surely there is nothing required to enhance the terror of this situa-
tion. The poignancy of the appeal to steadfast endurance seems scarcely
to need heightening. But on the other hand there would seem need for a
closing word of encouragement to weak and faltering Christians. And
there would seem a way open for it. For the very sharpness of the asser-
tion that if there is disowning on one side there will be disowning on the
other, too, seems to hint something else. The contrast between the pre-
sent tense of the second clause expressing continuance and the tense of
the third clause expressing an act, calls for consideration: “If we contin-
ue to—”, “If we shall perchance ever—”. Nothing is said of the continu-
ance of the disowning on either side.
Disowning begets disowning. True; but is that all? Shall one act of
even such dreadful sin divide us from all that we had hoped for, in a
long life of endurance? What shall poor
weak, faltering Christians do in that case?
It does not seem impossible, to say the
“If this be the construc on, the least, that the last clause comes in to com-
whole closes on a note of hope.” fort and strengthen. There is hope even for
the lapsed Christian! For “though we prove
faithless, He (emphatic), HE, at least, abides
faithful: for deny Himself He cannot!” Deny
us He may and will; every denial entails a
denial. But deny Himself, He cannot. Our unbelief shall not render the
faith of God of none effect.
If this be the construction, the whole closes on a note of hope. The
note of warning throbs through even the note of hope, it is true, for He
who cannot deny Himself must remember His threats also; and no
Christian holding this wonderful “faithful saying” in his heart will fail to
 Union with Christ Page 91

note this. But the note of hope is the dominant one, and I take it this
last clause is designed to call back the soul from the contemplation of
the dreadfulness of denying Christ and throw it in trust and hope back
upon Jesus Christ, the faithful One, who despite our unfaithfulness, will
never deny Himself—will never disown Himself,—but will ever look on
His own cross and righteousness and all the bitter dole He has suffered,
and will not let anything snatch what He has purchased to Himself out
of His hands.
In this view of the matter, then, the arrangement of the clauses is
not in a straightforward quartet—two by two—but rather this:
If we died with Him we shall also live with Him;
If we endure we shall also reign with Him;
If we shall deny, He too will deny us. If we are faithless, He abides
faithfully, for Himself He cannot deny.
Page 92

A Book Review:
Union with Christ in
Scripture, History, and
Theology

Reviewed By Dave Jenkins

Union with Christ is one of

the most neglected doctrines
in Christianity today and also
one of the one of the Gospel’s
greatest mysteries. In his helpful
book Union with Christ in Scripture, His-
tory, and Theology, Dr. Robert Letham
notes that “Union with Christ is right at
the center of the Christian doctrine of
salvation” (pg. 1). Calvin agrees with this
comment and notes that, “For we await
salvation from him not because he ap-
pears to us afar off, but because he
makes us, ingrafted into his body, par-
ticipants not only in all his benefits but
also in himself.”[i] The Westminster
Larger Catechism describes our entire
salvation as union and communion with
Christ in grace and glory. Dr. John Mur-
 Union with Christ Page 93

ray considered that “nothing is more central of basic than union and
communion with Christ,”[ii] for it “is the central truth of the whole doc-
trine of salvation.”[iii] In the words of Dr. Lane Tipton, “There are no ben-
efits of the gospel apart from union with Christ.”[iv]
Union with Christ in Scripture, History, and Theology covers topics
such as creation, incarnation, Pentecost, union with Christ and repre-
sentation, union with Christ and transformation, and union with Christ
in death and resurrection. Since the entirety of the Christian’s relation-
ship with God can be summed up in union with Christ, this review could
be quite long to examine everything Dr. Letham teaches in this book, but
in an effort to remain focused I am only going to touch on chapter five,
which I believe is the most helpful in the book.
In chapter five, after discussing the external aspects of union with
Christ, Dr. Letham turns to examine how union with Christ transforms
us from within. He notes that “when Christ died and rose from the dead,
we died and rose with him, and so our status and existence was dramat-
ically changed” (pg. 85). The author doesn’t stop at the death and resur-
rection, but continues with the ascension explaining that “following
Christ’s ascension, the Holy Spirit was sent to bring us to spiritual life
and indwell and renew us, our participation in Christ’s death and resur-
rection is vitally dynamic and transformative”.
The believer’s union with Christ will lead to our being like Christ
“for it is the intention of the Gospel to make us sooner or later like
God” (Calvin). The Christian is now a “partaker of the new nature”, (2nd
Peter 1:4) having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. At
His Parousia we will see Him as He is, in His glorified humanity, and will
be finally and climatically transformed to be like His glorious body
(Philippians 3:20-21).
Union with Christ in Scripture, History, and Theology is an important
book that will help Christians to think through one of the most neglected
doctrines in Christianity today. Union with Christ in Scripture, History,
and Theology would be a good book, not for a new believer, but for the
intermediate-to-advanced student of theology. Union with Christ in Scrip-
 Page 94

ture, History, and Theology is a well-written, biblically faithful, and Gos-

pel-centered book that will help Pastors and seminary students under-
stand the importance of their union with Christ. This book will help its
readers explore from Scripture, and church history what union with
Christ is and what the Church has taught on this vital topic. I recom-
mend you pick up a copy of Union with Christ in Scripture, History, and
Theology and learn how union with Christ is the central truth of the
whole biblical teaching about salvation.
References:

[i] Institutes, 3.2.24

[ii] John Murray, Redemption Accomplish and Applied (London: Banner of truth, 1961), 161)
[iii] Ibid, 170.
[iv] Lane G. Tipton, “Union with Christ and Justification,” in Justified in Christ: God’s Plan for Us in Justification, ed. K. Scott Oliphint (Fearn,
Ross-shire, UK: Mentor, 2007), 34.
 Union with Christ Page 95

Recommended Reading on
Union with Christ

In this issue of Theology for Life Magazine, we’ve been considering

the subject of union with Christ and how it impacts the life of the
Christian and ministry. We understand that we haven’t covered every-
thing on this topic, but it is our prayer that—hopefully—readers of this
issue of Theology for Life will grow in their understanding of union with
Christ so that they can understand this vital doctrine.
If you’ve found this issue helpful and would like to study this sub-
ject further, please check out the following reading list below. These
books are at the top of their genre in both excellence and readability.

 John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (Book 3, Chapters

1, 11)
 Sinclair Ferguson, Paul on Union with Christ
 Sinclair Ferguson, Union with Christ: Mind-Renewing Foundations
 Sinclair Ferguson, Union with Christ: Life-Transforming Implications
 A. Hodge, Union with Christ
 John Murray, Redemption – Accomplished and Applied (Chapter 9)
 J.I. Packer, Union with Christ
 Robert Reymond, Union with Christ
 Philip Ryken, Union with Christ: A Matter of Spiritual Life and
Death
 Constantine R. Campbell, Paul and Union with Christ

In Christ Alone,

Dave Jenkins
Executive Editor, Theology for Life Magazine
 Page 96

About the Authors:

Joel Beeke
Joel Beeke (PhD, Westminster Theological Seminary) is
president and professor of systematic theology and
homiletics at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary,
a pastor of the Heritage Reformed Congregation in
Grand Rapids, Michigan, as well as the editor
of Banner of Sovereign Grace Truth, the editorial direc-
tor of Reformation Heritage Books, the president of In-
heritance Publishers, and vice president of the Dutch
Reformed Translation Society.

Dave Jenkins
Dave Jenkins is the Executive Director of Servants of
Grace Ministries, and the Executive Editor of Theology
for Life Magazine. Dave received his MAR and M.Div.
through Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. He and
his wife, Sarah, attend Grace Chapel Church in CA.

John Piper
John Piper is founder and lead teacher of http://
desiringGod.org. He served for thirty-three years as
the pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneap-
olis, Minnesota, and is the author of more than fifty
books, including Desiring God; Don’t Waste Your
Life; and Reading the Bible Supernaturally.
Union with Christ Page 97

About the Authors (Cont’d):

Michael Horton
Michael Horton (PhD, University of Coventry and Wyc-
liffe Hall, Oxford) is the J. Gresham Machen Professor
of Systematic Theology and Apologetics at Westmin-
ster Seminary in California. He is also the editor in
chief of Modern Reformation magazine, a host of the
White Horse Inn radio broadcast, and a minister in the
United Reformed Churches.

Greg Gilbert
Greg Gilbert (M.Div., The Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary) is senior pastor at Third Avenue Baptist
Church in Louisville, Kentucky. He is the author of
What Is the Gospel?, James: A 12-Week Study, and Who
Is Jesus?, and is the co-author (with Kevin DeYoung) of
What Is the Mission of the Church?

Benjamin Skaug
Benjamin Skaug (M.Div. and D.Min., The Southern Bap-
tist Theological Seminary; PhD candidate, Gateway
Seminary) is senior pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church
in Highland, California.
Page 98

About the Authors:

Richard Gaffin
Richard Gaffin is professor emeritus of biblical and
systematic theology at Westminster Theological
Seminary in Philadelphia.

Heather Nelson
Heather Nelson (MA, Westminster Theological Semi-
nary) is a writer, counselor, and speaker. Heather
writes regularly at http://HeatherDavisNelson.com,
as well as a contributing author to the Journal of
Biblical Counseling. She and her husband are parents
to twin daughters and live in southeastern Virgin-
ia. She is the author of Unashamed: Healing Our Bro-
kenness and Finding Freedom from Shame.

Robert Culver
Robert Culver (1916-2015) was Professor of Theolo-
gy at Wheaton College and Trinity Evangelical Divin-
ity School. An author, preacher, pastor, and teacher
all of his adult life right up until his 98th year.
 Union with Christ Page 99

About the Authors (Cont’d):

Kelly Kapic
Kelly Kapic (PhD, King's College, University of Lon-
don) is professor of theological studies at Covenant
College, where he has taught for over fifteen years.
He has written and edited over ten books, focusing
on the areas of systematic, historical, and practical
theology. Kelly has also published articles in various
journals and books. He and his wife, Tabitha, live on
Lookout Mountain with their two children.

B.B. Warfield
Benjamin. B. Warfield (1851-1921) was a world-
renowned theologian who taught at Princeton Semi-
nary for almost 34 years. One of his most famous
works is The Inspiration and Authority of the Bible.
In 1876, at the age of twenty-five, he married Annie
Pierce Kinkead, and cared for her throughout the
rest of her life, until she passed away in 1915. He continued teaching
at Princeton until his death in 1921.
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