“Our whole salvation and all its parts are comprehended in Christ.” – John Calvin
From a theological standpoint, what is union with Christ? What exactly are we looking at and speaking of here?
In this post I’m going to focus on the “vertical” aspect of our union with Christ, namely how it relates to our relationship with Him. Then next week we’ll see how our union with Christ affects our relationships with one another—the “horizontal” aspect.
“… every aspect of God's relationship to believers is in some way connected to our relationship with Christ. From God's counsels in eternity past before the world was created, to our fellowship with God in heaven in eternity future, and including every aspect of our relationship with God in this life—all has occurred in union with Christ.” – Dr. Wayne Grudem
Basically, union with Christ is the fact expressed by Paul in the New Testament that as believers, we are in Christ, and because of that we are blessed by God the Father with every blessing. Everything in our Christian life comes to us a result of us being united to Christ by faith. It’s all of grace, and that grace comes to us in and through Christ alone.
This union with Christ begins in the electing foreknowledge of God the Father. The apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:3-6,
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”
For us who are Christians, our union with Christ (and thus our salvation) began in eternity past according to the grace of God the Father when He chose us in Christ.
Theologian Anthony Hoekema says that we should see union with Christ “extending all the way from eternity to eternity.” He outlines his material in this way:
1 The roots of union with Christ are in divine election (Eph. 1:3-4).
2 The basis of union with Christ is the redemptive work of Christ.
3 The actual union with Christ is established with God’s people in time.
We see that this doctrine is to be seen by us believers as extending from eternity past to eternity future—it’s all God’s work.
In Romans 8:29-30 the apostle Paul wrote,
“For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined, He also called; and these whom He called, He also justified; and these whom He justified, He also glorified.”
In the final clause of the verse, we that justification (through Christ), sanctification (in Christ), and glorification (with Christ) are all based on our union with Christ. There is no justification apart from Christ. No one can be sanctified by the Holy Spirit apart from first being “in Christ,” and there is no one who is in Christ who will not be glorified with Him. See that? It’s our union with Christ.
“If we are united to Christ, then we are united to him at all points of his activity on our behalf: We share
• in his death (we were baptized into his death),
• in his resurrection (we are resurrected with Christ),
• in his ascension (we have been raised with him),
• in his heavenly session (we sit with him in heavenly places, so that our life is hidden with Christ in God), and we will share
• in his promised return (when Christ, who is our life, appears, we also will appear with him in glory)” – Dr. Sinclair Ferguson
I know this is merely an overview of this wonderful truth of the Christian life, but it is vitally important that every believer understand it.
In conclusion, the premise of all this is that every single blessing we enjoy in the Christian life comes to us as a result of the fact that we have been united to Christ forever.
“Union with Christ is . . . the central truth of the whole doctrine of salvation. . .. It is not simply a phase of the application of redemption; it underlies every aspect of redemption.” – Dr. John Murray