Union With Christ #2

Q: What does the Bible say about union with Christ?

Union with Christ is a central doctrine of salvation found in the New Testament, emphasizing our spiritual connection with Him. The doctrine of union with Christ is highlighted in passages such as Ephesians 1, where believers are described as being chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. This union signifies that every blessing of salvation, from election to glorification, is received vitally and intimately through our connection with Christ. This relationship is not merely symbolic but encompasses our identity and life in Him as we experience salvation and obedience in a continual process of transformation and communion with Him.

Q: How do we know the doctrine of union with Christ is true?

The truth of the union with Christ is evidenced by Scripture, particularly in the teachings of the Apostle Paul and the promises of the gospel. The doctrine of union with Christ is supported by numerous scriptural references, particularly in the letters of Paul, who underscores that believers are 'in Christ' both in terms of their identity and their standing before God. Romans 8:9-10 clarifies that if the Spirit of Christ dwells in an individual, that person is spiritually alive. Furthermore, passages like Colossians 1:27 proclaim the mystery of Christ in us, the hope of glory, emphasizing that this union is vital and transformative. The assurance of this doctrine is thus grounded in the apostolic teachings and the faithfulness of God’s Word.

Q: Why is the concept of union with Christ important for Christians?

Union with Christ is essential for Christians as it encapsulates the entirety of salvation and our relationship with God. The doctrine of union with Christ is foundational for understanding salvation in its entirety. It is through this union that believers experience the fullness of grace, redemption, and spiritual life. As Paul articulates, we are made new creatures in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17), and all spiritual blessings are bestowed upon us in Him, including our election, justification, and eventual glorification. This union also calls believers to an active, lived faith, as it empowers our daily walk and sanctification, constantly reminding us of our dependence on Christ's finished work for our standing before God.

Will you turn again this evening
to the portion of the Word of God which I read in your hearing
last night? Because the nature of these first
two studies is topical in form, I am concerned that we realize
at the outset, though we are not located in one specific portion
of the Word of God, it is certainly a subject which is found throughout
the New Testament in particular, And it is well that we introduce
it each night by a reading from the scriptures. And so I read
from Ephesians chapter 1, verses 1 through 14, emphasizing in
the manner in which I read that which is the theme of our studies
together, the doctrine of union with Christ. And so every time
the little phrase, in him and in whom, occurs, I shall give
a rather grotesque emphasis. but I trust it will send home
the truth of the scripture to our hearts. Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus
through the will of God, to the saints that are at Ephesus and
the faithful, in Christ Jesus, grace to you and peace from God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, even as he
chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy and without blemish before him. in love, having foreordained
us unto adoption as sons through Christ, through Jesus Christ,
unto Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to
the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed
on us in the Beloved, in whom we have our redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the
riches of His grace, which he made to abound toward us in all
wisdom and prudence, making known unto us the mystery of his will,
according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in him, unto
a dispensation of the fullness of the times, to sum up all things
in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things upon the
earth, in him, I say, in whom also we were made a heritage,
having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who worketh
all things after the counsel of his will, to the end that
we should be unto the praise of his glory, who had before
hoped in Christ, in whom ye also having heard the word of the
truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom having also believed,
ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is in
earnest of our inheritance, unto the redemption of God's own possession,
unto the praise of His glory. For the benefit particularly
of those who are with us tonight and were not with us last evening,
I shall take just about three to four minutes to recapitulate
and catch the main threads of thought that I sought to lay
before you from the Scriptures in the previous study. I sought
to secure a very earnest and careful hearing and study of
this subject by introducing it with the statement of Professor
Murray concerning the doctrine of union with Christ, in which
he asserts that union with Christ is really the central truth in
the whole doctrine of salvation. Therefore, it is in our own highest
interest that we seriously consider this great truth of Scripture.
It is in the interest of our own stability that we do so,
and of course it is, in the highest sense, in the interest of God's
glory. And all I attempted to do last
night was to lay before you something of the place of this doctrine
of union with Christ in the plan of salvation. And we saw that
from eternity to eternity, the blessings of grace and salvation
come to needy sinners only in union with Jesus Christ. We saw that our election is a
choice in Him, Ephesians 1 and verse 4. We saw that in the saving
acts of Christ, those redemptive acts which He Himself performed
on behalf of His people, the Scripture says we were in Him
when He died, in Him when He was buried, in Him when He rose
and was seated at the right hand of the Father. Then when God
applies that salvation with power and we are made new creatures,
the Scripture says we are created anew in union with Christ Jesus,
Ephesians 2.10. And then in the continuance of
the Christian life and its experience, we saw that that life is carried
on in union with Christ. And so deep is that union, so
essential to that life, that the scripture says, when Christ,
who is our life, shall be manifested, then shall ye also be manifested
with him in glory. And then we saw in the consummation
of our redemption, in our glorification, It is glorification in Christ. And so union with Christ brings
together every single facet of that salvation with its taproots
in eternity and its full-blown fruit in eternity to come. And
in every stage of that salvation, graciously designed, powerfully
conferred upon sinners, union with Christ is central. so much for the thrust of what
we covered in about fifty-five minutes last night. And now tonight
what I propose to do is to attempt to lay before you the scriptural
teaching concerning the nature of this union with Jesus Christ,
but the nature of that union particularly in the application
of salvation. And so we're dealing tonight
with the nature of union with Christ, particularly as that
union is found when we are actually joined to Jesus Christ in effectual
calling. Now, there is a pre-temporal
union with Christ. We were chosen in Him. There
is a pre-calling union with Christ. We died with Him. We were buried
with Him. We were raised with Him. And
these subjects of the pre-temporal and the pre-calling union with
Christ are not matters of indifference or unimportance. Hugh Martin,
one of the great Scottish theologians, has conclusively demonstrated
in his work on the Atonement, particularly in the chapters
on the relationship of the atonement to the covenant of grace and
the atonement in federal theology, that this is a vital subject.
And I commend to you, preachers and serious laypeople, a study
of that treatise on the atonement, particularly the chapters which
deal with the nature of our union with Christ, the pre-temporal
union chosen in Him, and then the pre-calling union with Christ
when He affected our salvation in the objective work upon the
cross. But we must limit ourselves in
the interest of time and in the interest of trying to have somewhat
of a semblance of a popular vein to our study, for these are not
to be theological lectures, and I have constantly been torn with
trying to get them down. where they would be accessible
to all and yet not in any way deflect from the strict lines
of biblical truth that are forced upon us. So then we are dealing
with the nature of union with Christ in terms of the union
that comes when the sinner embraces the Savior because the Savior
has embraced the sinner, the mutual embrace of effectual calling. Now, because this is a precious
doctrine, there is all the more reason why the devil, the spirit
of error, has done his best to abuse and to pervert this truth. The more basic, the more lofty
a truth is, the more the enemy of truth will assert his vicious
energies to pervert that aspect of biblical revelation. And the
doctrine of union with Christ, particularly that union which
the sinner experiences when he is united to Christ, has suffered
at the hands of heresy throughout the history of the Church. And
what I propose to do in about ten minutes is to give a quick
sweep through the six main false concepts of the nature of union
with Christ. What is the nature of this union
with Christ? Well, we're going to start by
saying what it is not. And in so doing, I hope to clear
the field to focus upon that which it truly is. First of all,
then, this union with Christ as to its nature is not pantheistic. Now, some of you kids, don't
go to sleep, because I used a big word. You listen carefully, and
you can appear very smart when you go back home next week, and
when you go out in the neighborhood, you just gather the kids around
and say, hey, do you know where the word pantheistic comes from?
And when they don't know, then you can say, well, I just happen
to know. All right? Because it comes from two Greek
words. Pan, And theos, theos is the
word for God, pan, all, and so you have pantheistic, all God. And the basic doctrine of pantheism
is that all is God and God is all. In other words, the creator-creature
distinction is utterly obliterated in the thinking of pantheism.
Now, when we talk about union with Jesus Christ, we are not
thinking of some kind of a so-called Christian pantheism, in which
the Christian is absorbed into the personality of the Son of
God. For remember, as God, He is Creator. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that hath been made. John
won, Colossians won, and Hebrews won. And as Mr. McLeod reminded
us this morning, in taking to himself a true humanity, he did
not cease to be what he always was. And because he always was
and is the Creator, that vast distance between Creator and
creature will always exist. So whatever union with Christ
involves, it does not involve some kind of a so-called Christian
pantheism. The Lord Jesus Christ maintains
the full integrity of his person as the God-Man, the Theanthropic. Two more Greek words, kids. Theos,
God, Anthropos, Man. The God-Man, Theanthropic. So
you can show off twice when you go back home next week. He never
relinquishes all that he is. in the full integrity of his
person as the God-man. So let no one think that we're
teaching some kind of an absorption into the Deity when we talk of
union with Christ. Nothing could be further from
the biblical truth. Secondly, we are not thinking
of the nature of union with Christ as being pietistic. Now, the
chief characteristic of pietism is its preoccupation with inward
experience, generally at the expense of objective truth. Pietism is concerned with inward
experience. Generally speaking, it is indifferent
to objective truth, the propositional statements set forth in the Word
of God. However, the biblical doctrine
of union with Christ Though teaching that that union results in the
deepest exercises of subjective communion and fellowship with
Christ, it is never fellowship cut loose from the objective
facts of who Christ is theologically and what Christ has done in space,
time, history. May I repeat that? Though union with Christ brings
us into the deepest exercises of subjective, that is, experiential,
experimental communion and fellowship with Christ, that communion and
fellowship is never cut loose from the objective facts of who
Christ is theologically, and what he has done in space-time
history. No, union with Christ is not
pantheistic. It is not pietistic. Thirdly,
as to its nature, it is not rationalistic. Now, rationalism asserts the
supremacy of the human reason. It makes man's ability to reason
the measure of truth and reality. And whatever the mind cannot
conceive and grasp, is not true nor real. Now, the biblical doctrine
of union with Christ is not a doctrine of reason. It is a doctrine of
pure revelation. That is why it is called a mystery,
as we shall see further on in the study. It is a truth which
never could be perceived or even conceived by the human mind,
and it has come to us by way of pure revelation. And nothing
revealed by God is a contradiction of reason, but much revealed
goes beyond reason. The truths of the gospel are
not irrational, but many of them are supra-rational. Thinking of this very thing,
Watson said, Faith may swim where reason and understanding may
only wade. Faith may swim where reason and
understanding may only wade. Spurgeon, speaking to this same
point, said, Faith is reason at rest in God. Faith is reason at rest in God. When we come to the doctrine
of union with Christ, we're dealing with that which Paul called a
mega-mystery. We talk now about mega-vitamins
and megaton bombs, and when he said this mystery is great, he
said it's a mega-mystery. It is a great mystery. It is
something that the human mind could never conceive of. It comes
by way of pure revelation and is addressed to faith, not the
ability of unenlightened reason to cut it down and put it in
the test tube and analyze it and synthesize it and then make
statements about it. No, no, this is not a rationalistic
union as to its nature. Not only is it not pantheistic,
pietistic, rationalistic, it is not materialistic. And I'll
only speak a moment on this. Based upon a text of questionable
validity, Ephesians 5 and verse 30, the last part, we are bone
of His bone and flesh of His flesh. Some segments of the Christian
Church have conceived of union with Christ in a very materialistic
way. This is one of the errors of
the Church of Rome. where you have a materialistic
partaking of Jesus Christ in the sacraments. He that eats
my flesh and drinks my blood, John 6, that refers, say the
Romanists, to partaking of Christ as He is present in the consecrated
wafer and in the wine. No, no, union with Christ is
not materialistic. And now will you listen carefully
as I touch the last two negatives, for they are so much with us
and are the two great areas of error in American evangelicalism
with reference to this doctrine. Union with Christ as to its nature
is not quietistic. Now, quietism is a formal system
of thought, had its roots in a man whose name was De Molinas,
and aspects of quietism were expressed in two people who were
mentioned in Mr. Mack's lecture, Fenelon, the
Frenchman, and Madame Guion, if you want to sound French,
or Guyon, if you want to give it the anglicized version. Now,
the main thrust of Quietism is this. The height of spiritual
attainment is that of complete passivity in the state of perfect
rest in God. where your mind and thought and
will and affections are so absorbed into God's that you are no longer
conscious of the actings of your own rational faculties, your
own volitional faculties, your own emotional responses. Now, I do not know of too much
full-blown quietism as a system present in evangelicalism, but,
oh, how the leaven of this thought abounds in almost every form
of deeper life, higher life, abundant life, victorious life
teaching. It abounds, and it is quietism
gone rampant. And this is the idea expressed
in such areas of thought. Since union with Christ is the
source of spiritual life and vitality, and therefore of victory
over sin in the world, We must come to a point, you must come
to a point, where we yield so to the indwelling Christ that
he lives his life through us. And that's the catchphrase that
betrays the quietism of all forms of deeper life teaching. Christ
living, not in us, but through us. And once you have learned, say
these modern-day quietists, to grasp the reality of union with
Christ, union with Him in His saving act, you died with Him,
buried with Him, raised with Him, union with Him now as branch
in vine, once you learn that and you can yield sufficiently,
the struggle will be gone. The warfare will be terminated. Your wrestling days are over. You have entered into victory." Now, isn't it interesting that
in the passages in the New Testament, where the intimacy of our union
with Christ is most clearly stated, the necessity of our conscious
effort and whole-souled activity are most forcefully underscored. In the passages where the intimacy
of our union with Christ is most clearly stated, the necessity
of our conscious effort and whole-souled activity are most forcefully
underscored. Two examples will suffice. Colossians
chapter 1, verse 1. If then ye were raised
together with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ
is seated on the right hand of God. Having stated, we died with
him in verse twenty of the previous chapter, he now says, since we've
been raised. Verse two, set your mind on the
things that are above, not on things that are in the earth,
for ye died and your life is hid with Christ in God. What a statement of intimacy.
Would anyone like to come up now and expound that verse? I
don't feel confident to expound it. is hid with Christ in God. What intimacy! And will you notice
what surrounds that statement? Verse 1, if ye and then ye were
raised, seek. Now, is that passive or active? If you're seeking something,
are you sitting down, half asleep, in some kind of a semi-suspended
state? No, if you seek something, everything
about you is actively involved in the pursuit of that which
you seek. He says, seek the things that are above. Furthermore,
he says, set your mind. He doesn't say, if your mind
is active, that's a sign of carnality. You haven't entered into union
and communion with Christ. No, no. He says, seek. He says,
set your mind. Now look at verse 5. Put to death,
therefore, your members." Does he say, let Christ live through
you, and there will be? No, no. He says, put to death.
Put them to death. Mortification. And then he follows
with the exhortations, put off. Verse 12, put on. Oh, do you
see? that in a passage where the reality
and the intimacy of our union with Christ is most forcefully
stated, the necessity of conscious effort and whole-souled activity
is coming to us or comes to us with equal force and clarity. Philippians chapter 2 is the
second example, and the New Testament abounds in these. I am being
selective in the interest of time. In Philippians 2, it is God who
worketh in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. In chapter 4, verse 13, I can
do all things through Christ, who strengtheneth me upon the
basis of the work of Christ, the present mediation of Christ
in all the gifts and graces purchased By the Lord Jesus, in fulfillment
of the Father's purpose, He works in His own. There is a present,
energetic, effectual working of God in His own, both to will
and to do, or to perform. Now, does that mean that we sit
back and we just wait for Him to will through us and to perform
through us? No. For this very statement was
made to buttress an exhortation to activity that is whole-souled
activity, earnest, conscious, deliberate activity. For verse
12 says, So then, my beloved, even as ye have always obeyed,
not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence,
work out your own salvation with fear and with trembling. Give
yourself in whole-souled activity, carried out under the eye of
God, in the consciousness of the great issues at stake. Know
the reality of our union with Christ should never lead to quietism. This is error, and when it leads
people to the place that it has led some, it moves from error
into absolute heresy. And then, finally, It is not
externalistic. Now, what do I mean by that?
I mean simply this, that the union with Christ is not merely
the union of a teacher with his pupils, a political leader with
his followers, the platoon sergeant with the raw recruits. No, no.
For in those relationships there is a form of union, but there
is no indwelling, there is no shared life, there is no exchange
of legal standing. No, the union with Christ goes far
beyond that of a disciple with his master, the teacher and the
pupil, the political leader and the follower. Well, having cleared
the deck of these six things that union with Christ is not,
what then is the nature of union with Christ? Well, let me suggest
in the first place that it is a spiritual union. Secondly,
we shall see it is a mystical union. And finally, an indissoluble
union. What then is the nature of the
union with Christ? Remember now, not every facet
of that union, not the pre-temporal, pre-calling union, but the union
effected in the call of God. It is, first of all, a spiritual
union. Now, what do we mean by spiritual? Well, we simply mean what the
New Testament means when it uses the term spiritual. Spiritual
has reference to that which is of the Holy Spirit. the third
person of the Godhead. A spiritual man or woman, boy
or girl, is one who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Romans 8
and verse 9. Look at that text, if you will,
please. Romans 8 and verse 9. But ye
are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the
Spirit of God dwelleth in you. But if any man hath not the Spirit
of Christ, he is none of his. What constitutes a man a spiritual
man? According to the Apostle, it
is the indwelling of the Spirit. And to be devoid of the Spirit,
to be a non-spiritual man or woman, is to be severed from
Christ. It is to be one who is called
none of his. And so union with Christ is a
spiritual relationship as to its nature, because it is a union
effected by the Spirit Himself. And the most helpful phrase I
have found used in the writers is this, the Holy Spirit is the
bond of our union to Jesus Christ. The same Spirit that filled Him,
given to Him without measure, is the Spirit poured out from
Him into the hearts of His own. And because it is one and the
same Spirit that fills Him that now comes to abide in us, the
Spirit is the bond of that union. This is why we read in this very
context, Romans 8, 9, you're not in the spirit, but in the
flesh, but in the spirit, if so be that the spirit of God
dwelleth in you. If any man hath not the spirit
of Christ, he is none of his. But look at verse 10. And if
Christ is in you, see the progression, spirit of God, spirit of Christ,
Christ himself. When the Holy Spirit comes to
indwell us, He comes as the Spirit of Christ. And since He is the
Spirit of Christ, one with the Father and with the Son, it is
Christ who comes. And so the bond of that union
is the indwelling Holy Spirit. Therefore, the nature of that
union is a spiritual union. First Corinthians 12 and verse
13 is another explicit statement. Concerning this fact, 1 Corinthians
12, verse 13, or back up to verse 12, for as the body is one and
hath many members, and all the members of the body being many
are one body, notice this, so also is Christ. Not so also is
Christ's church. He says, as it is true in your
physical body, there is one body, but many members, many appendages,
toes, ears, eyes, feet, noses, and the other members of the
body, but it is one body, so also is Christ. Christ considered
mystically, Christ considered redemptively in terms of His
people, His bride, His body, His church, the scripture says,
There is this analogy, as the one is comprised of the many,
so the one Christ, mystically considered, is comprised of the
many members. Now, how did they get joined
to Christ, who is the head in that body? Verse 13, For in one
Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks,
whether bond or free, and were all made to drink of one Spirit. How did we become members of
Christ when by the Spirit we were incorporated into the body
of which He is the Head, both the organic, living Head, as
well as the administrative Head of His own body, the Church? Again, this emphasis comes through
in chapter 6 of 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 6 and verse
15, Know ye not that your bodies are members of Christ. Shall
I then take away the members of Christ and make them members
of a harlot? God forbid! Or know ye not that
he that is joined to an harlot is one body? For the twain said
he shall become one flesh, but he that is joined unto the Lord
is one spirit. Verse 19, Or know ye not that
your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit? How do I actually
become a member of Christ when the Spirit comes to indwell me? and being joined unto the Lord,
I am one spirit with him. The same spirit that filled him
now comes to indwell me. There is a bond of a spiritual
union, that which is effected by the Holy Spirit himself. And, O dear people, this is not
an abstract theological concept. A recognition of this fact that
the nature of the union is spiritual wrought by the indwelling Spirit
will keep us, on the one hand, from the error of any kind of
a carnal, sensual conception of our union with Christ, and
on the other hand, it will keep us from the error of a mere sentimental,
notional attachment to Christ. My attachment to Him is real.
Spiritual does not mean unreal as opposed to material and physical,
which is the real. There is a real world of the
Spirit. And when the Spirit joins us
to Christ, that is a real and a vital union. Then in the second place, it
is not only a spiritual union, it is a mystical union. Now,
when we use the word mystical, we don't mean spooky. We don't
mean scary. We don't mean ethereal. We use
the term mystical, taking our sphere of reference from the
New Testament concept of what constitutes a mystery. Now will
you look at two of the great mystery passages. Now we're not
going to tell you something spooky, kids. Not a mystery story. But
these are the mystery passages. The first one is in Romans chapter
16. Romans 16 and verse 25. Now to him that is able to establish
you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ,
according to the revelation of the mystery which hath been kept
in silence through times eternal, but now is manifested, and by
the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment
of the Eternal God, is made known unto all the nations, unto obedience
of faith, to the only wise God through Jesus Christ, To whom
be the glory forever. Keeping your finger in that passage,
turn over to Colossians 1, 26 to 28, another great passage
concerning this matter of the gospel mystery. Verse 24 of Colossians 1, Now
I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my
part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in
my flesh, for his body's sake, which is the church. whereof
I was made a minister according to the dispensation which was
given to me to you, word, to fulfill the word of God, even
the mystery which hath been hid for ages and generations, but
now it hath been manifested to his saints, to whom God was pleased
to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery
among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Now the dominant idea concerning
a gospel mystery, if you'll read these passages, meditate upon
them, draw out their common denominators, you'll come to this conclusion.
The dominant idea is this. A gospel mystery is something
which the human mind has not conceived of itself, but which
God has conceived and revealed and which is now proclaimed as
an object of believing reception and the appropriation of faith.
So then the gospel mystery is a spiritual reality originating
in God's mind, a spiritual reality originating in God's mind. It
is, secondly, a spiritual reality hidden for a time. God purposed
it from times eternal, Paul says, but it was hidden, hidden for
a time. Thirdly, it is a spiritual reality
now revealed and deposited in the Word of God and made the
subject of preaching. It is now revealed, it is now
manifested, and the mystery having been revealed, the apostle says,
it is now proclaimed. And fourthly, it is a spiritual
reality which is the object of faith. It is preached for obedience
of faith. Now, the doctrine of union with
Christ, as to its nature, is not only spiritual, it is mystical
in this sense that it is the unfolding, or it is in its essence
that which could only be known by the unfolding of the mind
of God. Now, fully aware of our limitations,
God has graciously condescended to give us many likenesses or
many analogies of this union. And again, you children, don't
be scared by the word analogy. That's just another word for
likeness. If something is analogous to something else, it is like
it. An analogy is something that is like, but it doesn't mean
it's exactly the same as. Looking out the window at some
of you playing ball out there today, some of you gals even,
I could say some of you played like she-tigers. Now that did
not mean that I saw you running around out there with a big long
tail, with yellow and black stripes, and with big long claws, pouncing
on anything that moved. No, there is a likeness. But
when we say you played like she-tigers, we are not making you identical
to she-tigers. You may be in other respects
that we could not observe from the window. But certainly no
one would assume that when I gave such a likeness that I was making
an identity between you and a tigress. Now God is condescended to say
union with Christ in its mystical aspect is something like this,
and it's something like that, and it's something like the other.
But they are all likenesses, none of which brings in the whole
scope of the relationship none of which is to be pressed to
identity, similarity but not identity. And the beautiful thing
is, the more one meditates upon these many likenesses, one discovers
that in each of them a certain aspect of union with Christ is
underscored more forcefully and more definitively than in another
analogy or likeness. And so if we're to come to an
appreciation of the nature of our union with Christ, we should
not, as many have done, simply park on one of these analogies
and build a whole structure of our concept of union with Christ
upon that one analogy. This is resting the Scriptures
to our own destruction. Now, what are the likenesses?
Well, there are at least five of them. I'll start with the
lowest and then the highest. and then range some at random
order in between. What is the nature of our union
with Christ if we are Christians? Well, God says at the lowest
level it is like the union of the stones in a building, all
of which are related to the chief cornerstone and to each other. This, of course, is the figure
of Ephesians, chapter 2. You may wish to look at it as
I read just a section of that text. Ephesians, chapter 2, verse
19, So then ye are no more strangers and sojourners, but ye are fellow
citizens with the saints and of the household of God, being
built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ
Jesus himself, the chief cornerstone in whom each several buildings
fitly framed together groweth into a holy temple in the Lord. Christ Jesus, the chief cornerstone,
the apostles and prophets, not in their persons but in their
doctrine, are the ones who comprise the foundation. When we are quickened
by the Spirit, we become part of that living temple. We become
related to the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything in the building rests
down upon the cornerstone. It supports the structure. And
here, the element of the objectivity involved in union with Christ,
we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus, as He
is preached to us by apostle and prophet, the truths unfolded,
the doctrines that surround Him, which lead to Him and flow out
of Him. Union with Christ is like the
relationship of the stones in the building to the chief cornerstone,
and there the underscoring is in the area of the objectivity
of the One in whom we trust. But then the highest analogy—and
if Scripture did not force it upon us, it would almost seem
blasphemous to suggest it—but the highest analogy of our union
is this. Our union with Christ is in some
way like the union that exists within the persons of the Godhead.
That first and primal mystery of being—one God, yet three persons. Three persons, but one God. And our Lord Himself indicates
that our union with Him in some respects takes into its orbit
aspects of the union within the Godhead. John, chapter 17. John, chapter 17. And verse 21. Backing up to verse
20. Neither for these only do I pray,
but for them also that believe on me through their word that
they may all be one. Even as thou, Father, art in
me and I in thee, there is the union of the Father and the Son,
that they also may be in us. As thou art in me and I in thee,
that they may be in us. Now we must guard that. By everything
that I stated at the outset in the list of negatives, this does
not mean any absorption into the Deity. There is not one gram
of what constitutes us human beings that is ever absorbed
into Deity. We were made creatures. We shall
die creatures. And if we rise to everlasting
life, we'll be creatures in the world to come. Yet there is some
aspect of our union with Christ that is analogous to the union
with the persons of the Godhead. And I would not dare to say what
it means, but I would at least suggest that it has something
to do with that union, that unity, that confluence of will, of love,
and of purpose. And I will say no more than to
say that. Now, in between the lowest analogy, the union of
stones to the cornerstone. The highest analogy, the union
that exists within the Godhead, ranged in between—you have these
other likenesses—the union of Adam and his posterity, Romans
5, 12 to 21. Again and again the apostle draws
a parallel. As in Adam this happened, so
in Christ this happens. By the One, by virtue of the
union He sustained to His posterity and they to Him, certain things
that He did have consequences in their life history. So likewise,
because of the union of Christ with His people and they with
Him, certain things He has done brings blessing and salvation
to all who are in Him. And again, of course, the other
great passage Telling us something of this aspect of the union is
1 Corinthians 15, 19-49. You have the first Adam and the
last Adam, showing that there are parallels in these unions. But then in the third place,
the nature of this union is set before us as a union that is
something like that which exists between a vine and its branches,
John 15, 1-8. I am the true vine, my father
is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth
fruit, he prunes it. Every branch that does not is
taken away. Abide in me, I in you. My relationship to you, the nature
of the union, is something like unto that which exists between
a vine and its branches. The fourth analogy is the union
of the head and the members of the body. Ephesians 4, verses
15. and sixteen, Ephesians 4, 15
and 16. But speaking the truth in love
may grow up in all things into him who is the head, even Christ,
from whom all the body, fitly framed and knit together through
that which every joint supplieth, according to the working in due
measure of each several part, maketh the increase of the body
unto the building up of itself in love. 1 Corinthians chapter
12, from which we read earlier, this same concept is brought
before us. And then finally, the other union
that is something like unto the union we have with Christ is
that mysterious union between a husband and a wife. Ephesians
chapter 5, the apostle is giving directives to wives, to husbands,
and he is speaking of this oneness in verse 30. And he says, this
is a great mystery. Nevertheless, I speak concerning
Christ and the Church. And there is then this parallel
as to the nature of the relationship. Now, when you put them all together,
what do you have? Put them all into one pot and boil them. Let
them stew on the back burner until you begin to smell, as
it were, something of the fragrance that comes. from the compilation
of these concepts, warmed by reverent meditation, brought,
as it were, into focus by earnest prayer for the illumination of
the Spirit. And you will come, I am sure,
to the conclusion that the nature of our union is that of a real,
vital, intimate and all-inclusive union. There is the sharing of
legal standing There is the communication of life, there is the interchange
of mind and affection, the flow of sympathy, of love, of trust
and obedience. It is a union that is intimate,
for it is likened unto that of a husband and wife, where two
become one, and as they share their years, together their times.
when they wonder if they've even kept any of their own identity.
They begin to be able to so read each other's minds and the slightest
intimation of each other's will and purpose and response. That's
a great mystery. Meditating upon this doctrine
has caused me to reason from the earthly relationship to the
higher. And we'll celebrate our 18th
anniversary this weekend. And as I was meditating into
study the other day, it struck me. After eighteen years, you'd
think you really knew someone. And yet new aspects of my wife's
personality come to light with each passing week and month.
And I realize that a lifetime of sixty or seventy years together
will, in a real sense, only scratch the discovery of a fellow mortal
with whom I have lived in the most intimate of human relationships.
Now, if sixty years with a fellow mortal just scratches the surface,
What must it be to be in union with the infinite God? You wonder
what you're going to do for eternity, child of God? God can unfold more and more
of the glory of his being and never exhaust that unfolding,
for he is the infinite God, and you'll be a creature still. Something
of the intimacy, the sharing of the mind and the heart, when
we think of the relationship analogous to Adam, There is the
dominant emphasis upon the legal status. His fall became ours. His sin brought condemnation
to us. And so our union with Christ
is one in which we exchange legal places. He stood in our room
instead, bore the guilt that should be ours, the punishment
that should have crushed us into an eternity of conscious torment. And yet he bore that in his own
body on the tree. And the righteousness which we
did not have, but he possessed, is given us. And so you just
take some of these lines of thought. I can only be suggestive and
point the direction and trust that in prayerful, loving meditation
you'll follow down some of these paths on your own. Now, having
covered the ground in a very broad overview concerning the
place of the doctrine of union with Christ in the plan of salvation,
Having seen something of the nature, what it is not, what
it is, it is spiritual, it is mystical, it is indissoluble,
and I'll only state that. Romans 8 is the commentary. I
won't even pause to expound upon it. I feel I must take just a
few minutes in closing tonight to underscore a third line of
concern. The place of union with Christ
in the plan of God the nature of union with Christ, particularly
in the application of salvation. Now, this third area of concern. What is the context of union
with Christ? That is, in connection with what
does God actually bring sinners into this vital and blessed union
with His Son? Well, we could look at that from
God's perspective, and that would open up the whole doctrine of
God's covenantal commitments. He always joins sinners to his
Son within the framework of the covenant of redemption, that
inter-Trinitarian covenant. And I'm convinced, apart from
that kind of thinking, we cannot understand such passages as John
17. And then it is a union administered from God's standpoint in terms
of the covenant of grace. But we're going to bypass that,
and I want us to look at it from the human standpoint. When are
the purposes of God rooted in the covenant of redemption, in
the covenant of grace, when do they actually terminate upon
needy sinners so that those sinners actually come into vital experiential
union with Christ? Let me make it more personal.
In what context will someone sitting here tonight who is out
of Christ, under condemnation, under wrath, within what context
can you ever hope to be brought into union with Christ and out
from under condemnation and into all of the privileges of that
union? And I have two answers to that question. The first is
this. Union with Christ will always
be found in conjunction with the objective, propositional
truth concerning the person and work of Jesus Christ our Lord. In the two great union gospel
mystery passages, which of course refer to this concept of union
with Christ, the Apostle uses these words in the Romans 16
passage, My gospel, Jesus Christ, according to the Scriptures,
In other words, this mystery, Christ in you, the hope of glory,
is never realized in the life of an individual unless there
is the objective, propositional truth concerning the person and
work of Jesus Christ. take away historic Christianity,
take away preaching which finds its great themes in who Christ
is, what He has done for sinners, take away preaching rooted in
the very words of Scripture, and it will not be long before
union with Christ is not experienced, let alone conceived of, even
in the professing Church. The deepest, most intimate relationships
between Jesus Christ and needy sinners are rooted in the inflexible
objectivities of the apostolic gospel. Turn to Colossians 1
for a moment. As we see this truth underscored
so forcefully by the apostle, he says in verse 25, he was made
a minister. a minister of the great mystery,
verse 26, that has been hid but now is manifested. Then in verse
27 he tells us what that mystery is, Christ in you, the hope of
glory. But now notice, if you will,
verse 28, whom we proclaim, admonishing every man and teaching every
man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in
Christ. How do people come into the possession
of this great gospel mystery? not by some kind of striving
after subjective religious experience with a little smattering of Jesus
and the cross and the blood to make them some kind of acceptable
diet for Christian churches. Paul said, no, men come into
the possession of this great gospel mystery when Jesus Christ
is preached. How preached? preached as Paul
always preached him. The God-man, the Christ of Philippians
2, who was true God, assumed a true humanity in that humanity
lived and died under the law. rose again from the dead, went
back to the right hand of the Father, sent forth the promised
Spirit into the hearts of all who believe upon Him. And so
the great pivots of His preaching were, according to Acts 20, 21,
repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. And it is only in that context
that there will be found this blessed relationship of union
with Christ. And so I exhort my preacher friends
here today, pray that you'll have the spirit of the Apostle
Paul as reflected in Galatians 1. Pray that you'll have the
spirit of John as reflected in 1 John. A holy, may I say, a
sanctified violence in your opposition to heresy that would rob Jesus
Christ of any of the glory that is due. in the apostolic message
concerning who he is and what he has done for sinners. To the
extent that there is a relinquishment of any essential element of apostolic
gospel, we are jeopardizing the souls of men. If union with Christ
is their only hope, and that union only comes to pass in the
context of the objective truth of the gospel, my preacher friend,
don't relinquish that truth. Don't relinquish it. When those
who are so smart in their creature wisdom sneer that you believe
in such concepts as an incarnate God, such concepts as divine
wrath that needs appeasement, a God who needs to be propitiated
in the bloodletting of His own beloved Son, don't cower when
they sneer with their pseudo-intellectualism. And don't be backed into a corner
by the pervasive subjectivism in our day that says it's dead
orthodoxy that's cursed the Church. Let's get the Spirit. And so
there is the wildfire running rampant through every structure
of evangelicalism in our day. And the focus is away from the
objectivity of the truth of Christ and its unsubjective feelings,
subjective experiences. Baptisms and tongues and prophecies. Christ is not central. Oh, my preacher friend, don't
be bullied. Don't be sucked in to the spirit
of our own age. And don't cower before the accusation,
you nasty doctrinaire Calvin. Why can't you just be content
to preach the simple gospel? My friend, do you know what the
simple gospel is? It's the apostolic gospel. It's
the whole counsel of God. And we preserve that counsel
not because we are doctrinaire. It's because we so love the souls
of men. that we do not desire in the
name of a false charity to rob them of the only thing that can
bring them into union with Christ. And I speak not only to my preacher
friends, but you dear people who form the backbone of our
churches, whom God has brought together in a loving relationship
of shared vision of Christ and shared concern for His glory
and His kingdom in our day. You better prize pure gospel
preaching. Oh, it makes you think, doesn't
it? And sometimes you get a hankering to go back to the leeks and garlics
of guitar-strumming gospel dittyism. Sure you do. Some of you get
weary of your Reformed Baptist preachers. All they do is expound. All they do is exegete. All—my
friend, listen! You better not despise the great
privilege God has given. I don't say this with any mock
humility. There are some of you that are blessed to have preachers
that I'd walk 20 miles any day to hear if I could. And some
of you fall asleep under their preaching. God have mercy on
you. In your heart you hang for preaching
that's more clever, more acute, doesn't make you think. We were reminded this morning
that holiness is not a feeling. Holiness is that conscious, deliberate
conformity of every facet of life to the most minute precept
of the living God. He says we're to love the Lord
our God with all our heart, with all our minds. And if ever it
is right to love Him with the whole mind, it's when His mind
is being unfolded in the Word. Now, I'm not excusing preachers
who are obtuse. and use fourteen hundred and
twenty-three syllabled words, and never knock some holes in
their sermons with analogy or illustration. If I had just preachers
here, I'd preach to the preachers about trying to be simple, talking
where possible on the level where the tortoises can get it because
the giraffes can always bend down and eat too. But my dear hearers, assuming
that your preachers are laboring at simplicity and clarity of
order and structure and form, there is no substitute for your
coming to the house of God sufficiently rested and sufficiently praying
with a prayerful spirit, coming to give yourself to God in the
ministry of His Word. That's what listening to preaching
is. Giving yourself not to the preacher, but to the preacher's
God and to the truth of God, as that truth is mediated through
an appointed spokesman. And, O dear children of God,
let me say to you how your heart ought to run out with praise
to God that he ever put you within the orbit of pure gospel preaching,
or you'd never have been joined to Christ. It's in the orbit
of the objective truths of the apostolic gospel proclaimed. union with Christ is effected.
And then my closing point is that this union is found always
in the context of a believing response to that objective propositional
truth concerning the person and work of Christ. That's why Paul
could say in Romans 16, 26, this mystery was made known unto the
obedience of faith. Let me speak very tenderly to
the children. Your mommies and daddies warn
you about many sins, and they ought to. The writer to the Proverbs
put his arm around his son and said, My son, when sinners entice
thee, consent thou not. And he warned him about laziness. If you get tired of mommy and
daddy warning you about being lazy, they're just being scriptural
kids. They have to be. And he warned
him about lechery. Don't embrace the bosom of a
foreign woman. Her steps lead to hell. warned
him about bad debts, warned him about many things. But you know
what sin I want to warn you about tonight, dear children, fellas
and girls? It's the one sin that is the
mother of all other sins. You know what that sin is? It's
the sin of unbelief. The sin of unbelief. The Scripture
says, He that believeth not shall be damned. The word preached
did not profit them, not being mixed with faith. And oh, dear
young people who are privileged to sit in churches where Sunday
after Sunday, no matter what text the preacher is expounding,
he always finds a legitimate avenue out of that text to set
Christ before you as a willing and an able Savior. And he calls
upon you to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Many of you do
not rise up in your seat and say, no preacher, I want nothing
to do with the Jesus you preach. You don't do that. You believe
he was a real person. You believe the preacher even
loves him. There are times when in your heart you say, I know
the preacher is real. And I know when he speaks of
his savior, he's not just talking professional shop talk. But you
know what happens? You leave the service week after
week. Never embracing the Lord Jesus for yourself. Oh, listen,
dear young people and any adults, you may listen in as well, but
I'm going after the young people, the children tonight. Listen,
there must be the mutual embrace, Christ of you and you of Christ,
before there'll ever be union with Christ. He embraces us. when He sends His Spirit into
our hearts to quicken us. But we are not conscious of that
quickening. It is beneath the level of our consciousness. And we then consciously embrace
Him in faith. And there is never union with
Christ without the mutual embrace. Oh, dear young people, the Son
of God stands tonight in His Word, in His preached Word, and
says, Him that comes to me I'll in no wise cast out. Your mommy
and daddy can't come for you. You've got to come. Your preacher
can't come for you. You must come. No one can come
for you. You must come. You must embrace
him. You, young person, child, little
one, you must embrace him. Suffer the little children to
come unto me, but they must come. He says to adults, don't stand
in the way. But neither did he say you can
bring them. Suffer them to come. And we do
not stand in your way tonight, children. We don't tell you you've
got to be 20. We don't tell you you must feel
some great and overpowering sense of conviction so that you weep
for three days and three nights or six weeks before you come.
If you know yourself this night to be one of those sons or daughters
of Adam, then you know it. Because you can be as mean as
anybody in your heart, even though you never say mean things with
your lips. And you can be stubborn and rebellious and sash your
mom and fight with your brother and sister. And you know no one
ever had to teach you how to do those things. You just did
them naturally. You're being a very consistent son or daughter
of Adam. And Almighty God frowns with
holy hatred against your sins, children. God doesn't have some
kind of special attitude to children's sins. His anger burns against
all sin and sinners. And I plead with you, dear, dear
children, plead to the Lord Jesus. He stands in His Word, ready,
willing, and able to save you. And any adults who are here,
and some of you who have despised the Gospel for years, I close
with the note with which I closed last night. You may smart mouth
the Gospel. and the Son of God in union with
Christ in everything that has to do with these sacred things. But you'll not smart mouth them
in the day when you stand before him who will come in the full
fury of his wrath. For the scripture says he will
come in flaming fire to take vengeance on all those that obey
not the gospel. My friend, the gospel is not
merely an invitation with all the entreaty and earnestness
of divine love and compassion. It is a command in all the overtones
of regal and majestic authority. It comes from the throne of God,
and it says, Repent, believe, be saved. And if you obey not
that gospel command, you shall perish. Union with Christ, what
a blessing! What is it like? God says it's
like these things, and it's not that. Oh, my friend, are you
joined in? If you are, your present status
is of all men most blessed, your prospects most bright. Without
Him, it's nothing but darkness, now and for eternity. Let us pray.

Union With Christ #2

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about union with Christ?

How do we know the doctrine of union with Christ is true?

Why is the concept of union with Christ important for Christians?

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About Albert N. Martin

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Union With Christ #2

Key Quotes

What does the Bible say about union with Christ?

How do we know the doctrine of union with Christ is true?

Why is the concept of union with Christ important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Albert N. Martin

Comments

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