SOME THOUGHTS ON UNION WITH CHRIST

I am at a conference this week in Massachusetts which is focused on exploring further the topic of assurance. The first speaker rightly pointed out that our assurance of salvation flows from this union we have with the Lord Jesus Christ. So this got me thinking about how much we talk about our union with Christ at GCC. Probably not enough! Not only that, but I came to see that the topic of this Union relates well to what we have been looking at in Romans and it's going to come up in the chapters ahead.

One of the fallacies of modern Christian thinking is that all of the benefits of redemption come to us because of how hard we try, or how moral we are in comparison with the rest of society. If you were at worship this past Sunday, you know this already. The puritan theologian John Owen once wrote that union with Christ, "is the cause of all other graces that we are made partakers of; they are all communicated to us by virtue of our union with Christ. Hence is our adoption, our justification, our sanctification, our fruitfulness, our perseverance, our resurrection, our glory."

Paul has many beautiful statements about this in Ephesians. Notice how many times the preposition "in" appears in this section.

^"3  Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴  even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵  he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶  to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. ⁷  In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, ⁸ which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight ⁹  making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ ¹⁰ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.¹¹ In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, ¹² so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. ¹³ In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory." ( Eph. 1:3-14)

The benefits of redemption come to you because God chose you before the foundation of the world, not for any reason within you. In fact even your identity as a Christian begins here, not with your moral actions. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said: "For some reason or other, Christian people seem to be afraid of [this doctrine...Yet] according to this teaching in Ephesians 2 and elsewhere, you are not Christians at all unless you are joined to Christ and “in Him”…So often we say we are Christian because we're not Muslim or Buddhist, we're American, or we're Republican, or we grew up in church, or we made a decision long ago and signed a piece of paper. We base our identity as Christians in things that have little or nothing to do with our union with Christ. In fact, we base it more on ourselves and our choices than on Christ. Certainly, our choices bear witness to our union, but we need to learn to think differently. The only reason any of us believe is because God has chosen to unite us to Christ before the earth was even created. 

If we are in Christ, then it means we are tethered to him and hidden in him. He takes us with him in every step of his saving work in order that we might be blessed along with him. We share in his sufferings, his death and in his resurrection. We share in his sonship and therefore in his inheritance. Forgiveness is given to us because we have his righteousness. Heavens eternal joys are ours because we are in Christ.