Christology – Union with Christ – Part 1
Theologically speaking, we speak about the Doctrine of God for starters. We confess that God is one in essence, yet three distinct Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each person is fully God, yet there is one God. Yet, the Father is not the Son, and the Holy Spirit is not the Father or the Son. They are a triune God, perfectly one and yet distinct in three persons.
The Doctrine of the Trinity helps us understand, (as much as our finite, limited minds can grasp) something of God, how the Three in One operates. How our salvation is worked out.
There are two categories that can help us understand the distinctions of each Person. The theological terms are the Economic Trinity and the Immanent Trinity. The definition of the Immanent Trinity refers to God in Himself – as eternally existent, even before creation. The Economic Trinity refers to how the Three Persons in One reveal themselves in redemptive history. What they do, how they work together as One.
Defined: Immanent Trinity: (from the Athanasian Creed)
The Father – neither made nor created nor begotten from anyone
The Son – was neither made nor created; he was begotten from the Father
The Spirit – was neither made nor created nor begotten; he proceeds from the Father and the Son
I know. It’s all too amazing to think about! I can read and write those words, and still go “I don’t get it”. The doctrine of God – of the Trinity – is one that has mystery around it, and our purpose is not to try and understand it, so much as we need to believe it. Because God said so. It’s kind of similar to trying to understand what eternity means, especially as it pertains to the afterlife! How can there possibly be no end? How can time just keep on going…….and going…… Our minds can only understand beginnings and endings because we are in time, whereas God is outside of time.
By far, the doctrine of the Economic trinity made all the difference for me in wrapping my head around the concept of the Trinity to some degree. I love, love this:
Defined: Economic Trinity:
God the Father INITIATES the plan for salvation; He does so before the foundations of the world were laid. He made a plan and had worked out all the details.
God the Son ACCOMPLISHES salvation; by becoming incarnate, taking on our human nature
God the Spirit APPLIES salvation; our sanctification – or being made holy, is what conforms us to Christ to make us the image bearers we were created to be.
In some of my reading, the Doctrine of Christology really caught my attention. What is that?
Christology basically answers the question “who is Jesus?” It basically wants us to know about the Person of Jesus – to know WHO he is. This doctrine is one of those that opens your eyes wide and once you’ve seen it, you never forget it.
In “You’re a Theologian”, it says, “Basic Christology, or the doctrine of Christ, is:
Jesus is fully God.
Jesus is fully human – yet without sin.
Jesus is one person.”
Sounds pretty simple. And it is, really. But truly getting to the heart of Christology requires digging a bit deeper. The one thing that is of first importance is to understand the Incarnation of the Son of God. The incarnation means “embodied in flesh”. So many heresies have come out of a misunderstanding of the Son of God becoming incarnate.
When we think of the God-man, Jesus, we often think in terms of the fact that he became a human. Just like us. But it is equally important to understand that The Son of God took on human nature. Not just body, but body, soul, mind, and will. The phrase “took on” or “assumed” also can be said as “added to”. The Son of God added to himself, a human nature. This is how Jesus is the God-Man. Two natures: one divine, one human. He remained fully God in human flesh. I don’t know about you, but that is hard to wrap my mind around!! This dual nature, in theological terms, is called the hypostatic union. Two natures in one person. And it is THIS Jesus that accomplishes our salvation.
I recently took a 5-part course on Christology through the Proclaim Truth Collective. The 1st course answered the question: Who is Christ in the Trinity? There was so much to absorb and way too much to try and share here. (they were one-hour long lectures!). Understanding who Jesus is, is absolutely crucial to our understanding of salvation. The hypostatic union of the 2 natures was cause for a lot of heresies in the early church, and many Councils and creeds were written to address them.
In the Council of Chalcedon in the 5th Century, Jesus’ two natures were said to be without mixture (no mingling), without confusion (no disorder), without separation, without division. These are guardrails that help us remember what is not true about his dual nature. Here are a couple ways to understand the dual nature of Christ:
- In his divine nature, Jesus is omniscient. In his human nature, he was limited in his knowledge. These two can co-exist definitively without confusion or mixture.
- In his divine nature, Jesus experiences no lack whatsoever. In his human nature, Jesus suffered pain, hunger, weariness.
- At the crucifixion – we understand that the God-Man dies, so he can be the acceptable sacrifice and we also understand that God doesn’t die – if God died, we wouldn’t exist.
- At and after the ascension – we understand that Jesus is no longer with us – his human nature is in heaven, and we also understand that in his divine nature, he is always with us through the Holy Spirit! Both are true.
The challenge for us is not to over-emphasize one nature over the other. If we over-emphasize Christ’s human nature, we tend to bring him down to our level – “like me”. This results in t-shirts or memes that say things like “Jesus and coffee” or “Jesus and tacos”. It leads to a “Jesus is my home-boy” mentality which has zero regard for his divinity!
If we over-emphasize Christ’s divine nature, we tend to downplay all that the Gospels tell us about Jesus, thinking “well, he’s omniscient, so he knew everything”.
There needs to be a balance. And balances like this can be felt as tension. Part of being a Christ follower is being able to hold both beliefs simultaneously in faith.
Of course, a post about Christ is not complete without addressing just what exactly taking on the human nature meant – for us.
John 20: 30, 31: “Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (understanding Jesus is crucial to having eternal life!)
Matt 16: 16: “….who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”
John 1: 1-5: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
1 John 5:11-12: “And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
We also read in Hebrews 1:3 “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of Hi Being.”, and in Colossians 1:15 “The Son is the image of the invisible God”.
Jesus Christ is the exact imprint of the Father! Jesus tells his disciples and us in John 14 that he and the Father are one! Jesus must be fully God and fully man. What Jesus does not assume, Jesus cannot save. He has to take on the fullness of humanity to save us – AND be fully God in order to exhaust God’s wrath against sin. And salvation is only found in Jesus Christ. Why? He gave us HIMSELF. And? We are IN HIM. Salvation IS the person of Christ!
Salvation can be wrapped up in two words: in Christ. In the New Testament, that phrase, or any like it (with, into ) occurs scores of times. The Apostle Paul, especially had a love for that phrase. And that preposition “in” is worthy of study. Who knew? 😊
Before going too much into detail, there are a few phrases that just thrill me and fill me with awe and thankfulness that I would like to share with you.
“With Christ, In Christ, Through Christ, INTO Christ”
“What can be said of Jesus, can be said of me!”
“We are united in Christ in every aspect of our lives – in his life, in his death, in his resurrection, in his ascension.”
Romans 6: 5 “For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (BOOM!)
Ephesians 1: 4: “For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.
1: 7: “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us.”
1: 11- 14: “In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will. In order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory, And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believe, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession – to the praise of his glory.”
I could have just put Ephesians 1: 3- 14 in its entirety!
And that’s just a smattering of verses.
In my next post, I will flesh out some more ‘unbelievable’ truths about our union in Christ, but for now, I would like to leave you with what the Son has accomplished for our salvation, from “You’re a Theologian”:
In Christ, you are forgiven (Acts 5:31)
In Christ, you are saved (2 Tim 1:9; Titus 3:5)
In Christ, you are justified (Gal 2:16)
In Christ, you are reconciled (Rom 5:11)
In Christ, you are loved (1 John 3:16)
In Christ, you are adopted (Gal 4:5)
In Christ, you are cleansed (Acts 15:9; Eph 5:26)
In Christ, you are healed (1 Peter 2:24)
In Christ, you are redeemed (Heb 9:15; Gal 3:13)
In Christ, you are free (Rev 1:5)
In Christ, you are rescued (Gal 1:4)
In Christ, you are triumphant (Col 2:15)
In Christ, you have hope (Col 1:27)
In Christ, you have an inheritance (1 Pet 1:4)
In Christ, you have peace (Col 1:20)
In Christ, you have rest (Heb 4:3)
“You Are A Theologian” by Jen Wilkin and J.T. English
Theology Musings 