In my last post I mentioned that our salvation can be described in two words: in Christ. That our salvation IS Christ. There have been many definitions of the doctrine of our union with Christ, and I want to focus on this one:

“Union with Christ is the believers identification, participation, and incorporation with, in, through, and into the life, death, resurrection, ascension, and the heavenly session of Jesus.” (from the podcast “Knowing Faith”).

Sinclair Ferguson points out that the word Christian only appears 3 times in the Bible. What defined the believers of the early church was simply being “in Christ.” And like I said last time, the Apostle Paul uses that phrase, or variations of it, countless times!

Union is a part of who we are as believers. The Old Testament had many different unions, Mainly, we know that we are united with Adam…or we were “in Adam”. We are sinners because we are in Adam. And the result of that union includes our sinful nature. It includes death, it includes condemnation. And justly so.

Our Union with or in Christ is amazing news! Jesus is the better Adam!

So why was Paul so invested in writing about union with Christ? Because it was directly tied to his conversion experience on the road to Damascus. Jesus radically identifies with his people – we see that in his statement, “You are persecuting ME.” That’s a definitive statement of union. So when Paul says in Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives IN me.” (my emphasis). This is a word picture of our union with Christ. What is Paul actually saying? That he experienced his death at the crucifixion of Jesus. Marcus Johnson (a professor in Systematic Theology as per “Fix Your Eyes” by Amy Gannett), says this about what it means to be in Christ:

“To experience fellowship with the Son is to be – made alive in Christ, justified in Christ, sanctified in Christ, seated in the heavenly realms in Christ, build up into Christ and given fullness in Christ. Those joined to Christ are “members of Christ”, “crucified with Christ”, “included in Christ”, “baptized into Christ”, and “the body of Christ.” They eat and drink Christ; they are one with Christ; Christ dwells in them and they dwell in him; and they can do nothing apart from him.“

That is our Identification. We are in Christ. We are Christ’s. We belong to God. When we believed and were saved – our names were written in the Book of Life. That is our ID!

I think that for most of my life, my perspective on my salvation was that it was a gift from God. A work that Christ procured on my behalf. A benefit of Christ’s work. Something he accomplished for me. But as Amy Gannett points out in “Fix You Eyes”, “Does it surprise you to find that salvation isn’t a benefit that Christ affords to us, but something he offers in his very self?” He doesn’t just achieve our salvation and hand it over. HE is the gift. HE is salvation. Christ offers us union with himself – and that union is our salvation!

When we think of our salvation in terms of the doctrines we affirm, we automatically refer to our justification, our adoption, our sanctification, and more. And these are all true and important to understand. But they are a result of our union with Christ! I wish I could include an image here – but I’ll have to settle for describing it. In Amy Gannett’s course on Union with Christ, she has us picture salvation this way:

She calls it the Wagon Wheel of Union with Christ. Imagine the center of the wheel is Union with Christ. All the “spokes” that start from the center to the rim of the wheel are doctrines of salvation. So we would then say that our Adoption is because I am in Christ. The Father is my Father because He is Christ’s Father. Our Justification, our being justified before God is because we are united with Christ – we stand before God in Christ, clothed in his righteousness. We are being made holy – our sanctification -is only possible because we are in Christ. The entire message of salvation is sourced in Union with Christ. Amy suggests that all those doctrines can be considered “benefits” of salvation. All of them are vital to our salvation, but each of them on its own does not paint the entire picture of salvation as told to us in the Bible. But when we consider that our salvation is in Christ – union – then all those benefits are ours! The doctrine of justification is not the bedrock doctrine of salvation. The bedrock doctrine is being in Christ. We can only receive justification if we are IN CHRIST.

One of the most beautiful images that Jesus used to show us the vital need to be in Christ, is in the word picture of the Vine and the branches that the Apostle John writes about in his gospel. In John 15 Jesus call his disciples (and us) to ABIDE IN HIM. After describing himself as the true vine and the Father as the gardener, and we, the branches. he says, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” There’s a lot that can be said about those verses!

One thing to consider. Have you ever looked at a vine and a branch and been able to determine where one ended and the other began? Not really. Only in Christ can we be saved, be fruitful etc. Christ is the source of everything, including eternal life. My life is going to flow from Christ – so I have to be attached to the source of all life. What this also tells us is that I cannot, will not, have not, contributed anything to my salvation. The entirety of our salvation, friends, is sourced in being in Jesus – in union with him. Salvation is a one way act of God. This is incredibly comforting!

Sometimes we talk about feeling far away from God. Or not feeling his presence. Or not feeling righteous – or right with God. But then we need to call to mind the truth of our union in Christ – because I am in Christ – and all he is and has is mine – I am secure! He is with me! It is we ourselves who distance ourselves from God. But – our felt sense of God – or his nearness is not the barometer of our salvation, or of being secure in Jesus! Being in Christ. That is what matters,

Let’s look at a few bible passages that declare these awesome truths:

For our sake, He made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that IN him we might become the righteousness of God. ~ 2 Cor 5:21 Let that sink in a minute.

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. – Rom 6: 3-5

And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit. – Eph 2:22

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. – 2 Cor 5:17

For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. – Gal 3:26

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. – 1 John 5:11-12

When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. – Col 3:4

I love how Amy Gannett writes about the intimacy of our union with Christ:

“In God’s Word we see that we are not just gifted something from God, but we are gifted God himself in the person of Christ. In salvation, we are included in Christ in such a way that everything that is his is ours; everything he did and earned, all the benefits of his person and work are ours through our oneness with him. The intimacy we have with the Son of God is farther reaching than we could have imagined.” (Fix Your Eyes, pg.123)

I’d like to break things down a bit further to help us really grasp this “in Christ” truth. We can see how we participate in Christ.

When we, by faith, are saved in Christ, not only do we receive his righteousness, his inheritance and more, but what is mine is now his. Our sin, our shame, our guilt now belong to Christ. How? Through his incarnation, by adding to himself a human nature, by living what we could never live as humans “in Adam”, by dying and paying our debt! As Amy says, “All that is Christ’s, is now fully, brazenly, rightfully ours in salvation.” (pg.126). I mean, can it really be? This reminds me of the hymn, “How Can It Be?”!

Sinclair Ferguson makes it even more plain, “All Christ did, he did as our representative and substitute. He lived our life. He died our death. He did this for our salvation…..All that he has done for us is now ours, and we receive it all because we are in Christ.”

In Ephesians 1, Paul lays it out pretty succinctly. (is Paul actually succinct?) We receive every spiritual blessing because he chose us. We have been predestined in him. We have redemption and reconciliation in him. We have forgiveness of sins, pardon, in him, We have the riches of God’s grace, wisdom, understanding – in him. We are sanctified in him. We were chosen in him. When we believed, we were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit. Can we just sit in this and soak it up? Really, truly, marvel at this. Union with Christ cannot be broken – because it is SEALED by the Holy Spirit – who is at work in us (the Spirit of Christ) – sealing Christ in us and us in Christ. I mean, wow! There’s nothing we could ever do that could break this seal by God on our lives!

In him we also have security and safety. In the podcast “Knowing Faith”, Jen Wilkin gives us a picture of our union with Christ that you can physically do to demonstrate it. Take a small storage container and add some dried beans. “This is Christ in you” – then the lid goes on. Take that small container (which is me and you), and put it in a larger container. “This is you IN CHRIST”, then put the lid on. Then ask, “How secure are you?”

Surely you’d answer; 100%! We’re IN Christ – and we are safe and secure because of that. Thus, we can know – being in Christ – that our salvation is also sure! How can we know that? Because Christ is the faithful one! My salvation does not rest on me and my faithfulness. I didn’t earn it, and safe IN CHRIST, I cannot lose it. Our union with God is locked into Christ Jesus. It’s unbreakable, unshakeable, irrevocable! Romans 8:35, 39 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?….nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” That’s our Incorporation into Christ.

Being in Christ means we are joint-heirs in his inheritance. And our inheritance is, as Peter writes in 1 Peter 1:3b-4, “Now we live with great expectation, and we have a priceless inheritance – an inheritance that is kept in heaven for you, pure and undefiled, beyond the reach of change and decay” (NLT)

Our inheritance is imperishable – it cannot perish, die, fade away, decay. Our inheritance is unspoiled – it isn’t tainted, rotten, eaten away at, old. Our inheritance is unfading – its not losing its luster, it’s not getting dull or useless. Our inheritance is reserved – kept in heaven – it is secure. No one can take it away, no one can take it for themselves. We each have a “crown of glory” with our names on it. It’s not going anywhere!

Simply, because we are in Christ, united with him– we inherit salvation, the Kingdom of God and the whole earth – the new heaven and new earth. We will reign with him on the new earth. Because we are in Christ – and heirs with him. It’s hard to grasp – but it’s oh so true! A reading of Revelation 20-22 blows us away with what is coming for God’s adopted children – amazing.

May you be encouraged in this truth of being united with Christ!