The Crucial Role of Union with Christ, part 1
This problem lies at the root of many of the debates about the Gospel over the years, from the Reformation to the present-day debates with N.T. Wright. Wright accepts that our sins can be imputed to Christ, but he rejects the idea that Christ’s righteousness can be imputed to us…
The fundamental question before us is then how it can be just, that is, correctly judged, to impute Christ’s righteousness to us and to impute our sin to Christ. This leads to the question: is there ever any situation in which it is just to impute one person’s debt or credit to another? The answer is yes. Consider the following situations….
In all of these cases, the common element is that we feel that it is just to impute the debts and credits of one person to another if they are united together in a real union. They have become legally, or spiritually, one. In that case, justice actually demands imputation of the debt and credit of one member of the union to another. To the degree that I recognize the reality of the union, to that degree I feel the imputation as legitimate.
Our union with Christ is exactly of this nature. Christ’s death is our death if we are united to him, and his righteousness is our righteousness if we are united to him. In other words, the actual, real union with Christ is crucial for the imputation in the Gospel to be just. If we are not really united to Christ, then his death is nothing to us, and his life of no value to us….
New Testament evidence of union with Christ
The above argument fits with our sense of justice, but is it the teaching of the Bible? I believe that it is, and in fact, the Middle Eastern culture of the Bible would have made it much more understandable in those days.
The concept of union with Christ is clearly taught in Scripture, and has been affirmed by all orthodox Reformed traditions. The Bible has many different ways of presenting this picture. Jesus talks in John 15 of us being united to him like a branch on a vine:
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. (John 15:4-5)
This image of being “in” Christ, and simultaneously having him “in” us, is throughout the New Testament….
This (and I’m guessing there will be a part 2, and maybe more) is an excellent introduction to the concept of “Union with Christ” and also being “In Christ” in the Scriptures. I’d highly commend it to you.
Dave is also professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh. He’s the author of A Biblical Case for an Old Earth, he writes about “science from a Christian perspective” at http://www.christianscientific.org/, and he leads an apologetics group at the church.
Dave has a keen interest in history, too, and he’s also preached a number of Reformation-oriented sermons, and he’s also led a number of discussions on the topic.
I’m very pleased that a number of individuals now have become contributors for Reformation500, including Dave now, along with Andrew Clover [a frequent commenter here and a Lutheran convert], [PCA] Pastor Tony Phelps, and Paul Bassett [along with yours truly]. My hope is to enable a very robust discussion to take place there among all the church traditions that came out of the Reformation, in such a way that the broader evangelical community can benefit from the history, principles and Scriptural understanding that came into focus during that period.
Please take a minute to check it out if you haven’t already done so.
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