Short Devotion on the believer's Union with Christ and John Calvin
This devotion has been adapted to written format as it was originally to be recorded and uploaded to YouTube.
In this short devotion I'll be going over John Calvin's view of the union with Christ. I'll be summarizing it based off some of Philip Ryken's work on Calvin.
The union with Christ is a very important theological principle in the Christian faith. Its pervasive presence in the New Testament is typically indicated by the word in, a simple preposition with profound implications.
Believers are said to be in Christ. "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation" 2 Corinthians 5:17. Sometimes this phrase passes by so rapidly that we may hardly notice, as in Paul's opening address to "the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi"
But even such passing expressions are grounded in the deep spiritual truth of our faith-union with Jesus Christ.
So, what is the union with Christ? To keep it short, Christ is in us and we are in Christ. The two sides of this mutual relationship appear Scripture. For example, in teaching His disciples about the vine and the branches, which is a metaphor for this doctrine, Christ said "Abide in me and I in you".
Similarly, the apostle John described union with Christ as a double habitation by the Holy Spirit: “We know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit” (1 John 4:13).
By virtue of this mutual relationship of spiritual indwelling—our union with Christ, our identity being found in Him through faith—we receive all the saving blessings of God. In being united to Christ, we receive not only Christ Himself, but also His benefits. What is His becomes ours, for God “has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing” (Eph. 1:3). Thus we see, said Calvin, that “our whole salvation and all its parts are comprehended in Christ.”1
Simply put, if we are not in Christ, we have no part in His death on the cross to atone for sins and no share in His resurrection from the dead. We are not justified, adopted, sanctified, or glorified without being united to Christ. “I do not see,” wrote Calvin, "how anyone can trust that he has redemption and righteousness in the cross of Christ, and life in his death, unless he relies chiefly upon a true participation in Christ himself. For those benefits would not come to us unless Christ first made himself ours."2
To be justified is to be declared righteous—not on the basis of our own righteousness, but on the basis of the righteousness of Jesus Christ, received by faith alone.
The blessing of justifying righteousness becomes ours when we are united to Christ by faith. According to Calvin, we are “deprived of this utterly incomparable good until Christ is made ours” and it is only by the “indwelling of Christ in our hearts”3 that His righteousness is declared to be our own. This was the central doctrine of the Protestant Reformation, and for Calvin, “the main hinge on which religion turns.”4 (and this gets into the law and gospel distinction which I'll be doing a devotion on as well, the whole concept of the two kinds of religions, works based ones and then Christianity)
Calvin then adds:
"Christ, having been made ours, makes us sharers with him in the gifts with which he has been endowed. We do not, therefore, contemplate him outside ourselves from afar in order that his righteousness may be imputed to us but because we put on Christ and are engrafted into his body—in short, because he deigns to make us one with him. For this reason, we glory that we have fellowship of righteousness with him."
Justification is not the only benefit that belongs to us by union with Christ, however, for we are sanctified in Christ as well as justified in Him. To say this another way, we are not simply declared righteous in Christ, but also made righteous in Him. This is sanctification. And while I won't get into sanctification, viewing both justification and sanctification from the perspective of this doctrine, the union with Christ, shows how both of these saving benefits are related.
One of the most key texts for this is 1 Corinthians 1:30 which reads:
"And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”"
Because of this, the union of Christ is an integral part of and truly is the heart of the gospel. While it may not always be identified with these words "union of Christ" it flows over into other doctrines such as justification by faith, imputed righteousness, etc.
So what are the real world implications of this doctrine, that is to say, what does knowing that my identity is ultimately united with Christ have to do with how I live my daily life and view myself?
Well, we all are illusory, changing beings. Our desires are in constant flux. If we try to base our identity on things such as jobs, ungodly relationships, and others, these circumstances always come up short. We will find ourselves constantly disoriented, lost, and unfulfilled. But when we find our identity "in Christ" as the Apostle Paul says so often, our identity is found in the creator and sustainer of the universe who's will and loving nature never changes. Not in finite changing material things or relationships with things here on earth, but in Him who justifies.
This allows one's heart to be a rest knowing that no matter the trials, mess ups, or times they've fallen into temptation, and other things, their identity is ultimately in perfect creator of the universe. And the comfort that brings is life transforming (and this will flow into my next devotion which will be on the topic of assurance of salvation)
Finally, as Calvin notes, it is not simply salvation that we need, but the Savior. That is what we get in the union believers have with Christ. And in this doctrine. We get the Savior Jesus, the only name under heaven by which we must be saved.
Thanks for watching or reading!
1 Institutes, 2.16.19
2 Ibid, 4.17.11
3 Ibid, 3.11.10
4 Ibid, 3.11.1
5 Ibid, 3.11.10