Union With Christ

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John Fesco�s article, Union with Christ in Paul�s Epistles.

And as I think about union with Christ, my mind is drawn to Ephesians chapter 1.

One of the best things you can do when you�re reading a Bible is to look, ask questions, think about what you�re reading.

I don�t know if you�ve ever read something and then you say to yourself, �I just read that and I better go reread it again.�

Ephesians, written by Paul, focuses on union with Christ in him, in Christ Jesus, in Christ, in the

Beloved. When you look at the book of Ephesians and you just want to find that little phrase, you will find it regularly.

You will find it often, even if I read to you. Right after the exclamation of, �Blessed be the

God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.� It says in verse 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 he predestined us for adoption as sons, through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has blessed us in the

Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on the earth.

In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promise of the

Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory.

Notice even in verses 3 through 14 in Ephesians chapter 1 how often that concept is there, in him, everywhere you go, in him, in Christ, in the beloved.

That is the realm, that is the sphere where Paul says all the blessings are in Christ.

And theologians, we would call this, I guess I'm calling myself a theologian right now, right? Union with Christ. Typically, and I don't think it's wrong necessarily, but if I had to ask you the question, does

Paul in his epistles talk more about union with Christ or justification?

I'm not asking you which one's more important, that would not be really a fair question, but as important as justification by faith alone is.

I'm giving a message in Germany May 10th or something, this is before the tour, with the

Luther 500. I'm doing a, not the main session, but the breakout session and No Compromise Radio is going to interview,

I think MacArthur and Lawson and White and those guys, right there in Wittenberg. How fun will that be?

Justification by faith alone is important. And when we think of the Reformation and 500 years after Luther nailed the 95

Thesis to the door there and the church, justification by faith alone is important, especially when

Rome is teaching the opposite. And in that time period, especially as the

Reformation was happening, the hinge that the door of the church turns on upon is justification by faith alone, of course, because Rome was teaching the opposite.

It was teaching justification by faith plus, comma, in addition to.

In these last 10 years, there has been a renaissance in the doctrine of union with Christ.

And today on No Compromise Radio, I would encourage you to go get Fesco's article. It's called

Union with Christ in Paul's epistles. It is on Ligonier .org. Ligonier .org

forward slash learn forward slash articles forward slash Union with Christ in Paul's epistles. There's some dashes in there too, but I had

John Fesco on the radio show a while ago. I like to read Fesco's stuff. I like to listen to him talk about the word and who the

Lord is. So I'd encourage you to get this so you can understand a little bit more about union with Christ.

In Ephesians chapter one, that salutation is pretty short because it's almost like he's got to get to the praise.

Shorter than typical salutation, you know, Paul an apostle to the saints, grace to you and peace, and then bang, it is like Roman candle fireworks.

It is an explosion of praise that Paul gives a Trinitarian praise. He praises the father for election, the son for redemption, and the spirit for sealing.

Not like the ceiling and the roof, but sealing, S -E -A -L -E -D, sealed. And in each one of those little sections, he ends with to the praise of his glory or something very close to that.

But sprinkled throughout all those three, in him, in him, in him, in him, you see the union with Christ even permeates that Trinitarian praise.

And my question for you today on No Compromise Radio is, Paul got saved on the

Damascus road. Remember Paul, he was a big shot and he was on his way to oversee the persecution and most likely the killing of Christians.

He was very zealous. You can look at Philippians three to see that. And he went to go persecute

Christians and God interrupted him and God intervened and God gave him new sight.

And this was probably 20 years prior, 25 years maybe prior to the writing of Ephesians.

And here's what I like. I like to be motivated to say my praise should be the same as it was when

I first got saved, with one exception. I think my praise when

I first got saved was an immature praise. There's nothing wrong with immaturity as long as you don't stay immature.

Nobody is mad at a baby because he or she is only having milk and then graduating to pureed carrots.

But we would be disappointed if the person was eight years old and still eating that and only drinking milk.

Milk, milk, milk, milk, et cetera. I wane in my love for the

Lord and my praise for him. And I don't like that. I don't like that about myself. When I reread

Paul in Ephesians, I think that's the way God should be praised. 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.

See, I didn't add that one earlier. I kept that one out. Blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing. Every blessing you have is because God has made you united with Christ in him, in him, in him.

That is the refrain. And that is the basis of our doctrine of union with Christ.

Fesko's article quotes Berkhoff. And you know we like Berkhoff briefings here on the show.

Louis Berkhoff. What is union with Christ? That intimate, vital, and spiritual union between Christ and his people in virtue of which he is the source of their life and strength of their blessedness and salvation.

End quote. Okay, think about that for a second. In him, in him, in him. Okay, what does that mean?

And what's the theology talk boiled down to its essence so that I might understand it and grasp it?

Jesus, Christian, Christ Jesus listener to No Compromise Radio, he is the source of your life.

He is the strength of your life. He is the one that blesses you.

All the blessings you have are because of Jesus, including salvation. It's all because of Jesus.

It's all through Jesus. And you can almost hear echoes of Roman chapter 11. And from him and through him and to him are all things, that type of thing.

We have been united with Christ, joined to Christ.

Now there are images that are found in the Bible that help us with that. And that's why this article by Fesko, even though, you know, there's a book by him on covenant of redemption.

I can't remember what it's called, but there's the scholastic version. You can always know that because it's got a lot of big words.

It's thick, the paper's dense, and they're usually 80 to a hundred dollars. There's a lay person's version, but still this concept of covenant of redemption is laid out in an easier way.

That's Fesko. I like that, that he's got a pastoral background and teaches at seminary.

And here he would help us with branches, right? We are the branches because what?

Jesus is, John 15, the vine, head and body. Jesus is the head, we're the body.

Jesus, a foundation stone, and we're the living stones. There's a marriage relationship, husband and wife, and Jesus is our groom and we are the bride.

And you can get flickers of in Christ through these pictures over and over and over in Ephesians and other books in Christ.

But specifically here in Ephesians, a lot of times, 20 times, 25 times, something like that.

All the benefits we have, we have because of Christ.

Westminster Larger Catechism, question 69. 69. What is the communion in grace which the members of the invisible church have with Christ?

The communion in grace which the members of the invisible church have with Christ is their partaking of the virtue of his mediation in their justification, adoption, sanctification, and whatever else in this life manifests their union with him.

I think that's an excellent little catechization question.

Now, here's what I like about Fesko. By the way, my name is Mike Gabenroth, this is No Compromise Radio. We're talking about union with Christ, in him, in him, in him, fleshing it out, as it were.

He, Fesko, asked the question. Again, this is the pastoral side of him.

He was a pastor of the OPC church before he became a professor at Westminster Escondido. What's the significance?

Okay, I'm united with Christ. What's our significance? And then he gives three reasons or three significant figures.

What are the aspects? What are the realms? What are the facets to the diamond of union with Christ?

We are in him, so what does that mean? It says,

Fesko, nevertheless, we are united to Christ in terms of the Father's decision to elect individual fallen sinners and redeem them through his

Son. Hence, in this sense, we are united to Christ in the decree of election. When it comes to aspects of union, think number one, election, e, election.

The Father chose to save sinners, but you might think through this that he chose to save them in his

Son, through his Son. That's election, united with Christ, united to Christ in election.

But not only that, if you just turn the diamond a little bit, the second facet is dealing with Jesus as federal head.

He's the representative. Okay, what did Jesus do? He did things to please his

Father, of course, but he did things on our behalf, whether that was baptism as a representative.

Remember, he wasn't saying he was sinful when he got baptized in the Jordan, but he was the representative.

Jesus acts on behalf of the elect. He fulfills the law on behalf of the elect.

He suffers on behalf of the elect. He is raised from the dead.

Everything Jesus does is for the elect, his bride. This is what we call the representative aspect of union.

So it's easy, e, election, f, federal, or if you want r, e -r, emergency room, or e -f, f, federal union.

That's the second aspect of union with Christ. So you begin to think, okay, in him, and you think of election, and you think of representative, and then the third aspect, third facet, as we turn the diamond a little bit, is personal union, and sometimes people call this mystical union.

And here's what Fesco says, quote, this is the personal indwelling of the believer by faith through the personal work of the

Holy Spirit. A number of passages speak to this dimension of our union with Christ, including Ephesians 2, where the apostle

Paul explains that we are members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ as a cornerstone.

And about this grand and final temple, Paul writes that we grow into a holy temple in the

Lord, and in him we also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the

Spirit. Now I'm trying to think of a little acronym. We've got e, election, r, representative, r, f for federal, and then mystical or personal.

So that's e, r, p, a, a, r, p, I get those letters, or e, f, m, e, f, m, fm.

I don't know what to do. You just always pull up the article. Union with Christ.

What do you get with that? What do you get with union with Christ? If you think about election, you think about federal headship, you think about this personal mystical union you have with Christ.

Well, what do you get? The better question is, what don't you get? And I think it's right, in light of Romans chapter 6, to say you get what?

All the benefits of justification that you could see in Scripture. I think of Ephesians, excuse me, Romans chapter 5 especially.

But you also get sanctification. You also get the transforming power.

So you're united with Christ. You get all his benefits, and of course, he took your sins, and you get his righteousness.

This is all conceived in the mind of God in eternity past, e, election, f, federal.

You personally get them, personal, mystical. And that would include justification, declared not guilty based on the guiltless life of Jesus, not guilty based on penalty paid,

Jesus the just and justifier. Romans 6, 4, and 5, 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. That was my neck. 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.

Romans 6, verses 4 and 5. When it comes to the doctrine of union with Christ, everything you have is because you're united with Christ.

When I then read John 15, and I read things like, 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, 5. Then I think, oh,

I understand now. I'm thinking about union with Christ, and I'm thinking about election, federal representation, and a mystical personal union.

Okay. Fesco says, and this is his final paragraph in this short but packed article, we must realize that we must not live for life, but from it.

We have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us. Galatians 2 .20.

Christians have the great assurance that when we are united to Christ by faith, we receive the whole Christ and all the benefits of redemption, not just some of them.

That's how he ends it. And if we're in Christ, we have all of Christ. You just don't get some of his person, some of his work, some of his law -keeping, some of his resistance to temptation.

You get everything, and God sees you in Christ Jesus. And that is why the

Romans 8 chapter of assurance is so wonderful, because when God sees you, he doesn't see sin.

He sees Christ, because you're united in Christ. You're united with Christ.

Union. Now, God sees sinners through the lens of Christ -perfect work.

True? You got to say true, or you're fired from listening to No Compromise Radio. Make you listen to it at half speed.

Now, here's my question. It's all

How do we see Christians here at the local church? The same way God does?

Do we see them united to Christ? Union with Christ? That is a doctrine that should help the local church.

How and why? Well, we've all done some pretty bad things, and we will do bad things in the future.

It's all been covered. It's all been taken care of. And of course, knowing that, we should run from any of the sins that we would do, but we are still dealing with sin.

And the identification, union with Christ, overrides

Sadducee, Pharisee, sinner, monk,

Jew, Gentile, male, female, slave, free, white, black, heinous sinner, self -righteous sinner.

All those things are gone because the person's in Christ. You, I've dealt with myself, but you ought to see people in Christ.

That's how you identify them. In America, we say, oh, what do you do for a living? You know, what's your name? What do you do for a living?

That's how we identify people. In our mind should be, oh, what's your name? That's fine. We've got to know people's names.

And then we should think, well, whoever they are, whatever kind of bad sins they've committed, that's not at the top of the list.

They're not pigeonholed for the rest of their life in this particular sin because of what they have done or didn't do.

They are united with Christ. That's how God the Father sees them. Shouldn't we see them in the same way? I think we know the answer.

How about your spouse? I see him or I see her only through the lens of that time when he did blank or she said blank.

That's not how we should see them. Of course it was true. Of course it hurt. Of course there has to be issues dealt with, but we need to see who the person is through the lens of Christ Jesus and union with Christ.

I'd encourage you to get the article J. V. Fesco, Union with Christ in Paul's Epistles.

You can pull that up at the Ligonier site. If you want to write us, info at nocompromiseradio .com.

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