Three aspects of union with Christ

Richard Gaffin says there are three aspects or dimensions of union with Christ:

1. The predestinarian 'in Christ' (e.g. Eph 1:3-4)
2. The redemptive-historical 'in Christ' (e.g. Rom 6:8)
3. The actual 'in Christ', or applied union with Christ, (e.g. Rom 16:7)

As usual with these things the key is to neither separate them, merge them together or neglect any one.

BTW I didn't choose the terms. Maybe I would have said (1) the eternally purposed, (2) the objective historical, and (3) the subjective Spiritual, aspects. It may also be more beneficial though to distinguish them in terms of the distinctive roles of the persons of the Trinity... I'll have to think some more, but I just wanted to note them down.