I think union with Christ is in the first instance:
- Marriage - a new relationship with the Son
Married couples share what they have and give their whole selves to each other, so this union means:
- Adoption - sharing Christ's relationship with the Father (...which leads to...)
- Inheritance - sharing Christ's relationship with the Spirit (...which leads to...)
- Baptism, Mortification->Vivification etc - sharing Christ's story of his relationship to his own humanity - killing the old cursed humanity in us to experience the new blessed humanity by the Spirit (...which leads to...)
- Giving - sharing Christ's story of his relationship to the world - self-sacrifice to bring others life
... or something like that. Any thoughts? I'm not sure that I've got it quite right.
A friend asked what would be a good book on the doctrine of Union with Christ. I can think of good books emphasising one or the other aspect I've listed, but not one that has the broad scope I think covers all of what it means to be in union with Christ. Any suggestions?
Sounds pretty good to me.
ReplyDeleteNot sure on book recommendations.
Though reading On Giants Shoulders makes me imagine that Barth might have something to say.
Thanks Dave. That's encouraging.
ReplyDeleteBarth has something to say on everything I guess. I hope I find something somewhere.
What's odd though is that I'm not sure many Christians think in those terms about what it is to have a relationship with God... how many just relate as servant to master instead of as part of the bride to Christ, and in him to the Father... and consequently how many know their inheritance, baptism and shape of life. Only getting there myself comparatively recently.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. Although I may know it in my head I'm not sure how much the 'gospel penny has dropped' for me.
ReplyDeleteI guess I would argue that servant/master is 'law' and the natural order of things is for us to relate to God that way (contra 'the universal Fatherhood of God'). It is the same problem which makes us all naturally legalists in one way or another. But the Gospel gift is something so different people have trouble with it. Grace is always tough for us to accept.
Encouraged by this friend who asked me about this on Sunday. He said he had realised that he needed to 'get' union with Christ. As someone who has struggled with false views of God as the strict father figure you have to live up to, he was seeing the importance.
This feeds into it:
ReplyDeletefrom Michael Horton: one can never bring about the fruit of repentance until one first trusts in God as a merciful Father, and this can be derived only from the confidence that we are fully accepted in Christ
And full acceptance has to be worked out in the betrothal of the church to Christ.
Thanks Dave.
ReplyDelete