glorycloud's Diaryland Diary

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union with Christ

"(8) We are united with Christ's person. This goes beyond the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the church and its members, as explained by Jesus in John 14 and developed by Paul in Romans 8 and Galatians 4. It is grounded in his incarnation-he is forever man and so one with us according to his human nature. In this case, the Holy Spirit unites us to him in a spiritual union. In this union, we all retain our distinctive identities.

The result is that we have more than fellowship with Christ. Fellowship takes place between separate persons by means of presence, recognition, conversation, shared interests, and the like. Adam had fellowship with God before the fall. Redemption has not restored us to the condition of Adam. The incarnation has happened; the Son of God is forever human. The out-pouring of the Spirit has occurred and endures; the Spirit of God has taken up permanent residence in and with those who love Christ, and in so doing the Holy Trinity now lives in us. It goes beyond communion. It entails union.

It is more than participation in the energies of Christ, contrary to what Michael Horton seems to me to suggest. Horton considers that we have union with God in his workings or makings. He rightly wants to steer clear of the idea that we are united with Christ's essence. This is similar to the cautious approach of Gregory of Nyssa, who was prepared to speak only of participation in the divine energies and rarely mentioned theosis . But the question we posed earlier concerning the incarnate humanity of Christ needs to be addressed. Was it not the person of the Son who united humanity to himself? The human nature of Christ was not simply united to some of God's attributes; if that were so, we would be left with an extreme form of Nestorianism and would have jettisoned the simplicity of God. This union cannot be restricted to union with righteousness, goodness, holiness, or truth, with abstract qualities. Nor is our union only a union with the benefits of Christ, as it we were united with the doctrine of sanctification. It is a union with Christ.

Since the assumed humanity of Christ participates in the eternal Son, is sanctified and glorified in him, and since we feed on the flesh and blood of Christ, we, too, in Christ are being transformed into his glorious likeness' pg. 126,127 'Union With Christ' by Robert Letham

1:02 p.m. - 2023-03-05

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