IT'S UNION WITH GOD
19/04/24 08:16
The key to an enjoyable life in Christ is union with God. This union is already yours and it what Paul and others call our riches in Christ. If we are not living in this union – in which we have been included by the atonement – we are living in a Christian version of a poverty mentality where we live poor when we are actually rich.
INCLUDED IN CHRIST
“Calvin specifically cuts out any ‘extrinsecist’ notions of justification or reconciliation by positing justification as a benefit of union with Christ. Through participation in Christ we receive all the benefits of salvation, including Christ’s righteousness; which equates to the filial life. Calvin insists on the forensic nature of justification but is equally adamant that we are justified as a result of our union with Christ. This is affirmed when he writes, ‘You see that our righteousness is not in us but in Christ, that we possess it only because we are partakers in Christ; indeed, with him we possess all its riches”.
KNOW WHAT THE EUCHARIST MEANS
The Lord’s Table is essentially a sacrament of partaking – of partaking in the oneness with Christ that is already ours. Sharing in the divine nature is made our reality by Christ. Not by us. Thus to live the eucharist is to live incarnated with the Trinity and be included in this Communion. (1)
PRESENCE IS IN YOU
Thus, our union with God is not a potential, nor is it something outside of us. It is part of our being in Christ. There’s a lot of charismatic talk about ‘the Presence’ that has some validity. But the basis of a presence filled life is our already achieved reconciliation with God and the reality of Christ in you. While cessationism may not be a fact – the fact of Christ’s incarnation in us is the superior fact and the cause of the gifts and the signs. The reason a signs and wonders revival fades is because they are not the main issue. The foundation of our faith is our Christ-achieved union with God. This is the Source of a Godly life, our own inner healing and life as an adventure with Christ rather than an ‘existence’.
(1) Myk Habets. Theosis in the Theology of Thomas Torrance - 98.
INCLUDED IN CHRIST
“Calvin specifically cuts out any ‘extrinsecist’ notions of justification or reconciliation by positing justification as a benefit of union with Christ. Through participation in Christ we receive all the benefits of salvation, including Christ’s righteousness; which equates to the filial life. Calvin insists on the forensic nature of justification but is equally adamant that we are justified as a result of our union with Christ. This is affirmed when he writes, ‘You see that our righteousness is not in us but in Christ, that we possess it only because we are partakers in Christ; indeed, with him we possess all its riches”.
KNOW WHAT THE EUCHARIST MEANS
The Lord’s Table is essentially a sacrament of partaking – of partaking in the oneness with Christ that is already ours. Sharing in the divine nature is made our reality by Christ. Not by us. Thus to live the eucharist is to live incarnated with the Trinity and be included in this Communion. (1)
PRESENCE IS IN YOU
Thus, our union with God is not a potential, nor is it something outside of us. It is part of our being in Christ. There’s a lot of charismatic talk about ‘the Presence’ that has some validity. But the basis of a presence filled life is our already achieved reconciliation with God and the reality of Christ in you. While cessationism may not be a fact – the fact of Christ’s incarnation in us is the superior fact and the cause of the gifts and the signs. The reason a signs and wonders revival fades is because they are not the main issue. The foundation of our faith is our Christ-achieved union with God. This is the Source of a Godly life, our own inner healing and life as an adventure with Christ rather than an ‘existence’.
(1) Myk Habets. Theosis in the Theology of Thomas Torrance - 98.
