There are three most admirable unions proposed to our faith in the Christian religion.
The Unity of Essence, in the Trinity; the Unity of Person, in Jesus Christ; and the union between Christ and His Church. The first of these is an ensample and prefiguration, as it were to the second; and the second to the third. For we cannot better represent the union with His Church, than by the hypostatic Union, or by the union of the Word with human nature (1Jn_4:8). (W. Norris.)
Unity in nature and grace
There is one remarkable difference between nature and grace; for nature of one makes many; for we are all but one in Adam, but grace of many makes one; for the Holy Ghost, who as a fire melts all the faithful into one mass, and makes of many one body, in the unity of God. (W. Dell.)
The union of believers with Christ
The Scriptures have borrowed from nature four metaphors, to describe this mystical union; but neither of these singly, or all of them jointly, can give us a full account of this mystery.
1. Not that of two pieces united by glue (1Co_6:17), for though this union be intimate, yet it is not vital.
2. Nor that of the graft and stock (Rom_6:5), for though this union be vital, yet the graft is of a more excellent kind and nature than the stock, and the tree receives its denomination from it; but Christ, into whom believers are ingrafted, is infinitely more excellent than they, and they are denominated from Him.
3. Nor conjugal union, for though this be exceeding dear and intimate, and they two become one flesh; yet it is not indissolvable, but must be broken by death; but this betwixt Christ and the soul abides to eternity.
4. Nor that of the Head and members united by one spirit, and so making one physical body (Eph_4:15-16), for though one soul actuates every member, yet it doth not knit every member alike near to the head, but here every member is alike nearly united with Christ the Head, the weak are as near to Him as the strong. Note
I. THE REALITY OF THIS UNION, which appears
1. From the communion which is betwixt Christ and believers (1Jn_1:3). It signifies such fellowship or co-partnership, as persons have by a joint interest in one and the same enjoyment (Heb_3:14; Psa_45:7). Now this communion is entirely dependent upon Union (1Co_3:22-23).
2. From the imputation of Christ’s righteousness for justification Rom_3:24; Rom_4:23-24; 1Co_1:30).
3. From the sympathy that is betwixt Christ and believers; Christ and the saints smile and sigh together (Col_1:24; Act_9:5).
4. From the way in which the saints shall be raised at the last day Rom_8:11).
II. THE QUALITY AND NATURE OF THIS UNION. More generally, it is an intimate conjunction of believers to Christ, by the imparting of His Spirit to them, whereby they are enabled to believe and live in Him. All Divine spiritual life is originally in the Father, and cometh not to us, but by and through the Son (Joh_5:26; Rom_8:2). The Spirit must therefore first take hold of us, before we can live in Christ, and when He doth so, then we are enabled to exert that vital act of faith whereby we receive Christ (Joh_6:57). So that the Spirit’s work in uniting a soul into Christ is like the cutting off the graft from its native stock (which He doth by His illuminations and convictions) and closing it with the Living Vine, and so enabling it (by the infusion of faith) to draw the vital sap, and thus it becomes one with Him. Or as the many members in the natural body, being all quickened and animated by the same vital spirit, become one body with the Head (Eph_4:4).
1. Negatively it is
(1) Not a mere mental union (Joh_14:20). This doctrine is notfantastical, but scientifical.
(2) Not a physical union, such as is betwixt the members of a natural body and the head; this is only mystical.
(3) Not an essential union, or union with the Divine nature, so as our beings are thereby swallowed up and lost in the divine Being.
(4) Not a federal union, or an union by covenant only; such an union indeed, there is betwixt Christ and believers, but that is consequential to, and wholly dependent upon this.
(5) Not a mere moral union by love and affection; thus we say, one soul is in two bodies, a friend is another self; the lover is in the person beloved; such an union there is also betwixt Christ and the saints, but this is of another nature; that only knits our affections, but this our persons to Christ.
2. Positively.
(1) Though this union neither makes us one person or essence with Christ, yet it knits our parsons most intimately and nearly to the person of Christ Col_1:24).
(2) It is wholly supernatural, wrought by the alone power of God (1Co_1:30). We can no more unite ourselves to Christ than a branch can incorporate itself into another stock (Eph_1:19-20).
(3) It is an immediate union; not as excluding instruments, but as excluding degrees of nearness (1Co_1:2).
(4) It is a fundamental union.
(a) By way of sustentation: all our fruits of obedience depend upon Joh_15:4).
(b) To all our privileges and comfortable claims (1Co_3:1-23. ult.).
(c) To all our hopes and expectations of glory (Col_1:27). So then destroy this union, and with it you destroy all our fruits, privileges, and eternal hopes, at one stroke.
(5) It is a most efficacious union, for through this union the Divine power flows into our souls, both to quicken us with the life of Christ, and to conserve and secure that life in us, after it is so infused (Eph Joh_14:19).
(6) It is an indissoluble union; there is an everlasting tie betwixt Christ and the believer (Rom_8:35; Rom_8:38-39).
(7) It is an honourable union. The greatest honour that was ever done to our common nature was by its assumption into union with the Second Person hypostatically, and the highest honour that was ever done to our single persons was their union with Christ mystically. To be a servant of Christ is a dignity transcendent to the highest advancement among men; but to be a member of Christ, how matchless is the glory thereof 1
(8) It is a most comfortable union (Eph_1:22-23).
(9) It is a fruitful union (Rom_7:4; Joh_15:8).
(10) It is an enriching union (1Co_1:30; 1Co_3:22). All that Christ hath becomes ours: His Father (Joh_20:17); His promises (2Co_1:20); His providences (Rom_8:28); His glory (Joh_17:24).
III. INFERENCES. If there be such an union betwixt Christ
1. Then what transcendent dignity hath God put on believers! Well might Constantine prefer the honour of being a member of the Church before that of being a head of the empire. Some imperious grandees would frown should some of these persons but presume to approach their presence; but God sets them before His face with delight, and angels delight to serve them.
2. Then the graces of believers can never totally fail (Col_3:3).
3. How great and powerful a motive then is this, to make us liberal in relieving the necessities and wants of every gracious person! For in relieving them we relieve Christ Himself (Mat_25:35; Mat_25:40).
4. How unnatural then are all those acts of unkindness whereby believers wound and grieve Jesus Christi This is as if the hand should wound his own head, from which it receives life, sense, motion, and strength.
5. Then surely they can never want what is good for their souls or bodies. Every one naturally cares and provides for his own, especially for his own body. (J. Flavel.)
Christ in man
You may sometimes have seen a wife, wedded in true love and heart, surrender to a man who is good and strong. At first his goodness and strength are merely the object of her reverence, but gradually they seem to pass into her. New elements of character are developed in her, a firmness, a decisiveness, a breadth of view, a depth of sympathy which were wanting before. You would not say that her individuality had been lost; on the contrary, it seems informed, inspired, filled out and completed. You would not say that she was a reflection of him; no, you would rather say that she lives in him, or from another point of view, that he lives in her. Her relation to him is not imitative but receptive. He passes into her. If he is removed by death, it is observed not so much that she has lost something, as that part of her, the best and greater part, has gone; she is no longer what she was; she reminds you of a home that once had a tenant, but now though furniture and decorations remain the same, the tenant is there no more. In such an illustration we may get some idea of this august doctrine. It is something more than that hopeless task of copying the human life of Jesus, it is the actual communication of His Divine life, as the Lord Himself puts it “I in them.” He--shall we say? the beautiful and perfect spouse enters the soul, not ideally, but really; and entering in He moulds the ugly and repulsive outlines of our being into conformity with His own. (R. F. Horton, M. A.)
The indwelling of Christ
On a bright but chilly day in early spring you see your friend walking on the shady side of the street, as some foolish people will do. You call over to him: “Come and walk in the sun with me.” The sun is many millions of miles away, yet you speak of being in it, and walking in it, when you are bathed in the light and warmth continually proceeding from it. In the same way are we in Christ when we are surrounded by the gracious loving presence of His Holy Spirit. So, “Ye in Me.” But not only must the light be around us, but in us, before we can be said to live in it and walk in it. A blind man is surrounded by the sunlight as any one else is, but he does not live in it; he does not walk in it; he cannot enjoy it. Why not? Simply because it is not in him. We must have eyes; and these eyes must be opened to receive the light into the body, so that we may live in it, and walk in it, and enjoy it. And in the same way must the eye of faith be opened to receive the heavenly light into the soul before we can even be aware of its presence; and it must be kept open in order that we may “walk in the light as He is in the light.” Christ must be in us by His Holy Spirit in order that we may live in Him. (J. L. Nye.)
Thou hast loved them as thou hast loved Me
The Father’s love to the believer
I. THE GROUNDS ON WHICH WE MAY UNDERSTAND THIS TO BE POSSIBLE.
1. God cannot love but with all the love He has. He can never be less than God--that is, perfect. He can do nothing which even He could improve upon. Then, when He loves, it is in the fullest measure in which even God can love. “Now Jesus loved Martha,” &c., that sounds as if He loved them more than others, so does “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” but not necessarily so, because they were more responsive to that love. The difference is not in God, but in us--in our reception of His love.
2. Those who believe in Christ, are loved in Him. In connection with the rest of the prayer it is not so hard to believe the text. If there be this oneness between Him and them, how can it be otherwise.
3. The sacrifice of Christ manifests such a love. For how must the Father feel to those for whom He gave His Son?
II. THE CHARACTER OF THE DIVINE LOVE WHICH THIS IMPLIES.
1. It is love checked by no barrier. Once it was checked, it could not utter itself because of sin. You have seen a swollen stream heave, impatient of restraint, against the flood-gates which keep it back. It was so once with God’s love to men. But the barrier is removed, “Christ hath put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself,” and now that love leaps forth free to all. But it finds another check, hearts are closed to its reception, it surges round them seeking to enter, but for the most part in vain; it cannot have its way with men because they will not let it. But not so all. Some have “known and believed the love that God has to them,” they have opened their hearts to it and it can do for them what it would; these are they who believe on Christ, see their sin put away in Him, and in Him their acceptance by the Father; to them that love goes forth as to Him.
2. It is a love of closest intimacy. There is a love which is little more than kindly feeling, there is that which is mainly a delight in what perhaps we cannot approach, there is the love of friendship with its exchange of confidence and mutual happiness, but there is also the love of some one who comes so near to us that he is our second self. That most nearly represents the Father’s love to the Son, “the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father.” We are apt to be content with much less, cherishing but a reverence to God which keeps us at a distance, and not blending with it a confidence as great which compels us to “draw near.” God forbid that we lose the reverence, but that we lose the confidence God forbid too! Yet that is our portion, since Christ says the Father has loved us as He loved Him.
3. It is an everlasting love. For the Father’s love to the Son will never cease, and through earth’s sins and sorrows and conflicts, through all the changes we dread, through the mystery of death, in the glory of heaven and throughout its endless future, unweariedly the Father will love us still.
III. THE EFFECT OF THIS LOVE OF GOD ON HIS PEOPLE, or rather, the effect of knowing it.
1. It satisfies when every other love fails. And that is always.
2. It is the quickening power of holiness. For the way into holiness is to be loved into it by God. (C. New.)
