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Ephesians 1:3–4
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.”
God the Holy Spirit comes to the forefront in applying the benefits of salvation to those whom our Creator has elected for salvation. We are going to examine each of these benefits in turn, but before we do so we should make it clear that these benefits are not abstract realities but blessings of our being personally connected to the Lord Jesus. Foundationally, all the benefits of salvation are ours only through our union with Christ.
Reformed theologian Louis Berkhof defines union with Christ in his Systematic Theology: “This union may be defined as that intimate, vital, and spiritual union between Christ and His people, in virtue of which He is the source of their life and strength, of their blessedness and salvation.” Berkhof’s definition well captures the sense of texts such as John 15:1–11, where Jesus likens Himself to a vine and His disciples to the branches of that vine. The idea is that we derive life from Him just as the branches of a vine get their life from the vine itself, so we can bear spiritual fruit only as we receive sustenance from Christ. The idea of our union with Christ is especially prominent in the letters of Paul. For instance, he says in Romans 6:1–4 that we were buried with Christ in baptism. By faith, we are united to Him in His death and we have been raised with Him in new life, and all this is signed and sealed when we are baptized.
Union with Christ is vital, but when does it happen? Here we distinguish between what is true from eternity past and how that union is subjectively appropriated in time. Today’s passage, for instance, informs us that we were chosen for salvation in Christ (Eph. 1:3–4). God did choose each of us individually in eternity past if we are believers, but He did not make that choice apart from Jesus. Our election is in and through the Son, which establishes the certainty of our redemption since He lives forever. Chosen in Him, we will certainly live forever. In one sense, then, the elect have been united to Christ from all eternity because God freely chose us in Christ from all eternity.
That election, however, does not negate that in another sense we are not united to Christ until we trust in Him. In our conversion, we are moved from being in Adam and condemned to being in Christ and redeemed. The Spirit effects this by working faith in us (Eph. 2:8–10). Reformed theologian Robert Letham writes in his Systematic Theology that “the Holy Spirit brings about our union with Christ in our life history, doing this by grace through faith.”
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Keeping union with Christ central in our thinking helps us remember that all we have in salvation comes only in our being united to Him. We cannot view any of the benefits of salvation outside Christ, for He is their source. Thus, we should not speak of any part of salvation as if it were not connected to the Lord Jesus Christ.
For further study
- Hosea 2:19–20
- Zechariah 2:11
- Romans 8:1
- 1 Peter 5:14
The bible in a year
- Proverbs 30–31
- 2 Corinthians 9