Union With Christ

Questions:

1) Does union with Christ precede or follow faith?

2) Does regeneration precede or follow union with Christ?

3) Does justification precede or follow union with Christ?

4) Does regeneration precede or follow justification?

Proposition - Union with Christ is by Faith

Vital Union With Christ

The adept Hardshell apologist will often attempt to solve many difficulties about the necessity of union with Christ for salvation by ignoring "vital union" and stressing representative or federal union through Christ via election in eternity past. The latter does not require regeneration, conversion, faith, repentance, etc., as does the former. He will also affirm that a real "vital union" does occur in Hardshell definitions of "regeneration," but insist that faith and repentance are not means or conditions to such a union with Christ. What saith the scriptures?

Is that union with Christ, per Romans 7:4, i.e. being "married" to Christ, an essential aspect of regeneration? Does one have to have a vital marital union with Christ to be eternally saved? How can the anti means Hardshell say yes without contradicting himself? Will he not hold on to his anti means proposition so that he will be forced to say that one does not have to have a marital union with Christ, or enter into covenant with him, to be saved? He will have to say that the "vital union" that occurs in a Hardshell "regeneration" does not include being joined to Christ as a spouse?

Wrote Paul: "But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit." (I Cor. 6: 17)

In the context of this verse Paul contrasts being joined in body versus being joined in heart and spirit. A man who has sexual intercourse with a whore, said Paul, becomes "one" with her, that is, one in body. How does one become united with, or one with, Christ? How does he enter into covenant with him? Answer - It is by saying and confessing "I will" to the Spirit who testifies of Christ. There are many verses that speak of a faith union with Christ.

It is doubtful that Hardshells will deny that there is a union with Christ by faith, but they will insist that 1) this is no part of the "vital union" created in regeneration apart from faith, and that 2) this is not necessary for being eternally saved. (see hermeneutical problems for hardshells vi)

H.B. Smith in his Systematic Theology wrote (SEE HERE - emphasis mine):

"The doctrine of union with Christ is fundamental as to the mode in which He can be the ground of our justification. The Doctrine of the Vital or Mystical Union.—Larg. Cat., Q. 66: "The union which the elect have with Christ is the work of God's grace, whereby they are spiritually and mystically, yet really and inseparably, joined to Christ as their head and husband; which is done in their effectual calling."

Short. Cat., Q. 30. "The Spirit applieth to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling."

"This union is on the basis of the covenant of grace, and through it the blessings of that covenant are imparted to us. (e.) The life given by this union is none other than the life which the Holy Ghost imparts—yet it is a life, not of mere general divine influence, but in union with Christ...This life is given through faith as the instrument of our justification; it is a life not excluding, but including, justification." (533)

II.—Proof from other sources of doctrine and analogy.

(a.) From the doctrine of Justification by faith alone. In our effectual calling, by the Spirit through faith, we are justified; i. e., on the ground of what Christ has done, we are accepted in Him, "elect in Christ." There must then be some peculiar bond or tie, on the ground of which we can be thus received and accepted in another.

(6.) From the parallel between our death in Adam and our life in Christ: Rom. v. 12 seq. The race is one in Adam, and hence could sin in him and fall with him; human nature became corrupt in him. We are condemned thereby: the natural union with Adam is the ground of this procedure. In like manner, the spiritual union with Christ is the basis of our being accepted, and justified in him.

(c.) From the truth of the intimate, secret, unseen, yet real influence of the Holy Spirit in regeneration—in our effectual calling, uniting us to Christ by these sacred influences, reinstating us in the moral image of God. These influences are confessedly mysterious; they are the bond of our union with Christ.

This union is at the ground of regeneration and justification.

(d.) From the nature of love to Christ, faith in Christ, implying the closest personal relationship between Christ and ourselves—a union.

(e.) From the analogy of other works of God, and facts in our other relations.

Thus, through the influences of the Holy Spirit, we are led to faith in Christ: to trust in Him; and in consequence of that we become partakers of all that Christ has done for us—are justified, i. e., are both pardoned and adopted."

What is important to realize is that union with Christ precedes regeneration, sanctification, and justification and that faith is the instrument of this union.

R. L. Dabney, well known theologian, wrote the following in "Union To Christ Effectuates Salvation"(emphasis mine):

"The instrumental bond of the union is evidently faith—i. e., when the believer exercises faith, the union begins; and by the exercise of faith it is on his part perpetuated. See Eph. 3:17; John 14:23; Gal. 3:26–28. First God embraces us with His electing and renewing love; and we then embrace Him by the actings of our faith, so that the union is consummated on both sides. One of the results, or, if you please, forms, of the union is justification. Of this, faith is the instrument, "for being justified by faith, we have peace with God." The other form is sanctification. Faith has the instrumental relation to this also; for He "purifieth our hearts by faith;" "faith worketh by love;" and it is the victory which overcometh the world." (Chapter 38: Union to Christ - See here)

Wrote the great A. H. Strong (emphasis mine):

"The consequences of union with Christ may be summarily stated as follows:

(a) Union with Christ involves a change in the dominant affection of the soul. Christ's entrance into the soul makes it a new creature, in the sense that the ruling disposition, which before was sinful, now becomes holy. This change we call Regeneration.

(b) Union with Christ involves a new exercise of the soul's powers in repentance and faith; faith, indeed, is the act of the soul by which, under the operation of God, Christ is received. This new exercise of the soul's powers we call Conversion (Repentance and Faith). It is the obverse or human side of Regeneration.

Eph. 3:17—"that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith";

(c) Union with Christ gives to the believer the legal standing and rights of Christ. As Christ's union with the race involves atonement, so the believer's union with Christ involves Justification. The believer is entitled to take for his own all that Christ is, and all that Christ has done; and this because he has within him that new life of humanity which suffered in Christ's death and rose from the grave in Christ's resurrection,—in other words, because he is virtually one person with the Redeemer. In Christ the believer is prophet, priest, and king.

(d) Union with Christ secures to the believer the continuously transforming, assimilating power of Christ's life,— first, for the soul; secondly, for the body,—consecrating it in the present, and in the future raising it up in the likeness of Christ's glorified body. This continuous influence, so far as it is exerted in the present life, we call Sanctification, the human side or aspect of which is Perseverance.

(e) Union with Christ brings about a fellowship of Christ with the believer, —Christ takes part in all the labors, temptations, and sufferings of his people; a fellowship of the believer with Christ,—so that Christ's whole experience on earth is in some measure reproduced in him; a fellowship of all believers with one another,—furnishing a basis for the spiritual unity of Christ's people on earth, and for the eternal communion of heaven. The doctrine of Union with Christ is therefore the indispensable preparation for Ecclesiology, and for Eschatology.

We append a few statements with regard to this union and its consequences, from noted names in theology and the church. Luther: "By faith thou art so glued to Christ that of thee and him there becomes as it were one person, so that with confidence thou canst say: ' I am Christ,—that is, Christ's righteousness, victory, etc., are mine '; and Christ in turn can say: 'I am that sinner,—that is, his sins, his death, etc., are mine, because he clings to me and I to him, for we have been joined through faith into one flesh and bone.'" Calvin: "I attribute the highest importance to the connection between the head and the members; to the inhabitation of Christ in our hearts; in a word, to the mystical union by which we enjoy him, so that, being made ours, he makes us partakers of the blessings with which he is furnished." John Bunyan: "The Lord led me into the knowledge of the mystery of union with Christ, that I was joined to him, that I was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. By this also my faith in him as my righteousness was the more confirmed; for if he and I were one, then his righteousness was mine, his merits mine, his victory also mine. Now could I see myself in heaven and on earth at once— in heaven by my Christ, my risen head, my righteousness and life, though on earth by my body or person." Edwards: "Faith is the soul's active uniting with Christ. God sees fit that, in order to a union's being established between two intelligent active beings, there should be the mutual act of both, that each should receive the other, as entirely joining themselves to one another." Andrew Fuller: "I have no doubt that the imputation of Christ's righteousness presupposes a union with him; since there is no perceivable fitness in bestowing benefits on one for another's sake, where there is no union or relation between." (59-84 - Union with Christ By Augustus Hopkins Strong - See here)

Strong also wrote, in "Union With Christ" and "The Application of Christ’s Redemption in its Actual Beginning" (emphasis mine):

"Under this head we treat of Union with Christ, Regeneration, Conversion (embracing Repentance and Faith), and Justification. Much confusion and error have arisen from conceiving these as occurring in chronological order. The order is logical, not chronological As it is only “in Christ” that man is “a new creature” (2 Cor. 5:17) or is “justified” (Acts 13:39), union with Christ logically precedes both regeneration and justification; and yet, chronologically, the moment of our union with Christ is also the moment when we are regenerated and justified. So, too, regeneration and conversion are but the divine and human sides or aspects of the same fact, although regeneration has logical precedence, and man turns only as God turns him." (See here)

I believe this most firmly, that "union with Christ" must be the basis for our regeneration and justification, and yet faith is the means of completing this union.

In SECTION II.—THE APPLICATION OF CHRIST S REDEMPTION IN ITS ACTUAL BEGINNING, Strong wrote:

"Under this head we treat of Union with Christ, Regeneration, Conversion (embracing Repentance and Faith), and Justification. Much confusion and error have arisen from conceiving these as occurring in chronological order. The order is logical, not chronological. As it is only "in Christ" that man is "a new creature" (2 Cor. 5 : 17) or is "justified" (Acts 13 : 39), union with Christ logically precedes both regeneration and justification; and yet, chronologically, the moment of our union with Christ is also the moment when we are regenerated and justified. So, too, regeneration and conversion are but the divine and human sides or aspects of the same fact, although regeneration has logical precedence, and man turns only as God turns him." (See here)

Wrote the great J. P. Boyce (emphasis mine):

"It holds an important connection with every act and condition of salvation. It is by faith that men come into vital union with Christ, through faith that they are justified." (CHAPTER XXXIV - FAITH - See here)

Wrote the great Jonathan Edwards (emphasis mine):

"1 Cor. 12: 27, "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular," etc. The same relation is illustrated by that which subsists between the husband and wife; and the whole body of believers is called "the bride, the lamb's wife." But what is this union between Christ and believers? In what respect are they one? To these inquiries I reply, there is a two-fold union between Christ and believers; a vital union and a relative union; or what may more properly be called a union of affection and a union of relation; or a union which is real and a union which is constituted. Each of these requires a distinct explanation.

1. By a vital union, or the union of affection is meant, that cordial and mutual love or affection which subsists between Christ and all true believers. This love is implied in the true and saving faith of the gospel. Every real Christian being the subject of this faith, is therein united in heart and affection to Christ. The first act of this faith is the uniting act; and in its exercise the believer cordially receives Christ; is sincerely pleased with him; loves those things which Christ loves; desires and seeks those objects which he seeks, and in affection becomes one with him. He has the very spirit of Christ. "The same mind is in him which was also in Christ Jesus." He is also united to him in the exercise of trust and reliance on him. He leans on Christ his beloved, and lives by communications of grace from him. "His life is hid with Christ in God ;" and "the life which he now lives in the flesh, he lives by faith on the Son of God." This is the vital or real union; the union of affection between Christ and believers. Faith has by some been called the hand or instrument by which believers lay hold on and receive Christ. But with more propriety may it be called the act of union itself, or the uniting act, by which Christ and the believer become one." (259 - Works By Jonathan Edwards, See here)

The Hardshell view about union with Christ is aberrant and heretical and is not the historic position of the Christian community.

Union With Christ By Faith

I do believe that there are several aspects of union with Christ. There is surely a representative union. This is the kind of union we see between Adam and his descendants. It is also the same kind of union we see between the second Adam (Christ Jesus) and his family (his brethren, i.e. believers). Thus, in Romans chapter five and I Corinthians chapter fifteen we have "in Adam" and "in Christ."

As a result of being in Adam, all in union with him die. As a result of being in Christ, all in union with him live. Likewise, as a result of union with Adam, all his connection not only suffer death, but are condemned or under guilt. In the same manner, as a result of union with Christ, all his connection not only are revived, but are justified. To become one with Adam requires a human birth. To become one with Christ the second Adam requires a new birth of the Spirit.

I believe that the bible teaches that experimental union with Christ, vital union, a union that is actual, is a union where both Christ and the sinner willingly unite with each other, as in a marriage. The union of a sinner with Christ is an act of will, an act of the will of Christ and an act of faith and trust by the sinner.

Not only do the words "in Christ" denote union (as nearly all adept bible teachers acknowledge) but so also do the words "into Christ" and "with Christ." In all these short prepositional phrases we see how salvation is determined by one's relationship to Christ. In the new testament, Christ is "in" the believer and the believer is "in" Christ, and these words determine salvation. In other words, to be saved, one must be "in Christ" and Christ must be both "in" and "with" the believing sinner. To be lost is to be outside of Christ, and to not have Christ with you. 

My Premises & Conclusion

1) Vital and experimental union (in addition to representative or virtual union) is a primary necessity and prerequisite for regeneration and for every aspect of salvation.

2) Union with Christ is by believing in Christ (act of receiving him) or by faith

3) Ergo. Union with Christ by faith precedes regeneration and every aspect or stage of salvation.

The Hyper Calvinists who say that regeneration precedes faith must deny premise number two, and affirm that union with Christ is before and apart from faith (as the Hardshells and Reformed brethren teach), for they will accept the validity of premise number one. They would say that one is joined to Christ before faith is produced, so union is not by faith. But, what saith the scriptures? What says our Baptist and Calvinist forefathers who were not Hypers? 

Bible Metaphors For Union

Several figures are used in scripture to illustrate this vital union. These are listed by Dr. A.H. Strong in his Systematic Theology. But let us first observe what he says prior to giving those metaphors and figures. In "Union With Christ - The Application of Christ’s Redemption in its Actual Beginning," Augustus Hopkins Strong says the following in his famous Systematic Theology on Union With Christ (See here):

"The majority of printed systems of doctrine, however, contain no chapter or section on Union with Christ, and the majority of Christians much more frequently think of Christ as a Savior outside of them, than as a Savior who dwells within." 

That is so true with regard to many theologians. It was not true with Calvin himself, however, as we will show (as I have before). In most lists of theologians, especially of those who are Hyper Calvinistic in their beliefs or inclinations, on the order of things in the ordo salutis, you won't even see "union with Christ" as one in the list. Yet, it ought to have the preeminence. Both representative union and vital union precede every aspect of experimental salvation. So I have "faith, vital union with Christ, justification, regeneration, sanctification, glorification." 

Here is what Strong gives us on the subject:

1. Scripture Representations of this Union. 

A. Figurative teaching. It is illustrated: 

(a) From the union of a building and its foundation.

(b) From the union between husband and wife.

(c) From the union between the vine and its branches.

(d) From the union between the members and the head of the body.

(e) From the union of the race with the source of its life in Adam.

B. Direct statements. 

(a) The believer is said to be in Christ. In fact, this phrase “in Christ,” always meaning “in union with Christ,” is the very key to Paul’s epistles, and to the whole New Testament. The fact that the believer is in Christ is symbolized in baptism: we are “baptised into Christ” (Gal. 3:27).

(b) Christ is said to be in the believer.

(d) The believer has life by partaking of Christ, as Christ has life by partaking of the Father.

(e) All believers are one in Christ.

(f) The believer is made partaker of the divine nature.

(g) The believer is made one spirit with the Lord.

The rest of this posting and this series will look at the bible verses that speak of these things and show how they speak of that union which is effected through the instrumentality of evangelical faith.

John Calvin, in support of this said: "...we are grafted into his body and made one with him by belief of the gospel..." (As cited in this article here)

That will be what I will be showing is proven by scripture. Later Calvinists have departed from the truth when they put vital union with Christ prior to, and apart from, faith in Christ. This truth was foundational for Calvin and for the Calvinists in his day and shortly thereafter. It was not till later that Hyper Calvinism showed up and find some Calvinists beginning to put "regeneration" before faith, and had it occurring apart from the means of the word of the gospel, and to put regeneration before justification. 

In an article by Lee Gatiss titled "The Inexhaustible Fountain of All Good Things: Union with Christ in Calvin on Ephesians" (Ibid) he says the following about Calvin on union with Christ (emphasis mine): 

"Whilst election is not, of course, an unimportant theme in Calvin’s work, the subject of this article—union with Christ—is a much more pervasive one. It is undoubtedly the key idea in his teaching on the way we receive the grace of Christ. While refuting Osiander, one of his German Lutheran opponents, Calvin says, “that joining together of Head and members, that indwelling of Christ in our heart—in short, that mystical union—are accorded by us the highest degree of importance.”"

I agree one hundred percent. I have written on all this before. (As an example see The Logical Difficulty II)

In another article titled "Union with Christ and Reformed Orthodoxy: Calvin vs. the Calvinists?", John V. Fesko wrote (See here emphasis mine):

"Charles Partee suggested that union with Christ, not predestination, was Calvin’s “central affirmation. Partee presses this point in his later book on Calvin’s theology with a twofold claim. First, though many Reformed theologians contributed to the complex development of the tradition, Partee believes “we can still affirm John Calvin as the greatest systematic thinker among them.” Second, in line with his earlier claim, Partee claims that union with Christ is Calvin’s central teaching. Partee argues that Reformed Orthodoxy departed from Calvin’s teaching: “To put the point briefly and sharply, Calvin is not a Calvinist because union with Christ is at the heart of his theology—and not theirs.”

I also fully agree with this informed statement, although I think Calvin represents the primitive Calvinists (or Augustinians) and not the later Calvinists who promoted the regenerated before faith view, and others who became Hyper Calvinists. Said the same author:

"We append a few statements with regard to this union and its consequences, from noted names in theology and the church. Luther: “By faith thou art so glued to Christ that of thee and him there becomes as it were one person, so that with confidence thou canst say: ‘I am Christ,—that is, Christ’s righteousness, victory, etc., are mine; and Christ in turn can say: ‘I am that sinner,—that is, his sine, his death, etc., are mine, because he clings to me and I to him, for we have been joined through faith into one flesh and bone.’ ”

Next we have these words from Jonathan Edwards also given: 

“Faith is the soul’s active uniting with Christ. God sees fit that, in order to a union’s being established between two intelligent active beings, there should be the mutual act of both, that each should receive the other, as entirely joining themselves to one another.” 

Next we have these words from Andrew Fuller: 

“I have no doubt that the imputation of Christ’s righteousness presupposes a union with him; since there is no perceivable fitness in bestowing benefits on one for another’s sake, where there is no union or relation between.”

Others have affirmed the same truth of the foundational nature of the right understanding of this subject. John Murray said "Union with Christ is the central truth of the whole doctrine of salvation." (As cited here) 

John Owen said: 

 

"[Union with Christ] is the cause of all other graces that we are made partakers of; they are all communicated unto us by virtue of our union with Christ. Hence is our adoption, our justification, our sanctification, our fruitfulness, our perseverance, our resurrection, our glory." (Ibid)

Albert Barnes, in commenting upon I Cor. 6: 17, wrote: "But he that is joined to the Lord - The true Christian, united by faith to the Lord Jesus; see John 15:1 ff."

A.H. Strong in his Systematic Theology wrote (See here): "...we are justified by reason of our oneness with the justified Christ, so we are condemned by reason of our oneness with the condemned Adam." And, "God regenerates the soul by uniting it to Jesus Christ." And, "...faith, indeed, is the act of the soul by which, under the operation of God, Christ is received. This new exercise of the soul’s powers we call Conversion (Repentance and Faith). It is the obverse or human side of Regeneration."

In the next posting we will look at the texts which show that union with Christ is by faith and is what must occur before regeneration or rebirth can occur.

Is Faith The Effect Of Union?

The answer to that question is not either yes or no, but both, depending upon how we define the terms of discussion. In my previous two postings on Union With Christ By Faith I held to the proposition that the scriptures teach that vital union is by faith in Christ and all aspects of salvation follow that created union. But, I also acknowledged that there was another kind of union, a representative or covenantal union, and acknowledged that it preceded actual vital union. We are joined to Adam in two ways. 

First, by representative union (See Romans 5 and I Corinthians 15). Second, by vital union. All are the physical descendants of Adam, of his seed through Eve, "the mother of all living." (I will not go into the question as to whether all the souls of men were created in Adam or individually at the time of conception) In either case, whether Traducian, or Creationist, all have at least a physical and soulish connection with Adam. 

Believers are joined to Christ in two ways, one representative and one vital. Even unbelievers are in some sense represented by Christ, and have that connection with him, though they have not a vital saving connection or union with him. 

For purposes of this writing, I will not get off topic on the question of who are the elect and why were they elected to salvation. We will simply say that the elect are they who are believers. 

Said one source, citing others (See here, emphasis mine):

"Augustus H. Strong positively describes the nature of the believer's union with Christ with five adjectives.[27] This union is: 

 

An organic union – in which believers become members of Christ and enjoy a mutual, reciprocal dependence on Christ for life and He on them for expression (Eph. 5:29–30). 

A vital union – in which Christ operates within believers as their life and becomes the dominating principle within them (Gal. 2:20; Col. 3:3–4). 

A spiritual union – that is, a union originating from and sustained by the Holy Spirit in their spirit (Rom. 8:9-10; Eph 3:16–17). 

An indissoluble union – that is, a union which, by virtue of Christ's eternal, divine, and incorruptible power and grace, can never be dissolved (Matt. 28:20; Rom. 8:39; Heb. 7:16). 

An inscrutable union – that is, a divine and mystical union of knowledge-surpassing intimacy and value (Eph. 3:19; 5:32; Col. 1:27)." 

Now, that is probably too many categories for we can say of vital union that it is spiritual, indissoluble, and inscrutable. For the purposes of this short posting, I only speak of two kinds of union, one representative and the other vital (or the joining together of two hearts, souls, or spirits). However, Strong did say they were all "adjectives" of union rather than different kinds of union. If that is so, then we could add other adjectives to describe the nature of the union. 

Said the same source (citing others):

"According to the narrower sense of the phrase, used in Christian theology, union with Christ is a step in the ordo salutis ("order of salvation"), and the basis of the believer's justification.[5] In this sense, union with Christ follows faith and precedes adoption (Galatians 3:26-27). Augustus Strong describes it in this way: "union with Christ logically precedes both regeneration and justification; and yet, chronologically, the moment of our union with Christ is also the moment when we are regenerated and justified."[6]"

This is what I believe and have contended for, that "union with Christ logically precedes both regeneration and justification." And that "union with Christ follows faith." 

Said the same source again:

"Sinclair Ferguson distinguishes six categories of union with Christ. Union with Christ is federal or covenantal in the sense that Christ's obedience is accounted to believers. It is carnal or fleshly in the sense that Christ became incarnate and thus became one with humanity. Union with Christ is also a faith union in which by faith Christians depend on Christ for nourishment. It is a spiritual union because Christians are united to Christ by the agency of the Holy Spirit. It is an extensive union in that Christians are united with Christ in everything he has done, including his life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and session. It is finally a union of life because Christ lives in Christians and he is visible in their lives.[11]" 

Vital union, or union that brings life, spiritual and eternal, is by faith, or by possessing Christ and the Holy Spirit, and both Christ and the Spirit are received by faith.  

Said the same source again:

"As a step in the order of salvation, union with Christ was seen by John Calvin to be the basis for both justification and sanctification. Alister McGrath notes that while Martin Bucer suggested that justification causes (moral) regeneration, Calvin argued that "both justification and regeneration are the results of the believer's union with Christ through faith."[12]"

Again, this is my position, and it is the true Calvinist or Reformed position, being what was believed by Luther, Calvin, and the first generation following them. Those "Reformed" Calvinists today, among Baptists and Presbyterians and their ilk, do not believe that both regeneration and justification are by faith. 

Said the same source again:

"Some Evangelicals see union with Christ as a discrete stage in the "order of salvation."[13] The evangelical theologian William Shedd comments "The impartation of Christ's righteousness presupposes a union with him."[14] Robert Dabney, while avoiding deification, said that the bond of the union is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.[15]"

Not only can we say, however, that the impartation of Christ's righteousness (imputation or justification) presupposes union, but also say that union presupposes faith. Shedd believes that faith follows regeneration (about which I recently have written) and yet in the above he says that union with Christ precedes imputation or justification. This is inconsistent. He obviously, like others, such as the Hardshell Baptists, say that union with Christ is not by faith, but rather is before and without faith. He would deny the proposition that vital union with Christ is by faith. 

Dabney's statement, "the bond of the union is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit," is true. But, let us remember that the Spirit is received by faith (Gal. 3: 1), as we demonstrated in the two prior postings on "Union With Christ By Faith." Further, Dabney agrees. Another source giving the writings of R.L. Dabney on union with Christ (See here) has Dabney writing the following in proof of this:

"It is through this union to Christ that the whole application of redemption is effectuated on the sinner’s soul...When made one with His Redeeming Head, then all the communicable graces of that Head begin to transfer themselves to him. Thus we find that each kind of benefit which makes up redemption is, in different parts of the Scripture, deduced from this union as their source; Justification, spiritual strength, life, resurrection of the body, good works, prayer and praise, sanctification, perseverance, etc., etc. Eph. 1:4, 6, 11, 13; Col. 1:24; Rom. 6:3–6, 8; Col. 2:10; Gal. 2:20; Phil. 3:9; John 15:1–5." 

Dabney also wrote:

"The instrumental bond of the union is evidently faith—i. e., when the believer exercises faith, the union begins; and by the exercise of faith it is on his part perpetuated. See Eph. 3:17; John 14:23; Gal. 3:26–28. First God embraces us with His electing and renewing love; and we then embrace Him by the actings of our faith, so that the union is consummated on both sides. One of the results, or, if you please, forms, of the union is justification. Of this, faith is the instrument, "for being justified by faith, we have peace with God." The other form is sanctification. Faith has the instrumental relation to this also; for He "purifieth our hearts by faith;" "faith worketh by love;" and it is the victory which overcometh the world."

Said the previous source again:

"Eastern Orthodox theology emphasizes the incarnation as the starting point for our union with Christ.[16] "In Christ God becomes one with us in order to make us one with him; he stooped to take our nature, in order that we might be restored to become partakers of his nature."[16]"

Of course, the key word in that paragraph is the word "emphasizes." Certainly, as we will see, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, in becoming human formed a union with the the race, with all men. The apostle Paul says that Christ is "the head of every man" (I Cor. 11: 3) and also is "the head of the body which is his church." (Eph. 1: 22-23; 5: 23) He has a union with every man by his incarnation, as well as lordship. That is a necessary union for the salvation of any man. However, though that union is necessary for the salvation of any man, it does not signify that all men will be saved merely by the incarnation itself. 

Further, as we will see, there are benefits that come to all men as a result of Christ becoming man and being "the head of every man." We could give lengthy examples of this truth. For one thing, men would be without hope, and the wrath of God against them for their sins would be demonstrated by them instantly being sent to Hell without mercy. 

It is necessary that a sinner join himself to God and to Christ as Savior and Lord to have vital union with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. From this attachment to Christ flows all that pertains to salvation and "things which accompany salvation" (Heb. 6: 9). There is no realized salvation in anyone until that one is joined in heart and soul to Christ. Salvation in its beginning, in its continuance and progression, and in its consummation in the eternal ages to come, is all the result of vital union with Christ. Two things are necessary for this union, which are penitent faith and a birth of the Spirit.   

Said the same source again:

"In Christian theology the union of Christ is built on the a priori assumption of Adam's union with humanity (Romans 5:12-21).[17] Also according to the Apostle Paul, Christ's death and resurrection is a prerequisite for believers to be identified with Christ (Romans 6:8-10).[18] In other words, the vicarious death of Jesus is the basis for incorporation into Christ.[19]"

But we must not err in thinking that vital union with Christ is something Christ (or Father or Spirit) merely does to us and for us (objectively), but such union that we are active in creating. Union with Christ is the union of two wills, the effect of two choices, one on the part of Christ and the other on the part of the believing sinner. So, not only does Christ identify with us via his incarnation, but also by his death on the cross, and by his resurrection.

Said the same source again:

"The New Testament teaches that union with Christ is precipitated by faith and baptism, i.e. we believe and are baptized "into" Christ (John 3:16, Romans 6:3). Both the apostle John and Paul employ the Greek preposition eis rather than en in these passages to convey the notion of union with Christ. The ESV Study Bible explains the use of this particular preposition in its note on John 11:25, "The preposition translated “in” (Gk. eis) is striking, for eis ordinarily means “into,” giving the sense that genuine faith in Christ in a sense brings people “into” Christ, so that they rest in and become united with Christ. (This same expression is found in 3:16, 18, 36; 6:35; 7:38; 12:44, 46; 14:12; 1 John 5:10.)"[20]"

I would agree with this but would say that both water baptism and the Lord's supper (communion) are pictures of our union with Christ by faith. Water baptism is a picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ and of our participation in it by faith. It is a picture of the mystical or spiritual incorporation into Christ and his body. It is a picture of our own spiritual resurrection in our conversion. It is a picture also of the total cleansing of the spirit that occurs in the union effected. The Lord's Supper pictures how Christ enters the heart and spirit of a believing and penitent sinner. As the message of Christ is brought to the mind of a sinner and the sinner by the work of the Spirit and the word believes the message and calls upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, he is then joined to Christ and receive all the blessings of salvation.

Now, before going further, let me state the problem with the view that says vital union with Christ is by faith (my view). 

The Problem

If all spiritual blessings flow out of vital union with Christ, and such union is by faith, then faith cannot be a blessing produced from union. Does that not show that union precedes faith? Or, to state the same thing another way, doesn't regeneration precede faith? Do not the words "faith is a fruit of the Spirit" (Gal. 5) say that faith is a fruit of regeneration? A fruit of a vital union? 

My answer is to say:

1) If vital union precedes faith, then it would be wrong to assert that union is by faith. Yet, the scriptures say union is by faith. 

2) The text does not say that faith is a fruit of regeneration, but a fruit of the Spirit. The Spirit produces thoughts and actions in the elect before they are regenerated, such as conviction of sin, belief of certain truths, the Father's "drawing," and "teaching," etc. (John 6: 44-45) These pre regeneration things can be said to be the effect of the Spirit's working. Also, the word for "fruit" is also used to refer to a child in the womb ("fruit of the womb"). And, it is not denied that faith and love are begotten when the sinner is begotten. 

3) The proposition that vital union is by faith does not negate the proposition that it is the fruit of the Spirit. Both the means (faith) and the end (vital union) are "of" the Spirit. Those two propositions are not incongruent. 

4) The faith that is produced by the Spirit in order to effect a person's being "born of God" does spring as a blessing from Christ, as a result of representative union with him. Further, I believe, that Christ in one sense represents all men, yet in another sense, represents only the elect. 

5) Finally, we can best answer the question with a question. Is vital union with Christ a blessing resulting from vital union? The answer of course is "no" because something cannot be the cause of itself nor can it be the effect of itself. 

So, faith is the gift of God and is the result of his effectual working (Eph. 1: 19) and of his drawing and teaching (John 6: 44-45), and comes as a pre regeneration, pre vital union blessing. It is a blessing resulting from God's eternal covenant regarding the elect, from the new covenant, from his gracious promise in the gospel.

A. H. Strong On Union With Christ

A.H. Strong

(1836 - 1921)

“that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith”

(Ephesians 3: 17)

In "Union With Christ - The Application of Christ’s Redemption in its Actual Beginning" by Baptist theologian Dr. Augustus Hopkins Strong, we find the following worthy citations (emphasis mine). 

"Under this head we treat of Union with Christ, Regeneration, Conversion (embracing Repentance and Faith), and Justification. Much confusion and error have arisen from conceiving these as occurring in chronological order. The order is logical, not chronological. As it is only “in Christ” that man is “a new creature” (2 Cor. 5:17) or is “justified” (Acts 13:39), union with Christ logically precedes both regeneration and justification; and yet, chronologically, the moment of our union with Christ is also the moment when we are regenerated and justified. So, too, regeneration and conversion are but the divine and human sides or aspects of the same fact, although regeneration has logical precedence, and man turns only as God turns him." (here)

This has been the ordo salutis I have contended for over the past many years. Union with Christ occurs before regeneration, conversion, and justification and union with Christ is by faith, so faith must precede regeneration just like justification. All follows faith union with Christ. All Arminians believe this and many Calvinists also, including John Calvin and those Particular Baptists who wrote the London and Philadelphia confessions of faith. It is only the Hyper Calvinist, or Hyper leaning Calvinist that wants to say that union with Christ precedes faith and regeneration.

Strong says further:

"Regeneration will involve repentance and faith and justification and sanctification." 

That is true, but faith must take logical priority since it is the the thing that unites a person to Christ, and there can be no regeneration, conversion, justification, sanctification, etc., prior to being in Christ.

Strong says further:

"See A. A. Hodge, on the Ordo Salutis, in Princeton Rev., March, 1888:304–321. Union with Christ, says Dr. Hodge, “is effected by the Holy Ghost in effectual calling. Of this calling the parts are two: (a) the offering of Christ to the sinner, externally by the gospel, and internally by the illumination of the Holy Ghost; (b) the reception of Christ, which on our part is both passive and active. The passive reception is that whereby a spiritual principle is ingenerated into the human will, whence issues the active reception, which is an act of faith with which repentance is always conjoined. The communion of benefits which results from this union involves: (a) a change of state or relation, called justification; and (b) a change of subjective moral character, commenced in regeneration and completed through sanctification.” See also Dr. Hodge’s Popular Lectures on Theological Themes, 340, and Outlines of Theology, 333–429."

Dr. A.A. Hodge was a Calvinist theologian whom I have cited before as having insisted, as I do, that justification by faith must precede regeneration. (See here) Those Hyper Calvinists who say first regeneration, second faith, third justification and sanctification, have a problem with where to put union with Christ and of the adverse consequences of putting it anywhere but at the head. Some do this, such as the Hardshell Hyper Calvinists, but will say that union with Christ is not by means of faith, saying rather that union with Christ occurs apart from faith. They would say vital union with Christ precedes faith. Many Calvinists, along with Arminians, will say however that union with Christ is by faith (as the text at the head of this article says).

There must be a receiving of Christ by the sinner before there can be effects or fruits of that union, such as forgiveness, justification, regeneration, conversion, sanctification, etc. Communion follows union. 

Strong says further:

"H. B. Smith, however, in his System of Christian Theology, is more clear in the putting of Union with Christ before Regeneration. On page 502, he begins his treatment of the Application of Redemption with the title: “The Union between Christ and the individual believer as effected by the Holy Spirit. This embraces the subjects of Justification, Regeneration, and Sanctification, with the underlying topic which comes first to be considered, Election.” He therefore treats Union with Christ (531–539) before Regeneration (553–569). He says Calvin defines regeneration as coming to us by participation in Christ, and apparently agrees with this view (559)."

Those Calvinists who put regeneration before faith must affirm that union with Christ follows regeneration and that union is not by faith, or say that regeneration does not result from union. Which horn of that dilemma do they want to take? Many Calvinists do not say that regeneration precedes faith and therefore those folks who say "Calvinism puts regeneration before faith" state what is not true of all Calvinists.

Strong says further:

“This union [with Christ] is at the ground of regeneration and justification” (534). “The great difference of theological systems comes out here. Since Christianity is redemption through Christ, our mode of conceiving that will determine the character of our whole theological system” (536)."

These words of the learned doctor are powerful and true. 

Strong says further:

"The Scriptures declare that, through the operation of God, there is constituted a union of the soul with Christ different in kind from God’s natural and providential concursus with all spirits, as well as from all unions of mere association or sympathy, moral likeness, or moral influence,—a union of life, in which the human spirit, while then most truly possessing its own individuality and personal distinctness, is interpenetrated and energized by the Spirit of Christ, is made inscrutably but indissolubly one with him, and so becomes a member and partaker of that regenerated, believing, and justified humanity of which he is the head."

So Strong believes, as a moderate Calvinist, that union with Christ precedes the reception of spiritual life. If one does not possess Christ (union), then he is not spiritually alive. The apostle John affirmed this important fundamental truth when he said "whoever has the Son has life, whoever does not have the Son does not have life." (I John 5: 12) How does one "have the Son"? Is it not by "receiving the Son" by faith? Is not "receiving" in the active voice? Jesus said that one must "come to him" (by faith) in order to have spiritual life. (John 5: 43) It is absurd for the Hardshells to teach that many born again folks who possess Christ know nothing about him, much less believe in him! 

Strong says further:

"Union with Christ is not union with a system of doctrine, nor with external religious influences, nor with an organized church, nor with an ideal man,—but rather, with a personal, risen, living, omnipresent Lord (J. W. A. Stewart). Dr. J. W. Alexander well calls this doctrine of the Union of the Believer with Christ “the central truth of all theology and of all religion.” Yet it receives little of formal recognition, either in dogmatic treatises or in common religious experience. Quenstedt, 886–912, has devoted a section to it; A. A. Hodge gives to it a chapter, in his Outlines of Theology, 369 sq., to which we are indebted for valuable suggestions; H. B. Smith treats of it, not however as a separate topic, but under the head of Justification (System, 531–539)."

Many Calvinists put faith before regeneration or the new birth.

Strong says further:

"The majority of printed systems of doctrine, however, contain no chapter or section on Union with Christ, and the majority of Christians much more frequently think of Christ as a Savior outside of them, than as a Savior who dwells within. This comparative neglect of the doctrine is doubtless a reaction from the exaggerations of a false mysticism. But there is great need of rescuing the doctrine from neglect. For this we rely wholly upon Scripture. Doctrines which reason can neither discover nor prove need large support from the Bible. It is a mark of divine wisdom that the doctrine of the Trinity, for example, is so inwoven with the whole fabric of the New Testament, that the rejection of the former is the virtual rejection of the latter. The doctrine of Union with Christ, in like manner, is taught so variously and abundantly, that to deny it is to deny inspiration itself. See Kahnis, Luth. Dogmatik, 3:447–450."

I find that this is true. I find that those Calvinists who put regeneration before faith stumble over the issue of union with Christ and how it affects their views on the ordo salutis.

Strong says further:

"Direct statements. (a) The believer is said to be in Christ. 

 

Lest we should regard the figures mentioned above as merely Oriental metaphors, the fact of the believer’s union with Christ is asserted in the most direct and prosaic manner. John 14:20—“ye in me”; Rom. 6:11—“alive unto God in Christ Jesus”; 8:1—“no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus”; 2 Cor. 5:17—“if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature”; Eph. 1:4—“chose us in him before the foundation of the world”; 2:13—“now in Christ Jesus ye that once were far off are made nigh in the blood of Christ.” Thus the believer is said to be “in Christ,” as the element or atmosphere which surrounds him with its perpetual presence and which constitutes his vital breath; in fact, this phrase “in Christ,” always meaning “in union with Christ,” is the very key to Paul’s epistles, and to the whole New Testament. The fact that the believer is in Christ is symbolized in baptism: we are “baptised into Christ” (Gal. 3:27)." 

I have written before on how the Bible shows that people "believe into Christ." See my posting on this (here). 

Strong says further:

"Only faith receives and retains Christ; and faith is the act of the soul grasping what is purely invisible and supersensible: not the act of the body, submitting to Baptism or partaking of the Supper."

That is my view and the view of the oldest Calvinists, such as those who wrote the 1689 London Confession of Faith. It is what the Bible plainly teaches.

Strong says further:

"Faith, indeed, is the act of the soul by which, under the operation of God, Christ is received...Faith is the soul’s laying hold of Christ as its only source of life, pardon, and salvation."

Again, that is what the Bible clearly teaches I believe.

Strong says further:

"We append a few statements with regard to this union and its consequences, from noted names in theology and the church. Luther: “By faith thou art so glued to Christ that of thee and him there becomes as it were one person, so that with confidence thou canst say: ‘I am Christ,—that is, Christ’s righteousness, victory, etc., are mine; and Christ in turn can say: ‘I am that sinner,—that is, his sin, his death, etc., are mine, because he clings to me and I to him, for we have been joined through faith into one flesh and bone.’ ” Calvin; “I attribute the highest importance to the connection between the head and the members; to the inhabitation of Christ in our hearts; in a word, to the mystical union by which we enjoy him, so that, being made ours, he makes us partakers of the blessings with which he is furnished.” John Bunyan: “The Lord led me into the knowledge of the mystery of union with Christ, that I was joined to him, that I was bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. By this also my faith in him as my righteousness was the more confirmed; for if he and I were one, then his righteousness was mine, his merits mine, his victory also mine. Now could I see myself in heaven and on earth at once—in heaven by my Christ, my risen head, my righteousness and life, though on earth by my body or person.” Edwards: “Faith is the soul’s active uniting with Christ. God sees fit that, in order to a union’s being established between two intelligent active beings, there should be the mutual act of both, that each should receive the other, as entirely joining themselves to one another.” Andrew Fuller: “I have no doubt that the imputation of Christ’s righteousness presupposes a union with him; since there is no perceivable fitness in bestowing benefits on one for another’s sake, where there is no union or relation between.”

All these great Calvinists, with the exception of Fuller, did not put regeneration before faith. Fuller taught that regeneration was begun before faith but was not completed until a person believed. Many Calvinists of the past taught that there was a "strict" or "narrow" definition of "regeneration" and a more "broad" definition of it. Many of them confused God's pre-regeneration work with regeneration itself, putting regeneration too early in the process. This is what Fuller was apt to do and Alexander Campbell strongly objected to his doing so. 

John Owen On Union's Priority

In "John Owen on Union with Christ and Justification" (here) we have these good comments about Owen's view on the ordo salutis (emphasis mine):

"This essay proves that Owen embraces both union with Christ but at the same time gives priority to the doctrine of justification over sanctification, that is, that he holds to an ordo salutis."

"Owen gives priority in this sense: a person can say that they are sanctified because they are justified, but a person cannot say that they are justified because they are sanctified. In other words, Owen maintains the classic hallmark of Reformed theology: justification and sanctification are distinct but inseparable benefits of union with Christ, but a person's sanctification (the fruit of which is good works) is not in any way mixed or confused with their justification. Justification logically comes before sanctification because good works are the fruits and evidences of justification, not its antecedent cause. Moreover, justification is a complete act whereas sanctification is an inaugurated but nevertheless incomplete process."

Owen did "discuss the relationship between union with Christ, justification, and sanctification," affirming that -

"A person does not lay hold of Christ's accomplished work until they are united with him and share in the communion of his benefits through the work of the Spirit."

In discussing Owen's view regarding "Union with Christ and the Ordo Salutis" the writer says:

"Grasping Owen's doctrine of the pactum is cardinal in understanding how he prioritizes the forensic element in redemption. But we must first understand what Owen believes about union with Christ before we can proceed. Owen, like most Reformed theologians, holds to the doctrine of union with Christ. Owen believes that all of the benefits of redemption flow from the believer's union with Christ. Union with Christ, writes Owen, “is the cause of all other graces that we are made partakers of; they are all communicated to us by virtue of our union with Christ. Hence is our adoption, our justification, our sanctification, our fruitfulness, our perseverance, our resurrection, our glory.” Union with Christ, therefore, is the all-encompassing doctrinal rubric that embraces all of the elements of redemption."

"Owen sees no problem with affirming both union with Christ and articulating an ordo salutis. Owen explains that Paul never speaks about the necessity of sanctification, regeneration, or renovation by the work of the Spirit antecedently to the believer's justification."

"Owen carefully safeguards the doctrine of justification because Paul states that God justifies the ungodly (Rom 4:5), which means that the believer's justification has to be antecedent to his sanctification."

"To be sure, Owen does not confuse justification (the forensic) with sanctification (the transformative), but rather states that a person must be in union with Christ to partake of the forensic benefit of imputation. Owen clearly states this point: “Our actual interest in the satisfaction of Christ depends on our actual insertion into his mystical body by faith, according to the appointment of God.” Elsewhere, Owen bluntly asserts, “The foundation of the imputation asserted is union.”"

In another article, "Union with Christ: The Westminster Confession," by Stephen Unthank (here) we have these comments:

"For English Reformed Orthodoxy, the doctrine of a believer’s union with Christ was paramount. John Owen, enunciating the centrality of a believer’s union, exclaimed that our union with Christ is the “principle and measure of all spiritual enjoyments and expectations.”[1] Likewise Thomas Goodwin expressed a similar conviction that “being in Christ, and united to him, is the fundamental constitution of a Christian.”[2] It is a bit surprising then when one looks at the Westminster Confession of Faith, that high-water mark of Puritan theological codification, where we find no chapter expressly dedicated to the doctrine of union with Christ. But this in no way means the doctrine is not there. No, it runs like a silver thread throughout the document underlying much of the theology laid out in its pages."

"Perhaps the clearest place to see the doctrine is in the Shorter Catechism question 30, which asks “How doth the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?” The answer: “The Spirit applieth to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling.” The language used here harkens back to Calvin’s famous passage on union with Christ in his Institutes where he asks the same question. “How do we receive those benefits which the Father bestowed on his only-begotten Son?” Calvin answers by saying we must first “understand that as long as Christ remains outside of us, and we are separated from him, all that he has suffered and done for the salvation of the human race remains useless and of no value to us.”"

Again, these are my sentiments and they express the true Calvinist faith on the ordo salutis. Union with Christ by faith is the foundation for the obtaining of all the blessings of redemption, including regeneration. What think ye?

Union With Christ By Faith

For many Calvinists, such as Puritan Calvinists, or the first Calvinists immediately following Calvin, including John Calvin himself, union with Christ was first in the ordo salutis and that union was effected by faith, and so faith was first, though there was grace and divine preparations prior to faith. "Whatever is not of sin misses the mark" (Rom. 14:23); therefore all is by faith. However, grace precedes faith, for says the apostle -- "by grace are you saved through faith" (Eph. 2:8) and people are said to have "believed through grace" (Acts 18:27). So we have this order: 

1) grace, 2) faith, 3) union with Christ, 4) repentance and all aspects of salvation or redemption, which includes becoming indwelt by the Father, Son, and Spirit, regeneration (or rebirth), resurrection from spiritual death, justification and imputation of Christ's righteousness, forgiveness, sanctification, etc. 

Believers are united to Christ by faith, but faith does not save by its own merit. Faith is not the basis or ground of salvation but is the means or condition of salvation. In this post (here) I cited Dr. A.H. Strong who rightly observed:

"...because faith, and not repentance or love or hope is the medium or instrument by which we receive Christ and are united to him. Hence we are never said to be justified dia pistin, = on account of faith, but only dia pisteos, = through faith, or ek pisteos, = by faith. Or, to express the same truth in other words, while the grace of God is the efficient cause of justification and the obedience and sufferings of Christ are the meritorious or procuring cause, faith is the mediate or instrumental cause." (pg. 160, 161 in the "Relation of Justification to Faith," from his Systematic Theology)

Faith acts as an empty hand reaching out to grasp and receive Christ and his righteousness. Union with Christ by faith logically precedes the benefits of salvation. God first gives the hand of faith, the hearing ear and seeing eye, before salvation. Union precedes communion. In "Union with Christ Is at the Heart of Reformation Theology" Matthew C. Bingham (May 17, 2025; See here) wrote (emphasis mine):

"And Bunyan was not alone in this thinking. Whether we examine pioneering sixteenth-century Reformed theologians such as John Calvin and Peter Martyr Vermigli (1499–1562), post-Reformation thinkers such as Jerome Zanchi (1516–1590) and Theodore Beza (1519–1605), or English divines such as William Perkins (1558–1602) and William Ames, the conclusion is the same: union with Christ is the controlling idea from which flows the entirety of our redemption.2 Union played a central role in the theology of the English Puritans, for whom it has been described by one historian as “the existential nerve” of their piety.3"

1. Richard A. Muller, Calvin and the Reformed Tradition: On the Work of Christ and the Order of Salvation (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2012), 202–43. 

2. R. Tudur Jones, “Union with Christ: The Existential Nerve of Puritan Piety,” Tyndale Bulletin 41, no. 2 (1990): 186–208, https://doi.org/10.53751/001c.30522

There are those who will admit that the older Calvinists, and the Puritan Calvinists, said that union with Christ was by faith but will say that they also taught that regeneration preceded faith. That is, however, ridiculous. The ones who say this are those Calvinists who insist that regeneration precedes faith. Some of these will even argue that Christ unites himself to sinners in regeneration apart from faith, but sinners after this union unite themselves to Christ by faith. Again, that is ridiculous. That would be like saying that my wife was joined to me in marriage before I was joined to her. 

John Calvin taught that union with Christ was by faith and also taught that regeneration or rebirth was by faith. That is being consistent. Those Calvinists who want to say regeneration precedes faith and yet want to say that union with Christ is by faith are contradicting themselves. Bingham rightly observes that from union with Christ "flows the entirety of our redemption." If that is so, then regeneration must follow union with Christ by faith for regeneration is one of the blessings of redemption.

In the Westminster Shorter Catechism, we read: 

 

Q. 30. How doth the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ? 

 

A. The Spirit applieth to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling.

Likewise, in Keach's catechism, reflecting the faith expressed in the 1689 London Confession of Baptists, we read:

Q. 34. How does the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?

A. The Spirit applies to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling. 

In one discussion forum titled "How are Regeneration, Faith, and Union with Christ ordered in Reformed Theology?" (See here), the discussion opens with these words (emphasis mine):

"1 In the Reformed Ordo Salutis, or order of salvation, how are Regeneration, Faith, and Union with Christ ordered? (Note that the order of salvation is a logical order, not temporal, and the believer will experience several stages concurrently.) Because of Total Depravity, the doctrine that we are spiritually dead in our sin, I think Regeneration is usually said to precede Faith, because we need to be brought back to spiritual life in order to have faith. Faith is said to precede Union with Christ because it is through Faith that the Holy Spirit unites us the Christ. But isn't it Union with Christ that gives us new life in Christ? Does Union with Christ therefore precede Regeneration? Or is the new life of Regeneration somehow different from the new life we receive through being united to Christ? How is this chicken-and-egg cycle resolved in Reformed Theology?"

The respondents to this query struggled to answer the difficulties raised by this scenario. It is contradictory to say that people are joined to Christ by regeneration BEFORE faith (and thus without faith).

In "The Puritans on Coming to Christ" Dr. Joel Beeke, a man who is an expert on Puritan beliefs and Puritan Calvinism, wrote the following (See here; emphasis mine): 

"Faith unites a sinner with his Savior. As John Calvin (1509 –1564) said, “Faith justifies in no other way than as it introduces us into a participation of the righteousness of Christ.” It apprehends (fides apprehensiva), closes with, and grasps Christ in a believing embrace, surrendering self, clinging to His Word, and relying on His promises."

Thomas Boston (1676-1732), a Calvinist, in "Union With Christ" (Read here) wrote (emphasis mine):

"1 Corinthians xii. 13. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether toe be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit."

1. From the sacrament of baptism, where he shews us the blessed union made. And here consider, 1st. The parties united: on the one hand, we all; viz. who believe in Christ, as distinguished from unbelievers. On the other hand, Jesus Christ, whom he had just before mentioned, and who is here understood as implied in the one body, whereof he is the head, or principal part. 

2dly, The uniting or joining of the parties, which is expressed by being baptized into one body, the sacramental sign being put for the thing signified: as if he had said, we are united into one body with Christ, which is signified and sealed by our baptism. 

3dly, The efficient cause of the union, or the party uniting us to Christ, one Spirit, the one Spirit of Christ. It is by him we are baptized, and are joined to Christ. He casts the indissoluble knot; as Christ brings us to the Father, the Holy Spirit brings us to Christ, by faith which he works in us, and makes the marriage-tie between the King of saints and the daughter of Zion. This Spirit must needs be the infinite Spirit of God, since it is but one Spirit that knits all, not only as the author, but the bond of the union."

He also wrote:

"And he unites them to Christ by working faith in them; for he deals with them that have reason, not as with stocks, knitting them without any action of their own, but as rational creatures, apprehending them, and working faith in them, whereby they apprehend Christ."

"Hence we may see, That 'the Spirit applieth to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling.'"

"2. Faith on the believer's part, Eph. iii. 17- 'That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.' Thereby the believer apprehends, takes, and keeps hold of Christ. It is by that we receive Christ, John i. 12. come unto him, John vi. 35. and feed on him, ver. 56. This faith is that- true one, whereby a sinner heartily receives and rests on Christ for all his salvation."

Wrote John Calvin:

"We should be satisfied with the benefits of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that when we are grafted into his body and made one with him by belief of the gospel, then we may assure ourselves that he is the fountain which never dries up, nor can ever become exhausted, and that in him we have all variety of good things, and all perfection." ("Sermons on the Epistle to the Ephesians" by Lee Gatis, as cited here)

Gatis comments:

"For Calvin then, justification and sanctification are distinct yet inseparable, and simultaneously bestowed on us in union with Christ by faith...This would seem to imply very strongly that for Calvin justification, the imputation of righteousness, does not take place prior to union, but is in fact one of the manifold blessings obtained in union itself."

"In Christ by faith we obtain both a new life and a new legal status. Christ is the source of both; the legal change does not create the life, or vice versa."

Wilson Thompson on Union With Christ

One of the tenets of Hardshellism and Hyper Calvinism is to deny that union with Christ is by faith, affirming rather that union with Christ, vital union, occurs prior to faith. This is because they teach that sinners are regenerated or born again before they believe or have faith. It is in this regeneration before faith that a sinner is vitally joined to Christ, and this being so there is a denial that union with Christ is by faith.

In writing my present series on "Prevenient Grace" I went looking at the Autobiography of Elder Wilson Thompson (1788-1866), published in 1866 (which can be read here), a founder of the sect that calls itself "Primitive" or "Old School" (aka "Hardshell") Baptists, because I recalled something I remember reading in that autobiography that I thought I would cite in that series. While doing that I came across the following words of Thompson (emphasis mine):

"He (Wilson's father) said no more, and the conversation turned on certain subjects of Scripture, for my mind was working hard on the doctrine of the union of Christ and his people before faith. The preaching I had heard was, that God's people became united to Christ by a living faith; but I saw things differently, for I conceived that such an union was indispensable to the legal imputation of our sins to Christ, and of His righteousness to us, and that, too, before faith could act upon, or lay hold of, that mystical union, or draw any comfort from it. This was the sense in which I understood the doctrine, and I was laboring hard to discover the true principles upon which it was based, as revealed in the Scriptures of truth, and by the Spirit in the hearts of God's people. This subject engrossed most of our conversation, as I found father also was much exercised on the same point. The evening meetings were continued, from time to time — sometimes nearly every night in the week, and they were attended with great interest." (pg. 161-162) 

Thompson later in his autobiography also wrote:

"If He were not man He could not have died for my sins. Nay, if He were not a holy, sinless, and undefiled man in Himself, standing in an indissoluble, legal, vital union to His body, the Church, our sins could not in justice or in law have been laid on Him, nor the righteousness of Him imputed to us." (pg. 364)

First, notice that Thompson confesses that the Baptists, in the early days of his ministry, taught that people become "united to Christ by a living faith." Second, notice that Thompson disagrees with this historic Baptist teaching, and affirms that living union with Christ is effected before and without faith. 

Most Baptists would agree that there was some kind of union with Christ before faith, yea even from past eternity. Those Baptists of the Calvinist tradition would agree that in eternity past, in the covenantal agreement between the Father and Son, that there was a representative union created between Christ and those chosen to salvation, these being the ones the Father "gave" to Christ. Also, all Baptists, whether of the Calvinist tradition or not, believe that a union with man occurred when the Son of God became a man via his incarnation and that without this union of the divine Son of God with humanity there would be no salvation.

The Two Seed Primitive Baptists, as I have shown in my ongoing series "Two Seed Baptist Ideology," of which Elder Thompson was in agreement, believed in what was called "eternal vital union," which involved the idea that the elect existed from eternity and were "in Christ" and had a union of life with Christ from eternity. Had he simply believed in an eternal representative union by election and the gifting of the Father of the elect to Christ, or simply believed that a union with the elect or race of men was created when Christ became a man, he would have remained orthodox in his views. But, when he denied that vital union with Christ was effected in time by faith and taught that vital union existed from eternity between the elect (body of Christ) and Christ he embraced what is clearly heterodox and a heresy of the worst sort.  

Thompson says that the Baptists of his day, even among those who would later join the "anti-mission movement," all believed that a vital (living) union with Christ was brought about by faith. If it is brought about by faith, then regeneration or new birth could not occur before faith, for in that case regeneration did not create such a union. 

On The Priority Of Union With Christ

There is much debate between Arminians and Calvinists over the arrangement of the "ordo salutis" and I have chimed in on this debate many times over the years. The debate focuses on whether faith precedes the new birth or follows it. Let me say here at the outset that I get very agitated when men on both sides say - "Calvinists believe that regeneration precedes faith." Many times I have had to say to both Arminians and Calvinists that such is not true. That some Calvinists or "Reformed" theologians put regeneration before faith is not doubted. But to put all Calvinists into that category is a gross falsehood. In my writings I have cited many Calvinists, such as Calvin and Booth, who did not aver that regeneration precedes faith. I am Calvinist but I do not put regeneration or the new birth before faith and conversion.

Let me also say that the older Calvinist writers did not make conversion something different from regeneration, seeing rather that evangelical conversion is regeneration. A man was not viewed as regenerate or born again before be believed in Christ.

In all the writings of those on this issue, over the past several hundred years, I have noticed a gross inconsistency by those who affirm that regeneration precedes faith. How so? Because even those who espouse such will often affirm that 1) union with Christ is the first requirement, preceding all other graces and aspects of salvation, and that 2) "vital union" is "by faith." Now, if these two propositions are true (and they are), then regeneration, rebirth, justification, forgiveness, sanctification, etc., must all follow this union; And, faith must be before these things, for it is what unites the soul to Christ. Therefore, union with Christ by faith must precede regeneration, justification, etc. Don't you see?

So, with that in mind, we cannot but hold to this order:

1. Faith
2. Union with Christ
3. Justification
4. Regeneration
5. Sanctification

Now let me cite from some Calvinists on the priority of union with Christ by faith.

The following citations can be found (here) and all emphasis is mine:

On this subject Dr. John Gill wrote:

"In a word, union to Christ is the first thing, the first blessing of grace flowing from love and effected by it; hence, [it] is the application of all others. “Of Him are ye in Christ Jesus”—first loved and united to Christ—and then it follows, “who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption” (1Co 1:30). So Dr. Goodwin observes that “union with Christ is the first fundamental thing of justification and sanctification and all. Christ first takes us, and then sends His Spirit; He apprehends us first; it is not my being regenerate that puts me into a right of all these privileges; but it is Christ takes me, and then gives me His Spirit, faith, holiness.”"

In "FAITH UNITES US TO CHRIST," William Cunningham (1805-1861) wrote:

"LET us now…shortly consider the effect of faith as uniting us to Christ, and thus saving the soul. There is a great deal spoken of in Scripture on the subject of faith—of its great importance and of its indispensable necessity to salvation. We read, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned” (Mar 16:16). It is faith that makes a man a Christian, that produces all those things that accompany salvation, that salvation which is the turning point of a man’s existence, that salvation which delivers him from the authority of the devil and translates him into the kingdom of God’s dear Son.

Faith occupies this important place in our salvation because it unites us to Christ. We are expressly told this by the Apostle in Ephesians 3:17, where it is written, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.” This union of believers to Christ, effected by faith, is indeed frequently spoken of in the New Testament. The nature of it is set before us by every mode of expression and description fitted to convey the strongest impression of its closeness and its importance.

Now when a man believes in Christ, he is, according to God’s appointment, united to Him. There is a union formed between them. God regards him as if he were Christ and treats him as if he had suffered the punishment for his sins that Christ endured in his room—as if he had in his own person performed that full and perfect obedience to the Divine Law that our Savior's conduct exhibited. It is this imputation of Christ’s sufferings and of His righteousness, or, as it is often called, His active and passive obedience—it is this communion of suffering and of merit in which the union of believers with Christ mainly consists. This union and communion with Him is the foundation of their salvation in all its parts and in all its aspects. When they believe Him, God regards them as one with Him—as if they had offered what He has suffered, as if they had done what He has done, as if they had paid the penalty for their sins and had gained a title to His favor.

Viewing them thus as united to Christ—as one with Him—God bestows upon them the blessings that Christ purchased for all who should believe on His name. They obtain through faith the forgiveness of their sins, acceptance with God as righteous persons, the renovation and sanctification of their natures, and, finally, an inheritance among them that are sanctified. Christ is the great Head of influence: all spiritual blessings are the fruits of His purchase. It is only by abiding in Him that we are enabled to bring forth fruits unto eternal life; as it is written, “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit” (Joh 15:5).

You see now the great importance of faith in the salvation of sinners. It is the instrument by means of which we receive everything necessary to our peace. None can be saved without it, and everyone who has it will assuredly be saved. It is connected in the statements of God’s Word with almost every blessing that is mentioned as important and valuable, as the origin from which they are all derived, the instrument by which they are all received. It is the Holy Spirit that forms the union between Christ and believers, and faith wrought in their hearts by His almighty power is the tie that connects them together and forms the bond of union.

While salvation is thus through faith, it is, at the same time, “by grace” (Eph 2:5, 8). It is to be traced wholly to God’s free and unmerited favor. There is nothing whatever in faith as a grace or virtue, as an act of ours, to merit anything at God’s hands [or] to deserve anything for us…Faith, viewed as a work or act of ours, could not itself procure for us the pardon of sin any more than repentance, if that too were in our power. Far less—[even if] we could believe by our own strength—could it ever merit for us any reward at God’s hands.

It is not indeed, then, as a work or a grace that faith saves: it is merely the instrument of uniting us to Christ. His work is the sole ground of our salvation and of all that is connected with it. We owe it all to Him. He purchased it for us by His own sufferings and obedience, and He bestows it upon us by His Spirit. Therefore, we must beware, friends, of giving to our own faith, in the work of salvation, the place that belongs only to Christ. When salvation is ascribed to faith, this is so far from attaching merit to faith that it is just expressly renouncing it. We are saved indeed by faith, but it is faith in Christ Jesus. Our faith is that which carries us out of ourselves to Christ, transferring our whole dependence, as it were, from our own doing to what He has done and suffered for us. And it is a constant act of trust, a confidence in Him for everything pertaining to another world. It bears at all times upon it a declaration of our utter inability to do anything for ourselves. Hence, not only is salvation by faith quite consistent with being by grace, but further, as the Apostle tells us, it is of faith that it might be by grace. Not only are they consistent with each other, but the one affords the most striking illustration of the other. Nothing could have more fully established or more clearly illustrated the free grace of the Gospel than making our salvation depend upon faith; for faith, besides being originally God’s gift, is a constant appeal to His agency: it is both in form and in substance a casting [of] ourselves entirely and unreservedly upon His mercy through Christ and resting upon Him alone. We believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and are saved."

These are my sentiments exactly.

In "JUSTIFIED IN CHRIST" Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) said:

"This relation or union to Christ, whereby Christians are said to be in Christ (whatever it be) is the ground of their right to His benefits. This needs no proof: the reason of the thing, at first blush, demonstrates it. It is exceeding evident also by Scripture: “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” (1Jo 5:12). “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us…righteousness” (1Co 1:30). First, we must be in Him, and then He will be made righteousness or justification to us. “He hath made us accepted in the beloved” (Eph 1:6). Our being in Him is the ground of our being accepted. So it is in those unions to which the Holy Ghost has thought fit to compare this. The union of the members of the body with the head is the ground of their partaking of the life of the head. It is the union of the branches to the stock that is the ground of their partaking of the sap and life of the stock. It is the relation of the wife to the husband that is the ground of her joint interest in his estate.

As there is nobody [who will not agree] that there is a peculiar relation between Christ and His true disciples by which they are in some sense in Scripture said to be one, so I suppose there is nobody [who will not agree] that there may be something that the true Christian does on his part, whereby he is active in coming into this relation or union…Now faith I suppose to be this act.

I do not now pretend to define justifying faith or to determine precisely how much is contained in it. [I will] only determine thus much concerning it: [justifying faith] is that by which the soul, which before was separate and alienated from Christ, unites itself to Him. [The soul] ceases to be any longer in that state of alienation and comes into that forementioned union or relation to Him. Or, to use the Scripture phrase, it is that by which the soul comes to Christ and receives Him. This is evident by the Scriptures using these very expressions to signify faith.

God does not give union with or an interest in the Savior to those that believe as a reward for faith, but only because faith is the soul’s active uniting with Christ. [Faith] is itself the very act of unition on their part. God sees it fit that in order to a union being established between two intelligent active beings or persons, so that they should be looked upon as one, there should be the mutual act of both that each should receive [the] other as actively joining themselves one to another. God, in requiring this in order to a union with Christ as one of His people, treats men as reasonable creatures, capable of act and choice.

It is [in this way] that faith justifies or gives an interest in Christ’s satisfaction and merits and a right to the benefits procured thereby, that is, as it thus makes Christ and the believer one in the acceptance of the Supreme Judge. It is by faith that we have a title to eternal life because it is by faith that we have the Son of God by whom life is. The Apostle John in these words, “He that hath the Son, hath life,” (1Jo 5:12) seems evidently to have respect to those words of Christ of which he gives an account in his Gospel: “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him” (Joh 3:36). And where the Scripture speaks of faith as the soul’s receiving or coming to Christ, it speaks of this receiving, coming to, or joining with Christ as the ground of an interest in His benefits. To as many as received Him, “to them gave he power” to become the sons of God. Ye will not come unto me “that ye might have life.”

Can I get an amen?

(The above is a reprint from my blog "The Baptist Gadfly" - see here; I post it here so it will be closely connected with the previous recent posts on Union With Christ By Faith)