Meditation on the Text of the Week

Singing a New Song

Now, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him.
Romans 6:8

The Pauline phrase "in Christ" and its parallels has provoked a voluminous library of writings. Theologians have used the phrase "mystical union" to speak of this relationship--a phrase which, we confess, has provoked discomfort over the years. There ought to be nothing mystical about the Christian faith, at least in the platonic sense of the word. Yet there has been a stubborn strain of platonic paganism which has been woven into the fabric of the Church down through the centuries.

The Thomist notion of the "beatific vision" is a classic example where, supposedly, one ascends towards God and reaches the point where all theology, all rational reflection, all language, well--in a word--all that is human ceases to distort and distract, and effectively one is transformed into a new being, as one sees God. Ironically and cheekily, one could suggest that Aquinas believed that as he ascended into the presence of God, he would pass from being an Aristotelian to a Platonist. But regardless, he was far too indebted to pagan Greece to be a reliable guide in these things.

On the other hand, too many Protestant theologians have similarly flirted with pagan Greek constructs and wittingly, or unwittingly, drawn upon them to distort the teaching of Scripture. Referring to being "in Christ" as a "mystical union" is just one instance.

Of course, you could probably reconstruct the idea into something more biblical. A good place to start would be to compare our union with Adam because being "in Adam" is prior to and in some senses and for a time runs parallel to our being in Christ. Before we cast ourselves up into the heavenlies, as it were, we would do well to ground ourselves in the historical.

Our union with Adam is real and palpable; its effects and fruits all too tangible. Of course we have never sat down and had a conversation with Adam; what he looked like is unknown, but the fact that we do not know whether his eyes twinkled when he smiled is irrelevant. Our union with Adam and our being in Adam has shaped the entirety of our lives; it has defined who and what we are; it has controlled our thoughts, words, and deeds; it has constructed us. Now, of course, Adam has long since departed this earth, even as Christ has long since departed, but our mystical union with Adam continues to this very day.

If we ask why and how this can be--why every human being born after Adam by ordinary generation--has been conditioned, shaped, and constructed by him, the answer is immediately to hand. This has happened by the higher decree and command of God--and His Word, after all, creates out of nothing and shapes and conditions the things that are. God decreed that Adam's sin would be imputed to all mankind: therefore, our natures were corrupted by his first sin and its guilt, and from this all personal corruption and sinfulness has flowed. Every day we experience just how real and palpable our being "in Adam" is.

Christ comes forth as the second, new, and last Adam. Just as with the first Adam, God gives Him a people, united to Him by the decree and command of God. Just as with the first Adam, His actions and work shape entirely His people. They inherit His work; they are reshaped, reconditioned, reinfluenced, remoulded, reconditioned and remade. To be in Christ means, at root, a union where we are reconstituted after Him, such that all His actions and works are attributed to us, and consequently, we are utterly transformed over time to be like Him. Thus, His sinless life is imputed to us; His death; His resurrection; His ascension; and His session. Just as with the first Adam, these imputations affect our being from the inside out and from the outside in. They change us and transform us. The reality of the union is underscored by our text: "we have died", we "will live" with Him. The end result is that when all is finished and completed and perfected, and when heaven has come down to earth, we will be like Him in both His death and resurrection, having been utterly and completely transformed to be like Him, for we shall see Him as He actually is.

To be in Christ means that we will have inherited all of His work, merit, and blessings because He is our covenant head; we are His people, and He has won and worked these things for us. And, we are told, eye hath not seen nor ear heard how great those blessings will be--not because they are beyond human description or conception per se, but because the greatness of them is beyond imagination at this point in our experience. When we see them and when we experience them in their fullness, when we finally know fully what He has won for us, we will be rendered speechless. But then the minds will begin to conceive, the words will flow, the hymns of praise will lift, and the songs of joy will ring out.

As we discover more and more of what our Saviour has done, and what it means to be in Him, the oft recurring phrase (or its equivalent) in heaven upon earth will be, "You are kidding!"

Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift, even Jesus, our Lord.