MASTERS THESIS: Union with Christ

INTRODUCTION Union with Christ stands at the very apex of the Christian doctrine of salvation. The whole of our personal relationship to God can be summed up in such terms. John Calvin agreed when he wrote, "For we await salvation from Him not because He appears to us a far off, but because He makes us engrafted into His body, participates not only in all His benefits but also in Himself" (Calvin, 1963, p. 34). It is my thesis that intentional meditation upon union with Christ can enrich and deepen our personal awareness of God's incomprehensible, intimate love for us as individually, which can, in turn, significantly motivate us to trust, obey and love Him even more. In 2007, when my faith was at its lowest point, and I began feeling a gnawing sense of God's remoteness,---I was drawn---providentially, I believe, by God's Holy Spirit,---to an extended time of sustained reflection on the sixth chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans. Day after day, for almost a year, I found myself being strangely incited, with no particular agenda, to meditate, for the first time in my life, upon this eye-opening, exposition of God’s work in Christ, highlighting where we have been personally united to Christ in His death and His resurrection in deeply provocative ways. As a direct result of this meditation, on the Scriptural truths of union with Christ, it proved to be one of the most---indeed, perhaps the most significant---spiritually transformative leg of my Christian journey, thus far. Now, seven years later, I wish to revisit with collected insight from the Scriptures, biblical and systematic theology, the findings of key church leaders and theologians, and our contemporary cultural context, a deeper, even more panoramic vision of union with God in Christ. If these goals are met, the following can be accomplished in this paper; The concept of union with Christ will be taken from a symbolic metaphor to real experience, from sanctified theory to more a comforting actuality. The teaching of union with Christ will be retrieved from a not-yet perspective to more the already-of-the-present view. The truth of union with Christ will be redefined from the margins of academic theology towards the center of praxis in Christian discipleship, from the ancient, distant past reserved for mystical elite to more practical application of all Christians today, regardless of their spiritual stature