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4. THE UNION OF LIFE SUBJECTIVELY REALIZED BY THE OPERATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
The
work of Christ was not finished when He had merited salvation for His people and had obtained
actual possession of the blessings of salvation. In the counsel of redemption He took it upon
Himself to put all His people in possession of all these blessings, and He does this through the
operation of the Holy Spirit, who takes all things out of Christ, and gives them unto us. We
should not conceive of the subjective realization of the mystical union in the Church
atomistically, as if it were effected by bringing now this and then that individual sinner to
Christ. It should be seen from the point of view of Christ. Objectively, the whole Church is in
Him, and is born out of Him as the Head. It is not a mechanism, in which the parts precede the
whole, but an organism, in which the whole is prior to the parts. The parts come forth out of
Christ through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit, and then continue in living relationship
with Him. Jesus calls attention to this organic relationship when He says: “I am the vine, ye are
the branches: he that abideth in me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for apart from
me ye can do nothing,” John 15:5. In view of what was said, it is quite evident that it is not
correct to say that the mystical union is the fruit of man’s believing acceptance of Christ, as if
faith were not one of the blessings of the covenant which flow unto us from the fulness of
Christ, but a condition which man must meet partly or wholly in his own strength, in order to
enter into living relationship with Jesus Christ. Faith is first of all a gift of God, and as such a part
of the treasures that are hidden in Christ. It enables us to appropriate on our part what is given
unto us in Christ, and to enter ever-increasingly into conscious enjoyment of the blessed union
with Christ, which is the source of all our spiritual riches.
This union may be defined as that intimate, vital, and spiritual union between Christ and His
people, in virtue of which He is the source of their life and strength, of their blessedness and
salvation. That it is a very intimate union appears abundantly from the figures that are used in
Scripture to describe it. It is a union as of the vine and the branches, John 15:5, as of a
foundation and the building that is reared on it, I Pet. 2:4,5, as of husband and wife, Eph. 5:23-
32, and as of the head and the members of the body, Eph. 4:15,16. And even these figures fail
to give full expression to the reality. It is a union that passes understanding. Says Dr. Hodge:
“The technical designation of this union in theological language is ‘mystical,’ because it so far
transcends all the analogies of earthly relationships, in the intimacy of its connection, in the
transforming power of its influence, and in the excellence of its consequences.”[Outlines of
Theology, p. 483.] If the discussion of this aspect of the mystical union is taken up first of all in
the ordo salutis, it should be borne in mind (a) that it would seem to be desirable to consider it
in connection with what precedes it, ideally in the counsel of redemption, and objectively in the
work of Christ; and (b) that the order is logical rather than chronological. Since the believer is “a
new creature” (II Cor. 5:17), or is “justified” (Acts 13:39) only in Christ, union with Him logically