Thanks to one of the interlocutors at oldlife, I have been mulling over the meaning of union with Christ in light of the Shorter Catechism’s teaching that the bodies of deceased saints, while resting in their graves (an argument against cremation, mind you), remain united to Christ. It is indeed a mind numbing thought to think that a body, destitute of life and its soul, is still united to Christ when in fact the point of much union teaching concerns the life-giving work of the Holy Spirit. In which case, how can a dead body still remain united to Christ when the purpose of union is vitality?
I understand that physical life is different from spiritual life (dualism alert!). And I also understand that the resurrection of the body will manifest the body’s union with Christ. Even so, it is hard to conceive how a body six-feet under is united with Christ when the body’s soul is actually in glory with Christ. I wonder here what the difference between being present with Christ and being united to Christ. Is presence more united to Christ than absence?
Anyhoo, these mysteries sent me searching in Fisher’s Catechism. I’m not sure I can follow the logic and after reading Fisher I do wish we had a better glossary on the different kinds of union. But if readers can help a mind that boggles over mysteries I’d be glad for the assistance.
Here is Fisher on the nature of bodies united to Christ in connection with effectual calling:
Q. 13. To whom are sinners united before union with Christ?
A. To the first Adam, Rom. 5:12.
Q. 14. By what bond are they united to the first Adam?
A. By the bond of the covenant of works, by which Adam, who was the natural root of his posterity, became their moral root also, bearing them as their representative in that covenant, Rom. 5:19.
Q. 15. How is this union dissolved?
A. By being “married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead,” Rom. 7:4.
Q. 16. Is Christ united to us before we become united to him?
A. The union is mutual, but it begins first on his side, 1 John 4:19.
Q. 17. How does it begin first on his side?
A. By unition, which is before union.
Q. 18. What do you understand by unition?
A. It is the Spirit of Christ uniting himself first to us, according to the promise, “I will put my Spirit within you,” Ezek. 36:27.
Q. 19. How does the Spirit of Christ unite himself first to us?
A. By coming into the soul, at the happy moment appointed for the spiritual marriage with Christ, and quickening it, so that it is no more morally dead, but alive, having new spiritual powers put into it, Eph. 2:5 — “Even when we were dead in sins, he hath quickened us.”
Now here is Fisher on dead bodies remaining united to Christ:
Q. 27. What benefits do believers receive from Christ, at death, with respect to their bodies?
A. Their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves till the resurrection, Isa. 57:1, 2; Job 19:26.
Q. 28. How does it appear that the bodies of believers in their graves remain still united to Christ?
A. The union was with the person of believers, of which their bodies are a part; and this union being indissoluble, it must still subsist with their bodies in the grave, as well as with their souls in heaven, Isa. 26:19.
Q. 29. How may believers be assured of this from the union between the two natures in the person of Christ?
A. Because, as at the death of Christ, though his soul was separated from his body, yet neither the one nor the other were separated from his divine person, but remained as firmly united to it as ever; so neither the soul nor body of the believer shall be separated from Christ by their separation from one another at death, but both of them remain indissolubly united to him for ever, Rom. 8:38, 39.
Mind you, this all makes sense, especially the second quotation. But I wonder if Fisher is using union in several senses throughout his discussion. In which case, we really do need a glossary.
Old Life 