In Christ: Salvation & Suffering
It was with a blinding light and a commanding voice that Saul of Tarsus encountered Jesus on the road to Damascus. Having recently approved of the murder of yet another blasphemer by the name of Stephen, Saul was on his way to bring others like him bound to Jerusalem. While his encounter with Stephen was certainly unique, his encounter with the resurrected Christ was unlike anything else.
Luke records Jesus’ words in the book of Acts: “Saul, Saul why are you persecuting Me?” Jesus said, “Me.” What must’ve been striking about this for Saul (as it is for modern readers) is Jesus’ unmistakable association of Himself with the now deceased Stephen and other martyrs like him. Jesus so closely identified Himself with His followers that to persecute them was also to persecute Him. It is as if they are in Him, and He in them. Indeed, they were—and are still.
The spiritual connection between Christ with His followers is properly known as the doctrine of union with Christ. In Scripture, it is best signified by the words “in Christ.” This remarkable doctrine is the foundation for much of Paul’s ministry and doctrinal writings to the early churches. Because of its immeasurable importance to Christian theology, this article will explain the doctrine as it relates to both salvation and suffering.
Union in Salvation
The doctrine of union with Christ is integral to any proper understanding of salvation as it is the basis of our salvation (2 Cor. 5:17; Rom. 8:1). Paul writes, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17). And, “There is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1). For Paul, union with Christ is at the heart of almost every doctrine—spiritual and physical: salvation, justification, reconciliation, sanctification, suffering, death, and resurrection.
How is a person actually united with Christ? After all, this language has a mystical ring to it. Simply put, we are united to Christ by the Spirit through faith in Christ (Eph. 3:17; Gal. 2:20). It is only by being in Christ through faith that believers have any promise and hope of salvation. Arminius certainly understood union with Christ through faith as the basis for salvation when he wrote, “[God] embraces no one in Christ, unless he is in Christ. But no one is in Christ, except by faith in Christ, which is the necessary means of our union with Christ” [1]. Again, it is only by being in Christ that one partakes in all that belongs to Christ.
Yet being united with Christ is also to be united to the Triune God of Scripture. It is the Spirit Who unites us to Christ through faith. And as we are in Christ, and Christ in us, Christ is in God (Col. 3:3). Lewis Smedes explains:
The presence of God in Jesus Christ does, of course, lie at the root of Paul’s doctrine of salvation. If God were not immersed in Christ, our being in Christ at all would be inconceivable. For it is God in Christ who enabled the resurrection to take place (Rom. 8:11), God in Christ who at the cross replaced man’s assessment of the meaning of life with His own, God in Christ who made justification and reconciliation possible and actual (Rom. 3:23) [2].
Therefore, to be in Christ is to be in God. But what exactly does this mean on a practical level?
a. We Have a New Identity
First, union with Christ radically changes the believer’s identity. Leroy Forlines explains this point best:
Identification by union makes that which was not actually part of a person’s experience his by identification. For example, prior to the time that Hawaii became a part of the United States, a citizen of Hawaii could not have said, “We celebrate our day of Independence on July 4.” Immediately upon their becoming a state, the same person who formerly could not make the statement could say, “We celebrate our day of Independence on July 4.” What happened on July 4, 1776, became a part of their history. The history of the United States became the history of Hawaii, and the history of Hawaii became the history of the United States.
Prior to the union of Christ on the condition of faith, a person could not say, “I died with Christ.” Immediately, upon union with Christ a person can say, “I died with Christ.” The history of the cross became his history, not in the experiential sense, but by identification so that he received full credit for that death. At the same time, the history of our sins became Jesus’ history, not in the sense that His character was affected, but so they would come in contact with the penalty He had already paid for them. He took responsibility for them, but it was a responsibility He had already assumed on the cross [3].
b. Our Sins Are Imputed to Christ & Christ’s Righteousness Is Imputed to Us
Second, even before we are united with Christ, there is a union that already exists. This union is common to all of mankind. It is our union with Adam. As Classical Arminians, we understand that Adam’s sins are imputed to us by our union with him as the head of the human race (Rom. 5:12). Each one of us are “in Adam” from birth (1 Cor. 15:22). Therefore, we are both guilty before God and corrupt by nature. By being united with Christ, our sins (both inherited and committed) are imputed to Christ.
Fortunately, when we are united to Christ, our sins are imputed to Him and His righteousness is imputed to us (commonly called double imputation). Sinclair Ferguson helpfully explains, “[W]hat the gospel does for us is to take us out of our union with Adam in sin and death and judgment and hell, and to put us into union, and then communion, with our Lord Jesus Christ in righteousness and life and peace and joy and new fruitfulness to God” [4]. In Christ, a righteousness is imputed to us that was not our own.
Union in Suffering
As Christ’s righteousness becomes ours, so does His suffering. This is part of our new identity by being in Christ. The apostle Peter implores us, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed” (1 Pt. 4:12–13). Martin Luther referred to this as a “theology of the cross”—a theology that anticipates and embraces suffering. In Christ, suffering is to be expected.
Yet in Christ suffering is bearable. There’s no doubt that Stephen understood this as he was martyred for the faith. How else can someone in such a situation forgive his persecutors and commit his spirit to the Father? In the very same way, Paul lived with a clear understanding of what it means to be in Christ. Because he was in Christ, he was able to say things such as, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil. 1:21). Many other faithful disciples throughout the centuries have been living proof of the fact that suffering is bearable in Christ and for Christ’s sake.
Not only is suffering bearable in Christ, but it can even be a cause of deep joy (Jas. 1:2). If we are to be found in Christ in glory, we must be united with Him in suffering now. We must share in the fellowship of His sufferings.
Conclusion
It was in A.D. 203 that a servant girl named Felicity was imprisoned to suffer for her faith since she would not sacrifice to the Emperor. Felicity was to be fed to the wild animals in front of a watching crowd. Yet Felicity, who was eight months pregnant, could not be put in the arena until she had given birth. One of the guards ridiculed her: “You who are in such suffering now, what will you do when you are thrown to beasts, which you despised when you refused to sacrifice?” Felicity replied with a clear understanding of what it means to be in Christ: “Now it is I that suffer what I suffer; but then there will be another in me, who will suffer for me, because I also am about to suffer for Him” [5].
It is a glorious thing to be in Christ who is in God. This is no sterile or dry doctrine. It is the cause of great rejoicing, but it will also be the source of great suffering and sorrow. May we delight in the riches of being in Christ, and may He grant us the strength to patiently endure as we share in His sufferings until the day when we also share in His glory.
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[1] James Arminius, Works III: 498.
[2] Lewis B. Smedes, All Things Made New: A Theology of Man’s Union with Christ (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970), 79.
[3] F. Leroy Forlines, The Quest for Truth: Answering Life’s Inescapable Questions (Nashville: Randall House Publications, 2001), 194-195.
[4] Sinclair Ferguson, “Paul on Union with Christ,” 6.
[5] The Martyrdom of Perpetua and Felicity in Readings in World Christian History, Edited by John W. Coakley and Andrea Sterk, (New York: Orbis Books, 2004), 35.
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Further Reading:
Robert Letham, Union with Christ: In Scripture, History and Theology (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2011).
May 27, 2013
Jesse, I just finished reading “In Christ: Salvation & Suffering.” Great article!!