How does the sinner enter into this union with Christ? Union with Christ is in no way an automatic given or fact. It must be established in this life.

By nature we are destitute of Christ. "There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one" (Romans 3:11,12). By nature we are dead in sins and trespasses. "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1). Man needs to be born again. "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3). By nature man is destitute of Christ and must be born again. Man must be brought into this vital union with Christ.

The union between man and Christ is established in the way of faith worked by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit and faith are the two bonds of this union.

L. Berkhof asserts that this union is mediated by the Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit Christ dwells in believers and unites them to Himself. This work of the Holy Spirit initiates a conscious act of faith within man.¹ A.A. Hodge writes that this union between Christ and the Christian was established according to the purpose and decree of God from eternity.

In God's appointed time with each individual of his chosen, this union is established mutually. 1st. By the commencement of the effectual and permanent workings of the Holy Spirit within them; in the act of the new birth opening their eyes and renewing the will, and thus laying in their natures the foundation of the exercise of saving faith. 2nd. Which faith is the second bond by which this mutual union is established…²

R.L. Dabney refers to the Holy Ghost as the essential bond of this union with Christ. Because it is the Holy Spirit who unites a sinner to Christ, the affections which are in Christ are also in man.

The same Spirit Who breathed on the Lord Jesus also breathes on all who are in union with Him. In the Biblical analogy of the vine and the branches, it is the same sap which works and produces life in the vine as well as in the branches. The affections and emotions which are in Christ are in principle also within His people. Dabney states: There are indeed some affections, e.g. those of penitence, which Christ cannot explicitly share, because He is sinless; but even here the tide of holy affection, of enmity to all moral impurity, and love for holiness, wells from the Saviour's bosom; in passing through the believers sinful bosom it assumes the form of penitence, because it is modified by his personal sense of sin. Each gracious affection is a feeble reflex of the same affection, existing, in its glorious perfection, in our Redeemer's heart.³

Dabney also refers to what he calls the instrumental bond of this union.⁴ This instrumental bond of union with Christ is faith. This union begins when the believer exercises faith and it is perpetuated by the exercise of faith. God embraces the sinner with his electing love and then the sinner embraces the Lord by the act of faith.

Love is the bond which unites Christ and His people. A.W. Pink refers to love as the origin of the Church's union to Christ, as well as the constitutive bond of the union between Christ and His people:

Now as there is nothing in this natural world which more sweetly and securely knots souls together than love, so the cementing bond which unites Christ and the church must be traced back to the love of God. If love can be so effectual among men in binding one heart to another, how infinitely more powerful must love in the heart of God attract and unite the objects of it to Himself, giving them a nearness to Him, such as finite minds are quite incapable of fully comprehending. This is the bond of union of saints one to another … Love, then, the everlasting love of the Father, Son and Spirit, is the origin of the Church's union with Christ.⁵

The question remains, however, how does a sinner who is dead in sins and trespasses receive the gifts of faith and love? How does the Holy Spirit work this union with Christ in the heart of sinners? This question refers to the appropriation of grace, which is nothing less than the leading of depraved human beings into the saving bond of union with Christ.

When he deals with the appropriation of grace, G.E. Ladd emphasizes the work of the Holy Spirit. He refers to the fact that Paul in his epistles freely exchanges the idioms "in Christ – in the Spirit" and "Christ in you – the Spirit in you." Ladd draws the conclusion:

Christ indwells his people in the Spirit. When we seek more closely the meaning of the indwelling of Christ and of the Spirit, there is no question but that Paul conceives of this as a new inner power and dynamic by which God accomplishes a renewal of the "inner man." Christ dwells in the inner man, giving him strength (Eph. 3:16-17) and renewing him day by day (2 Cor. 4:16).⁶

According to Ladd, the answer to the means of the appropriation of grace lies in the realm of the work of the Holy Spirit.

Not only does the Spirit create faith, enabling men to accept the saving significance of the cross; he indwells the believer enabling him to live 'according to the Spirit.' He creates a spirit of sonship, giving to the believer an inner conviction that he is a child of God … and enabling him to have direct access to the Father … He enables men to offer true worship to God … He enables them to grasp something of the vastness of the love of God…⁷

The question that follows is, how does this appropriation of grace take place in practice? How is the union with Christ effectuated in the life of man? This is a very extensive and tender matter. We will try to pay attention to some opinions of various authors.

John Calvin emphasizes the necessity of contrition. There is no forgiveness of sins without experiencing contrition. The way to receive peace with God and reconciliation to God, according to Calvin, is in the way of contrition, although contrition is not the cause for forgiveness of sins. Calvin writes:

And we have said in some place that forgiveness of sins can never come to atone without repentance, because only those afflicted and wounded by the awareness of sins can sincerely invoke God's mercy. But we added at the same time that repentance is not the cause of forgiveness of sins. Moreover, we have done away with those torments of souls which they would have us perform as a duty. We have taught that the sinner does not dwell upon his own compunction or tears, but fixes both eyes upon the Lord's mercy alone.⁸

A.W. Pink also sees the necessity of knowledge of personal sins and corruption as the way in which the sinner will be united to Christ. He stresses the work of God's Spirit in the joining of a sinner to Christ: … We have seen that the Divine purpose was realized by two things: the Son uniting Himself to us, we being joined to Him by the Spirit … The Holy Spirit effects the vital union, each of God's elect being vitally joined to the Lord so that they become one spirit, this being essential if they are to partake of the benefits which Christ purchased for them.⁹ What this work of the Holy Spirit is like in the hearts of people is described as follows:

It is the great work of the blessed Spirit to humble our proud hearts, and this He does by showing us more and more of our nothingness, our utter unworthiness, our rottenness, and this in order to pave the way for exalting Christ, by showing how perfectly suited He is for our every case – for He has mercy on the leper who comes to Him! The Spirit makes us acquainted with our unutterable depravity and misery, that He may show us Christ's love and mercy. He brings to light our foulness, that He may proclaim the everlasting virtue of Christ's blood. He shows us our emptiness, to make us long after Christ's fulness.¹⁰

We have been faced with the question: How does the union with Christ take place? It can be useful to draw some preliminary conclusions.

We must say, based on Scripture, that union with Christ takes place in the way of faith. See Mark 16:16 – "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned;" John 5:24 – "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life;" Romans 5:1 – "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."

Faith is a gift of God and is worked by God's Holy Spirit. Ephesians 2:8 – "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God;" Philippians 1:29 – "For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake".

In the Heidelberg Catechism, in Lord's Day 1 we find that the one and only comfort in life and death is received in the way of a knowledge of man's guilt, the deliverance by Christ and a life of thankfulness unto the Lord. This receiving of the one and only comfort is actually a leading into union with Christ.

It is also interesting to listen to what Answer 67 of the Larger Catechism, adopted by the Westminster Assembly, says about how the sinner is united to Christ. After having stated in Answer 66 that union with Christ is imparted to men in the way of effectual calling, the Larger Catechism continues to explain in Answer 67 what effectual calling is.

Effectual calling is the work of God's almighty power and grace, whereby (out of his free and special love to his elect and from nothing in them moving him thereunto) he doth, in his accepted time, invite and draw them to Jesus Christ, by his Word and Spirit; savingly enlightening their minds, renewing and powerfully determining their wills, so as they (although in themselves dead in sin) are hereby made willing and able freely to answer his call, and to accept and embrace the grace offered and conveyed therein.

We will now considered the question: How is this union with Christ established in the life of a sinner? We saw that union with Christ is established in the way of faith by the work of the Holy Spirit. It may be edifying to consider this question somewhat further: How does union with Christ take place? We wish to listen briefly to Thomas Boston and Horatius Bonar who both in different, yet similar ways, explain how the sinner is led to lose all hope in himself and to cast himself at the feet of Christ. It is in this way that the sinner is united to Christ.

Thomas Boston (1676-1732) explains how union with Christ takes place and calls it: "how the branches are cut off from the natural stock, the first Adam, and grafted into the true vine, the Lord Jesus Christ." He gives an extensive sequence of steps showing how the sinner is led into union with Christ. Boston states that he does not want people to consider these series of steps to be the only way by which God breaks sinners off from their old life in Adam (Works, volume 8, p.199). The issue is that in whatever way it may happen, the sinner must be drawn away from his own works and led to rely only upon the Lord Jesus Christ. This is essential to salvation.

Boston's intention is to impress his readers with the necessity of man's obligation to deny himself completely and to trust in Christ alone. Boston describes in minute detail how the sinner is led to do this. He portrays the struggles that people experience before they are brought to this full and unconditional resignation unto the Lord and His free grace. Boston writes:

When the Spirit of the Lord comes to deal with a person, to bring him to Christ, he finds him in Laodicea's case, in a sound sleep of security, dreaming of heaven and the favour of God, though full of sin against the Holy One of Israel. Therefore the Spirit darts in some beams of light into the dark soul, and lets the man see that he is a lost man … Hereupon the man forsakes his former profane courses, his lying, swearing, Sabbath-breaking, stealing, and such like practices, though they be dear to him, he will rather quit them than ruin his soul … Now he begins to bless himself in his heart, and looks joyfully on his evidences for heaven; thinking himself a better servant to God than many others. Luke 18:1…

Upon this he turns to a positively holy course of life. He not only is not profane, but he performs religious duties: he prays, seeks the knowledge of the principles of religion, strictly observes the Lord's Day and like Herod does many things and hears sermons gladly. In one word there is a great conformity, in his outward conversation, to the letter of both tables of the law.

He makes a good impression upon his neighbours and their good opinion of him confirms his good opinion of himself. This step in religion is fatal to many, who never get beyond it … But here the Lord gives the elect branch a farther stroke. Conscience flies in the man's face, for some wrong steps in his conversation, the neglect of some duty and then the flaming sword of the law appears again over his head and the curse rings in his ears, for that he 'continueth not in all things written in the law, to do them.' … The Spirit of the Lord gives yet a deeper stroke to the branch which is to be cut off, shewing him, that as yet, he is but an outside saint, and discovering to him the filthy lusts lodged in his heart, which he took no notice of before, Rom. 7:9. Then he sees his heart to be full of sinful lusts, covetousness, pride, malice, filthiness and the like. His outside religion is blown up as insufficient … Upon this he goes even further to inside religion. He sets to work more vigorously than ever, mourns over the evils of his heart, and strives to bear down the weeds which he finds growing in that neglected garden. He labours to curb his pride and passion and to banish speculative impurities; prays more fervently, hears attentively, and strives to get his heart affected in every religious duty he performs. In this way he comes to think himself, not only an outside but an inside Christian…

Then another deeper stroke is given. The Lord discovers to him, in the glass of the law, how he sinneth in all he does, even when he does the best he can and therefore the dreadful sound returns to his ears: 'Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things,' … In this way he becomes so far broken that he sees he is not able to satisfy the demands of the law…

Now the time is come, when the man, between hope and despair, resolves to go to Christ as he is; and therefore, like a dying man, stretching himself just before his breath goes out, he rallies the broken forces of his soul, tries to believe and in some sort lays hold on Jesus Christ… That voice powerfully strikes through his soul, "How can ye believe?" John 5:44. Thou canst no more believe, than thou canst reach up thine hand to heaven, and bring Christ down from thence. Thus at length he sees that he can neither help himself by working, nor by believing; and having no more to hang by on the old stock, he therefore falls off.

While he is distressed thus, seeing himself likely to be swept away with the flood of God's wrath and yet unable so much as to stretch forth a hand to lay hold of a twig of the tree of life, growing on the bank of the river, he is taken up, and ingrafted in the true vine, the Lord Jesus Christ giving him the Spirit of faith…

The Gospel is the silver cord let down from heaven, to draw perishing sinners to land. And though the preaching of the law prepares the way of the Lord; yet it is in the Word of the Gospel that Christ and a sinner meet…

The man gets a ravishing sight of Christ's excellence in the glass of the gospel: he sees him a full, suitable, and willing Saviour; and gets a heart to take him for and instead of all. The Spirit of faith furnishes him feet to come to Christ, and hands to receive him. What by nature he could not do, by grace he can, the Holy Spirit working in him the work of faith with power … The soul that before tried many ways of escape, but all in vain, now looks with the eye of faith, which proves the healing look. There is actual believing on Jesus Christ, whereby this union is completed.¹¹

We also wish to consider Horatius Bonar (1808­1889). In his book: God's Way of Peace, he explains in somewhat similar terms as Thomas Boston, how the sinner is brought into union with Christ. The sinner is led to resign fully unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Bonar addresses especially awakened sinners and warns that they easily substitute earnestness for faith. The preaching goes out with the divine command: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. The awakened sinner tries to believe, but realizes that he cannot believe and then considers his earnestness as a good substitute for faith. Bonar shows that basically the sinner is then still trying to receive salvation by means of his works while the Bible comes to all with the call to immediate faith and repentance. Sinners are commanded to believe "just as Jesus commanded the man with the withered hand to stretch it out."¹²

Bonar explains how man tries to bridge the gulf of his own inability to believe by performing various kinds of good and pious works, such as reading, praying, listening to sermons, etc. But this is "man's plan for helping God to save him; man's self made ladder for climbing up a little way out of the horrible pit, in the hope that God will so commiserate his earnest struggles as to do all the rest that is needed."¹³

Bonar is even sharper when he writes further on: "For we are saved by faith, not by efforts to induce 'an unwilling God' to give us faith … We are not to try to persuade God to be gracious with our prayers or earnestness, to extort salvation from the hand of a grudging and austere giver." Bonar continues to expound the sin of the unbeliever, also of the self-righteous unbeliever: "God commands you to believe; and as long as you do not believe, you are making Him a liar, you are rejecting the truth, you are believing a lie, … your not believing is your worst sin…"¹⁴

Bonar then fully repudiates the idea that man has the ability to help himself. This vain notion of man's ability to work his own salvation is in sharp contrast to faith. In fact, faith is not a work at all. It is "to drop in the arms of Jesus." Bonar elucidates:

So long as you think you have some strength, you will be trying to use that strength in doing something – and specially in performing, to your own and Satan's satisfaction, that great act or exercise of soul, called 'faith.' But when you find out that you have no strength left you will, in despair, cease to work – and (before you are aware) – believe! Now, when the conviction of having no strength at all is forced upon you, you drop into the arms of Jesus. But this you will never do as long as you fancy that you have strength to believe.¹⁵

The contention of Bonar is to explain at least to some detail, what it means in practice to believe. Therein he corresponds with Boston, for both consider faith as resting in Jesus. The sinner has to be led to that point in his personal experience where he does not seek to bring any merit of his own for his salvation, but is brought to totally surrender to Christ. The great moment for Boston and Bonar is the moment of unconditional resignation to Christ.

Union with Christ is worked by God's Holy Spirit in the way of leading the sinner to despair of his own works and achievements and give up attempts to merit his salvation. All emphasis is placed upon the indispensability of faith. The sinner is thrust completely upon the Lord Jesus Christ. The Reformation principles of Sola Fide as well as Sola Gratia are accented and combined with the principle of Solus Christus.

The way to union with Christ is a work of God's Spirit in the heart of man whereby man is led to own his guilt, confess his inability to work any righteousness before God and is led to submit to Christ in the way of faith. The basic for this submission to Christ is found in the promise of the Gospel.