Union with Christ
- Rita Egolf
- Oct 12
- 3 min read
In this video, Dr. Sinclair Ferguson describes how union with Christ affects the believer’s daily life.
How does union with Christ affect our daily lives? I think it may be true that many Christians go through many years of their lives without ever thinking about the New Testament’s teaching on union with Christ. And yet, when you read through the New Testament—especially Paul‘s letters—but not only Paul‘s letters, you discover he keeps on using this expression: We are “in Christ” or we are “in Christ Jesus.” He says, for example, also in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” So it‘s very important for us to understand that, when we became Christians, we were united to Christ by the Holy Spirit in such a way that everything He came to do for us really becomes our inheritance. And so we‘ve got to live the whole of our Christian lives out of this sense that, since we are new creatures in Christ, we’ve been given a new identity altogether.
And I think we realize, because identity is a big thing these days, that the way you think about yourself, the way you self-identify, influences everything that you do. And so the first thing to grasp is actually that we are united to Christ. We are in Christ. And then, I think what we find out in the rest of the New Testament is that because we are in Christ, certain things follow from that. To use one illustration that Jesus gives us, He illustrates our union with Him in terms of the vine and the branches. He says: “I am the vine and you are the branches (John 15:5). If you’re going to grow in Me, My heavenly Father will need to prune you. He will need to prune you to get rid of any of the dead wood, as it were. And He will also need to prune you in order that you may grow further.”
And when I think that way, I realize that, if I’m in a difficult situation—if things are just going badly for me, if I’m facing opposition, if I’m suffering in any way—I don’t just see those things for what they seem to be. I recognize that, if I’m united to Christ the Vine, then my heavenly Father is going to prune me. And so what He’s doing in my life must be investing in me so that I will grow more.
So that’s one general way in which our union with Christ influences us. And then I think our union of Christ should influence us in this way: that when we belong to the fellowship of God’s people, we are united to all those who themselves are united to Christ. And union with Christ in the New Testament is a two-way reality. We’re united to Him.
And it’s also true that, by the Spirit, he comes to dwell in us. And I found it helpful to think about fellow Christians in that way. Not, first of all, in terms of what I may instinctively like or not about them. I mean, we all naturally like some people, and there are some people we don’t like so much.
So how am I to think about them and respond to them and live with them if I’m a Christian? If I understand that I’m united to Christ and Christ dwells in me, and then I think, “Well, that’s true of my fellow Christian as well,” it changes the way I look at them, the way I respond to them, and the way I treat them. So what seems to be a doctrine turns out to be a very practical help to me in living the Christian life. It not only helps me see myself differently because I’m in Christ, it helps me see my fellow Christians as well. And there are many other applications.
So that in a way, the best answer to the question is: Go and read through Paul’s letters looking for the expression “in Christ” or “in Christ Jesus,” and see what he says. There are the implications of belonging to Him.
Dr. Sinclair B. Ferguson is a Ligonier Ministries teaching fellow, vice-chairman of Ligonier Ministries, and Chancellor’s Professor of Systematic Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary. He is featured teacher for several Ligonier teaching series, including Union with Christ. He is author of many books, including The Whole Christ, Maturity, and Devoted to God's Church. Dr. Ferguson is also host of the podcast Things Unseen.
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