Doctrine of Union with Christ: What Does Union with Christ Mean? – Part 2

Union with Christ · Week 2 · What Does Union with Christ Mean?

Main passage: Romans 6:1–14
Anchor verse: Romans 6:5

Opening Scripture Reading

“For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.”

Romans 6:5, NIV

Anchor quote:

“The determining factor of my existence is no longer my past. It is Christ’s past.”

Sinclair Ferguson

More Than Receiving Something from Christ

Forgiveness is essential to the gospel, but the New Testament describes salvation as more than receiving benefits from Jesus at a distance. Believers are brought into Christ. Paul speaks of Christians as being “in Christ,” dying “with Christ,” being raised “with Christ,” and living in Him.

Union with Christ means that, by the Holy Spirit and through faith, believers are joined to Jesus Christ. They do not become divine or lose their individual identity. Christ remains the Lord, and the believer remains a creature redeemed by grace. Yet the bond is real enough that His death and resurrection determine the believer’s new relationship to sin, God, and the life to come.

Union is more than imitation. Jesus is our example, but Christians are first joined to Him; then His life begins to shape theirs.

Christ Represents Us, and We Share in His Saving Work

Romans 6 ties the Christian directly to the death and resurrection of Christ. Christ died, was buried, and was raised. Paul says those who belong to Him have been united with Him in a death like His and will also be united with Him in resurrection.

Christ acted as the saving representative of His people, and the Spirit unites believers to Him so that the benefits of His finished work become theirs. Union does not repeat what Christ accomplished; it is how believers come to share in its saving benefits.

That is why Sinclair Ferguson can say, “The determining factor of my existence is no longer my past. It is Christ’s past.” Our history remains real, but Christ’s death and resurrection now have greater authority over the believer than sin, shame, or former bondage.

Sin’s Dominion Has Been Broken

Paul describes sin as more than a bad habit. Sin reigns, enslaves, and demands obedience. His answer is not merely stronger willpower. He says the old self was crucified with Christ so that believers would “no longer be slaves to sin.”

Christians still experience temptation and commit real sins. They still need confession, repentance, discipline, and growth. But the presence of sin is not the same as the dominion of sin. Sin remains an enemy; it is no longer the rightful master.

That is why Paul tells believers to “count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” He is not asking them to pretend. He is teaching them to reckon as true what God has made true in Christ. The Christian can say, “Sin is still present, but it no longer owns me. I belong to Christ.”

Baptism Makes This Union Visible

Paul connects union with Christ to baptism. Those baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death and buried with Him so that, as Christ was raised, they too might walk in newness of life.

Christian traditions differ over the precise relationship between the sign and the grace it signifies, but Paul’s emphasis is clear: baptism visibly identifies the believer with the death and resurrection of Christ and with the new life that flows from Him.

What Union Gives Us

Union with Christ is not simply one saving benefit alongside justification, adoption, sanctification, and future resurrection. It is the relationship with Christ in which those benefits become ours.

The Christ who justifies His people also gives them His Spirit. The Christ who brings them into the Father’s family also sanctifies them. The risen Christ gives new life now and will raise His people bodily at the last day.

Paul therefore moves from what is true to how Christians should live. Because believers have been brought from death to life, they are to present themselves to God. Obedience is the life of people who already belong to a new Lord.

Closing Thought

Union with Christ explains how the saving work of Jesus becomes ours without becoming our achievement. By the Spirit and through faith, believers belong to the crucified and risen Christ. His death breaks sin’s dominion, His resurrection gives new life, and His future becomes their hope.

We do not obey in order to create union with Christ. We learn to live from a union God has already given.

Small Group Discussion Questions

1. Why do many Christians think of salvation mainly as forgiveness, and why is that not the whole picture?
2. What is the difference between saying “sin is still a real enemy” and saying “sin is still my master”?
3. Where are you most tempted to treat your past as the deepest truth about you?
4. What does it mean to count yourself dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus?
5. What would change if you believed more deeply that sin no longer has rightful authority over you?

Study References

• Romans 6:1–14, concerning union with Christ in His death and resurrection, freedom from sin’s dominion, and presenting ourselves to God as those brought from death to life.
• Colossians 2:11–14, concerning burial and resurrection with Christ, spiritual renewal, forgiveness, and the cancellation of the record of debt.
• Colossians 3:1–11, concerning being raised with Christ, putting sin to death, and putting off the old self with its practices.
• Galatians 2:20, concerning being crucified with Christ and living by faith in the Son of God.
• Sinclair B. Ferguson, “The Reformed View,” in Christian Spirituality: Five Views, pp. 56–57, on Christ’s history becoming determinative for the believer’s life.
• Union with Christ does not mean that believers become divine or lose their individual identity. It means they are joined to Christ by the Holy Spirit and share in the saving benefits secured through His death and resurrection.
• Romans 6 does not teach that Christians become incapable of sin. It teaches that sin’s dominion has been broken and that believers must now resist sin and present themselves to God.
• Baptism visibly identifies the believer with Christ’s death and resurrection. Christian traditions differ over the precise relationship between the outward sign and the grace it signifies, but Romans 6 centers the believer’s new life upon union with Christ.
• Scripture quotations and linked passages are from the New International Version.