2. A Union of Nature
Rev I D MacDonald
3. Natural-union: union in the incarnation.
The third phase of union with Christ is that formed when He assumed human nature, and worked out a righteousness in that nature. This phase of the union may be considered as the Son of God taking the nature of His bride, and in that nature purchasing His bride from divine Justice by paying all her debts. This aspect is brought to prominence in Hebrews 2:11-14, where we read: “For both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one [there is the union]: for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare Thy name unto My brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto Thee. And again, I will put my trust in Him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given Me. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same”.
The first part of this Theological Conference paper was printed last month. Following an introduction, it focused on union in the decree of election and the covenant of grace.
Here Christ the Sanctifier, and His people the sanctified, are said to be “all of one”, and the context shows that a union of nature – of the same flesh and blood – is the most prominent aspect of the “oneness”. Therefore the formation of the “hypostatical union” between the Son of God and the human nature which He assumed into union with His Divine Person, also brought about a further phase of union between Christ and His people. By His incarnation He came to be a partaker of our nature, whereby He became our brother, our Kinsman Redeemer, flesh of our flesh and bone of our bone.
It is important to note that He only assumed human nature as it was the nature of the elect. When Hebrews 2 teaches that Christ took not on Him the nature of angels, it does not then make the contrast to be His taking on Him the nature of “man” as such, but the “seed of Abraham”. By the “seed of Abraham” as distinct from “mankind” we are to understand the “many sons” whom Christ is to bring to glory, or the elect in a federal union with Him. A clear difference is seen here with the way that holy angels participate in the blessings of eternal life, for Christ never came to be in union to their nature.
(1) The necessity of this union to purchase redemption.
It is also true that this union of Christ to the nature of the elect was essential in order to His fulfilling the covenant obligations He had come under in order to purchase redemption. With regard to its necessity, Hugh Martin says, “That a union should subsist between Christ and His people, such as is implied in their possession of a common nature, is of vital moment”.
Martin, The Atonement, Edinburgh, 1877, p 40.
For example, it may be considered as a further ground for the imputation of the elect’s sin to Him. Sin could only be imputed finally to the Son of God as Surety when He came to possess the nature of the debtors. As soon as the Mediator assumed the human nature, the Justice of God demanded the payment of the debt due.
Additionally, Christ must take the nature of His people in order to render obedience to the precept of the law in their room and on their behalf. Apart from anything else, the divine nature cannot render obedience. But more specifically, the obedience upon which the promise of eternal life was originally conditioned in the covenant of works was human obedience. There could have been no imputation of Christ’s vicarious obedience to His people in order to their possessing a title to eternal life, had He not worked out that aspect of His righteousness in the nature of man.
Stephen Charnock brings this out in his work on 1 John 1:7: “The ground of this imputation [of righteousness to the sinner] is community of nature. Because He ‘took not the nature of angels’, it is not reckoned to them, Heb 2:16,17. If He had taken the nature of angels, it could not have been reckoned to us, because He had not been akin to us.”
Charnock, Works, Edinburgh, 1865, vol 3, p 520.
The same is true with regard to His passive obedience in His sufferings unto death. The nature which sinned had to suffer if Justice was to be satisfied, and since it was human nature which sinned, the Surety must possess human nature in order to suffer on behalf of the elect. The price of the sinner’s redemption was blood and so, because they were “partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same”. He must have blood to shed. The Surety paid the ransom price in the currency of His own precious blood, and Divine Justice accepted it as paid on behalf of the debtors whose guilt was imputed to Him. Here light is shed on those terms in Scripture which describe believers as being “crucified with Christ” (Rom 6:6, Gal 2:20). By virtue of their federal union, and His union to their nature, when Christ was crucified, they were representatively crucified with Him in the eyes of Justice. John Murray says, “We may never think of redemption in abstraction from the mysterious arrangements of God’s love and wisdom and grace by which Christ was united to His people and His people were united to Him when He died upon the accursed tree and rose again from the dead”.
Murray, Redemption Accomplished and Applied, Banner of Truth, 1979, p 161.
(2) The significance of Christ’s resurrection and ascension to heaven.
Christ’s people were not only crucified and dead with Him in the eye of Justice when He was crucified and died, but they were also viewed as having risen with Him in His resurrection and ascended up to heaven in His ascension. To quote but one Scripture which teaches this: “But God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:4-6). In His resurrection from the dead, it was declared that the Surety’s atonement had been accepted as fully satisfying all the demands of law and justice with regard to His people. He was at that time Himself “justified” in the sense of being freed from all imputed guilt (Rom 4:25, Is 50:8). The elect were virtually or representatively justified at that point, for He was “raised for our justification”.
The same is true with regard to His ascension to heaven. When Christ entered into heaven He did so as the Forerunner and Head of His people as Thomas Goodwin brings out in the following beautiful quote about His ascension: “Christ said (as it were) again to God: I come not alone, I have much company, many of My brethren and followers to come after (for it was the declared and avowed end of His coming to prepare a place for them), I prayed when I was on earth, that where I am they might be also (Jn 17:24); and now I come hither, My train must come in too, I am not complete without them”. And so Goodwin argues that, if the Father receives Christ, He must receive them also, for He has “come to take up lodgings for them”.