United In Christ
Last week we saw that one of humanity’s problems is not a lack of unity but being united in the wrong things. What causes division is not disunity, but a being united towards some cause, purpose, or person in our sin while other people are also united to some other cause, purpose, or person in their sin. This results in the disunity we see in the world around class, race, politics, you name it. So, what is the solution? The solution is to be united around the right thing which is the person of Jesus Christ. For the remainder of this post, we will explore what this means through the biblical concept of union with Christ.
Before we can dive into wwhat union with Christ looks like, however, we first need to examine a concept that is relatively foreign to us as modern people. That is the concept of federal headship. Federal headship is a term used to talk about someone else acting as a representative for a group of people. So, for instance, when a king acts, he acts as the representative for his people. The decisions he makes, the foreign policy he determines, his actions towards other nations will have a direct impact upon the lives of those who live under his kingship. He is acting as their federal head, their representative, and as their representative what he does will necessarily affect those he is representing. Almost all politics invokes this concept of federal headship even if we do not know it. Our elected officials are our federal heads, representing us in a myriad of ways, and the decisions they make influence our lives for better or worse.
As modern people we do not like federal headship. Individualism has become so ingrained in us that to think that someone other than ourselves can significantly change the outcome of our lives, seems unfair. With the example of the king, the people had no choice. Kings are born, not selected. With the advent of democracy, the sting of federal headship was lessened by the ability to vote for our representatives. However, with it also came the idea that any unchosen representative is unjust and unfair. This is precisely where people take issue with the concept of federal headship in the Bible.
In Scripture we have two federal heads: Adam and Christ. Neither of which are chosen by us. They simple are whether we like it or not. Let us look at each of them in turn. Adam was the first man God created. According to Scripture he is the forefather of all humanity. Likewise, as the first human being, he was representative of all humanity. His actions would have lasting consequences for the whole human race either good or bad. Unfortunately, Adam’s actions ended up leading to consequences that were bad for the whole human race. Adam and Eve chose to disobey God and fell into sin which brought with it guilt, death, and deprivation for the whole of humanity. Every human being born after Adam’s sin was subject to the consequences of sin because of Adam’s failure. He, as our representative, failed and with his failure we have become subject to the damaging effects of his actions.
This is why in the book of Romans we read so much about Adam as our representative and the effects of his sinful actions upon us. We read that “sin came into the world through one man,” that “many died through one man’s trespass,” that “death reigned through that one man,” that “one trespass led to condemnation for all men,” and “by the one man’s disobedience that many were made sinners” (Rom. 5:12, 13, 17, 18, 19). Due to Adam’s sin, we now experience the effects of sin, sin ourselves, and are under the condemnation of God. Apart from Jesus Christ, humanity is united in Adam as our federal head, which means the judgment of God rests upon humanity manifesting itself in physical death, and subsequently spiritual death.
To add insult to injury, it is because of this reality that we see division in the world. Racism, sexism, and classism all result from being united in Adam. National conflicts, civil wars, political unrest all result from being united in Adam. To be united in Adam means to be united in sin, which means to be a sinner, which means we commit sinful behaviors such as anger, divisiveness, and violence. Yet, in Scripture we also have another federal head: Jesus Christ.
Since the fall of humanity into sin, God has been working to restore his people and be reconciled to them. We even see a glimpse of this promised to Adam himself in Genesis 3:15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” The woman is to have a child who will one day crush the powers of evil but will himself be crushed in the process. Over thousands of years God continued to work amongst humanity to fulfill this promise and at the appointed time God became man in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus, born of the virgin Mary by the Spirit of God, came to re-represent humanity, to act as a new federal head for humanity by succeeding where Adam failed. God, knowing that humanity was doomed as a result of Adam’s failure, took it upon himself to undo that failure, by becoming a man, living a life in perfect obedience to God’s will, and then taking that perfect obedience to the cross. There Jesus sacrificed himself to pay the penalty for humanity’s sinfulness, and to forgive his people’s sin.
Turning again to Romans this is why Paul, after explicitly stating how sin and death resulted from Adam’s sin, can say “much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many” (5:15) Likewise, he writes, “but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification” and “so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men” (5:16, 18). Finally, “for as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous” (5:19). Just as Adam as our federal head brought sin into the world, so Jesus Christ as our federal head rescues us from sin and delivers us from its power.
Yet, there remains a problem. How is it that someone goes from being united in Adam, under his federal headship, to coming under the federal headship of Jesus Christ? How does someone go from one representative to another? This is where the concept of union with Christ becomes so important. According to Scripture, this happens through belief in Jesus Christ, which is a work of God where we are united to him by the Holy Spirit. The language the Bible uses to describe this new reality is that of being in Christ. For example, in 2 Corinthians 5:17 we read, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away behold the new has come” (Emphasis mine). Or Romans 8:1, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ” (Emphasis mine). Galatians 2:20 goes so far as to say we have been “crucified with Christ” and Romans 6:5 argues that we have “been united with him in a death like his” and that we will “be united with him in a resurrection like his.” In some mystical way, when our faith is in Jesus Christ, we are attached to him, he becomes our federal head, and we are united in Christ.
The concept of union with Christ is replete with wonderful implications for the Christian life. One such implication is what it means for our unity with one another. As previously mentioned, when we are found to be united in Adam, we are united in sin, and unite together as people in our sin, which is bound to lead to conflict. Sin is a destructive, polluting force, which corrupts everything it comes near. This causes division and disunity amongst us. However, when we are united in Christ, bonded to him, and found to be in Christ we have a new uniting factor outside of our sinfulness. In essence we are united together in a way that transcends our old ties. To be united in Christ is greater, more powerful, and completely transformative in a way that old ties to anything else in our sin was not. To be united in Christ means that we are found completely in him, it means that our brothers and sisters in Christ are also found completely in him, and it means that Jesus Christ becomes the foundation of our unity. In fact, humanity cannot be united in anything without sin apart from Jesus Christ. It is only in Jesus that we are given a new identity, our sinfulness is taken away, and we are able to be united in a way that transcends sin.
Do not be mistaken, this does not mean that Christians will agree on everything at the present moment. One day, when everything is restored to the way it is supposed to be we will, but until then we simply will not. However, what this does mean is that whatever else we might think important in this life is secondary to our new identity and union with Christ. We may not agree on who to vote for, what tax dollars should be spent on, on foreign policy, or on the details of the end times, but these issues are of secondary importance. We do not disagree like the world by uniting around an issue and chastising those who disagree. Instead, we disagree in love, gentleness, and kindness knowing that whatever issue we may disagree on we have something greater that we are united to and unites us together, Jesus Christ. We say, “I might not agree with you on this issue, but you are my sibling in Christ, I am thankful for that, and I will not break fellowship with you.” The foundation of our unity to one another is our unity with Jesus Christ.