10. Relationship Words in the Word: Union

10. Relationship Words in the Word: Union.

“I am inside My Father, and you are inside Me, and I am inside you.” (John 14:20).

Sacred Secrets. Jesus revealed many fascinating mysteries in His conversations with the Disciples, but maybe these declarations of His were more intriguing and inspiring than most… “When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am inside my Father, and you are inside me, and I am inside you.” (John 14:20); or this, “Remain inside of me, dwell in me, continue to draw your life from inside me, and I will remain inside of you.” (John 15:4-7); or even the more perplexing claim that, “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives continually inside of me, and I live inside of him.” (John 6:56).

“Those who confess and give thanks that Jesus is the Son of God remains in union with God, they live inside of God, and God lives inside of them. We have come into an intimate experience with God’s love, and we trust in the love He has for us. God is love; and those who remain in this love remain united with God, and God remains united with them.” (1 John 4:14-16).

The Double Union. The idea that Jesus through His Holy Spirit is inside of me is pretty familiar. How many times did Paul say something along the lines of “Christ in me”? Actually, about 160 times. But to read that at the same time as Christ is in each of us, each believer is actually inside of Christ! Now, that is something fresh and I want to sink deep into that mystery.  Christ in me, and me in Christ! Christ inside of you, and you inside of Christ! What a tremendous and wonderful mystery, a truth we accept by faith in the Christ who said it. There have been many descriptive titles given to this idea of union with Christ, of being within Christ, including: the Double Union; the Mutual Indwelling; the Mystical Union; The Double Mystery. And there have been some interesting ways to try to describe this two-way unity we enjoy with Christ: bonded in union within Christ; somehow inside of each other; a believer’s new spiritual location; participating in the interior life of Christ; intimately joined together with Christ; hidden with Christ inside of God; a Christian’s spiritual address; in a new sphere of spiritual existence; fellowship with God inside the Person of Christ; tightly wrapped around the Personhood of Jesus; regaining our original identity in Christ; being inside of Christ, we have shared in His death and resurrection, and we now we will go wherever He goes, including being seated in the heavenly realms.

St. Paul has confirmed our union within Christ many times, including: “Now you have been united with Christ Jesus and are inside of Him. Once you were far away from God, but now you have been brought near to Him through the blood of Christ.” (Ephesians 2:13); “There is no condemnation to those who are inside of Christ Jesus, those who belong to Him and are joined in life-union with Him.” (Romans 8:1); “God made this sinless Man to be a sin offering on our behalf, so that in union with Him we might fully share in God’s righteousness.” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Paul has a very eye-opening passage in 1 Corinthians 6:17 in which he said, “Anyone united with the Lord becomes one spirit with Him.” The word Paul used here for “united” could just as well have been “joined to,” or “knit together,” and is the word used in the Greek OT for “cleave” in Genesis 2:24. Paul used a 2-becoming-1 word in the biblical tradition.

Half the Story. Imagine if someone has gone through a long life of the Christian faith, being told that one side of the story is the complete story. Yes, that’s me. I grew up being taught that the believer’s relationship with God involved God inside of me through the Holy Spirit, which of course is true. But that’s the incomplete part. I was never really instructed as to the importance of the believer being inside God. There is a double mystery here, and our union with Christ actually goes both ways… God inside of each of us, and each of us inside of God. Christ enters us through the Holy Spirit, and His Spirit delivers us into the Person of God. Christ dwells within me, and I dwell within Christ. This double mystery, God in me and me in God, is well-mentioned in the New Testament: “When I am raised to life again, you will know that I am inside my Father, and you are inside of me, and I am inside of you.” (John 14:20); “Remain inside of me, dwell in me, continue to draw life from me, and I will remain inside you.” (John 15:4-7); “God has given us His Spirit as proof that we live inside Him, and He inside us.” (1 John 4:13); “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives continually inside of me, and I live inside him.” (John 6:56); “Those who obey God’s teachings remain inside Him, and He inside them.” (1 John 3:24).

Mutual Indwelling. Our union with God is obviously full of mystery, the kind of sacred secret that the Lord needs to unpack for us. For a flesh and blood finite person to join with and into the supreme Lord of the Universe, a human being intimately united with the world’s Creator and vast spiritual presence, is way beyond our understanding. In thinking about being united with Christ, we tend to say things in faith that we ourselves don’t even comprehend, we draw conclusions that we trust at some point God will explain to us… Our double union with God must mean that somehow we are inside of each other; When we unite with God, we are one in spirit; We are inside of God, which means we are welcomed into the fellowship of the Holy Trinity; Since we are inside Christ, we can participate in the interior life of Christ; To pray in the Spirit might actually mean we pray inside the Spirit; Living inside Christ means we can acquire the very mind of Christ; We belong to Christ, including the fact that each member of our body are members of Christ; We can only become new creatures if we are enfolded into Christ.  There is even a million-dollar word that some say sums this all up: “Christification.” That’s quite a mouthful, and one assumes that in the New Kingdom we will be truly and fully “Christified.”

“Consider yourselves to be dead to sin but alive for God, by your union with Christ Jesus, living in fellowship with God through Christ.” (Romans 6:11).

Transformation. Because we are joined with Christ, He is within us, and we are within Him. Our transformation, our sanctification, would seem to happen two ways, then… The Holy Spirit inside of us gradually transforming our nature into the image of Christ; and each of us inside of Christ, receiving an endless supply of the interior qualities of Jesus, His character, attributes, and all the spiritual riches we could ever imagine. We were created in His image, became hopelessly broken, and then in God’s love welcomed into Jesus so that we could end up like Jesus once again. Being inside of Christ and intimately joined with Him means we receive the divine sap that flows through the Vine. Inside Christ, we have an eternal supply of heavenly nutrients that enable us to change, mature and go from one level of glory to another, into the very likeness of Christ Himself.

“For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden within Christ inside God.” (Colossians 3:3).

Living Within Christ:  Participating in the life of Christ; in union with Jesus; united as one with God; inseparably joined with Christ; when we started trusting in Jesus, His Holy Spirit hand-delivered into the very Person of Christ; we are tightly wrapped into His nature and essence; our spirit is inside His Spirit, and He is inside of us; our human identity is hidden within Christ; we belong to Him, and He is in possession of each of us; we are intimately connected within each other; by uniting with Jesus, we married into His family, and are embraced within the fellowship of the Trinity; we have a permanent location within Christ and are not lost in the cosmos. Inside of Christ, He is stuck with us, and we go wherever He goes, including His death, resurrection, ascension, and now in the heavenly realms. We were baptized into the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19), are united with Him, and thus our union with Him enables us to be with Him right now seated with Christ at the right hand of the Father (Ephesians 2:4-7).

‘Vine and Branches,’ and ‘Believing Into.’ What has been helpful as we consider this mystery of the Double Union, the Mutual Indwelling, is the many times Scripture includes an analogy about it, a metaphor that describes a physical union that points to a spiritual union. Looking at a double union in tangible reality will help us think more deeply about a double union in a spiritual sense. There are physical signs in our earthly life that illustrate at least some of the meaning of our union with Christ. Uniting with Jesus as a branch grafted onto a vine is one way (John 15). Another way to picture this spiritual union is through John’s gospel when he refers to “believing into” Jesus (John 3).

1. Abide in Me. “I AM the True Vine, and my Father is the Gardener, the Farmer who takes care of the vineyard… Dwell in Me, and I will dwell in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it remains united with Me, neither can you bear fruit unless you live inside of Me. I Am the Vine, and you are the branches. Whoever makes his home in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain joined with Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and the workers then gather them up off the ground and throw them into the fire. If you remain vitally united in Me, and My teachings take root in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and this is how you prove to be my disciples.” (John 15:1-8).

“Abide in Me.” To dwell in Me; to remain united within Me; to continue being joined in Me; to be in a living union with Me; to make your home in Me; to live inside Me; to stay vitally united to Me.

The Process of Grafting onto the Vine. In order to succeed in creating what gardeners call “the graft union, the “mother vine” receives an incision, a cut in the vine which will be able to receive the engrafted branch. The branch is cut in a way that will allow it to fit inside the cut vine when inserted into the vine. As the grafted union takes hold, the sap will circulate throughout the vine into the branch, and they will essentially become one plant.  After being “cut” on the Cross, His blood has allowed us the opportunity of being grafted onto Him. The life-giving sap of the Holy Spirit will be the source of whatever spiritual nutrients are needed for us to be fruit-bearing branches on the Vine of Jesus.

The Fruit on the Vine. What kind of fruit does the Vine want to produce? What does the fruit of the Vine look like? It looks like love. Jesus is saying that the fruit of love is what brings life and health and vitality. Love is the only fruit that will last and not rot on the vine. Jesus is stating the obvious… the branches cannot bear this eternal fruit unless they are joined to the Vine. The branches and the Vine are vitally united. Jesus at first called them servants, then he called them friends. Soon he will call them family. You can’t get a more intimate union than that.

The Universal Vine. Jesus wants to flourish, to add branches to the Vine until the Vine spreads everywhere, a prolific vine that grows around the world. All these branches are related because they are all joined to the same Vine, they grow from the same source. The fruit of love does not grow on those branches that distantly live with the other branches as if they are not related at the core. Some branches are unproductive, and they will perish. Other branches are productive, and they will flourish. Productivity will depend on bearing the fruit of love, which is the heart, the life juice, of the Vine. Love is the vital fruit of the Holy Spirit.

2. Believing Into. “For God so loved the world, that He gave us His only begotten Son, that whoever believes into Him, should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16).

“En” and “Eis”. In the New Testament there are two little Greek words used constantly, en and eis. When “in” is intended, then the Greek term “en” is generally used. And when “into” is meant, the term “eis” is used. Eis literally means “into” or “unto” or “to,” and implies motion into, union, and penetration. Eis suggests entering into something, a movement into something or someone, passing from one spiritual realm into another. Eis means moving forward toward a goal and then entering into it.

With that in mind, this is how John 3:15-19, the most popular passage in all of Christendom, could be, and often is, translated: ”… whoever believes in (en) Him, should have eternal life. For God so loved the world (Kosmos) that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes into (eis) Him, should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into (eis) the world to judge the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. The one who believes into (eis) Him is not judged; but the one who does not believe has been judged already, because that one has not believed into (eis) the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this now is the judgment, that the light has come into (eis) the world, and mankind loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”

Union: Believing into Him. This is an apt phrase to use in the context because it implies action, not mere intellectual assent; it suggests entering into a union with Christ; it is not a passive phrase in which one believes in Christ’s existence, but then again won’t bother to embrace Him in everyday life; to believe into involves working His words practically into one’s heart and mind; this phrase implies a movement from a generalized belief that Jesus exists, into a personal commitment to Him; to believe into Jesus is to lean into Him, to intimately join together with Him, to trust Jesus enough to unite yourself into Him through active faith, to place yourself into the spiritual reality of Christ; to believe into Him is to desire a permanent relationship with Him, finding one’s human identity in Him; believing into Jesus is to work His words into our heart and mind; it is to prove our allegiance to Him by the biblical standard of both hearing and doing, not just hearing. Believing into Christ means we have asked His Holy Spirit to enter our life, and for us to enter into His.

“No one has ever gazed upon the fullness of God’s splendor. But if we love one another, God remains united with us, and He makes His permanent home in us and we make our permanent home in Him. His love is then brought to its full expression in us. He has given us His Spirit within us so that we can have the assurance that we remain united with Him and He with us…. (1 John 4:12-13).