Pastor Andrew’s Reflections on Chapter Two
Ask any good home builder (and even the bad ones), “What is the most important part of building a house that will last?” The answer will always be, “Build a solid foundation.” This is what the second chapter of Yuille’s book focuses on – The Basis of Union with Christ.
To answer this question, Yuille summarizes two key phrases used in Flavel’s view of the covenant of redemption. The first is the phrase, “hypostatical union.” This speaks of the union of the divine nature of Christ with the human nature of Christ. This is the union that is more familiar to most folks, at least in vocabulary. The second phrase is “mystical union” and is used to describe the union between Jesus Christ and believers, effectuated by the Holy Spirit. The first union (hypostatical) is the foundation for the second union (mystical). This lays the groundwork for the necessity of the incarnation.
The foundation, therefore, of the Christian’s mystical union with Christ is the hypostatic union. Without God the Son taking on flesh, there would be no union between the believer and Jesus Christ.
From there, Yuille dives into Flavel’s functional view of the threefold office of Christ – Prophet, Priest, and King. In brief, Flavel presents the following:
Christ as Prophet – In his role as the God-Man, Jesus Christ is able to reveal the mind of God and illumine the mind of man. After all, what good is the revelation of God if the eyes of man are not opened to see it? Likewise, what good are eyes that have been opened if there is nothing revealed to see (beware the oversimplification). So it is that we see blessed functionally in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. He, being fully God, has full access to the knowledge of the truth of salvation. Then, being fully man, he has bridged the gap made accessible and knowable the mind of God (mind you, in what is necessary, not in its fullness). This illumination is actuated by the Work of the Holy Spirit in the regenerate elect.
Christ as Priest – Flavel writes, “As Priest, had he not been man, he could have shed no blood; and if not God, it had been no adequate value for us” (page 16). In other words, since God cannot bleed, the Second Person of the Trinity would not have been able to deliver the necessary payment for the redemption of man – payment of blood. Likewise, since man’s blood is tainted by original sin and cannot rise to the proper qualities of necessary payment, the effort to redeem via the blood of man would necessarily fall short. In this, we see the glory of the mediatorial work of Jesus Christ as Prophet, who lived as the perfectly clean high priest, entered the Holy of Holies, and shed his own priceless blood as the sacrifice of atonement. Jesus is the Priest that offers the sacrifice and concurrently he is the Lamb of Sacrifice who takes away the sins of the world (see John 1:29 and Rev. 5:1-14, esp. v. 6). This function, just as the work of illumination, is applied by the Holy Spirit. What’s more, Jesus continues in his office as Priest through “the virtual continuation of his offering once made on earth” (page 19). The progression then is this: Christ’s sacrifice (“oblation”) gives him standing to continue in his intercession, both of which together result in the satisfaction of God’s justice. This satisfaction has two parts. First, by Christ’s active obedience, Christ has fulfilled once for all what God required in the Law. Second, by Christ’s passive obedience, Christ has fulfilled the necessary punishment for our breaking of the Law – death (Rom. 6:23). As if this were not enough, a second result of Christ’s sacrifice and intercession is the result of acquisition. Through the believer’s mystical union with Jesus Christ, he acquires again what was lost in the Fall. That which is acquired is of greatest value and is no less than “all temporal good things,” “all spiritual good things,” and “all eternal good things” (see page 20; Eph. 1:3).
Christ as King – We would all be well reminded of the answer to the 26th question of our shorter catechism, “How does Christ execute the office of a king?” Answered with, “Christ executes the office of a king, in subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies.” This sums up the basic premise of function that Flavel presents on what it is the incarnate Christ does as King. But he goes further. He describes the fitness of the Kingship of the God-Man. In sum, if Christ were not man, he would be an alien head on a body that could not know it. He would have no point of connection with that people over which he ruled. And if not God, Christ would be a pitiable and weak ruler indeed, unable to subdue his people to himself and unable to defend them from those who would bring harm. This three-pronged trident of Christ’s rule is manifest in (1) Christ winning for himself a people for his own possession, then (2) teaching those people how it is they are to live as his beloved subjects and guarding them in that teaching, and finally (3) granting the marvelous rights and privileges of citizenship to those whom he loves. Those rights and privileges are many and identified in part by Flavel (see page 21):
- They are “certainly and fully free from the curse of the Law”
- They are released from the “dominion of sin”
- They are protected in “all troubles and dangers to which their souls and bodies are exposed.”
- They are confident that Christ tenderly bears “their burdens and infirmities”
- They enjoy “sweet peace and tranquility of soul”
- They possess “everlasting salvation”
As you reflect on the reading of this past week, how would you say you view this list? Do you view it as something that you hope for? Do you view it as something granted to those who have “arrived”? Do you view some or all of those items as things that ebb and flow, come and go, appear and disappear in your life? Do you, perhaps, view the above list as something entirely unreachable in this life? These ways of viewing what have already been given as the rights and privileges of our mystical union with Christ are certainly easy to hold. But they are false.
I will always push hard against any mantra that includes anything that smacks of the false doctrine of “name it and claim it” or “what I confess, I possess” or other “Word of Faith” heresies. But I will hold near and dear the truth that when we have been called by the name of Christ, we can rightfully claim all that is in Christ. When we repent of our sins and confess Christ, we unequivocally possess Christ (and he us!). And when the Word of God made flesh is the object of our Faith, we are granted all that is right and good according to his will.
This is the hope of the believer. This is who we are and what we have been given. All of this founded on the truth that Jesus Christ is ours and we are his, joined together as one for all eternity.
Think on these things,
Pastor Andrew