What Does “Union with Christ” Actually Mean?

United to Christ

When we come to believe in Jesus, we’re told in the New Testament that we become spiritually united to him. Paul even uses marital language for this. Just as the husband and the wife become one flesh, he says we who believe in the Lord become one spirit with him. So, my being a Christian isn’t just me voting for Jesus, or saying Jesus is going to be my role model, or even that I’m trusting Jesus from afar.

Actually, what happens is I’ve become united to him. The Bible talks repeatedly about us being people who are “in Christ.” We are in him, and he is in us as well. There’s a mutual indwelling. There’s a profound union. As well as being like a marriage, the New Testament shows that it's also like being a branch connected to a vine. Jesus uses that image in John chapter 15. Just as the branch is only alive because of its connection to the vine, we are only spiritually alive because we are united to Jesus, and his spiritual life is flowing through us.

And Paul also uses the language of it being like a limb in a body, or a body connected to a head. So, it’s a really vital, profound, intimate kind of relationship we have with Jesus. We are not his client; he’s not our representative in a distant political sense. Wonderfully, we are one with him.

Sam Allberry is the author of One with My Lord: The Life-Changing Reality of Being in Christ.

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