Disputation 47: The Communion Of Believers With Christ In Regard To His Life

1. Communion with the life of Christ is that by which, being engrafted into him by a conformity to his life, we become partakers of the whole power of his life, and of all the benefits which flow from it.

2. Our conformity to the life of Christ, is either that of the present life, or of that which is future.

(1.) That of the present life is the raising of us up into a new life, and our being seated, with regard to the Spirit, "in heavenly places" in Christ our head.

(2.) That of the life to come is our resurrection into a new life according to the body, and our being elevated to heavenly places with regard to the entire man.

3. Hence, our conformity to Christ is according to the same two-fold relation: in this life, it is our resurrection to newness of spiritual life, and our conversation in heaven according to the Spirit; after the present life, it is the resurrection of our, bodies, their conformity to the glorious body of Christ, and the fruition of celestial blessedness.

4. The blessings which flow from the life of Christ, fall partly within the limits of this life, and partly within the continued duration of the life to come.

5. Those which fall within the limits of the present life are, adoption into sons of God, and the communication of the Holy Spirit. This communication composes within itself three particular benefits: First. Our regeneration, through the illumination of the mind and the renewal of the heart. Secondly. The perpetual aid of the Holy Spirit to excite and co-operate. Thirdly. The testimony of the same Spirit with our hearts, that we are the children of God, on which account he is called "the Spirit of adoption."

6. Those which fall within the boundless duration of the life to come, are our preservation from future wrath, and the bestowing of life eternal;’ though this preservation from wrath may seem to be a continued act, begun and carried on in this world, but consummated at the period of the last judgment.

7. Under the preservation from wrath, also, is not unsuitably comprehended continued justification from sins through the intercession of Christ, who, in his own blood, is the propitiation for our sins, and our advocate before God.