Chapter 3: Union - "Deeper" by Dane Ortlund

Preparing Your Heart: Union

What is the most fundamental reality about your relationship with Jesus Christ? Is it that He forgives you? That He guides you? That He's preparing a place for you in heaven? While all these are true and precious, this chapter will explore what the New Testament presents as the central, controlling reality of the Christian life: union with Christ.

This doctrine appears in Scripture with astonishing frequency - over 200 times in the New Testament - yet many Christians have only a vague understanding of what it means to be "in Christ." This isn't merely a theological abstraction but the very foundation of our growth. As the Puritan Jeremiah Burroughs noted, sanctification flows not from our striving but from our union with Him.

As you prepare to read this chapter, consider how your approach to spiritual growth might change if you truly grasped that you are united to Christ at the deepest level of your being. Not merely connected to Him as a follower to a leader, but joined to Him as a branch to a vine, as intimately as a body part to the head.

This chapter invites you to see yourself differently - not as someone striving to reach Christ or earn His favor, but as someone already incorporated into Christ, already sharing in His life and destiny. From this place of secure union flows genuine transformation.

Before You Read

How would you explain what it means to be "in Christ" to someone who asked? Where do you feel unsure in your understanding?
If you truly believed that you share in Christ's life, death, resurrection, and exaltation, how might that change your approach to daily challenges, temptations, and failures?

Union: United with Christ

This chapter explores the central and often neglected truth of union with Christ. The New Testament refers to our being united to Christ over two hundred times - about once per page. It is the controlling center of what it means to be a Christian.

"From Christ as from a fountain sanctification flows into the souls of the saints: their sanctification comes not so much from their struggling, and endeavors, and vows, and resolutions, as it comes flowing to them from their union with him." - Jeremiah Burroughs

Four Views of Christian Growth

God then me - God saves us, then it's up to us to serve him.
God not me - God does everything; we passively wait.
God plus me - We each contribute our part; we're partners.
God in me - The biblical view: we are wholly active and wholly passive. "For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Phil. 2:13).

The Macro and Micro Dimensions

Union with Christ has two key dimensions:

Macro (Federal) Union: Christ is our representative head. As He goes, so we go. "As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive" (1 Cor. 15:22). We have been transferred from Adam's fallen realm to Christ's new creation.

Micro (Intimate) Union: We are organically joined to Christ, like branches to a vine or members to a body. Our oneness with Christ is so real that Paul can say our sins would implicate Christ himself (1 Cor. 6:15-17).

In Christ, we find our true selves. Our union with Christ doesn't destroy our individuality but restores it to what God intended.

"You will not change until you get straight who Jesus is, particularly with regard to his surprising tenderness."

Discussion Questions

What's the most meaningful relationship or connection in your life outside your immediate family? What makes this connection so significant, and how has it shaped who you are?
How would you describe your current understanding of what it means to be "in Christ"?
Which of the four approaches to Christian growth have you tended to follow?
How does understanding your union with Christ change how you view your sins and failures?
What would it look like to live today with a stronger awareness that you are "in Christ"?
How does union with Christ affect your identity and sense of security?

Application

This week, whenever you face temptation, failure, or discouragement, pause to remind yourself: "I am in Christ." Consider writing this truth on a card or setting it as a reminder on your phone. Practice viewing every situation through the lens of your union with Christ, asking: "How does my union with Christ change how I face this circumstance?"