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One with Christ: An Evangelical Theology of Salvation
Regeneration, justification, sanctification. These are the primary words that come to mind when talking about the theology of salvation. However, the Bible teaches that each of these concepts is firmly rooted in something more our union with Christ. In this accessible book, Johnson introduces us to this neglected doctrine, arguing that it is the dominant organizing concept for salvation in the New Testament. In eight thought-provoking chapters, Johnson shows how a believer’s position “in Christ” is the lens through which other all other facets of salvation should be understood. Interacting extensively with the biblical text and drawing on lessons from church history, Johnson presents a compelling case for the unique importance of this beautiful, biblical doctrine.
258 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 2013
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618 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews
August 26, 2025
This was a paradigm altering book.
Salvation is a person.
Christ IS our salvation; salvific benefits (justification, sanctification, adoption, etc) are integrally based in and only understood in union with Christ the righteous, holy, Only Begotten Son.
I will be reading much more on this topic.
Salvation is a person.
Christ IS our salvation; salvific benefits (justification, sanctification, adoption, etc) are integrally based in and only understood in union with Christ the righteous, holy, Only Begotten Son.
I will be reading much more on this topic.
July 5, 2024
Best book I’ve read in a long time (tied for favorite book in seminary)! Johnson shows how Union with Christ is the foundation of salvation. Salvation isn’t ultimately a legal/forensic reality, it is an organic, real union with Christ where we share in his life (with all the blessings that includes). He points out that this was the focus of Luther’s and Calvin’s Soteriology (not justification, as people commonly think—including myself). This union has effects on our view of the church (we are truly united with one another because we’re in Christ) and the sacraments.
His explanation of justification, sanctification, adoption, and glorification were some of the most helpful I’ve read. These aren’t “external benefits” that Jesus passed to us but results of being one with Christ.
I could go on and on (I have half the book highlighted…), but I digress.
*Just a brief warning—this is a very rich book, so don’t expect a light read if you pick it up.
______
My ⭐️ rating criteria
- ⭐️: I absolutely did not like or totally disagreed with the book and would recommend that no one else read it
- ⭐️⭐️: the book was below average style or content, arguments were very weak, wouldn’t read it again, but wouldn’t beg people not to read it necessarily
- ⭐️⭐️⭐️: a fine book, some helpful information (or a decent story, for the handful of novels I read), maybe I disagreed somewhat, enjoyed it decently well
- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: a very good book, information was very helpful, mostly agreed with everything or it was a strong argument even if I disagree, was above-average enjoyable to read
- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: incredible book, I enjoyed it more than most other books, I want to read it again in the future, I will be telling everyone to read it for the next few weeks
His explanation of justification, sanctification, adoption, and glorification were some of the most helpful I’ve read. These aren’t “external benefits” that Jesus passed to us but results of being one with Christ.
I could go on and on (I have half the book highlighted…), but I digress.
*Just a brief warning—this is a very rich book, so don’t expect a light read if you pick it up.
______
My ⭐️ rating criteria
- ⭐️: I absolutely did not like or totally disagreed with the book and would recommend that no one else read it
- ⭐️⭐️: the book was below average style or content, arguments were very weak, wouldn’t read it again, but wouldn’t beg people not to read it necessarily
- ⭐️⭐️⭐️: a fine book, some helpful information (or a decent story, for the handful of novels I read), maybe I disagreed somewhat, enjoyed it decently well
- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: a very good book, information was very helpful, mostly agreed with everything or it was a strong argument even if I disagree, was above-average enjoyable to read
- ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️: incredible book, I enjoyed it more than most other books, I want to read it again in the future, I will be telling everyone to read it for the next few weeks
February 10, 2025
I’m not sure why I thought this would be an easy read when I found Dr. Johnson to be one of my most difficult professors to understand, but what I understood of his book was excellent. I’m giving this 4 stars because I’m not smart enough to understand if it should have been 5 stars.
February 26, 2023
In essence…
All of salvation, from predestination to glorification, is essentially an exposition of its foundation: Union with Christ!
All of salvation, from predestination to glorification, is essentially an exposition of its foundation: Union with Christ!
April 17, 2015
Absolutely stunning!
If there is one book you read this year, please, please make it this one!
Johnson shows us the implications of the central reality of soteriology: union with Christ. Christ is our salvation...
'...through faith, by the power of theHoly Spirt, we enter into a vital, personal, and profoundly real union with the incarnate, crucified, resurrected Saviour, Jesus Christ, through whom all the blessings of salvation flow to us.'
Johnson argues that Christ is our justification, sancitification, glorification, ecclesiology, preaching of the Word and the true nature of the reality behind the sacraments. With appropriate nuance, exegetical insights and delightful harnessing of the works of Protestant evangelical theologians, this book is stunning in scope and detail. Johnson also anticipates each objection at every turn to show us that union with Christ truly is our salvation.
Simply splendid and a must read. I'll be recommending this book to each person I meet for a long time to come!
If there is one book you read this year, please, please make it this one!
Johnson shows us the implications of the central reality of soteriology: union with Christ. Christ is our salvation...
'...through faith, by the power of theHoly Spirt, we enter into a vital, personal, and profoundly real union with the incarnate, crucified, resurrected Saviour, Jesus Christ, through whom all the blessings of salvation flow to us.'
Johnson argues that Christ is our justification, sancitification, glorification, ecclesiology, preaching of the Word and the true nature of the reality behind the sacraments. With appropriate nuance, exegetical insights and delightful harnessing of the works of Protestant evangelical theologians, this book is stunning in scope and detail. Johnson also anticipates each objection at every turn to show us that union with Christ truly is our salvation.
Simply splendid and a must read. I'll be recommending this book to each person I meet for a long time to come!
November 19, 2014
This book is boring. I guess if you're in the OPC and afraid to think about the Bible very much it would be neat. But there is so much stuff that just misses the mark.
For example, he has this bizarre discussion about glorification near the end that left me feeling empty. He barely mentions the Holy Spirit in that section, and glorification is ALL ABOUT the Holy Spirit. He has this confused discussion about how it is so mysterious that Paul says we've been glorified, past tense. Oh, sure the "already, not yet" stuff is fine, but he misses Paul's point. It's in the past tense because God glorified the church in a past event. It's called Pentecost, dude.
The book is full of point-missing passages like that. It's as though the guy has never thought about the Bible as a single book in which everything is related and mutually interpretive. He quotes John Murray a lot, which is good, but his thoughts float ten miles above the Bible out in space somewhere.
But if you're just starting out learning theology, you could do a lot worse. At least it isn't Joel Osteen.
For example, he has this bizarre discussion about glorification near the end that left me feeling empty. He barely mentions the Holy Spirit in that section, and glorification is ALL ABOUT the Holy Spirit. He has this confused discussion about how it is so mysterious that Paul says we've been glorified, past tense. Oh, sure the "already, not yet" stuff is fine, but he misses Paul's point. It's in the past tense because God glorified the church in a past event. It's called Pentecost, dude.
The book is full of point-missing passages like that. It's as though the guy has never thought about the Bible as a single book in which everything is related and mutually interpretive. He quotes John Murray a lot, which is good, but his thoughts float ten miles above the Bible out in space somewhere.
But if you're just starting out learning theology, you could do a lot worse. At least it isn't Joel Osteen.
December 31, 2021
In an evangelical culture obsessed with justification (rightly so in many ways), we have often missed the truths of being united with Christ. I find union with Christ to be one of, if not the most complex theological doctrine out there, but MPJ does great work to help readers understand how all the "in Christs" in Scripture bring us back to this reality.
I loved this quote:
"To put it as starkly as possible, there is no such thing as a Christian who is not sanctified in Christ, because Christ is himself our sanctification." (p. 122)
And this one:
"It would be better for us to say instead that Jesus Christ himself in our union with him is our justification, and that Jesus Christ himself in our union with him is our sanctification. (p 113, italics original)
The work of Christ sanctifying us in and through our union with Himself is dynamic and hard to parse out in my opinion. I am still very much figuring out this reality, but I'm grateful for the ways Marcus Johnson helped me along in my understanding.
I loved this quote:
"To put it as starkly as possible, there is no such thing as a Christian who is not sanctified in Christ, because Christ is himself our sanctification." (p. 122)
And this one:
"It would be better for us to say instead that Jesus Christ himself in our union with him is our justification, and that Jesus Christ himself in our union with him is our sanctification. (p 113, italics original)
The work of Christ sanctifying us in and through our union with Himself is dynamic and hard to parse out in my opinion. I am still very much figuring out this reality, but I'm grateful for the ways Marcus Johnson helped me along in my understanding.
September 8, 2014
Incredible read. Johnson addresses the common evangelical flaw of making the Gospel about benefits apart from Christ, separating the person of Christ from his works (as talked about in Barth and T.F. Torrance). Johnson writes, "We find throughout the Johannine corpus the insistence that Jesus is more than a provider of blessings such as eternal life, truth, living bread, living water, or resurrection life; He is in himself the blessings he provides." (20). He explores the many ways being United and One with Christ is foundational to understand the Christian life. As Calvin writes, "as I have said, all that he possess is nothing to us, unless we grow into one body with Him" (16).
An easy read for an incredibly foundational and important issue. Highly recommended.
An easy read for an incredibly foundational and important issue. Highly recommended.
May 19, 2025
This is a strong book, well-suited for use in an introductory theology course or an early seminary class on justification and union with Christ. Johnson presents a compelling case for the centrality of union, offering valuable insights into how it should be conceptualized. He rightly emphasizes that union with Christ is a real connection—salvation and justification unite us to Christ. Yet, he is careful not to allow union to subsume other theological categories, nor to let it be reduced to them. Importantly, Johnson argues that salvation only makes sense within the framework of union, which helps correct misunderstandings that view salvation as a mere one-time event. The concept of union also provides helpful correctives to weak ecclesiological and sacramental frameworks.
That said, I found his chapter on the sacraments a bit too sweeping in scope and insufficiently cautious. It’s possible that the relevant literature was still developing at the time of publication, but I’m concerned that Johnson sometimes lacks nuance—particularly in how tightly he connects the sacraments to Scripture. I’m still working through my own thoughts here, but I also question whether he draws the relationship between union and the sacraments in Calvin a bit too closely.
91% Union in the unity of Christ
That said, I found his chapter on the sacraments a bit too sweeping in scope and insufficiently cautious. It’s possible that the relevant literature was still developing at the time of publication, but I’m concerned that Johnson sometimes lacks nuance—particularly in how tightly he connects the sacraments to Scripture. I’m still working through my own thoughts here, but I also question whether he draws the relationship between union and the sacraments in Calvin a bit too closely.
91% Union in the unity of Christ
June 12, 2023
A difference I feel like I have noticed between how the East and the West interpret Scripture is that the West seems to have more of an emphasis on legal language and the East seems to have more of an emphasis on personal or relational language. What the author of this book does is look at soteriology through the lens and from the foundation of the East, a vital, organic, real, living union with our Lord and Savior, and then exegetes the legal benefits that come from that relationship, with Christ being the source of them all: justification, sanctification, adoption, substitution, imputation, righteousness, etc. I enjoyed how the East and the West collided to complement each other in this book, and I feel the author is spot on with his thesis that salvation cannot be understood apart from union with Christ. I appreciate the Orthodox because of this point, and I appreciated how the author did not discard legal language in favor of relational language but rather used relationship as the basis for the legal. Well done.
The first half of this book receives 5 stars. The author sort of fell off for me about halfway through on some topics, but then brought it back up again with sacramental theology toward the end. I'd highly recommend, even if just for exposure to the first half.
The first half of this book receives 5 stars. The author sort of fell off for me about halfway through on some topics, but then brought it back up again with sacramental theology toward the end. I'd highly recommend, even if just for exposure to the first half.
June 26, 2024
In praising God for our salvation, we have often separated out salvation from its savior - who is our salvation. This is the thesis of Johnson’s book, and he brings Christ back to the center in a powerful way. Johnson covers more in this book than I expected him to, discussing how Union with Christ plays a central role in all that we receive in salvation. I especially enjoyed his treatments of original sin, Christ’s presence in the preaching of the word, and deeply intimate nature of our union with Christ.
I’m not reformed, so obviously at a few points I disagreed with the way he reads texts on election, and the chapter on perseverance (or preservation) simply expounded the implications of a reformed idea of election as it pertains to perseverance, but this is more of a theological difference than a problem with the writing. At times the book was a little repetitive, and I found it odd that he continually referred to Luther as being one Evangelicalism’s forefathers, despite significant differences with the reformed tradition.
Despite these couple gripes, I enjoyed this book, and I would recommend this book as a good primer on the central place Union with Christ (ought to) play in our thinking on salvation.
I’m not reformed, so obviously at a few points I disagreed with the way he reads texts on election, and the chapter on perseverance (or preservation) simply expounded the implications of a reformed idea of election as it pertains to perseverance, but this is more of a theological difference than a problem with the writing. At times the book was a little repetitive, and I found it odd that he continually referred to Luther as being one Evangelicalism’s forefathers, despite significant differences with the reformed tradition.
Despite these couple gripes, I enjoyed this book, and I would recommend this book as a good primer on the central place Union with Christ (ought to) play in our thinking on salvation.
April 21, 2023
Even as an avid reader of Christian books, I must say this book has given me so much things to learn. This involves unlearning and relearning what it means to be “in Christ” - “union in Christ”.
The author is correct. How many times have we heard about justification by faith, compared to “union in Christ”? He makes a strong case that union in Christ is so much more (and richer) than mere justification.
You know that this is a solid book when it has the endorsement of J I Packer, and when you find yourself highlighting the footnotes (which do contain important points).
His chapter on the baptism and the Lord’s Supper is to be commended.
A book highly recommended!
The author is correct. How many times have we heard about justification by faith, compared to “union in Christ”? He makes a strong case that union in Christ is so much more (and richer) than mere justification.
You know that this is a solid book when it has the endorsement of J I Packer, and when you find yourself highlighting the footnotes (which do contain important points).
His chapter on the baptism and the Lord’s Supper is to be commended.
A book highly recommended!
October 6, 2020
4.5 stars. Perhaps the best book I've read on Union with Christ because it presents a fine balance between an academic discourse for the theology avid and a Christian living book for the average layperson. The chapters are arranged in familiar soteriological categories, from an examination of the nature of union, following with sin and incarnation, justification, sanctification, adoption, perseverance and glorification. Though slightly lacking in detailed exegetical treatment, Johnson does not shy away from hotly contested theological loci that are intermittently connected with our union with Christ, such as on federalism vs realism in the nature our representation/participation in Adam's sin/total depravity/original guilt, the legitimacy of a strict ordo salutis that often mispresents a strict causal relationship between the different benefits of salvation (Johnson takes his cue here from earlier critics such as Gaffin), which also often results in an overtly forensic/legal framework of salvation in evangelicalism (i.e. salvation is MAINLY justification and forensic in aspect, while sanctification and the transformative/renovative aspects are "non-essential" add-ons qualified by justification) and within certain streams of reformed theology (hint* Horton, ironically Horton is often critiqued by others as too "Lutheran" whereas Johnson is pastoring in a Lutheran church). However, though Johnson does venture into these tricky and hotly contested issues that are intersected with Union /w Christ, he does often seem to stop short of giving his own satisfactory solution or answer, which I will elaborate later on. What really shines in his treatment of union with Christ is his final 2 chapters on the church and the sacraments/means of grace, where Johnson posits that a comprehensive understanding of union with Chris as the framework of reformed soteriology is the means to tighten the gap between soteriology and ecclesiology and sacramentology. That is, union with Christ is also union with His body, the church, and retrieving the reformers and the reformed confessions' reflections of the Scriptures, he argues convincingly that participation in the body of Christ is no mere "volunteering association" as modern biblicist evangelicalism often postulate, but there is a real sense that one is saved into a union with Christ's body and therefore as Cyprian famously stated "outside the church there is no salvation/extra ecclesiam nulla salus," not the church as the means of salvation as Rome conceived it, but the church (the body of Christ) as the end/goal of salvation. Not salvation by the church, but salvation into the (universal-catholic) church//body of Christ. The chapter on means of grace/sacramentology is also brilliant, though Johnson is a Lutheran pastor, he retrieves much of Calvin's high view of the means of grace, while stopping short of positing consubstantialism (Luther's view on the real presence of Christ in the Lord's supper). Modern evangelicalism is in favour of a Zwinglian memorialism, where the means of grace are merely "in remembrance of Christ," but a careful examination of all major views of Luther, Calvin and Zwingli seems to convey that all three theological giants posit a sense of truly participating in Christ in the means of grace whether one holds to Luther's consubstantial real presence of Christ or Calvin's faith-spirit appropriating of Christ. Baptism and the Supper are means of grace that conveys spiritual benefits as much the Word of God preached, for Baptism and Supper are accompanied and ordained by the Word of God, and are the visual representation/token of our union/participation with Christ as much as the Word is the audio delivery of our saving union with Christ, that is, respectively, the gospel seen and the gospel heard. Back to my qualm with Johnson stopping short of a satisfactory answer, one is left wondering what kind of specific benefits does the means of grace convey along with Scripture, since Johnson is definitely not alluding to infused grace as Rome posits, but since Johnson postulate that when we partake of the Supper we are truly "participating in Christ" each time, I suspect it is more a transformative/sanctifying aspect of our union with Christ that is left out in Johnson's clarification. Lastly, Johnson's treatment of the doctrine of adoption is what I feel perhaps the weakest part. He postulates that since justification is forensic and sanctification is innovative, then adoption must be relational, but after reading Garner's tour-de-force on the doctrine of adoption, Johnson's treatment of union and adoption is really lacking in comparison, though it must be noted that Johnson's book was released in 2013 and Garner's in 2017. Johnson's doctrine of adoption is also different with Garner's, as he grounds adoption in the divine sonship status of Christ ("natural sonship" as Johnson describes it), whereas Garner's adoption, which is more theological precise in my opinion as it takes into account the full implication of the incarnation and careful examination of the Pauline corpus, is grounded in Christ's incarnate sonship and eschatological adoption, that is, we are adopted because we are united by faith with Christ as the incarnated, acquired eschatological adoption by His perfect obedience, human Son of God. With all that said, still the best single-volume book on Union with Christ I've read.
July 16, 2023
A straight-forward but insightful description and application of Calvin’s doctrine of “unio cum Christo”. Especially fruitful is the discussion about misinterpretations and wrong emphases of justification in his own reformed tradition. I really enjoyed the clear analysis and criticism on this point. Noteworthy is also the much needed re-emphasis on the importance of church (extra ecclessia nulla sallus!) and the real presence of Christ in the sacraments. Refreshing and well reasoned!
This book presents the best of reformed theology in its clear definitions and logical reasoning and has definitely shaped my understanding of “being in Christ”.
This book presents the best of reformed theology in its clear definitions and logical reasoning and has definitely shaped my understanding of “being in Christ”.
February 3, 2025
A wonderful book that examines the reality of being IN Christ…. This book was a beautiful exploration of the Gospel and unity believers have with Christ in the Gospel. It answered so many questions I had been wrestling with inside modern evangelicalism with the shallowness I see the Gospel often presented with in American churches. The Gospel is rich and life-giving.
My prayer is that this book continues to shape my faith and the way I communicate the Gospel to those in my life.
My prayer is that this book continues to shape my faith and the way I communicate the Gospel to those in my life.
April 11, 2024
Fantastic read. Great theology, good exegesis.
Could be a good intermediate for someone interested in going deeper in systematic theology but isn't ready for anything too technical yet.
Could be a good intermediate for someone interested in going deeper in systematic theology but isn't ready for anything too technical yet.
November 23, 2025
Very verbose and slightly repetitive, but very valuable!
Thankful that union with Christ does not mean I just receive the gifts He gives, but God Himself.
Thankful that union with Christ does not mean I just receive the gifts He gives, but God Himself.
February 11, 2016
For a doctrine that is supposedly "overlooked," union with Christ has been getting a lot of good press lately--and that's a good thing! For it is at the center of our salvation. Justification isn't. Nor forgiveness. Nor anything else. Union with Christ is. God wanted a bride for his son, so he went out and got one. That is Johnson's argument in a nutshell, and it works.
Everything we subsume under the term "salvation" is related to being united to Christ. But Johnson starts before that, with a discussion of Adam. Why? Well, by understanding how we are responsible for both the guilt and the corruption of Adam's first sin, we get a lot closer to understanding how a lot of the rest of Scripture works too. Johnson affirms federalism (we are guilty because Adam was our representative), but also what is known as "realism"--it's not merely that he represented us; we were there with him in his sin. We participated (read the book to understand why this makes sense Biblically).
Thus it is with all parts of our salvation. It is not so much that we are justified. Rather, Christ was justified, and by being united to him, his justification becomes ours. Same with sanctification. Same with sonship. Same with glorification. Read Romans 6, Colossians 3, 1 Cor. 1:30, and so on and so forth. Now, Johnson didn't put it this straightforwardly (he's no Richard Gaffin, unfortunately), but it is still the point he's making--he's most explicit when discussing glorification.
Follow up chapters discuss the church and the means of grace (particularly Word and sacraments). And this makes perfect sense. If all believers are in union with Christ, then by extension we are united to one another. Thus speaking of the church as the "body" of Christ is not just a metaphor! It is a statement of reality. This is probably my favorite part of the second half of Ephesians 5. And then Johnson closes with a good discussion of Word, baptism, and sacraments. When the Word is preached, Christ is truly present--as the second Helvetic Confession states (which unfortunately he does not reference), true preaching of the Word of God IS the Word of God. The same is true of baptism. They are not just signs and symbols. Christ is truly present, and they truly bind us to him (which is why the apostasy of covenant children is such a tragedy, per Hebrews 6; Johnson doesn't make this point though). You don't have to be a Lutheran or a Catholic to believe this. Calvin spoke of it as eloquently as anyone.
In fact, Calvin is quoted more than anyone else in this book, so you know it is on solid ground (and Johnson is even a Lutheran). And indeed, I recommend this book to ALL believers. Read it. Learn more of your salvation. Don't reduce the gospel to the material principle of the Reformation (as important as that is). Embrace your Savior--he was declared righteous by his resurrection; he learned obedience through what he suffered; he was made the son of God by power; he was glorified on high. So it is with you.
Everything we subsume under the term "salvation" is related to being united to Christ. But Johnson starts before that, with a discussion of Adam. Why? Well, by understanding how we are responsible for both the guilt and the corruption of Adam's first sin, we get a lot closer to understanding how a lot of the rest of Scripture works too. Johnson affirms federalism (we are guilty because Adam was our representative), but also what is known as "realism"--it's not merely that he represented us; we were there with him in his sin. We participated (read the book to understand why this makes sense Biblically).
Thus it is with all parts of our salvation. It is not so much that we are justified. Rather, Christ was justified, and by being united to him, his justification becomes ours. Same with sanctification. Same with sonship. Same with glorification. Read Romans 6, Colossians 3, 1 Cor. 1:30, and so on and so forth. Now, Johnson didn't put it this straightforwardly (he's no Richard Gaffin, unfortunately), but it is still the point he's making--he's most explicit when discussing glorification.
Follow up chapters discuss the church and the means of grace (particularly Word and sacraments). And this makes perfect sense. If all believers are in union with Christ, then by extension we are united to one another. Thus speaking of the church as the "body" of Christ is not just a metaphor! It is a statement of reality. This is probably my favorite part of the second half of Ephesians 5. And then Johnson closes with a good discussion of Word, baptism, and sacraments. When the Word is preached, Christ is truly present--as the second Helvetic Confession states (which unfortunately he does not reference), true preaching of the Word of God IS the Word of God. The same is true of baptism. They are not just signs and symbols. Christ is truly present, and they truly bind us to him (which is why the apostasy of covenant children is such a tragedy, per Hebrews 6; Johnson doesn't make this point though). You don't have to be a Lutheran or a Catholic to believe this. Calvin spoke of it as eloquently as anyone.
In fact, Calvin is quoted more than anyone else in this book, so you know it is on solid ground (and Johnson is even a Lutheran). And indeed, I recommend this book to ALL believers. Read it. Learn more of your salvation. Don't reduce the gospel to the material principle of the Reformation (as important as that is). Embrace your Savior--he was declared righteous by his resurrection; he learned obedience through what he suffered; he was made the son of God by power; he was glorified on high. So it is with you.
June 21, 2021
"The premise of this book is that the primary, central, and fundamental reality of salvation is our union with Jesus Christ, because of which union all the benefits of the Savior flow to us, and through which all of these benefits are understood." (29)
Reviews:
https://www.booksataglance.com/book-r...
https://www.reformation21.org/article...
Related Blog Posts:
https://www.crossway.org/articles/10-...
Interview:
https://share.transistor.fm/s/ffaf9e26
Reviews:
https://www.booksataglance.com/book-r...
https://www.reformation21.org/article...
Related Blog Posts:
https://www.crossway.org/articles/10-...
Interview:
https://share.transistor.fm/s/ffaf9e26
October 26, 2016
Superb. Following
The Whole Christ
, this has been my favorite read this year.
June 24, 2024
The first chapter is worth the price of the book.
September 9, 2021
Dr. Marcus Johnson in his book One With Christ seeks to revitalize a critically important theological doctrine that has seemingly been lost in today’s evangelical and protestant articulation of salvation. Through interactions with the 16th-century reformers of Martin Luther and John Calvin, Johnson walks the reader through a reality that he realized had been neglected and forgotten, and this book takes us on the journey that he went through to rediscover this essential evangelical and protestant doctrine. This book provides a rich feast of theological proclamations, reminders, citations, and articulations of a central tenet of the Christian’s salvation in Christ. Union with Christ covers a vast multitude of theological riches that causes the reader's mind and spirit to be reinvigorated in a personal and vicarious manner that transforms the reader's understanding of their reality in Christ and God. To say this book is theologically rich is an understatement, in that, this book reignites the flames of the central passion of the Christian life, which is the reality that the Christian has been reincorporated into the Triune Godhead through being united to Christ. Johnson in this book has represented the feast, the treasure, and the riches that are at the center of our salvation. Johnson has indeed written a landmark theological piece that is a book that every confessional protestant evangelical pastor, leader, and student must-read.
Johnson’s central thesis of his book is that “the primary, central, and fundamental reality of salvation is our union with Jesus Christ, because of which union all the benefits of the Savior flow to us, and through which union all these benefits are to be understood.” (29) Johnson begins his book by providing an introduction where he explains his journey to arrive at this doctrine and why he believes this doctrine has been so neglected in the evangelical and protestant church. Before beginning to go through the central aspects of doctrinal articulation in regards to the Christians’ salvation, in chapter 1 Johnson provides prolegomena by explaining the nature of union with Christ. In chapter 2 Johnson goes over the fallen nature of man in how sin has been imputed to them and the reality of how the incarnation begins the Christians union with Christ. Through chapters 3-6 Johnson describes the various benefits that the Christian receives in their union with Christ, which covers justification, sanctification, adoption, sonship, preservation, and glorification. In chapter 7 Johnson covers another reality of the Christians’ salvation in their union with Christ in their incorporation into the church. Chapter 8 describes the theological importance of the word and sacraments as a reality of who the Christian is in Christ.
Johnson writes his book with a well-educated evangelical protestant in mind and writes his book with the presupposition that the reader of the book sees the 16th-century reformers, John Calvin, and Martin Luther as authoritative and orthodox theologians. To establish the beginning of his argument Johnson first begins by establishing the reality that the notion and importance of union with Christ was a doctrine that was an adamant, personal, and vital reality to the reformers. This establishment of the authority of what Johnson is writing coincides with his further explanations as to why this doctrine has been lost to the current children of the reformation in the evangelical and protestant world. Johnson provides four key reasons why this has been neglected, he says that it is a lack of engagement with sources that emphasize this doctrine, the lowering of the importance of doctrines that make salvation personal/organic/participatory, the reality that evangelicalism does not examine where it has come from, and its influence from enlightenment rationalism which coincides with a resistance to embrace mystery. These four reasons provide Johnson with an avenue to have the reader examine sources that embrace the doctrine of union with Christ, explain the importance of personal doctrines, examine the roots of evangelicalism, and see the theological reality of the mystery.
In chapter one, Johnson provides prolegomena for union with Christ where he articulates the nature of union with Christ. In this chapter the scope of union with Christ is established so that the reader may understand how important, vital, and large of a doctrine that union with Christ is. He establishes that it is a reality that is past, present, and future in that union with Christ involves the Christians election, salvation, and glorification. The essential pieces of union with Christ that Johnson presents is that it is Trinitarian, personal, intimate, vital, organic, and a profound mystery. Johnson’s usage of emphasizing these aspects of union with Christ coincides with his argument in the introduction that evangelicalism has neglected these aspects of who God is and therein neglecting the doctrine of union with Christ. In his establishment of the prolegomena for union with Christ, Johnson also, like articulating doctrine, defines what union with Christ is not. He makes a key negation in this section by stating that union with Christ does not mean deification. He says, “affirming, as we have, that believers are truly joined to Jesus Christ in the fullness of his divine him in person…is not the same thing as affirming that Christians become Gods or gods” (50). There are two other negations that Johnson makes, he states that union with Christ is not a description of the human faith experience and that union with Christ is not just “mere legal and moral notions” (54).
In the second chapter, Johnson goes on to establish the necessity for the Christian to be united with Christ through articulating the effects of sin and the necessity of the incarnation. To avoid union with Christ being a mere legal transaction, Johnson effectively dismantles the notion of federalism, that Adam was a mere representative of humankind. Johnson proposes that Augustinian realism is the reality of the fall of man, in that “the total life of humanity was then in Adam; the race as yet had it is being only in him.” (Augustus, 619). Through this doctrine of imputation, Johnson says that “we experience both the built and condemnation of his primal trespass, as well as the corrupt condition into which he fell '' (75). This setup creates a strong argument to establish the necessity for mankind to be united to Christ since all of mankind was organically present in Adam at the fall. Johnson then articulates the beginning of the Christian’s real union with Christ through articulating the reality of the incarnation and how the incarnation was the beginning of the Christian real union with Christ. The interaction between the incarnation and penal substitutionary atonement is briefly articulated and Johnson concludes that “the incarnation provides the personal grounds for the forensic benefits that flow from Christ’s substitutionary death” (84). Johnson deliberately does not spend much time articulating penal substitutionary atonement since this has taken primacy in most evangelical articulations of soteriology, which creates room for the reader to realize the importance of union with Christ.
In chapters three, four, five, and six Johnson goes over the central benefits of union with Christ which are justification, sanctification, adoption, sonship, preservation, and glorification. Johnson establishes the notion that these realities are not only benefits but are ontological realities through union with Christ by following each chapter with the benefit and its relationship to being “in Christ” as opposed to “a result of” or “because of.” Johnson’s usage of stating each benefit in its relationship to being “in Christ” is a deliberate choice to reflect and articulate the organic, personal, and vicarious nature of union with Christ.
In chapter three the reality of justification in Christ is articulated by defining what justification is and establishing the reality that justification and Christ are inseparable realities. Johnson articulates justification in a manner that cannot be an abstracted legal declaration, rather he articulates justification as not only being in Christ but Christ himself. Justification in Christ is broken into two key sections, the first being the passive obedience of Christ, and the second being the active obedience of Christ. Christ’s passive obedience being the remission of sins for the Christian and his active obedience is the declaration of the Christians’ righteousness as a result of their justification in Christ. Johnson effectively articulates the personal nature of justification in that, according to Johnson, justification is not merely a “forensic mechanism” (103), but rather it is a "sharing in the righteousness of Christ” (109).
After establishing the first aspect of union with Christ, Johnson then goes on to articulate the ensuing benefit of union with Christ, which is the Christian’s sanctification in Christ. To combat much of the abstractionism that has happened in modern evangelicalism, Johnson makes a key point to say that sanctification is not merely “our gratitude to God for forgiveness,” but rather it is “a manifestation of our new life in Christ” (116). Justification and sanctification, according to Johnson and Calvin, are not to be separated since “one always accompanies the other. The reason they cannot be separated, Calvin argued, is because that would be equivalent to dismembering Christ” (122). This notion of justification and sanctification being inseparable is a further demonstration by Johnson that the benefits of union with Christ are tied up in the personhood of who he is in himself. The ensuing results of sanctification are results of and manifestations of the life of Christ in that a Christian is to be mortified by their sin (the death of Christ) and be vivified to the reality of Christ (the resurrection of Christ). Through this logic, Johnson further demonstrates the personhood of Christ and his life as the result of the Christians union with Christ. Johnson further articulates that it is the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Christian and that the Christian is not only progressively sanctified in Christ but has already been sanctified in Christ as well. Another key point that Johnson makes to further present the onto-relationality of the Christians salvation is that sanctification is not to be confused with moralism, but rather a conforming and a further realization into the full humanity of who Christ is.
In chapter five Johnson describes another key benefit that the Christian has in their salvation which is their adoption and sonship in Christ. Johnson argues that there is no greater benefit to the Christian than their adoption and sonship into Christ, to the Father, through the power of the Spirit. He cites Packer that says, “the highest privilege that the gospel offers: higher even than justification…Adoption is higher, because of the richer relationship with God that it involves” (Packer, 206-207). The emphasis on adoption as the primary benefit of being in Christ is a strong argument that Johnson makes. Of all of the benefits of being united to Christ, there is no benefit that is more intimate and uniting than the notion of being adopted by God. It is this articulation of union with Christ that the strongest argument can be made against much of the impersonal nature of today’s evangelical discussion of soteriology. Precisely since adoption is in its essence relational, that the strongest argument can be made for the importance and reality of being united to Christ.
In chapter six Johnson articulates the benefit of being united to Christ in that the Christians is preserved by their union with Christ and is glorified in their union with Christ. Johnson effectively refutes any notions that preservation is dependent upon the actions of the Christian by articulating that the Christian’s preservation is dependent on who Christ is and in his relationship with the Father and the Spirit. This reality is further exemplified in his saying that the preservation of the Christian “is anchored in the personal relations and purposes of the Father, Son, and Spirit. The Father gives us to his Son through his Spirit orare the Spirit joins us to the Son, and through the Son to the Father. Only a breach in the common unity and will of the triune Godhead could sever us from Jesus Christ” (175). The reality of the Christians’s glorification in Christ is articulated in that it will involve the full realization of Christ’s incarnation, justification, sanctification, and adoption. In the Christian’s union with Christ glorification becomes the final consummation of all of the benefits that are received in their union with Christ.
In chapter 7 Johnson articulates the reality of the church in relation to the Christian’s union with Christ. This reality is not only a benefit but the manifestation of who Christ is in relation to those who are united to him. Johnson makes the point that the church is the “mystery of the Gospel” (192). This is stated through the articulation that salvation and the church cannot be separated since to be in Christ is to be in his body. Since Paul describes Christ as the mystery, it is the reality of the Christian being in Christ that is the reality that is the church. Johnson makes the point that the body of Christ is the church, since the body of Christ is Christ himself. Johnson says, “the Church is a living, organic communion of those who have been united into the life of the crucified, resurrected, living Jesus Christ himself—the body of Christ and the mystery of the gospel” (211).
In Chapter 8 Johnson provides an articulation of how the word and sacraments are “visible sign(s) of an invisible reality” (214). A further rebuke of much of modern day evangelicalism is articulated in Johnson’s statement that if a “church begins with a soteriology dominated by abstract, impersonal, and extrinsic categories, then the sacraments are bound to follow suit; the church is left with no other hand to play” (216). According to Johnson, a proper understanding of the importance of union with Christ is innately tied to an understanding of the importance of the sacraments. The two aspects of the sacraments are the preached word and the visible word of God (baptism & the Lord’s supper). The word being not only the proclaimed word but in the essence that Christ is the word of God and the words of God are the proclamations and manifestations of the word of God. Johnson ties this into the visible words of God by saying that, “if robustly sacramental notions of baptism and the Lord’s supper are generally foreign to, or even opposed by, contemporary evangelical Protestants, it may be because the notion of the real presence of Christ in the preached Word is similarly foreign” (220). Baptism is to be understood as God’s pledge to the Chrsitian to be incorporated in the death and resurrection of Christ through the Christians union with Christ. The Lord’s supper is not to be understood as a mere memorialistic event but rather a mysterious participation in partaking in being joined to Christ, which is the gospel.
Through this articulation Johnson has demonstrated how every aspect of the Christins salvation is a part of and a result of being united to Christ. Whether it be justification, sanctification, adoption, sonship, preservation, glorification, incorporation into the church, the preaching of the word, baptism, or the Lord’s Supper. Johnson effectively demonstrates how union with Christ is the umbrella concept in which the Christian is to understand their salvation and reality in Christ.
Throughout ``Union with Christ'' Johnson effectively defends his thesis that “the primary, central, and fundamental reality of salvation is our union with Jesus Christ” (29). There are many theological points that Johnson demonstrates effectively and there also a couple of weaknesses that could be improved upon.
The first theological exercise that Johnson does effectively is tying his central thesis and the title of the book into every sentence and word throughout the book. Johnson’s approach of providing a prolegomena in articulating why the doctrine of union with Christ has been neglected and why it is a vitally important doctrine food today, then articulating the reason for why union with Christ had to occur in the fall of Adam, and the articulation of the benefits and realities of being incorporated into Christ is an excellent demonstration of how systematic theology is to be done and demonstrated for the church. Johnson does not merely set up propositions that are unrelated to each other, but rather systematically works through the reality of union with Christ and how it incorporates into the Christian’s understanding of their salvation.
The second strong theological exercise that Johnson does is refuting the individualistic and gnostic tendencies and teachings of many of today’s modern evangelicals. Johnson does an excellent job of demonstrating how a lack of union with Christ leads to doctrines that result in abstractions from who Christ is and how Christians have been united to him. Most notably are his refutations of memoralism and how a lack of understanding of union with Christ has led to many evangelical churches embracing memorialistic notions of communion and have inadvertently developed gnostic notions of what the church is. Johnson has done an excellent job of demonstration how an understanding of union with Christ results in an understanding of communion as a mysterious reality that incorporates the presence of Christ into the bread and the wine. In regards to much of today’s modern evangelical ecclesiology Johnson has demonstrated how a proper understanding of the Christains union with Christ as physical and spiritual refutes and guards against the gonsitic notion of the church merely being those who are Christian. An orthodox ecclesiology, according to Johnson, incorporates not only the spiritual reality of the preached word but also the physical reality of the bread and wine. Johnson has masterfully accomplished the theological exercise of demonstrating union with Christ as the basis for how a church is to live out their reality in Christ.
In conclusion, Johnson has achieved a theological magnum opus that should be read and internalized by all of those who desire to lead the church and further understand the reality of their salvation. Union with Christ is truly a theological feast of who Christ is and the reality of who Christians are in Christ. May all Christians know to be of Christ is to be in Christ.
Johnson’s central thesis of his book is that “the primary, central, and fundamental reality of salvation is our union with Jesus Christ, because of which union all the benefits of the Savior flow to us, and through which union all these benefits are to be understood.” (29) Johnson begins his book by providing an introduction where he explains his journey to arrive at this doctrine and why he believes this doctrine has been so neglected in the evangelical and protestant church. Before beginning to go through the central aspects of doctrinal articulation in regards to the Christians’ salvation, in chapter 1 Johnson provides prolegomena by explaining the nature of union with Christ. In chapter 2 Johnson goes over the fallen nature of man in how sin has been imputed to them and the reality of how the incarnation begins the Christians union with Christ. Through chapters 3-6 Johnson describes the various benefits that the Christian receives in their union with Christ, which covers justification, sanctification, adoption, sonship, preservation, and glorification. In chapter 7 Johnson covers another reality of the Christians’ salvation in their union with Christ in their incorporation into the church. Chapter 8 describes the theological importance of the word and sacraments as a reality of who the Christian is in Christ.
Johnson writes his book with a well-educated evangelical protestant in mind and writes his book with the presupposition that the reader of the book sees the 16th-century reformers, John Calvin, and Martin Luther as authoritative and orthodox theologians. To establish the beginning of his argument Johnson first begins by establishing the reality that the notion and importance of union with Christ was a doctrine that was an adamant, personal, and vital reality to the reformers. This establishment of the authority of what Johnson is writing coincides with his further explanations as to why this doctrine has been lost to the current children of the reformation in the evangelical and protestant world. Johnson provides four key reasons why this has been neglected, he says that it is a lack of engagement with sources that emphasize this doctrine, the lowering of the importance of doctrines that make salvation personal/organic/participatory, the reality that evangelicalism does not examine where it has come from, and its influence from enlightenment rationalism which coincides with a resistance to embrace mystery. These four reasons provide Johnson with an avenue to have the reader examine sources that embrace the doctrine of union with Christ, explain the importance of personal doctrines, examine the roots of evangelicalism, and see the theological reality of the mystery.
In chapter one, Johnson provides prolegomena for union with Christ where he articulates the nature of union with Christ. In this chapter the scope of union with Christ is established so that the reader may understand how important, vital, and large of a doctrine that union with Christ is. He establishes that it is a reality that is past, present, and future in that union with Christ involves the Christians election, salvation, and glorification. The essential pieces of union with Christ that Johnson presents is that it is Trinitarian, personal, intimate, vital, organic, and a profound mystery. Johnson’s usage of emphasizing these aspects of union with Christ coincides with his argument in the introduction that evangelicalism has neglected these aspects of who God is and therein neglecting the doctrine of union with Christ. In his establishment of the prolegomena for union with Christ, Johnson also, like articulating doctrine, defines what union with Christ is not. He makes a key negation in this section by stating that union with Christ does not mean deification. He says, “affirming, as we have, that believers are truly joined to Jesus Christ in the fullness of his divine him in person…is not the same thing as affirming that Christians become Gods or gods” (50). There are two other negations that Johnson makes, he states that union with Christ is not a description of the human faith experience and that union with Christ is not just “mere legal and moral notions” (54).
In the second chapter, Johnson goes on to establish the necessity for the Christian to be united with Christ through articulating the effects of sin and the necessity of the incarnation. To avoid union with Christ being a mere legal transaction, Johnson effectively dismantles the notion of federalism, that Adam was a mere representative of humankind. Johnson proposes that Augustinian realism is the reality of the fall of man, in that “the total life of humanity was then in Adam; the race as yet had it is being only in him.” (Augustus, 619). Through this doctrine of imputation, Johnson says that “we experience both the built and condemnation of his primal trespass, as well as the corrupt condition into which he fell '' (75). This setup creates a strong argument to establish the necessity for mankind to be united to Christ since all of mankind was organically present in Adam at the fall. Johnson then articulates the beginning of the Christian’s real union with Christ through articulating the reality of the incarnation and how the incarnation was the beginning of the Christian real union with Christ. The interaction between the incarnation and penal substitutionary atonement is briefly articulated and Johnson concludes that “the incarnation provides the personal grounds for the forensic benefits that flow from Christ’s substitutionary death” (84). Johnson deliberately does not spend much time articulating penal substitutionary atonement since this has taken primacy in most evangelical articulations of soteriology, which creates room for the reader to realize the importance of union with Christ.
In chapters three, four, five, and six Johnson goes over the central benefits of union with Christ which are justification, sanctification, adoption, sonship, preservation, and glorification. Johnson establishes the notion that these realities are not only benefits but are ontological realities through union with Christ by following each chapter with the benefit and its relationship to being “in Christ” as opposed to “a result of” or “because of.” Johnson’s usage of stating each benefit in its relationship to being “in Christ” is a deliberate choice to reflect and articulate the organic, personal, and vicarious nature of union with Christ.
In chapter three the reality of justification in Christ is articulated by defining what justification is and establishing the reality that justification and Christ are inseparable realities. Johnson articulates justification in a manner that cannot be an abstracted legal declaration, rather he articulates justification as not only being in Christ but Christ himself. Justification in Christ is broken into two key sections, the first being the passive obedience of Christ, and the second being the active obedience of Christ. Christ’s passive obedience being the remission of sins for the Christian and his active obedience is the declaration of the Christians’ righteousness as a result of their justification in Christ. Johnson effectively articulates the personal nature of justification in that, according to Johnson, justification is not merely a “forensic mechanism” (103), but rather it is a "sharing in the righteousness of Christ” (109).
After establishing the first aspect of union with Christ, Johnson then goes on to articulate the ensuing benefit of union with Christ, which is the Christian’s sanctification in Christ. To combat much of the abstractionism that has happened in modern evangelicalism, Johnson makes a key point to say that sanctification is not merely “our gratitude to God for forgiveness,” but rather it is “a manifestation of our new life in Christ” (116). Justification and sanctification, according to Johnson and Calvin, are not to be separated since “one always accompanies the other. The reason they cannot be separated, Calvin argued, is because that would be equivalent to dismembering Christ” (122). This notion of justification and sanctification being inseparable is a further demonstration by Johnson that the benefits of union with Christ are tied up in the personhood of who he is in himself. The ensuing results of sanctification are results of and manifestations of the life of Christ in that a Christian is to be mortified by their sin (the death of Christ) and be vivified to the reality of Christ (the resurrection of Christ). Through this logic, Johnson further demonstrates the personhood of Christ and his life as the result of the Christians union with Christ. Johnson further articulates that it is the role of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Christian and that the Christian is not only progressively sanctified in Christ but has already been sanctified in Christ as well. Another key point that Johnson makes to further present the onto-relationality of the Christians salvation is that sanctification is not to be confused with moralism, but rather a conforming and a further realization into the full humanity of who Christ is.
In chapter five Johnson describes another key benefit that the Christian has in their salvation which is their adoption and sonship in Christ. Johnson argues that there is no greater benefit to the Christian than their adoption and sonship into Christ, to the Father, through the power of the Spirit. He cites Packer that says, “the highest privilege that the gospel offers: higher even than justification…Adoption is higher, because of the richer relationship with God that it involves” (Packer, 206-207). The emphasis on adoption as the primary benefit of being in Christ is a strong argument that Johnson makes. Of all of the benefits of being united to Christ, there is no benefit that is more intimate and uniting than the notion of being adopted by God. It is this articulation of union with Christ that the strongest argument can be made against much of the impersonal nature of today’s evangelical discussion of soteriology. Precisely since adoption is in its essence relational, that the strongest argument can be made for the importance and reality of being united to Christ.
In chapter six Johnson articulates the benefit of being united to Christ in that the Christians is preserved by their union with Christ and is glorified in their union with Christ. Johnson effectively refutes any notions that preservation is dependent upon the actions of the Christian by articulating that the Christian’s preservation is dependent on who Christ is and in his relationship with the Father and the Spirit. This reality is further exemplified in his saying that the preservation of the Christian “is anchored in the personal relations and purposes of the Father, Son, and Spirit. The Father gives us to his Son through his Spirit orare the Spirit joins us to the Son, and through the Son to the Father. Only a breach in the common unity and will of the triune Godhead could sever us from Jesus Christ” (175). The reality of the Christians’s glorification in Christ is articulated in that it will involve the full realization of Christ’s incarnation, justification, sanctification, and adoption. In the Christian’s union with Christ glorification becomes the final consummation of all of the benefits that are received in their union with Christ.
In chapter 7 Johnson articulates the reality of the church in relation to the Christian’s union with Christ. This reality is not only a benefit but the manifestation of who Christ is in relation to those who are united to him. Johnson makes the point that the church is the “mystery of the Gospel” (192). This is stated through the articulation that salvation and the church cannot be separated since to be in Christ is to be in his body. Since Paul describes Christ as the mystery, it is the reality of the Christian being in Christ that is the reality that is the church. Johnson makes the point that the body of Christ is the church, since the body of Christ is Christ himself. Johnson says, “the Church is a living, organic communion of those who have been united into the life of the crucified, resurrected, living Jesus Christ himself—the body of Christ and the mystery of the gospel” (211).
In Chapter 8 Johnson provides an articulation of how the word and sacraments are “visible sign(s) of an invisible reality” (214). A further rebuke of much of modern day evangelicalism is articulated in Johnson’s statement that if a “church begins with a soteriology dominated by abstract, impersonal, and extrinsic categories, then the sacraments are bound to follow suit; the church is left with no other hand to play” (216). According to Johnson, a proper understanding of the importance of union with Christ is innately tied to an understanding of the importance of the sacraments. The two aspects of the sacraments are the preached word and the visible word of God (baptism & the Lord’s supper). The word being not only the proclaimed word but in the essence that Christ is the word of God and the words of God are the proclamations and manifestations of the word of God. Johnson ties this into the visible words of God by saying that, “if robustly sacramental notions of baptism and the Lord’s supper are generally foreign to, or even opposed by, contemporary evangelical Protestants, it may be because the notion of the real presence of Christ in the preached Word is similarly foreign” (220). Baptism is to be understood as God’s pledge to the Chrsitian to be incorporated in the death and resurrection of Christ through the Christians union with Christ. The Lord’s supper is not to be understood as a mere memorialistic event but rather a mysterious participation in partaking in being joined to Christ, which is the gospel.
Through this articulation Johnson has demonstrated how every aspect of the Christins salvation is a part of and a result of being united to Christ. Whether it be justification, sanctification, adoption, sonship, preservation, glorification, incorporation into the church, the preaching of the word, baptism, or the Lord’s Supper. Johnson effectively demonstrates how union with Christ is the umbrella concept in which the Christian is to understand their salvation and reality in Christ.
Throughout ``Union with Christ'' Johnson effectively defends his thesis that “the primary, central, and fundamental reality of salvation is our union with Jesus Christ” (29). There are many theological points that Johnson demonstrates effectively and there also a couple of weaknesses that could be improved upon.
The first theological exercise that Johnson does effectively is tying his central thesis and the title of the book into every sentence and word throughout the book. Johnson’s approach of providing a prolegomena in articulating why the doctrine of union with Christ has been neglected and why it is a vitally important doctrine food today, then articulating the reason for why union with Christ had to occur in the fall of Adam, and the articulation of the benefits and realities of being incorporated into Christ is an excellent demonstration of how systematic theology is to be done and demonstrated for the church. Johnson does not merely set up propositions that are unrelated to each other, but rather systematically works through the reality of union with Christ and how it incorporates into the Christian’s understanding of their salvation.
The second strong theological exercise that Johnson does is refuting the individualistic and gnostic tendencies and teachings of many of today’s modern evangelicals. Johnson does an excellent job of demonstrating how a lack of union with Christ leads to doctrines that result in abstractions from who Christ is and how Christians have been united to him. Most notably are his refutations of memoralism and how a lack of understanding of union with Christ has led to many evangelical churches embracing memorialistic notions of communion and have inadvertently developed gnostic notions of what the church is. Johnson has done an excellent job of demonstration how an understanding of union with Christ results in an understanding of communion as a mysterious reality that incorporates the presence of Christ into the bread and the wine. In regards to much of today’s modern evangelical ecclesiology Johnson has demonstrated how a proper understanding of the Christains union with Christ as physical and spiritual refutes and guards against the gonsitic notion of the church merely being those who are Christian. An orthodox ecclesiology, according to Johnson, incorporates not only the spiritual reality of the preached word but also the physical reality of the bread and wine. Johnson has masterfully accomplished the theological exercise of demonstrating union with Christ as the basis for how a church is to live out their reality in Christ.
In conclusion, Johnson has achieved a theological magnum opus that should be read and internalized by all of those who desire to lead the church and further understand the reality of their salvation. Union with Christ is truly a theological feast of who Christ is and the reality of who Christians are in Christ. May all Christians know to be of Christ is to be in Christ.
January 24, 2025
An excellent read. Dr. Johnson looks at soteriology (but also ecclesiology and sacramentology) through the lense of union with Christ. His thesis is that union with Christ - being "in Christ" and "one with Christ" (language heavily used in the Pauline and Johannine writings) - is what it means to be saved. Salvation is not the reception of certain benefits from Christ - it is reception of Christ Himself. Johnson argues that this is a return to how the early church fathers and the Reformers thought about salvation. Since then, however, evangelical soteriology - especially in the Reformed context - has moved towards legal/forensic thinking about salvation. Certainly, salvation has a legal/forensic element, but Johnson argues that union with Christ is the main grid through which the application of salvation is to be understood. Thus, we are justified because we partake in the righteousness of the Christ we are united to (Php. 3:8-9, Rom. 8:1; still an alien, imputed righteousness since this righteousness is not our own by merit, but a righteousness we still obtain through union with the Righteous One) and participate in the vindication of His resurrection. We are adopted because we share in the sonship of Christ. We are sanctified because we share in the holiness of Christ (1 Cor. 1:30). Union with Christ causally proceeds and results in all of these benefits.
This union helps explain the necessity of Christ's divine and human natures. Christ must take on humanity to join HImself to our humanity. But in being joined to Christ through His incarnate humanity we are joined to the whole Christ. Because the whole Christ is truly divine as well as truly human we are brought into the union the eternal Son enjoys with the Father through the Spirit. Pg. 42: "To say that our union with Christ is Trinitarian means that by virtue of being incorporated into the life of Jesus Christ, we participate in the life, love, and fellowship of the Trinity. Because the Son is one with the Father, our being joined to the Son means we are joined to the Father. And because the Spirit exists as the bond of communion between the Father and Son, he brings us into that communion by uniting us to Christ."
Johnson has an interesting discussion in Chapter 2 ("Sin and the Incarnation") regarding the transmission of Adam's original sin. He provides the arguments for and against federalism (the idea that Adam's sin is legally imputed to his natural offspring by virtue of his federal headship, thus accounting for the guilt of mankind) and realism (the idea that all humanity was organically united to Adam and therefore "really" sinned in him, thus accounting for the pollution of their nature). He posits a third middle-way: Christological realism. This view does not differentiate between a "federal union" and a "mystical union" with Adam. Rather, it sees mankind as being in a mystical union with Adam which includes forensic elements. This then becomes a mirror for how we understand our union with Christ. Believers are not justified because of a federal union with Christ and then sanctified by a mystical union with Christ. Rather, both justification and sanctification flow out of our mystical union with Christ which has federal elements.
The book ends with an excellent chapter on how the Word and sacraments are to be understood in light of this reality of union with Christ. Pg. 214: "[T]he visible/physical signs of water, bread, and wine refer to, and bring us to participate in, the reality to which they point, namely, Jesus Christ." I appreciated that Johnson went beyond the usual evangelical "sign and seal" discussion of the sacraments and acknowledged that the sacraments actually bring believers into a mystical participation with Christ (although only through faith and by the Spirit, thereby maintaining the traditional evangelical distinctiveness of the means of grace). He notes that the incarnation itself is an act of God sacramentally dealing with His creatures ("God, without ceasing to be God, became that which he created in order to mediate his personal presence. Christianity has historically embraced sacramental mystery precisely because Christianity is rooted in the mystery of the God-man" - pg. 215). He also notes that the preached Word has a sacramental function - it is not merely the exegetical dissemination of information, but rather is Christ present with His people and speaking to His people through the medium of preaching.
Overall, an excellent read for anyone interested in understanding evangelical soteriology. It is an academic read, but not to the point that it loses its edifying nature in technicalities. Highly recommended.
This union helps explain the necessity of Christ's divine and human natures. Christ must take on humanity to join HImself to our humanity. But in being joined to Christ through His incarnate humanity we are joined to the whole Christ. Because the whole Christ is truly divine as well as truly human we are brought into the union the eternal Son enjoys with the Father through the Spirit. Pg. 42: "To say that our union with Christ is Trinitarian means that by virtue of being incorporated into the life of Jesus Christ, we participate in the life, love, and fellowship of the Trinity. Because the Son is one with the Father, our being joined to the Son means we are joined to the Father. And because the Spirit exists as the bond of communion between the Father and Son, he brings us into that communion by uniting us to Christ."
Johnson has an interesting discussion in Chapter 2 ("Sin and the Incarnation") regarding the transmission of Adam's original sin. He provides the arguments for and against federalism (the idea that Adam's sin is legally imputed to his natural offspring by virtue of his federal headship, thus accounting for the guilt of mankind) and realism (the idea that all humanity was organically united to Adam and therefore "really" sinned in him, thus accounting for the pollution of their nature). He posits a third middle-way: Christological realism. This view does not differentiate between a "federal union" and a "mystical union" with Adam. Rather, it sees mankind as being in a mystical union with Adam which includes forensic elements. This then becomes a mirror for how we understand our union with Christ. Believers are not justified because of a federal union with Christ and then sanctified by a mystical union with Christ. Rather, both justification and sanctification flow out of our mystical union with Christ which has federal elements.
The book ends with an excellent chapter on how the Word and sacraments are to be understood in light of this reality of union with Christ. Pg. 214: "[T]he visible/physical signs of water, bread, and wine refer to, and bring us to participate in, the reality to which they point, namely, Jesus Christ." I appreciated that Johnson went beyond the usual evangelical "sign and seal" discussion of the sacraments and acknowledged that the sacraments actually bring believers into a mystical participation with Christ (although only through faith and by the Spirit, thereby maintaining the traditional evangelical distinctiveness of the means of grace). He notes that the incarnation itself is an act of God sacramentally dealing with His creatures ("God, without ceasing to be God, became that which he created in order to mediate his personal presence. Christianity has historically embraced sacramental mystery precisely because Christianity is rooted in the mystery of the God-man" - pg. 215). He also notes that the preached Word has a sacramental function - it is not merely the exegetical dissemination of information, but rather is Christ present with His people and speaking to His people through the medium of preaching.
Overall, an excellent read for anyone interested in understanding evangelical soteriology. It is an academic read, but not to the point that it loses its edifying nature in technicalities. Highly recommended.
February 24, 2023
Three stars seems painfully too few for the subject–I do genuinely love the subject of this book, namely, union with Christ.
And I even love much of Johnson's treatment of it. But some parts of this book feel like overcorrection or, more colloquially, everything looking like a nail when you have a hammer. His point is that modern evangelicalism is impoverished because it has made too little of our union with Christ, certainly less of it than our theological forebears like the church fathers and the Reformers (Johnson himself did his graduate studies on Calvin, which awakened him to the gaping lacuna).
Oddly enough, I do agree with Johnson's thesis. But I differ on two points. First, I fear that by pushing back against the West's tendency to emphasize justification over union with Christ in salvation we may minimize justification in a time when justification is already minimized. Secondly, I would not adopt "real presence" language in the Lord's Table like Johnson does, although I do believe Christ to be present during that ordinance. Johnson wants to call the modern church back to the Reformers' view of the Lord's Table, but he does not touch on the fact that Luther and Calvin were not at all agreed in their views of the Lord's Table.
Still, I do not regret reading this book, and I agree with its thesis, if not so strongly as the author.
And I even love much of Johnson's treatment of it. But some parts of this book feel like overcorrection or, more colloquially, everything looking like a nail when you have a hammer. His point is that modern evangelicalism is impoverished because it has made too little of our union with Christ, certainly less of it than our theological forebears like the church fathers and the Reformers (Johnson himself did his graduate studies on Calvin, which awakened him to the gaping lacuna).
Oddly enough, I do agree with Johnson's thesis. But I differ on two points. First, I fear that by pushing back against the West's tendency to emphasize justification over union with Christ in salvation we may minimize justification in a time when justification is already minimized. Secondly, I would not adopt "real presence" language in the Lord's Table like Johnson does, although I do believe Christ to be present during that ordinance. Johnson wants to call the modern church back to the Reformers' view of the Lord's Table, but he does not touch on the fact that Luther and Calvin were not at all agreed in their views of the Lord's Table.
Still, I do not regret reading this book, and I agree with its thesis, if not so strongly as the author.
October 3, 2025
This book was fantastic, because the topic is great and it's presentation was great. Usually in a book that I find things I disagree with it may leave a slight uneasiness in me before giving it 5 stars. Especially if it's arguments are bad. I did disagree with this book at multiple points. But nonetheless its main thesis, that salvation is fundamentally grounded in union with Christ is described beautifully. Something which as of now I think will effect my thinking for the foreseeable future.
This reality is so important that this book has done what many other books have failed. It has given me an idea which genuinely pushes me to believe in real presence in the sacraments. I've been looking into this for months having read multiple books on the Supper. This book instead of charging straight for the Supper has made it reasonable by showing how it ties into the bigger picture. Its beautiful to see how all things point to Christ.
One thing that didn't sit right with me was the argument from Chapter 2 in which our union with Adam is like that of our union with Christ. But I cant help but feel they cant be truly similar because it is through the Spirit I am united to Christ, but how and why am I united to Adam?
This reality is so important that this book has done what many other books have failed. It has given me an idea which genuinely pushes me to believe in real presence in the sacraments. I've been looking into this for months having read multiple books on the Supper. This book instead of charging straight for the Supper has made it reasonable by showing how it ties into the bigger picture. Its beautiful to see how all things point to Christ.
One thing that didn't sit right with me was the argument from Chapter 2 in which our union with Adam is like that of our union with Christ. But I cant help but feel they cant be truly similar because it is through the Spirit I am united to Christ, but how and why am I united to Adam?
November 18, 2025
This book is crazy dense, and theologically full. However it brings a beautiful and well thought out theology of soteriology in union with Christ Jesus and every benefit of life that follows: Justification, Sanctification, Adoption, glorification, and the sacraments.
This book is so profound. Definitely not an easy light read that is built for engagement but an out pour of wisdom and life changing truth. I had to sit and digest a lot of the information for hours on end from these chapters and what they mean for the Christian life.
All in all, this book will forever be on my shelf. It was wonderful.
This book is so profound. Definitely not an easy light read that is built for engagement but an out pour of wisdom and life changing truth. I had to sit and digest a lot of the information for hours on end from these chapters and what they mean for the Christian life.
All in all, this book will forever be on my shelf. It was wonderful.
May 30, 2021
I really wanted to love this book bit I just can't. I know next to nothing about Reformed doctrine, having grew up Catholic and converting to Protestant at 19, now 37. I am a well-educated person (degree in English literature) and avid reader, this book talked over me in every step of the way. I made it 100 pages before I gave up. I have zero idea what is happening and I have to google so many words, it's just not interesting. I felt like it was purposeful in its intent to belittle my knowledge and hold that hostage over me like some secret I cannot grasp, which makes me angry.
December 31, 2018
Definitely not enough books on this topic in a readable format. However, Johnson does a great job of unpacking the biblical doctrine of union with Christ as it effects our soteriology as well as our ecclesiology. Unpacking a “new” way of viewing salvation, sanctification, and the sacraments this book will help reframe the way I engage the writings of Paul and discussions of what it means to be a Christian, a member of the body of a Christ and a shepherd of those who are “in Christ”.
April 21, 2021
Certainly an introductory work into the doctrine of union with Christ and salvation, but an excellent one nonetheless. When I first read it, just really beginning to grow in my understanding of theology, this book rocked my world. I may not agree with all of Johnson's conclusions, but I have no reservations recommending this book to anyone wanting to understand the reality of what they really have in Jesus Christ.
April 27, 2022
An outstanding book for seminary and lay members who love theology
An easy and convicting book that draws the reader closer to understanding their unity in Christ. Johnson, does a fantastic job. The only chapter I had a bit of a struggle to understand or thought that he was biased was his last chapter, and more specifically the section on the Lords Supper. While he is persuasive in his argument, I am not convinced yet.
An easy and convicting book that draws the reader closer to understanding their unity in Christ. Johnson, does a fantastic job. The only chapter I had a bit of a struggle to understand or thought that he was biased was his last chapter, and more specifically the section on the Lords Supper. While he is persuasive in his argument, I am not convinced yet.
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