John Murray on Union with Christ

Tony Reinke John Murray, Union with Christ

A favorite little theology text is John Murray’s Redemption: Accomplished and Applied (Eerdmans). It’s not a large book and it’s not a new book (now 55 years old), but it’s the wonderful fruit of a first-rate theologian. Since I recently posted my scribbles from a lecture on the topic of union with Christ I figured I would post a few quotes from the second-to-final chapter of Murray’s RAA (“Union with Christ,” pages 161–173). Murray is not a man of overstatement.

On page 170: “Union with Christ is the central truth of the whole doctrine of salvation. All to which the people of God have been predestined in the eternal election of God, all that has been secured and procured for them in the once-for-all accomplishment of redemption, all of which they become the actual partakers in the application of redemption, and all that by God’s grace they will become in the state of consummated bliss is embraced within the compass of union and communion with Christ.”

On page 171: “It is out of the measureless fullness of grace and truth, of wisdom and power, of goodness and love, of righteousness and faithfulness which resides in him that God’s people draw for all their needs in this life and for the hope of the life to come. There is no truth, therefore, more suited to impart confidence and strength, comfort and joy in the Lord than this one of union with Christ.”

2 thoughts on “John Murray on Union with Christ”

  1. Another: “Union with Christ is a very inclusive subject. It embraces the wide span of salvation from its ultimate source in the eternal election of God to its final fruition in the glorification of the elect. It is not simply a phase in the application of redemption; it underlies every aspect of of redemption both in its accomplishment and in its application. Union with Christ binds all together and insures that to all for whom Christ has purchased redemption he effectively applies and communicates the same.”

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