# WSC 30: Working faith in us and thereby uniting us to Christ in our effectual calling



## kodos (Mar 13, 2014)

Hi everyone,
I need to pick the brain of the members of the uber-smart Puritanboard regarding Union with Christ and Faith. I have been studying Shorter Catechism Q. 30.



> Q.30 How doth the Spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?
> A: The Spirit applieth to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us, (Eph. 1:13–14, John 6:37–39, Eph. 2:8) and *thereby uniting us to Christ* in our effectual calling. (Eph. 3:17, 1 Cor. 1:9)



I am a little fuzzy about whether the Shorter Catechism is making any claims about the order of faith being worked in us and our being united to Christ. Is the Catechism stating that faith being worked in us thereby unites us to Christ? Is it stating that Faith comes first -> Union with Christ.

What do you all think?


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## KMK (Mar 14, 2014)

Thomas Boston:



> 1. The Spirit of Christ comes in the word, and enters into the heart of the elect sinner dead in sin. The word is the great vehicle of divine appointment, wherein the Spirit is given. And in that he comes and makes room for himself, and takes it up. And the Spirit is a Spirit of life, a Spirit of faith, and one with Christ, as he is one of the three persons in the one Godhead. So that when he is one into the soul, it is quickened, changed, regenerated, and really united to Christ passively, in so far as the Spirit is Christ's Spirit.
> 
> 2. That quickening Spirit now entered into the elect soul works faith in it; and thus ugly true faith is wrought, not from our natural powers. Hereby the soul lays hold on Christ, and actually unites with him. Being quickened and actuated by the Spirit, it acts in believing.



The efficient cause of union with Christ is the HS. Passively, the word is the instrumental cause. But actively, faith is the instrumental cause. Either way, I think the order being expressed is logical, not temporal.


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## reaganmarsh (Mar 19, 2014)

KMK said:


> Thomas Boston:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



That's a helpful quote. Would you mind providing the citation info so I may read him further on this?


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## kodos (Mar 20, 2014)

Oops, sorry for not responding back to this thread. And thanks for the help. My understanding of this is actually, that I was reading too much into the "uniting us to Christ" as if what is being spoken of is the first cause of the union. Rather, what I believe is being spoken of here is the final act of linking us to Christ from the _creature's perspective_. Think of it as the completing of a circuit, whereby we are only fully in union with Christ once faith is worked in us and we respond by faith to Him after our regeneration. Again, this happens virtually instantaneously - but we are in union with Him first from Him initiating the union, but this circuit is completed when we embrace Him by faith. I have to thank Rev. Koller (my Pastor) for showing me this clearly, but here are some other helps.

*Fisher's Catechism:*
Q. 16. Is Christ united to us before we become united to him?
A. The union is mutual, but it begins first on his side, 1 John 4:19.

Q. 19. How does the Spirit of Christ unite himself first to us?
A. By coming into the soul, at the happy moment appointed for the spiritual marriage with Christ, and quickening it, so that it is no more morally dead, but alive, having new spiritual powers put into it, Eph. 2:5 -- "Even when we were dead in sins, he hath quickened us."

Q. 21. What is the immediate effect of quickening the dead soul, by the Spirit of Christ passively received?
A. The immediate effect of it is actual believing: Christ being come in by his Spirit, the dead soul is thereby quickened, and the immediate effect of this is, the embracing him by faith, *by which the union is completed*, John 5:25.

Q. 29. What are the bonds of this union?
A. The Spirit on Christ's part, 1 John 3:24, and faith on ours, Eph. 3:17.

*Francis Beattie*
Effectual calling _viewed Christwards_ effects spiritual union with him; viewed man-wards it produces regeneration, and in the sphere of _man's activity_ it evinces faith in Christ. This is the complete statement of the matter as taught in the Standards.


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## kodos (Mar 20, 2014)

reaganmarsh said:


> That's a helpful quote. Would you mind providing the citation info so I may read him further on this?



I believe that's Thomas Boston's an Illustration of the Doctrines of the Christian Religion. You can find it on Google Books If I recall correctly, I have it as part of my Logos library.


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## KMK (Mar 20, 2014)

kodos said:


> reaganmarsh said:
> 
> 
> > That's a helpful quote. Would you mind providing the citation info so I may read him further on this?
> ...



It could be. I found it in Works, Vol I, pg. 548


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## kodos (Mar 20, 2014)

You and I are both right  Here's the citation from Logos:

Boston, T. (1848). The Whole Works of Thomas Boston: An Illustration of the Doctrines of the Christian Religion, Part 1. (S. M‘Millan, Ed.) (Vol. 1, p. 548). Aberdeen: George and Robert King.


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