What does it mean to be in practical union with Christ? This is the one thing that the faith drives towards and has meaning in terms of being in the Kingdom of God and having liberty from and protection from the Kingdom of Satan. In other words, when it comes down to the reality of being a Christian it is actual union, in real time, with Christ (with the Triune God) that has practical meaning regarding salvation.
Faith effects this, but I am talking here about how this union is effected in a real way. Christians historically leave this subject in mystical realms and language, but when you know the Work you can see and effect the union with Christ practically.
You have to use the categories of prophet, priest and king. This is the image of God that you share with Christ.
The way you effect union with Christ as a prophet is to engage His Word and develop by degree in real understanding of it.
Along with that you practice in real time the priestly function of loving your enemies and forgiving your debtors so that God will forgive you your debts. (For a Work person this is understood in practical language and practices such as not internally-considering.)
And with all of this you develop as a King, as you, by degree, win and consolidate more and more inner command in your inner being, or inner domain. The language of the Work makes all this practical (otherwise I'm just talking like any mainstream Christian who has yet to enter the school level).
Real development of understanding based on the Word of God is a real, practical way you are in union with Christ, to greater and greater degree. And then kingly presence and inner command and priestly sacrifice (sacrificing your suffering, fake suffering or not) is how you develop internally to the Real Internal Presence that approaches Christ. Accumulating higher energy via self-remembering is also working with the Holy Spirit which puts you in union, or connection, with Christ. Not grieving the Spirit (provoking your limits and extending your limits for being able to not grieve the Spirit) is how you develop greater real union with Christ.
Prayer as communication effects and develops union with Christ as well, in the midst of all the above.
You'll experience what Christ experienced when He was in the world. This is part of real union with Christ.
In all the above I am referring to the union a believer has with Christ that is built on the foundational union effected by effectual calling and regeneration and conversion (having faith in Jesus and repentance for sin). Justification is by faith alone. No ifs, ands, or buts.
Once justifified and a child of God, you are still in this fallen body and this fallen world, and you don't stop living and striving to recover fully the image of god. It's not required for salvation, it is the fruit of saving faith and justification.
1. Connecting with Christ, or being in union with Christ, by greater and greater degree - or degree of 'deepening' of that union - regarding being a prophet corresponds more to the 'spiritual or mystical' union Christians have recognized over time. This has to do with language and communication. The Word of God, meditation, prayer, presence.
2. Connecting with Christ, or being in union with Christ, by greater and greater degree - or degree of 'deepening' of that union - regarding being a priest corresponds more to the 'experiential' union Christians have recognized over time. Experiencing in this life, in real time, in contact and conflict with the flesh, the world, and the devil, what Christ Himself experienced. This has to do more with sacrifice and suffering and the giving up of vanity, worldly pride, and self-will. Loving one's enemies as a self-sacrifice that garners God's forgiveness of our own debts.
3. Connecting with Christ, or being in union with Christ, by greater and greater degree - or degree of 'deepening' of that union - regarding being a king corresponds more to the 'incarnational' union Christians have recognized over time. This has more to do with the actual battles, internal and external, that occur when the Holy Spirit is present within one and our flesh (Old Man) fights it, and the world gives us friction, and the devil himself takes notice of us because of it. The Holy Spirit was given in 'full measure' to Jesus, but He is the only human being that could handle the full measure (or 'without measure') of the Spirit. A Christian has to develop by degree in being able to handle more and higher amounts of the Holy Spirit within oneself by provoking one's limits and then struggling to extend those limits. This is the work of the king part of the image of God. You develop as a king as you gain more and more inner command and unity of the disparate parts of your inner being. (The school language of the Work is needed to understand this.) This process is the incarnational union where we are made one with Christ and partake of His nature. We are deified, in the language of the Eastern Orthodox, by the presence of the Holy Spirit within us, recovering by degree fully the image of God - and more - lost in the fall of Adam.
You can see that in the above the prophet development corresponds with Protestant dinstinctives; and the priest development corresponds with Catholic dinstinctives (generall speaking); and the king development corresponds with Orthodox distinctives. When you have all three - a balanced development - you enter a way that involves all of them and which is a different level. It's not for everybody, but it's available to anybody.
10.06.2007
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3 comments:
"Loving one's enemies as a self-sacrifice that garners God's forgiveness of our own debts."
What would you say then regarding practical loving of ones enemies? How does one REALLY do that? Not hating your enemies is a good start, followed by the ability to forgive them and give them space to be - but this is still a distance from loving your enemies.
I don't know who you are, so I don't know if you know the Work language, but I'll use it. External-considering is an example. Putting yourself in the other person's shoes. Seeing in yourself what you dislike in others, is another thing. Being more objective. But love in that biblical command is not gushy, emotional love. And it doesn't do away with self-defense or national defense. It just means that it's easy to love people who are easy to love, but loving your enemies is the test. Or, do good to them who do evil to you. It's not about moralism either, it's about self-interest. When you are angry at someone or hate somebody you are identified with them and engaging in all manner of negative imagination regarding them. It's self-interest to not internally-consider (I know, alot of Work language, but this is a Fourth Way site, so...)
It's a sacrifice because you are sacrificing the pleasurable indulging of resentment and anger. All that fake suffering human beings engage in. You sacrifice the pleasure of engaging in and indulging it.
You in effect 'die' in the moment when you are able to do this. Your 'old man' dies in that moment. Your features of false personality are mortified in that moment.
What did Jesus say on the cross regarding his executioners? Forgive them for they know not what they do.
The real practical answer to your question is to know what internal-considering is, and to get to where you can observe yourself engaging in it in real time and struggle against engaging in it in real time. While practicing external-considering. This is the language of the Work which gives one the ability to explain and see at the practical level what something like love one's enemies means.
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