QUEST. 29. How are we made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ?

ANSW. We are made partakers of the redemption purchased by Christ, by the effectual application of it to us by his Holy spirit.

QUEST. 30. How doth the spirit apply to us the redemption purchased by Christ?

ANSW. The spirit applieth to us the redemption purchased by Christ, by working faith in us, and thereby uniting us to Christ, in our effectual calling.

Q. What is the general end and fruit of Christ’s undertaking, incarnation, offices, and states, with respect to his people?

A. Their eternal redemption.

Q. What call you their redemption?

A. Their deliverance from all evil, and possession of happiness.

Q. Why is our redemption said to be purchased?

A. Because Christ gave the price of his blood for it.

Q. Have we by nature any interest in this redemption?

A. No; we are without God in the world.

Q. Are we by nature inclined, or able to receive an interest in it?

A. No, we forsake our own mercy.

Q. How then do we become sharers of redemption?

A. We are by God made partakers of it.

Q. How are we made partakers of it?

A. By the application of it to us, Isaiah 61:10.

Q. What do you understand by the application of redemption?

A, The making of it ours in possession.

Q. Wherein do the purchase and application of redemption differ?

A. The purchase is Christ’s work without us, and is the cause; the application takes place upon and in us, and is the effect of the purchase.

Q. When did Christ’s redemption begin to be applied?

A. soon after the fall of Adam.

Q. How was redemption applied before Christ purchased it by his death?

A. It was applied upon the credit of Christ’s engagement to purchase it in due time.

Q. Can we profit by Christ’s purchase, if it is not applied?

A. No; no more than by buying food and clothes, etc., without using them.

Q. How was the application of redemption typified of old?

A. By the sprinkling of the blood of the sacrifice upon the people.

Q. What are the different kinds of the application of redemption?

A. An outward application of it in baptism, and an effectual application of it.

Q. Can the outward application alone do us good?

A. No; for it changes not our nature or state.

Q. What is an effectual application of redemption?

A. That which gives us a real and actual share of it.

Q. Who is the effectual applier of redemption?

A. The Holy Spirit, John 16:14.

Q. Do not the Father and Son also apply it?

A. Yes, but they do so by the Holy Ghost.

Q. Why is the applier of redemption called the Holy Ghost ?

A. He is holy in himself; and it is his to make us holy, in applying redemption to us.

Q. Why is he called the Spirit of Christ?

A. He proceeds from Christ; and Christ purchased his coming,
and sends him to apply redemption to us, John 16:7.

Q. Did Christ purchase the Holy spirit?

A. He purchased his gifts and influences in applying redemption; but not his being, which is independent.

Q. To whom does the Spirit apply redemption?

A. To the elect only, for whom only it was purchased.

Q. How does he apply it to converted infants?

A. Immediately by himself, without the word.

Q. How does he apply it to such as have the use of reason?

A. By means of the word of God.

Q. What does that teach us?

A. To cry, that God’s word may, by his Spirit, be made effectual for our salvation.

Q. How does the Spirit apply redemption to us?

A. By uniting us to Christ, in whom it is lodged.

Q. To whom are we by nature united?

A. To the first Adam as fallen, Romans 5:12; 1 Corinthians 15:22.

Q. By what bond are we united to him?

A. By the bond of the broken covenant of works.

Q. How is our union to fallen Adam, and to the law, the devil, the world, and our lusts, dissolved?

A. By our spiritual marriage and union to Christ, Romans 7:4.

Q. To what of Christ doth the Spirit unite us?

A. To his person, Romans 7:4; Isaiah 54:5.

Q. Why cannot we share of redemption without union to Christ’s person?

A. Because all the blessings of redemption are lodged in his person, and received with him.

Q. What do you understand by union to Christ?

A. Our being joined to, or made one with him.

Q. Does this union make believers one essence or individual person with Christ?

A. No, Revelation 3:20.

Q. How then does it make Christ and believers one?

A. It makes them one body mystical, of which he is the head, and they are the members, 1 Corinthians 12:12.

Q. How can we be united to Christ, when his human nature is in heaven, and we on earth?

A. We are united to his person, which is everywhere.

Q. Does this union unite us to the other persons in the Godhead?

A. Yes, in and through Christ, John 17.

Q. Is there any other union between Christ and his people, besides this mystical union?

A. Yes; there is also a legal union, or union in law.

Q. What call you the legal union?

A. That which is between Christ as a surety and his elect seed.

Q. What is the connection of these two unions?

A. The legal union is the foundation of the mystical.

Q. Wherein do this legal and mystical union differ?

A, In their order of nature and time, relation of the parties united, and bonds of union.

Q. How do they differ in their order of nature and time?

A, The legal union is the cause, and was made up from all eternity; but the mystical is the effect, and is made up in the moment of conversion.

Q. How do they differ in the relation of the parties united?

A. In the legal union, the elect, as bankrupt dyvours [debtors, unable to repay anything], are united to Christ as a surety [debt-clearer who pays all]; but in the mystical union, the elect, as Christ’s purchased bride, are united to him as their husband and head of influence.

Q. What are the bonds of the legal union?

A. God’s everlasting love, and covenant-transaction with Christ.

Q. What are the bonds of the mystical union?

A. The Spirit on Christ’s part, and faith on our part.

Q. Wherein does Christ come near us, in order to make up the mystical union?

A. In the gospel, Romans 10:8.

Q. In whose side does the uniting work begin?

A. On Christ’s side, not on ours, 1 John 4:19.

Q. How does it begin?

A. Christ’s Spirit, by the word, enters into our heart, and takes hold of it in his name.

Q. Can our soul give the Spirit any actual welcome, when he first enters our heart?

A. No; our soul is then quite dead in sin, and can do no good thing.

Q. What is the immediate effect of the Spirit’s entering into our soul?

A, He quickens it, forming faith, and all his other graces, in our heart, Ephesians 2.

Q. How can the word be a means of our first quickening in regeneration, when we have no faith to receive it?

A. The Spirit, as he in the word enters our heart, gives faith much in the same way as God created the world, by speaking to nothing, and calling it into being and existence, Ephesians 2:5; Romans 4:17.

Q. What is the immediate effect of the spirit’s quickening us?

A. We believe the quickening word of the gospel-promise, and receive Christ in it, 1 Thessalonians 2.

Q. At what time does the Spirit enter into, and quicken the elect’s souls?

A. At the time fixed in the decree of election and covenant of grace, Ezekiel 16:8.

Q. Whether are we united to Christ as saints or as sinners?

A. In the very uniting act we are changed from sinners to saints, Ezekiel 36:26, 27.

Q. What of a believer is united to Christ?

A. His whole man, soul and body, 1 Corinthians 6:15, 19.

Q. What are the properties of this union which the Spirit makes up between Christ and his people?

A. It is a real, spiritual, mystical, close, and indissolvable union.

Q. Why call you it a real union?

A. Because believers are as truly united to Christ, as the members of our natural body to the head, 1 Corinthians 12:12.

Q. Why do you call it a spiritual union?

A. Because he that is joined to Christ is one spirit with him.

Q. How are believers one spirit with Christ?

A. The same spirit dwells in both; and they have the same mind in them that was in Christ Jesus.

Q. Why is it called a mystical union?

A. Because it is so wonderful, and full of mysteries.

Q. What are some of the mysteries in this union?

A. Hereby Christ lives and dwells in believers; and they live in, and on, and walk in Christ, and dwell in God, etc.

Q. How is it a close and intimate union?

A. It is closer than all unions among natural things, and like the union of Christ with his Father.

Q. Why is it called an indissolvable union?

A. Christ and believers can never be separated, no nor the bonds of their union be broken, John x. 28.

Q. How is the Spirit an inviolable bond of union?

A. He never departs from believers after his entrance into their hearts, John 16:16; Isaiah 59:21.

Q. How is our faith an inviolable bond of union?

A. The Spirit preserves its habit from ever failing, and influences it to acts in time of need, Luke 22:32.

Q. Whether does the habit or act of faith bind the soul to Christ?

A. Both; but chiefly the habit.

Q. What is this mystical union compared to in Scripture?

A. To the union between husband and wife, head the and members, root and branches, foundation and building.

Q. How does this mystical union resemble the union of husband and wife?

A. The marriage-union is voluntary, and gives each an interest in the other, and whatever belongs to them; so is the union between Christ and believers.

Q. How does it resemble the union of root and branches?

A. The root bears the weight of, and gives sap to the branches; so does Christ to believers, John 15.

Q. How does it resemble the union between head and members?

A. The head governs, and gives light and life to the body; so does Christ to believers.

Q. How does it resemble the union of foundation and building?

A, The foundation supports the building; so does Christ the believer.

Q. How are these that are united to Christ ordinarily called?

A. Believers, saints, godly, righteous.

Q. Why are they called believers?

A. Because they credit or believe God’s word, and live by faith.

Q. Why are they called saints?

A. Because they are made holy in heart and life, 2 Peter 1:4.

Q. Why are they called godly?

A. Because they fear God, and study to be like him, Matthew 5:48.

Q. Why are they called righteous?

A. Because they are clothed with Chris’s righteousness, and study to practise what is just and righteous, 1 John 3:7.

Q. How ought saints to improve their union to Christ?

A. In studying holiness, and intimate fellowship with Christ.

Q. What ought sinners to do with respect to it?

A. To lament over their union to satan, the law, and their lusts, and seek after a speedy marriage with Christ.