“On that day you will know that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you” (Jesus, The Gospel According to John, 14:20)

In my opinion, these are the most profound words Jesus ever uttered. They speak of a profound union that Jesus shares with God (“I am in the Father”) and with us (“I am in you”). They are offered as words of comfort to his disciples as Jesus prepares them for his crucifixion.

Knowing that his time is short Jesus speaks of his departure. He does not want his disciples to feel abandoned. He promises them that after he departs, the Father will send – at his request – the gift of the Holy Spirit to comfort them. The Spirit will manifest the presence of Christ to the disciples in such a way that they will not feel abandoned by Jesus. Their experience of Jesus’ presence will be intimate and personal. In Jesus’ words, the Spirit will “abide with you, and he will be in you” (John 14:17b). The invisible presence will communicate a new spiritual life that will enter the world unnoticed, but be felt with power by the disciples. The intimate bond between Christ and his disciples will be so profound that he promises, “On that day you will know that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you” (John 14:20).

Union with God

This profound bond is at the heart of union with God. In fact, at its most fundamental level, salvation is no less than this – union with God: Father, Son, and Spirit. It is not just a “personal relationship” with Jesus (as evangelicals are fond of stating). Instead it involves being a “person in relationship” with the triune God. It is to be indwelt and embraced by God – Father, Son, and Spirit. This intimate union is profoundly pictured in baptism (a point we will return to at the end of our discussion).

Union speaks of a deep, intimate bond – a personal, passionate, and profound relationship. It pictures the highest level of relatedness that two distinct entities can possess. It is exemplified in the relationship between a husband and wife, or even more poignantly, between mother and child. It is not an absorption into the other. It does not involve a loss of personal identity. Instead, it affirms the identity of the other, celebrates the diversity between the two, and shares life and love together. In a word, it is a participation in the life of another.

This is the mission of the Trinity: to create, sustain, and nurture union with the divine. This is at the very heart of salvation. Since it is the Trinity’s mission, it should also be ours. It is central to Jesus’ teaching. He commissions his church to go into all the world and baptize individuals into the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. This immersion into the Triune God represents our complete participation in the divine life.

Participation in God is at the heart of Paul’s spirituality. Paul continually refers to our need to be “in Christ” and the reality of “Christ in us” (e.g., Galatians 2:20; Colossians 1:27). Our union with God through Christ is what it means to “walk by faith” and “to walk in the Spirit.” Through union with Christ by the Spirit we participate in the very life of God. Union with God is so central to Christian faith and practice that we do well to seek to possess a better understanding of all that union with God entails.

Three Divine Unions

Our union with God is the result of three divine unions represented by three key theological terms: perichoresis, hypostasis, and theosis. These three words form the matrix of our salvation. They are inseparably and necessarily bound together. Don’t let the words scare you. They sound more threatening than they really are. We simply need a vocabulary with which to speak of these distinct experiences of divine union.

The most fundamental union is the union experienced by Father, Son, and Spirit. This is described by the word perichoresis. It represents the intimate bond between the three persons of the triune God. God is one divine being eternally existing as three distinct persons. No one person exists independently of the other. Each shares in the fullness of God. Each abides in the other and finds its identity in the other. The Father is not Father without the Son. The Son is not Son apart from the Father. The Spirit is the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ. Thus, when we receive Jesus, we also receive the Father and the Spirit.

Perichoresis not only reflects the sharing of divine life among Father, Son, and Spirit, it also describes the dynamic excitement within God’s being. The divine persons not only live in one another, they dance in one another’s presence. Each person experiences an eternal joyous movement toward the other. This joy is an expression of the love each feels for the other. This shared life of mutual indwelling and delight is at the heart of perichoresis. It reminds us that the essence of God is persons in communion.

A personal relationship of shared life and shared love is at the heart of reality. Union in communion is the life of God. The good news is that God desires that we share in his divine life and divine love. We have been created for this very purpose: to be partakers of the divine, that is, to enter into the union and communion of God.

We are enabled to do this because of hypostasis. This word describes the union of divinity and humanity in the person of Jesus Christ. This is summarized by John in the great prologue to his gospel: “In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God [perichoresis]. The Word became flesh [hypostasis] and dwelt among us” (John 1:1, 14). Paul puts it this way: “In him dwells all the fullness of God bodily” (Colossians 1:19; 2:9-10). The miracle of the incarnation reveals God’s deepest desire – that humanity would share in the divine life. In Christ, God unites deity with humanity in order that humanity may eternally share in the life of deity. The Son did not become human for his sake, but for ours – that we might participate in the mutual love and shared love of Father, Son, and Spirit.

This is a new movement within the life of God. The Word became flesh at a particular point in time. This was not true of God from eternity. This new union between humanity and deity – the hypostatic union – has staggering implications for both humanity and deity.

The hypostatic union is not a temporary movement on God’s part; it is permanent. Furthermore, as the Church Fathers were quick to point out, it is not partial, but complete. In Christ, God completely assumes humanity. St. Gregory the Theologian summarized it this way: “That which is not assumed cannot be healed.” If there was some way in which Jesus did not identify with us, then that aspect of our humanity would remain outside of union with God – it would remain corrupt and diseased, continuing to partake in the consequences of sin. The good news is that Jesus has fully, completely, and permanently identified with humanity. Through the incarnation God has totally embraced the whole of our human nature in order to heal it from its disease of sin and corruption, restore the divine image within us, and transform us into the full likeness of God in Christ by the Spirit. Hypostasis clearly reveals that God is not just for us but with us. Our humanity has been completely embraced and healed in Christ.

Theosis is the word used to describe our union with God through Christ and in the Spirit. The transformative union of humanity with deity is the means through which we enter into the life and love of God. It describes how we are, according to Peter, “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). We do not become God. Remember, union pictures the highest level of relatedness that two distinct entities can possess. The distinction between humanity and deity remains firmly in place. However, we enter into the most complete union possible – like a child in the womb, like a wife to a husband. If hypostasis highlights how God is with us, theosis reveals that God is also in us – and we in God.

All three divine unions are inseparably and necessarily bound together. Christ is the key to all three. It is because of the incarnation (hypostasis) that our view of God expands (perichoresis) and we enter into union with God (theosis). Put another way: Salvation is the union of humanity (theosis) with the perichoretic union of Father, Son, and Spirit through the union of divinity and humanity in the person of Jesus (hypostatic union).

Why the God-Man?

Recognizing the significance of union with God provokes us to reevaluate our common way of speaking of the gospel. For too long, Anselm’s theology of the incarnation has guided our thinking – and, in the process, reduced the gospel. We need to return to an older and better way.

In the 11th century, Anselm wrote a book titled Cur Deus Homo, or Why the God-Man? This is an important question. It was not new to theological discussion. It had been asked before, and the accepted orthodox answer had been given in the 4th century by Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria, in his book, On the Incarnation of the Word. Anselm reconsidered the question from within his own personal context, that of medieval feudal society. This changed the nature of the answer – and not necessarily in positive ways. Tragically, Anselm’s answer continues to dominate Western theology.

Why did God become flesh in Christ? Anselm’s answer: in order to satisfy a debt of honor owed to God because of humanity’s sin. In his culture, land-holding feudal lords experienced dishonor when their vassals failed to fulfill their obligations to their lord. In Anselm’s theory, God is the offended feudal lord and we are the offending vassals.

Anselm reasoned that only God could satisfy God’s sense of offended justice and yet the debt had to come from a human being. Thus, God became flesh in Christ, taking on our humanity in order to satisfy God’s justice. And since it is axiomatic that God cannot die, the humanity of Jesus made it possible for him to pay humanity’s debt and satisfy God’s offended justice by dying on the cross.[1]

Anselm’s answer continues to influence the contemporary gospel. This is evident by the great emphasis placed on Jesus’ death over his resurrection. For many people, “Christ died for our sins” is the whole of the gospel. If the resurrection is mentioned at all, it is reduced to prove God’s acceptance of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. This is most obvious in evangelical Christmas sermons where the significance of Jesus’ birth is reduced to: “Jesus was born to die!” Is this the only reason for the incarnation?

Anselm’s answer is not untrue. It is simply incomplete. If this is the only answer we possess to the question, “Why the God-man?” we undermine the full significance of the incarnation. If Anselm is correct, then Jesus’ job is done. He assumed humanity in order to die. The payment is complete. His continued participation in our humanity is pointless.

In Anselm’s theory, Jesus’ humanity is a means to an end, not the end itself. What role does his humanity play now? For many Christians, it plays no role. Years ago, a very faithful elder asked me, “Is Jesus still human?” I asked him the reason for his question. His answer: “It just seems odd to me that Jesus would still be human.” This is tragic. For this elder – and he represents many believers – the continued humanity of Jesus has little, if any, significance. This is certainly a problem. Especially when one considers that the ancient church would argue that without the humanity of Jesus, there is no salvation!

Why would the Church Fathers argue in this way? The reason is simple: Our problem is bigger than sin and guilt. Our need is greater than forgiveness. We are not only guilty – we are dead in our sins and trespasses. We do not simply need forgiveness. We need life – the very life of God. And our ability to enter into the life of God is achieved through the humanity of Jesus. The hypostatic union of deity and humanity in Christ is our bridge into the perichoresis of Father, Son, and Spirit – the means of our theosis.

Jesus came so that we could receive and experience union with God. Jesus’ incarnation makes possible human participation in life of God. In Christ, God unites with humanity in order that humanity may be forever united with deity.

When we recognize that the incarnation is not temporary, but permanent, our understanding of Jesus changes dramatically. We realize that seated now and forever at the right hand of the Father, inside the perichoretic union of the triune God, is the fully divine and fully human Son of God. Before the incarnation, the Word was “face-to-face” with the Father (John 1:1). Now, as a human being, the Word made flesh is “face-to-face” with the Father. Kathryn Tanner summarizes God’s movement toward us in Christ: “God is not going anywhere when God becomes human; we are being brought to God, assumed into the divine trinitarian life.”[2] As the God-man, Jesus is the only perfect bridge between God and humankind. Through the union of humanity and deity in the person of Jesus, we approach God and share in the life and love of God – the dance of eternity.

The Embrace of God’s Spirit

How do we personally participate in this divine dance? According to Athanasius, we do so through union with the God-man, Jesus Christ. This prompts another question: How, then, do we experience union with Christ? Through the Spirit that Jesus has given. God embraces us through Jesus’ incarnation and immerses us in the dance through the Spirit.

On the final night of his earthly ministry, Jesus comforted his disciples by telling them of the coming of another Helper – the Holy Spirit. This Helper is distinct from Jesus (“another Helper”), yet he possesses qualities of deity (“He will be with you forever”). It is the possession of the Spirit that will allow the disciples to fully share in Christ’s divine life (“because I live, you will live also”). After Jesus’ resurrection, when he sends the Spirit, they will intimately know the indwelling presence and outstanding pervasiveness of God. “In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you” (John 14:20).

What was true for Jesus’ disciples is also true for us. Through the Spirit, we participate in the dance of eternity, sharing the life and love of Father, Son, and Spirit. Through the Spirit, we not only find our home in God (“you in Me”) but God also makes his home in us: “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him” (John 14:23).

With the sending of the Spirit, the open embrace of God extends to its widest possible reach. God is not only for us and with us – God is also in us! The union is complete. The embrace total, unchanging, eternal. We are home!

Abide in God’s Life

Clearly, “The summons to salvation is nothing less than a summons to enter into the very life of God.”[3] This profound truth is basic to our Christian profession. Indeed, it is explicitly announced in our baptism. Through baptism we are plunged in – immersed in – the very reality of the divine name: God – Father, Son, and Spirit. “We are given the unspeakable privilege of entering into and participation in the Trinitarian community of love!” This could not happen apart from God’s grace. We are in union with Christ (theosis) because God first unites with us through Christ (hypostasis), lifting us into the eternal union of the Triune God (perichoresis). In the words of A. M. Allchin, “We are united with the Father in the Son who at once is both man and God through the power of the Spirit who is also truly God, and who makes us participant in God.”[4]

Now we can see why Jesus’ words are so profound. In one sentence, he pieces together all three divine unions: “On that day you will know that I am in the Father (perichoresis), and you in me (hypostasis), and I in you (theosis)” (John 14:20). His presence is in us by the Spirit “who abides with” us and “is in” us (John 14:17). Through union with Christ by the Spirit we enter our eternal home – the perichoretic union of Father, Son, and Spirit; the tri-personal God who Jesus describes as “we” who “will come to you” and “make our home” with you.

© Richard J. Vincent, 2007