Union with Christ: The Way to Know and Enjoy God

by Rankin Wilbourne

But throughout the New Testament, baptism is described as a sign of our union with Christ (Col. 2:12; Rom. 6:4; Gal. 3:27). What is most important about baptism is not how (immersion or sprinkling?) or whom (children or adults?) but what. Baptism is a sign of our entrance into union with Christ. 13 It may look forward in hope or back in celebration, but anytime you see someone being baptized—if you are a Christian—it is a visible reminder of what is most true about your life. “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” (Rom. 6:3 NIV). Likewise, the Lord’s Supper is a sign of our ongoing union with Christ. In observing the Lord’s Supper, we remember (“Do this in remembrance of me”) in gratitude (Eucharist, as the Lord’s Supper is sometimes called, means “giving thanks”), but these are perhaps secondary to what is more important. In taking the Lord’s Supper, we commune with the living Christ and his body (1 Cor. 11:27). It is no accident that the observance of the Lord’s Supper is most often called communion. “The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?” (1 Cor. 10:16). The Bible is saying that the Lord’s Supper doesn’t merely remind us of a gift. It is a gift. And that gift is nothing less than Christ himself. As Christ says, “This is my body, which is given for you” (Luke 22:19). What the signs of bread ...