# “In Adam by nature, in Christ by grace” by Sinclair Ferguson

- Link: https://tollelege.net/2021/04/30/in-adam-by-nature-in-christ-by-grace-by-sinclair-ferguson/
- Published: 2021-04-30T12:00:55-05:00
- Author: tollelege

“Union with Christ in His death and resurrection is the element of union which Paul
most extensively expounds. But the principle of **Romans 6** is a wider one: if 
we are united to Christ, then we are united to Him at all points of His activity
on our behalf.

We share in His death (we were baptized into His death), in His burial (we were 
buried with Him by baptism), in His resurrection (we are resurrected with Christ),
in His ascension (we have been raised with Him), in His heavenly session (we sit
with Him in heavenly places, so that our life is hidden with Christ in God) and 
we will share in His promised return (when Christ, who is our life, appears, we 
also will appear with Him in glory (**Rom. 6:14; Col. 2:11-12; 3:1-4**).

This, then, is the foundation of sanctification in Reformed theology. It is rooted,
not in our humanity and our achievement of holiness or sanctification, but in what
God has done in Christ, and for us in union with Him.

Rather than view Christians first and foremost in the microcosmic context of their
own progress, the Reformed doctrine first of all sets them in the macrocosm of God’s
activity in redemptive history. It is seeing oneself in this context that enables
the individual Christian to grow in true holiness.

This general approach is well illustrated by Paul’s key statements: ‘We know that
our old self [_anthropos_, man] was crucified with [Christ] in order that the body
of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin’(**
Rom. 6:6**).’

What is here said to be accomplished already is the central element in sanctification(
we are no longer slaves to sin, we are servants of God). It is accomplished by doing
away with ‘the body of sin’– an expression which may refer in the context of **Romans
6** to the physical body, or more generally, to bodily existence as the sphere in
which sin’s dominion is expressed.

In Christ, sin’s status is changed from that of citizen with full rights to that
of an illegal alien (with no rights– but for all that, not easily deported!). The
foundation of this is what Paul describes as the co-crucifixion of the old man with
Christ.

The ‘old man’ (_ho palaios anthropos_) has often been taken to refer to what I was
before I became a Christian (‘my former self’). That is undoubtedly implied in the
expression.

But Paul has larger canvas in mind here. He has been expounding the fact that men
and women are ‘in Adam’ or ‘in Christ’. To be ‘in Adam’ is to belong to the world
of the ‘old man’, to be ‘in the flesh”, a slave to sin and liable to death and judgment.

From this perspective, Paul sees Jesus Christ as the second man, the last Adam, 
the new man. He is the first of a new race of humans who share in His righteousness
and holiness. He is the first of the new age, the head of the new humanity, through
His resurrection (**compare 1 Cor. 15:45-49**). By grace and faith we belong to 
Him.

We too share in the new humanity. If we are in Christ, we share in the new creation(**
2 Cor. 5:17**), we are no longer ‘in the flesh’, but ‘in the Spirit’ (**Rom. 8:9**).
The life and power of the resurrection age have already begun to make their presence
felt in our life.

What is so significant here is the transformation this brings to the Christian’s
self-understanding. We do not see ourselves merely within the limited vision of 
our own biographies: volume one, the life of slavery in sin; volume two, the life
of freedom from sin.

We see ourselves set in a cosmic context: in Adam by nature, in Christ by grace;
in the old humanity by sin, in the new humanity by regeneration. Once we lived under
sin’s reign; now we have died to its rule and are living to God.

Our regeneration is an event of this magnitude! Paul searches for a parallel to 
such an exercise of divine power and finds it in two places: the _creation_ of the
world (**2 Cor. 4:6; 5:17**) and the _resurrection and ascension_ of Christ (**Eph.
1:19-20**).

Against this background Paul urges radical consecration and sanctification (**Rom.
6:11-14**). In essence his position is that the magnitude of what God has accomplished
is itself an adequate foundation and motivation for the radical holiness which should
characterize our lives.

In actual practice, it is the dawning of this perspective which is the groundwork
for all practical sanctification.

Hence Paul’s emphasis on “knowing’ that this is the case (Rom. 6:3, 6, 9), and his
summons to believers to ‘consider’ themselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ
Jesus (**Rom. 6:11**).

‘Consider’ (‘reckon’, KJV) does not mean to bring this situation into being by special
act of faith. It means to recognize that such a situation exists and to act accordingly.

Sanctification is therefore the consistent practical outworking of what it means
to belong to the new creation in Christ. That is why so much of the New Testament’s
response to pastoral and personal problems in the early church was: ‘_Do you not
know what is true of you in Christ?_‘ (**Rom. 6:3, 16; 7:1; 1 Cor. 3:16; 5:6; 6:
2, 3, 9, 15, 19; 9:13, 24**).

Live by the Spirit’s power in a manner that is consistent with that! If you have
died with Christ to sin and been raised into new life, quit sinning and live in 
a new way.

If, when Christ appears, you will appear with Him and be like Him, then live now
in a manner that conforms to your final destiny!”

–Sinclair Ferguson, “[Christian Spirituality: The Reformed View of Sanctification](https://www.amazon.com/dp/184871789X?tag=toletaupanre-20),”
in [_Some Pastors and Teachers_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/184871789X?tag=toletaupanre-20)(
Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2017), 534-536.

More quotes from [Sinclair Ferguson](https://tollelege.net/category/sinclair-ferguson/)·
More on [Romans](https://tollelege.net/category/romans/)