Covenant and Salvation: Union with Christ
Digital Logos Edition
Overview
Following Covenant and Eschatology and Lord and Servant, this concluding volume of a four-part series examines Christian salvation from the perspective of covenant theology. In Covenant and Salvation, Michael Horton surveys law and gospel, union with Christ, and justification and theosis, conversing with both classical and contemporary viewpoints.
- Relates the doctrine of justification to union with Christ
- Focuses on the promise of covenant theology as a central theme
- Reintegrates biblical studies with dogmatics and ethics
Part One: Covenant and Justification
- Covenant and Salvation
- Sinai and Zion: A Tale of Two Covenants
- Covenantal Nomism in Palestinian Judaism: Getting In and Staying In
- Paul’s Polemic against the “Works of the Law”: Beyond False Choices
- Law and Gospel: Contrast or Continuity
- Covenant and Imputation: Justification of the Ungodly
Part Two: Covenant and Participation
- Mystical Union in Reformed Soteriology
- Neoplatonic Participation (Metathexis): “Overcoming Estrangement”
- Covenantal Participation (Koinonia): “Meeting a Stranger”
- Covenantal Ontology and Effectual Calling
- “Behold, I Make All Things New”: The Verdict That Does What It Says
- The Weight of Glory: Justification and Theosis
Top Highlights
“Nevertheless, it is the forensic basis of union with Christ and is therefore the source of our calling, sanctification, and glorification.” (Page 129)
“day by day, he grows more and more into one body with us, until he becomes completely one with us” (Page 141)
“The same act of faith that constantly looks to Christ alone for justification looks to Christ alone for sanctification and glorification. There are not two sources of the Christian life: one forensic and found in Christ alone, with the other being moral and found within us. Forensic justification through faith alone is the fountain of union with Christ in all of its renewing aspects.” (Page 143)
“On one hand, he does not believe that there can be a communion with Christ’s benefits apart from his person (more explicitly argued below). On the other hand, it is not his substance that is conveyed to us, but ‘his life and all the blessings which he has received from the Father.’ The link between difference and affinity is the Spirit.” (Page 140)
“In the writer’s view, the old covenant itself did not have adequate provisions for transgression, but could only point believers typologically to the new covenant, in which they participated by faith.” (Page 30)
- Title: Covenant and Salvation: Union with Christ
- Author: Michael S. Horton
- Publisher: Westminster John Knox
- Publication Date: 2007
- Pages: 336
- Christian Group: Reformed
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Topic: Salvation
Michael Horton has taught apologetics and theology at Westminster Seminary California since 1998. In addition to his work at the Seminary, he is the president of White Horse Media, for which he co-hosts the White Horse Inn, a nationally syndicated, weekly radio talk-show exploring issues of Reformation theology in American Christianity. He is also the editor-in-chief of Modern Reformation magazine. Before coming to WSC, Dr. Horton completed a Research Fellowship at Yale University Divinity School.
A member of various societies, including the American Academy of Religion and the Evangelical Theological Society, Dr. Horton is the author/editor of 20 books, including a series of studies in Reformed dogmatics, whose final volume (People and Place: A Covenant Ecclesiology) was published in 2008. In addition to the popular Putting Amazing Back Into Grace, Dr. Horton’s latest books are Covenant and Salvation: Union with Christ, Lord and Servant: A Covenant Christology, and A Better Way: Rediscovering the Drama of God-Centered Worship. He has written articles for Modern Reformation, Pro Ecclesia, Christianity Today, The International Journal of Systematic Theology, Touchstone, and Books and Culture. Dr. Horton is a minister in the United Reformed Churches in North America. He has served two churches in Southern California. He resides in Escondido, California, with his wife, Lisa, and their four children.