John. Colquhoun – Union with Christ
Before a sinner be vitally united to Christ, he is united to the first Adam, Rom. 5:12. All the children of men, in their natural estate, are united to the first Adam as their moral representative. The bond by which they are joined to him is the bond of the first covenant. He who was their natural, became their moral root, bearing them as their representative in that covenant, Rom. 5:19. “By one man’s disobedience many were made sinners.” “In Adam all die.” There was a moral bond between Adam and his posterity, by which they were joined together, namely, the bond of the covenant of works. Elect sinners, though in their natural state they are federally united to the second Adam, yet they are still, by virtue of the covenant of works, really united to the first. This union between the first Adam and the elect sinner is never dissolved, till the latter be vitally united to the second Adam; or, as the apostle Paul expresses it, “till he be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead,” Rom. 7:4. As union with the second Adam dissolves union with the first, so none are united to the second Adam but such as were united to the first. 5. Although the union between Christ and believers is mutual, yet it begins first on his side. It commences by unition, which is before mutual union. By unition is meant Christ’s uniting himself by his Spirit to the dead sinner, according to this gracious promise, “I will put my Spirit within you.” The Holy Spirit unites himself to the sinner, by coming into his soul at the time of love, at the happy moment designed for his spiritual marriage with the heavenly Bridegroom of the Church; and he so quickens it [the sinner], that it [the sinner] is no more spiritually dead, but alive. “Even when we were dead in sin,” says the apostle, “he hath quickened us.” As communion flows from union, so vital union arises from unition; from Christ’s approaching in the day of His power, and uniting Himself by His Spirit to the poor sinner dead in sin. Though it be not completed till the sinner trust in Christ Jesus by saving faith, yet it begins on His [God’s] side.
Romans 7:1-6