Union With Christ: Reframing Theology and Ministry for the Church
by J. Todd Billings
Baker Academic, Grand Rapids, Mich. 174 pages
reviewed by Andy Nagel
Pastor, have you ever sat in your study wondering what the theology you once learned has to do with “real” church ministry? J. Todd Billings’ recent book Union with Christ is one to put on your to-read list.
In this readable yet substantive little book (just 174 pages), Billings explains the practical outcomes of an apparently mystical doctrine and models a robustly theological approach to the whole work of ministry. Union with Christ, it turns out, is not a dusty Reformation concern but has vital implications for everything from epistemology to youth ministry.
Framing his work as a theology of retrieval, Billings leads the reader into charitable conversation with the past, but always seeking a fresh and faithful application to the modern world. Billings proceeds in a way that cherishes mystery and nuance but not confusion. His posture toward the past and the present is welcome in our impatient age.
In Chapter 1, he finds in the Reformation doctrine of adoption an antidote to the “distant yet convenient” God of today’s moralistic-therapeutic deism, and a framework by which we can understand seemingly disparate notions such as God’s transcendence and immanence, or justification and sanctification.
Those who have ever been embarrassed by the Reformed doctrine of total depravity need to avail themselves of Billings’ treatment, which clarifies common misunderstandings about what “total” and “depravity” actually mean. If true humanity is humanity in communion with God, the search for human flourishing apart from God will never get off the ground. Total depravity means that humans can’t get to God on our own because we aren’t truly human on our own, but only in union with Christ.
Chapter 3 treats the mystery of revelation by a redeployment of the doctrine of accommodation — Calvin’s lovely image of God “lisping” or “babbling” to his creation as a nurse to an infant. While today the divine and human aspects of Holy Scripture are often set in opposition to one another, Billings points out that the human character of divinely accommodated speech in Scripture is not a problem but rather the confirmation of God’s love: “Why does a nurse speak baby talk to an infant? … Out of love and a desire for communion and fellowship.”
The final two chapters are appreciative critiques of two live issues in our communion today: the Belhar Confession and the missional impulse to “incarnational” ministry. Billings treats both topics with critical sensitivity, lifting up the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in ways that both correct and strengthen. A healthy understanding of union with Christ can prevent Belhar from being coopted by identity politics of the right or left, instead pointing to communion with the bodies of the Savior himself, the body of the church and the wounded bodies in the world.
ANDY NAGEL is associate pastor of Neelsville Presbyterian Church in Germantown, Md.
