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of these quotations so the reader can access the original document and verify the quotation in its original context.
"The whole function of the vessel is to receive something. Now get this clear: the vessel never becomes the liquid, nor the liquid the vessel. I add this because we humans are so proud that there creeps into us the idea that we can be deified. That is blasphemy. There is no such thing as self-deification, except that of Satan, the pseudo-God, and what we share with him. The divine can dwell in the human, but forever the human is the human and the divine the divine. God has said, "I will not give my glory to another." That is the vital importance of the vessel illustration: we are forever the container; He is that which we contain. That relationship never changes." (Norman Grubb, The Key to Everything. Fort Washington: Christian Literature Crusade. 1960. Pgs 23,24) "Jesus gave us the vine and branches illustration. Through this our eyes are opened to the secret of the universe: union the mystery of the universe: how two can be one and yet remain two. The living God, the living Christ, and I actually become one person and function as one person. Separation is impossible. It has disappeared. We function entirely and forever and naturally as one person. And yet we remain two!" (Norman Grubb, The Key to Everything. Fort Washington: Christian Literature Crusade. 1960. Pgs 24,25) "Faith is the spiritual link that brings us into living union with Christ; so that not by any arbitrary supposition, or legal fiction, but actually in the fundamental principle of our moral life we become one with Him. It is not that the merit of perfect righteousness and atoning sacrifice and death of Christ is, in some incomprehensible way, ascribed to us; but there is a profound sense in which they become actually our own – His sorrow, our sorrow, His sacrifice, our sacrifice, His perfect life in all its ideal beauty and elevation, the very life we live." (John Caird. Fundamental Ideas of Christianity. Vol. II. pg. 226)
"Nothing is more central or basic than union and communion with Christ. ...Union with Christ...in its broader aspects unerlies every step of the application of redemption. Union with Christ is really the central truth of the whole doctrine of salvation not only in its application but also in its once-for-all accomplishment in the finished work of Christ. Indeed the whole process of salvation has its origin in one phase of union with Christ and salvation has in view the realization of other phases of union with Christ." (John Murray, Redemption: Accomplished and Applied. pg. 161) "Union with Christ is a very inclusive subject. It embraces the wide span of salvation from its ultimate source in the eternal election of God to its final fruition in the glorification of the elect. It is not simply a phase of the application of redemption; it undelies every aspect of redemption both in its accomplishment and in its application. Union with Christ binds all together and insures that to all for whom Christ has purchased redemption He effectively applies and communicates the same." (John Murray, Redemption: Accomplished and Applied. pg. 165)
"The wide range of similitude used in Scripture to illustrate union with Christ is very striking. On the highest level of being it is comopared to the union which exists between the persons of the trinity in the Godhead. This is staggering, but it is the case (John 14:23; 17:21-23). On the lowest level it is compared to the relation that exists between the stones of a building and the chief corner stone (Eph. 2:19-22; I Pet. 2:4,5). In between these two limits there is a variety of similitude drawn from different levels of being and relationship. It is compared to the union that existed between Adam and all of posterity (Rom. 5:12-19; I Cor. 15:19-49). It is compared to the union that exists between man and wife (Eph. 5:22-33; cf. Jn. 3:29). It is compared to the union that exists between the head and other members in the human body (Eph. 4:15,16). It is compared to the relation of the vine and the branches (John 15). ...The mode, nature, and kind of union differ in the different cases. There is similitude but not identity. (John Murray, Redemption: Accomplished and Applied. pg. 167,168) "Union with Christ is the central truth of the whole doctrine of salvation. ...There is no truth, therefore, more suited to impart confidence and strength, comfort and joy in the Lord than this one of union with Christ." (John Murray, Redemption: Accomplished and Applied. pg. 170,171) Cf. Extended quotations:
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