Communion with Christ in the Grace of Sanctification

In his magnificent masterpiece, Communion with the Triune God, John Owen discusses how believers have distinct communion with each member of the Trinity. 

Discussing “Communion with Christ in the Grace of Sanctification,” Owen shows the difference between people who are convicted of sin but pursue holiness in their own strength and believers who look to Christ for holiness: 

Convinced persons who know not Christ, nor the fellowship of his sufferings, would spin a holiness out of their own bowels; they would work it out in their own strength. They begin it with trying endeavors (Rom. 10:1–4); and follow it with vows, duties, resolutions, engagements, sweating at it all the day long. Thus they continue for a season—their hypocrisy, for the most part, ending in apostasy.

The saints of God do, in the very entrance of their walking with him, reckon upon it that they have a threefold want:

            (1) of the Spirit of holiness to dwell in them;

            (2) of a habit of holiness to be infused into them;

            (3) of actual assistance to work all their works for them;

and that if these should continue to be wanting, they can never, with all their might, power, and endeavors perform any one act of holiness before the Lord.

They know that of themselves they have no sufficiency—that without Christ they can do nothing (John 15:5): therefore they look to him, who is entrusted with a fullness of all these in their behalf; and thereupon by faith derive from him an increase of that whereof they stand in need.

Thus, I say, have the saints communion with Christ, as to their sanctification and holiness.

From him do they receive the Spirit to dwell in them;

from him the new principle of life, which is the root of all their
obedience;

from him have they actual assistance for every duty they are called unto.

In waiting for, expectation, and receiving of these blessings, on the accounts before mentioned, do they spend their lives and time with him. In vain is help looked for from other mountains; in vain do men spend their strength in following after righteousness, if this be wanting.

Fix your soul here; you shall not tarry until you be ashamed.

This is the way, the only way,

to obtain full, effectual manifestations of the Spirit’s dwelling in us;

to have our hearts purified,

our consciences purged,

our sins mortified,

our graces increased,

our souls made humble, holy, zealous, believing—like to him;

to have our lives fruitful, our deaths comfortable.

Let us herein abide, eyeing Christ by faith, to attain that measure of conformity to him which is allotted unto us in this world, that when we shall see him as he is, we may be like unto him.

--John Owen, Communion with the Triune God, edited Kelly M. Kapic and Justin Taylor, Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2007, p. 333. (Emphasis and breakdown into paragraphs mine.)

Rescue Your Prayer Life

What does the doctrine of the Trinity have to do with the practice of prayer? Well, the Trinity is something that all Christians believe, but often find difficult to understand, much less explain. And prayer is something that all Christians do, but rarely practice with the consistency and delight they know they should. In the realms of Christian doctrine, the Trinity ranks among the most difficult. Among the disciplines of Christian living, prayer tops the list as most challenging.

But there's another connection between prayer and Trinitarian theology that helps us better understand the doctrine of the Trinity and make progress in our prayer lives. The connection is in many passages, but most succinctly in Ephesians 2:18 where Paul says, "For through him [Christ] we both have access in one Spirit to the Father." This sentence is pregnant with significance for understanding who God is and how we can come to him.

But first, some definitions: What do Christians mean when they talk about the Trinity? Essentially, three things. You might think of these as three strong pillars on which the doctrine of the Trinity rests.

• First, we mean that there is only one God. "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one" (Deuteronomy 6:4).
• Second, this one God exists in three distinct persons, or personalities: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
• Third, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are each fully, equally, and eternally God.

Deny one of those statements, and we get into trouble. If we deny the first and say that there are actually three gods, then we are tri-theists, rather than monotheists. More commonly, people say that there is one God who acts in three different modes, or manifests himself in three different ways, or wears three different hats: the Father, the Son, and the Spirit (much as I myself am a son, a husband, and a father).  But this idea (formally known as modalism and condemned by both Protestants and Catholics), denies the second pillar, and dozens of texts, that affirm the distinct personalities of Father, Son, and Spirit.  Others, especially among the cults, teach that the Son and/or the Spirit are somehow inferior to the Father, being less than fully, equally, and eternally God.

But Scripture leads us to affirm all three pillars. There is one God, who exists in three Persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and these three are each fully, equally, and eternally God.

So, what does this have to do with prayer? Well, prayer is essentially talking with God. But communication with God requires access to his presence. And Ephesians 2:18 shows us that our access to God involves all three Persons of the Trinity.  

• We have "access…to the Father."  
• But that access to the Father is "through him" - Jesus Christ, God's Son, who reconciles us to the   Father (see Ephesians 2:11).
• But notice further that our access to God is "in one Spirit". This means that our prayers are enabled and empowered by the Spirit.

So, when we pray we come to Father, through the Son, in the Spirit. Prayer is communion with the Three-in-One God.

Now, how can this rescue your prayer life?

Sometimes we hesitate to pray, because of unbelief. We're not sure God really cares about our needs. But this is to forget that we're praying to our Father, who already knows our needs and invites us to come to him as little children.

At other times, we wrongly think we've got to manufacture certain feelings or emotions in order to pray. But Paul says that we have access to God in the Spirit. The Spirit is the one who enlivens our hearts and enables to us to pray.

All too often, we feel compelled to pray from a sense of duty. (Good Christians pray, therefore, if I want to be a good Christian, I should pray.) Or, we're held back from prayer by a sense of guilt. (Only good Christians can really come to God. I haven't been very good lately, so I'm not worthy enough for God to hear my prayers.) Worst of all, sometimes we can feel confident about prayer because we've been keeping our Christian noses clean!

But, don't you see? This is self-reliance and legalism. This kind of thinking and praying, neglects the work of the Son in reconciling us to the Father. When we live and pray like this, we're not coming through Jesus. We're coming on the basis of our own merits. And there is no access to God that way. But when we remember that our access to God is through Christ alone, then we can come boldly to the throne of grace in the confidence that God will forgive our sins and hear our prayers, for Jesus' sake.

This article was written for Christianity.com.