R.C. Sproul

You remember his last will and testimony, his legacy pronounced to his disciples in the upper room on the night before he was crucified when he said to his disciples, peace I leave with you.

My peace.

I give unto you, not as the world gives, give I unto you.

Let not your hearts be troubled.

Now, how does this work?

I think Paul here is alluding at least to a very core doctrine that he teaches throughout his epistles, and that is the doctrine of the mystical

union of believers with Christ.

When we recite the Apostles' Creed, one of the affirmations that we make in that creed is that we believe in the communio sanctorum, the communion of saints.

Have you given much thought to that?

What does it mean?

Again, if I can break down the word, it's a simple word, another compound word.

There is the prefix com, which means what?

With.

And then the root unio.

So a communion is a uniting of people together with each other.

There's a certain witness, a unified witness that we all share as Christians.

Now the foundation for the communion of saints is our mystical union as individuals with Christ.

As I've said before, when looking at this epistle, when you become a Christian, you believe into Christ.

And when you believe into Christ, Christ comes in you.

He is now in you and you are in him.