Calvin's Theology of Sanctification Resulting from Union with Christ

In relation to the various ‘types’ of Christian theologies of participation, Calvin’s approach is distinctive. He sees participation in Christ as constituted by the duplex gratia, the graces of justification and sanctification, which are inseparable but distinguishable. Against Catholic and Orthodox theologies of impartation, Calvin believes that justification is accomplished by God’s free pardon in imputation. While there is a sense in which imputation is a forensic act—as in Melanchthon—Calvin’s account of imputation is inextricably tied to union with Christ: believers come to ‘possess’ Christ and his righteousness.

In the second grace of participation in Christ—namely, sanctification— Calvin draws deeply upon earlier patristic and medieval theologies of participation as impartation. To participate in Christ, for Calvin, always involves a grateful fulfillment of the law of love, empowered by the life-giving Spirit. This participation takes place in the communal context of the church and its sacramental life, which is connected to an interrelated set of outwardly moving loves . . . Calvin eschews the Plotinian tradition of participation through a momentary ecstasy of the solitary contemplative. Participation in Christ—and hence the richest language about union with God in Christ through the Spirit—is always connected for Calvin with the life of horizontal love. Calvin’s theology of human love and sanctification speaks in terms of the impartation and infusion of the Spirit, such that the human and her capacities are used through the Spirit. Yet, acts of human love never ‘merit’ justification or eternal life—they are a response of voluntary praise to God.

In the eschaton, believers will regain their primal participation in God, yet in an even more profound way of participation, since they have been made one with Christ through the Spirit. United to God, the second grace of sanctification will reach its culmination, thus fulfilling the union which was already achieved by faith through the first grace. As such, believers will be ex-sinners, united to God, having received by grace that which the Son has by nature. Yet, even in this final state, the ground for union with God will be God’s gratuitous favour.

Thus, through examining the development, scope, and metaphysics of Calvin’s theology of ‘participation in Christ’, I argue that Calvin’s theology of participation emerges from a soteriology which affirms a differentiated union of God and humanity in creation and redemption. Through his engagement with biblical and catholic sources (especially Irenaeus, Augustine, and Cyril of Alexandria), Calvin develops a wide-ranging and emphatic doctrine of participation. In prayer, the sacraments, and obedience to the law, believers are incorporated into the Triune life: as believers are made ‘completely one’ with Christ by faith, the Father is revealed as generous by his free pardon, and the Spirit empowers believers for lives of gratitude. In this way, Calvin’s strong account of divine agency enables, rather than undercuts, human agency in sanctification. Grace fulfills rather than destroys nature, so that believers may ‘participate in God’, the telos of creation. Moreover, ‘participation in Christ’ is inseparable from participation in loving relationships of social mutuality and benevolence, both in the church and beyond its walls. At every stage, Calvin’s account of participation in Christ is grounded in a participatory vision of human activity and flourishing. (J. Todd Billings, Calvin, Participation, and the Gift: The Activity of Believers in Union with Christ, 15–17)