We await salvation from Christ
because he makes us,
ingrafted into his body,
participants not only in all his benefits
but also in himself.
If you contemplate yourself,
that is sure damnation.
But since Christ has been so imparted to you
with all his benefits
that all that is his is made yours –
that you are made a member of him,
indeed one with him –
his righteousness overwhelms your sins;
his salvation wipes out your condemnation;
with his worthiness he intercedes
that your unworthiness may not come before God’s sight.
Surely this is so:
We ought not to separate Christ from ourselves
or ourselves from him.
Rather we ought to hold fast bravely with both hands
to that fellowship by which he has bound himself to us.
Christ is not outside us
but dwells within us.
Not only does he cleave to us
by an indivisible bond of fellowship,
but with a wonderful communion, day by day,
he grows more and more into one body with us,
until he becomes completely one with us.
(John Calvin, from The Institutes of the Christian Religion)
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