Stephen E. Robinson wrote:
A husband and wife become one with each other through the covenant of the gospel. (Cf. 1 Corinthians 6:15-17) Just as a bride renounces all competing claims upon her loyalties and normally takes her husband’s last name, so those who enter this covenant with Christ renounce all competing loyalties, put him first, and take his name upon them. To this union we bring our righteous desires and loyalty. He brings his perfection. In the covenant union what is mine becomes his, and what is his becomes mine. Thus my sins become his for payment, and his righteousness becomes mine for justification.
When we become one with Jesus Christ, spiritually we form a partnership with a joint account, and his assets and our liabilities flow into each other. Since he has more assets than we have liabilities (he has an infinite ocean of assets), the new account has a positive balance as soon as it is formed, and the partnership is justified, even though as junior partners (you and me) could not make it on their own. This is what the Apostle Paul refers to as being “in Christ” (1 Corinthians 1:1) and Moroni calls being “Perfect in Christ” (Moroni 19:32)
Taken together, Christ and I make up a new creature. The old creature, the imperfect creature, ceases to exist, and a glorious new creature, a perfect partnership, takes its place. Taken together as a single entity, the two of us, Christ and I, are perfect. I do not mean (this is absolutely crucial!) that we become perfect, later on. I mean that from the moment the partnership is formed in good faith, from the moment we have sincere faith in Christ, sincerely repent of our sins, and receive baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost—from this moment the partnership is celestial. The merits of the Senior Partner make it so. True, this is not individual perfection in Christ (see Moroni 10:32-33), through which we receive the benefit of our partner’s merits. Nevertheless, from this moment the kingdom is ours, provided that we maintain the partnership by abiding in the gospel covenant. (See 3 Nephi 27:16, 19-21.)
At this point someone will object that I still have faults and limitations, and I admit that if I am judged separately and alone, this is true. But in the covenant relationship I am not judged separately and alone but as one with Christ. Simply consider the mathematics of it: If Christ is infinite and unlimited, but I am finite and limited, and we become one, what do Christ and I add up to? What is the sum of an infinite, positive quantity and a limited negative quantity (∞ + -x)? Why, infinity, of course! And the math is the same whether I (the finite part) am a ten, or a five, or a one, whether I’m a prophet, a stake president or a struggling member. Infinity plus any amount positive or negative, equals infinity.
What matters most is not how much we bring to the equation, but only that we can make the equation by entering into a covenant relationship with an infinite Christ, however great or small we may think ourselves to be. Any two people who are joined together and have become one in a covenant unity are perfect as long as one of them is Jesus Christ. ~Stephen E. Robinson, Believing Christ, Following Christ, (Salt Lake City, Deseret Book 2019) 48-51 pocket book
