"As long as Christ remains outside of us, and we are separated from him," John Calvin notes, "all that he has suffered and done for us, and the salvation of the human race remains useless and of no value to us." In other words, Christ's benefits only become ours by faith. Such a faith must be a living one in order to lay hold of and be joined to Him. What He accomplished then becomes ours, as though we performed it ourselves. This lesson opens up such an idea as we study the benefits of the priesthood for Israel.