“My little
children, for whom I labor in birth again until Christ is formed in you.” “Be
formed” is from the Greek word morphoo, a Greek philosophical term referring to
the outward expression one gives of his inmost being, an expression which comes
from and is representative of one’s inner spiritual nature. This could be
translated “Christ be outwardly expressed in you.” The verb, “formed”, is in
the aorist tense where the progress or completeness of the action is
unspecified, and the passive voice which tells us the subject of the verb,
Christ, is inactive (i.e., passive) and
is acted upon by someone or something else. At salvation the heart of the
believer becomes the temple... holy of holies, of our Lord, who dwells there in
a passive state. This passivity is defined by the meaning of the verb,
“formed”, so Christ is not inactive in His fellowship with the saint or in
ministering on behalf of the saint as the saint’s Advocate with the Father.
Jesus is inactive and passive in forming... manifesting Himself, expressing His
life... His nature, in and through the life of the saint, for it is the Holy
Spirit’s job to manifest Christ in the life of the Saint. The Holy Spirit is
the “someone else” who acts upon Christ to release His nature in the heart of
the believer, releasing the Christ-Life. Jesus said in referring to the work of
the Holy Spirit: “He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and
declare it to you.” The Apostle Paul speaks likewise of predestined believers
conformed to the image of God’s Son, and transformation that renews one’s mind:
“And those who are Christ’s
have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we
live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
The practical
application of this passage: If the Lord Jesus is to be visibly manifested, His
nature... the Fruit of the Spirit, in the life of the saint it must and will be
through the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit’s ministry requires
pliable hearts yielded to the Lordship of Christ, and crucified hearts that put
Self to death on the cross to make a place in our cluttered hearts for a new
and better way of life. Christ is formed in us through transformation, the
Spirit within progressively releasing the image of Christ within as we
progressively make room for His life by crucifying our Self life. This process
is walking in the Spirit. Pliable crucified hearts have made a place within for
the Christ-Life to come forth, and with passionate determination and
singularity of focus continue down the road of transformation till Christ is
fully formed in them. There is nothing in Christendom more important than the
continued transformation of the saints... until Christ is formed in each of
us...
WALKING IN THE SPIRIT
(Gal. 4:19; Jn. 16:14; Gal. 5:24-25; Rom. 8:29, 12:1-2)
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