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CONFORMITY
From Timeless Grace Gems
by Arthur Pink
June, 1949
From Timeless Grace Gems
by Arthur Pink
June, 1949
"For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestine to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." Romans 8:29
What an amazing statement is that! Certainly one which no mortal mind had ever thought of inventing. That some out of the fallen descendants of Adam should be not only saved from their sins and delivered from the wrath to come but decreed by God to be made like that blessed One in whom His soul delights! That is the climax of grace, for it is not possible to confer a greater or higher favor upon its chosen subjects. That depraved creatures should yet become replicas of the Holy One that worms of the earth should be fashioned after the Lord of glory passes finite comprehension, yet faith receives and love adores.
What does this "conformity" consist of? Summarizing the teaching of the New Testament thereon, we may say it is a spiritual, a practical, an experiential, and a physical one. A line must not be drawn too sharply between those distinctions, for they shade off the one into the other.
The spiritual conformity begins at our regeneration;
the practical conformity has to do with our sanctification;
the experiential conformity concerns our mortification; and
the physical conformity will not be effected until our glorification.
SPIRITUAL conformity to Christ. Before there can be any real conformity to Christ outwardly there must be an inward one of nature, as we must first "live in the Spirit" before we can "walk in the Spirit" (Gal 5:25).
At regeneration, the spiritual image of Christ is stamped upon the soul, and He is "formed" in the heart the "new man" (Eph 4:24; Col 3:10) being created after His likeness. The members are of the same nature as the head: the life of Christ must be imparted to us before there can be any communion with or conformity to Him. "And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace" (John 1:16) that is grace communicated to us corresponding in nature to the grace of which He is full.
That initial spiritual conformity is continued throughout the Christian's life on earth: he is renewed in the inner man day by day (2 Corinthians 4:16). It is both his privilege and duty to become increasingly Christlike in his character and conduct. That you "may grow up into him in all things" (Eph 4:15) is to be our ceaseless aim and endeavor. We are enjoined, "put on the Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom 13:14) as the soldier does his uniform evidencing by our daily deportment that we serve under his banner.
We are required to express or "show forth" His virtues (1 Peter 2:9, margin), making it manifest that He indwells us. Said the apostle, "Be followers [or 'imitators'] of me, even as I also am of Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1). Our bearing the name of Christ is justified, only so far as we display His perfections.
Christ not only lives for His people, but in them (Gal 2:20); and He cannot "be hidden" (Mar 7:24). Christ died for them and they are to die unto sin, self, the world. It is by their conformity unto Christ, that His followers are distinguished from empty professors.
This spiritual and inward conformity to Christ, is promoted by our regular use of appropriate means. "But we all [regenerate souls], with open face [in contrast with the veiled Jews verses 13-16] beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord we are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18 ). The "mirror" in which the "glory of the Lord" is seen is the Scriptures. That glory is "beheld" by faith, for faith is the eye of the spirit as it is by our physical eyes, we take in light from the sun. As the regenerated soul is believingly and adoringly occupied with that wondrous "glory," he is "changed into the same image": not completely so in a moment, but gradually and progressively "from glory to glory." Not by any effort or striving of ours, but "by the Spirit," whose office it is first to unite us to Christ and then to make us like Him.
The closer communion we have with the Lord Jesus, the nearer affiliation shall we have to Him. As faith feeds upon Him who gives us His own flesh to eat, we become assimilated to Him spiritually. The more we are affected by His love, the more we shall strive to please Him. "Beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord we are changed into the same image." The figure is taken from the mirrors used by the ancients, which, unlike ours, were made of highly polished metal. For their use, a brilliant light was required; and as it fell upon the mirror, not only did the person see in it his countenance, but upon his face was reflected the glow from the metal: if the mirror was of brass or gold, the reflection would be yellow; if silver, white. And as faith is occupied with the person of Christ and the Spirit shines upon our hearts His perfections are reproduced in us.
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