Romans 12:2a says, "And do not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind." Here the term renewing is used with transformed. This indicates that to have Christ formed in us is to have the three parts of our soul—our mind, emotion, and will—renewed. Our mind is the leading part of our soul. To have our mind renewed is to have Christ "invade" our mind. Our mind, emotion, and will are filled with our self and the world. To be renewed in our mind is to remove our self and the world from our mind, emotion, and will and replace them with Christ. If we are renewed in this way, Christ will be formed in us, and our mind, emotion, and will will be like Him. Every part of our inner being will bear the image of Christ. This is to have Christ formed in us. When we think, we will be like Christ. When we love or hate, like or dislike, we will be like Christ. When we choose or reject, we will be like Christ.

However, most of us are not like this yet. At times we may think noble thoughts, but in our practical life our mind is not like Christ. Our mind simply expresses our self with the world. It is the same with our emotion. We may love, laugh, and weep by the self and the world, not by Christ. This indicates that Christ has not been formed in us. Christ has not invaded our mind, emotion, and will to replace the self and the world with Himself. Many times when people talk, their talk is full of the self and the element of the world. The mind, emotion, and will of such persons are filled with the self and the element of the world. What is formed in them is the self with the world, and they are the expression of the self and the world. We can never be an expression of Christ until Christ has invaded our entire inner being to chase the self and the world out of our mind, emotion, and will and replace them with Himself. Then our inner being will bear the form, the image, of Christ.

According to Paul's usage in the New Testament, the form is the outward expression of the inner being (see Phil. 2:6 and note 2 there). If we are full of the self and love the world in our inner being, our outward form will simply be the self and the world. In selecting a pair of shoes, a necktie, or a car, our choice will express the world and indicate that our emotions, our likes and dislikes, are full of the self and the world. But if Christ has invaded, conquered, and subdued us and has chased the self and the world out of our inner being and replaced the self and the world with Himself, we will express Him. What we are is expressed in our outward form. If Christ replaces the self and the world in our mind, emotion, and will, we will have the form of Christ. The Galatians were occupied by Judaism; thus, in their outward form they expressed Judaism. Therefore, Paul said, "My children, with whom I travail again in birth until Christ is formed in you." Paul had to suffer like a mother, travailing for the Galatians until Christ replaced the self and the world in them with Himself.