Romans 8:29 tells us that God predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son. As called and justified ones (v. 30), our destiny has been determined beforehand by God. Before the foundation of the world, God predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son. This means that conformation to Christ is our destiny and also our destination. Our destiny is not heaven-it is to be conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God.
We have been predestinated to be conformed to the image of God’s firstborn Son so that He may be the Firstborn among many brothers. This is God’s purpose-to produce many brothers of His firstborn Son for His expression. When Christ was the only begotten Son, He was unique. But God desired to have many sons who will be the many brothers of His Son. In this way the only begotten Son of God becomes the Firstborn among many brothers. He is the firstborn Son, and we, according to God’s predestination, are the many sons who are being conformed to the image of the Firstborn. God’s purpose in this is that we express Him in a corporate way. Hence, for the fulfillment of God’s purpose, He predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son.
Those who are being conformed to the image of God’s firstborn Son are the believers as the many brothers of God’s firstborn Son in the process of maturity. We are presently in the process of maturity, that is, in the process of transformation and conformation. When this process has been completed, we shall reach maturity. Therefore, maturity is the full extent of the process of transformation for conformation.
We are now in the process of being conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God. This conformation takes place through transformation. The more we are transformed, the more we are conformed. Transformation, a metabolic change, issues in conformation.
Through the process of transformation and conformation we become more and more like Christ, our elder Brother. He has both the divine nature and the human nature, and we, His many brothers, have both the human nature and the divine nature. Concerning this, Hebrews 2:11 says, “Both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which cause He is not ashamed to call them brothers.” He who sanctifies is Christ as the firstborn Son of God, and those who are being sanctified are the believers in Christ as the many sons of God. To say that He and we are all “of one” refers to the Father as the source. Both the firstborn Son and the many sons of God have been born of the same Father in resurrection. Therefore, the firstborn Son and the many sons have one source, one life, one nature, and one essence. Because both He, the firstborn Son, and we, the many sons, are the same in the divine life and nature, He is not ashamed to call us brothers. As His brothers we are now in the process of maturity.
This process of maturity involves the believers’ experience of the divine life. Conformation actually denotes the shaping of life. As the divine life grows within us and transforms us, it spontaneously shapes us into the form, the image, of the firstborn Son of God. If we are blind to this reality, however, we may try to shape ourselves into the likeness of Christ. Such self-effort never works. Concerning this, only one thing is prevailing-the divine life that grows in us, sanctifies us, transforms us, and shapes us. There is no need for us to shape ourselves, to perform, or to strive to improve our behavior. What we need is a fuller experience of the divine life with its essence, power, law, and shape. As those who are undergoing the process of transformation for conformation, we are being shaped gradually into the image of the firstborn Son of God by the function of the all-inclusive, divine life.
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