The teacher will now need to call attention to God’s ultimate purpose concerning the life of the regenerated one. We have already seen that God marked out the redeemed before the founding of the world to be conformed to the Image of His Son. And we have further seen that He had in mind the glorified Last Adam, when He created the first Adam; therefore God’s purpose for His redeemed one is that he shall become like The Man in the Glory.
We know full well that life on any plane, if unhindered, will become conformed to its type. In other words, it will ultimately manifest all the characteristic qualities of the individual life- principle. The teacher will explain, if necessary, the various definitions of the word type, that the class may not become confused with its double use in Bible Study. This law of conformity to type may be illustrated as follows. Notwithstanding the fact that vegetable life presents almost endless variety in order, group and family, yet in the original germ no difference is discernible. An invisible life-principle within each germ fashions the particular form of vegetable life that the Creator designs. Thus the original germ of the oak and the lily look exactly alike. Examined through the microscope, no difference whatever is to be seen; yet the oak life is within one germ, and the lily life within the other, and these two widely differing forms of life are developed according to the individual life-principle.
The same is true of animal life. In the original germs no difference is discernable, yet the individual life-principle in one germ fashions an animal to live upon the land, while that in another germ forms an animal to live in the water or to fly in the air.
And not only does the individual life-principle fashion its special form of life, but if conditions for growth are fulfilled, it will cause the life to become fully conformed to its type. To illustrate: The lily life is in the tiny green shoot appearing above the ground but it is not conformed to its type. It has not yet manifested all the characteristic qualities of the lily life. However, there comes a day when the beautiful lily life is fully manifested in the lovely, fragrant blossoms that crown its glossy, green stalk. It is now conformed to type.
God, the Creator, has made provision for each variety of life to conform to its type. It makes no difference whether it be upon the plane of vegetable, animal or human life; if conditions are fulfilled, conformity is certain. We will now consider the nature of these conditions upon each plane of life.
Vegetable life is simple, unconscious life; therefore the response to God’s provision for growth and ultimate conformity to type will be unconscious, spontaneous. The lily simply bathes in the sunshine, drinks in the rain and the dew, and absorbs from the soil that which it needs. This response to God’s provision for its conformity is beautifully set forth in Luke 12:27.
Animal life is conscious life, although not self-conscious life; therefore the response to the provision for growth is of a different kind. We see this indicated in Psalm 104:21 and Luke 12:24. God provides animals with food, but they have to “gather” it. Unlike the lily, they are created with organs of locomotion, and they must use them if they are to attain maturity of growth.
In considering the conditions for growth on the plane of human life, which is self-conscious life, we find that as human beings are created with the power of choice, and intellectual and moral faculties in addition to bodily powers, the response to God’s provision will be of a higher order than that of the animal creation. Man has to use all of his powers if his conformity to type morally, intellectually, and physically is to be realized; yet he cannot by self-effort add “one cubit to his stature.” He simply uses his God-given power of choice in such a manner that the life-principle within succeeds in causing conformity to type.
We must now see how this law of conformity to type is manifested on the higher plane of regenerated human life. We must remember that a new life-principle has been introduced into the human spirit. There is not a single spark of Uncreated, or Eternal Life, in a human being until the instant of regeneration. This fact has already been set forth in the first section of these studies, but the teacher needs to constantly keep it before the class, as so many persons have mistaken ideas in reference to this subject. We must also recall the fact that biology says, “Life on one plane cannot generate life on a higher plane; but, if the life on one plane were ever to know life on a higher plane, there must be a prepared organism to receive such a life, and a prepared medium of transmission from the higher plane to the lower, so that the new life may be received as an immediate, instantaneous bestowal.” The agreement between this statement and God’s written Word is perfect. The God-Man is the prepared medium of transmission, and every human being is a “prepared organism” for the reception of life on a higher plane-because of the created spirit, as a capacity for this life, and the created power to choose it. If the will has made its choice, then this new Life-principle will fashion within the human personality that “new creature” mentioned in 2 Corinthians 5:17. And, if the conditions for growth are fulfilled, then conformity to the Type-the Glorified God-Man-will be realized.
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