2. Conformed with His Image
© 2017 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
The Most Important Verse.
Romans 8:28-30. And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.
These words are from the New King James version. Let me give my first paraphrase alongside of these words. We put God’s words into our own words, making them personal and now, making them Christ in us.
My First Paraphrase. And we know that God and we work together to make all things good, we who love God and are called according to His PURPOSE. For from the very beginning, God determined to conform us with the image of His Son, to make us just like Jesus, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren, the first One of our kind. Inside that original determination, we were called, we were justified, and we were glorified (past tense) in all the glory of Jesus before God right now (present tense).
The entire gospel of the purpose and revelation of God is found in these three verses together as one.
Unending Depths. To begin with, as I have studied out the words of Romans 8:28-30, both in the Greek and in their English translations, I have found an unending depth and length, and an unreachable height and breadth. And as I have placed this verse as the rule over every other verse in the Bible, bringing in a constant stream of verses as support of these core truths and seeing a constant stream of verses flowing out of this one to find their place and joy of fulfillment, I have come to know the HUGE realities of God, His Heart and intention that continue to be discovered inside this one “verse.”
I am fully satisfied now that we will spend eternity finding unending depths in these words, and that they, in fact, rule every other part of the Bible.
God’s Determination. Let’s start with verse 29. First, obliterate that word, “predestined.” It is an ugly religious word that does not describe God as He is. Right from the start, God DETERMINED that I would be just like Jesus. “Determination” includes three things; it includes purpose, it includes passion, and it includes certainty. God is fierce, and He has seized you and me fiercely in His determination to reveal Himself, to be seen and known by all, through us as His image, the visible representation of a forever invisible God. Our certainty is rooted in the fierce determination of God.
Conformed with His Image. Yes, God is too intense for us, that’s why He gave us Jesus. We can connect with this Consuming Fire who tells us, to our total astonishment, to call Him Father, only through the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ who lives inside of this FIRE.
And thus we turn to the core phrase of the Bible – Conformed with the image of His Son. What can this mean? Where do we even begin? Then we discover that Paul did something quite unusual when he wrote these words. You see, Paul, knowing, I am convinced, that he was writing the heart of the gospel, the very Heart of God, reached for the right word and could not find it, not even in his extensive knowledge of Greek.
Symmorphos. And so Paul invented his own word, a word never before used, a word he himself used only three times, and all three, right at the heart of his gospel. Paul took the Greek pre-fix he loved using so much, syn/sym, meaning “together with,” and tacked it onto the Greek root, morph, meaning “form.”
Symmorphosed with the image of His Son.
“Conform” could be what Paul meant, except that Christian unbelief has altered the meaning of “conform,” making it the same as “transform,” that is, our “becoming like Jesus.” Paul and John both say “like Jesus” elsewhere in critical verses supporting Romans 8:29, but here he meant something different.
Symmorphy. Symmorphos (in English – symmorphy) is the most important word in the Bible. What does it mean? Symmorphy means “sharing the same form.” You will discover a larger meaning of symmorphos as you progress through the course Symmorphy I: Purpose inside of Christ Revealed Bible Institute.
(Jesus) who being the brightness of (God’s) glory and the express image of His person… (Hebrews 1:3a). God is determined that I will share with Jesus being the express image of God’s person. And God is determined that Jesus will be the FIRST of many brethren, just like Himself.
We Shall Be Like Jesus. Let’s bring in those supporting verses that establish the full meaning of the most important verse in the Bible.
Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is (1 John 3:2). – For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brothers. . . (Hebrews 2:10-11).
Transformed into the Same Image. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us (Romans 8:18). – But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18).
I will not go into depth on these verses, rather, they add the depth we need in order to know Romans 8:28-30. Each one of these four other verses expands and fills full the most important verse in the Bible. God brings many sons to glory, that is, being just like Jesus, the first One of our kind. (Although symmorphy is something incredibly deeper.)
My Right. Compare 1 John 3:2 and 2 Corinthians 3:18 carefully. These two verses must NEVER be separated. John said that it is by seeing Jesus AS HE IS that we are just like Him. Paul makes it clear that this seeing is progressive, from glory to glory, and that this transformation IS taking place right now. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:12-13). I have the right to become a son of God, just like Jesus, to share together with Jesus being the image and revelation of God to all creation. I will possess my right.
God’s Intentions. Then we turn to verse 28, the verse that shows us God’s intentions for dwelling IN and revealing Himself THROUGH human beings, you and me. The word, “purpose,” is one of many huge reasons why this must be the ruling verse of the Bible – God’s purpose. Yet the arrangement of the wording in verse 28, as given by most translations, is not true to God’s nature or His relationship with humans. God does not just “make” everything work for good separately from us. The word “together” is in the wrong place. Instead, it is God and us together, God’s expectation joined with our confidence, by which everything is turned into good. Working with and through us is a big part of God’s desire.
Already Complete. Finally we must consider the extraordinary implications of verse 30. Already called – already justified – already glorified. Inside of Christ, everything we are as God intends in fullness is already complete. We are complete in Christ (Colossians 2:10). For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified (Hebrews 10:14). Already the ruling verse of the Bible is altering the definitions of Bible words. Sanctified – coming to KNOW what is already true.
One Phrase. We are the image of Jesus Christ revealed to all creation; we stand fully in the glory of Jesus before God in all ways right now, and we and God together cause all things to pass from evil to good, from death into life.
Conformed with (sharing together) the image of His Son. The very existence of this one phrase requires that all other verses in the Bible serve its meaning, its fulfillment, and its full expression through us. If that is true, then it is evident that the entire Bible is speaking of something quite different from what the majority of God’s precious people presently see.
The entire Bible Studies program at CRBI is designed to give us just a glimpse of the reality and power of this one phrase.
Extending the Most Important. Now, the most important verse in the Bible is glorious enough to outshine everything else – except God. And God is always too much. He talks endlessly; He loves Jesus too much ever to be silent. And so God adds the next three most important verses in the Bible as an extension, to make the most glorious revelation of God found in the most important verse far beyond what we can even imagine.
The next three most important verses of the Bible enable us to know exactly what God means by Romans 8:28-30. What are we? What is our real design? What does “image” and “likeness” mean?
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[Author’s Note: I have been writing about Romans 8:28-30 as the most important verse, the ruling verse of the Bible, for over ten years. It has only grown in it's authority in our understanding. Let me reiterate the claim I am making. Anyone who does not know the impact and meaning of these three verses as one, and not just “know,” but believe with all confidence that God is speaking the truth, has no real idea of what God, the Bible, and salvation actually are.
That is a strong statement and meant to be so.
Those who read my claim then have only two possible responses. One can either throw my assertion out completely, knowing exactly what is being thrown out, or one can fall on his or her face before God and say, “Oh my Father, show me if these things be true; show me what you mean in these words. Change my understanding that I might know You as You are.”]