DIVINE FORMATION
[p. 433] DIVINE FORMATION
Galatians 4: 19; Romans 12: 2; Luke 1: 46 - 55
I have ventured to read these scriptures which speak of formation, hoping that the Lord would support a word on this subject. The thought of formation runs through Scripture, especially with regard to man, who is said to be both a creation and a formation, and who represents God here. Formation enters into the material and the animal creation without moral significance; but as applied to man, formation has in view something of supreme importance in the mind of God.
Adam was a figure of Him who was to come, who is said to have taken “a bondman’s form, taking his place in the likeness of men; and having been found in figure as a man, humbled himself” (Philippians 2: 8); that is, He came in relation to what was there. He did not come as an afterthought, but represents what is primary. Whatever form marked Adam, Christ was the Model. God had Christ in mind in that last great act of His in Genesis 1; thus the idea of formation appears in chapter 2, and God breathed into man’s nostrils, as formed. It must have been of peculiar interest to God to breathe into him, since Christ was in His mind.
Scripture is full of the idea of manhood as pointing to Christ, not the man made of dust, but the second Man out of heaven, who when on earth was also in heaven. He speaks of Himself to Nicodemus as “the Son of man who is in heaven”, John 3: 13. He also says, “If then ye see the Son of man ascending up where he was before?” John 6: 62. He is in heaven, as to His inscrutable being, and also as having ascended. “The second man out of heaven” means that He is of heavenly origin, and ascends up where He was before. The expression, “Such as the [p. 434] heavenly one, such also the heavenly ones” is wonderful; but that is what believers are. “As we have borne the image of the one made of dust, we shall bear also the image of the heavenly one”, see 1 Corinthians 15: 47 - 49. We shall not be in heaven as strangers, but as at home, and there will be no disparity between Jesus and those that are of Him; He ever remains God, but as Man we have part with Him. How elevating is all this! It is said God has predestinated us “to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he should be the firstborn among many brethren”, Romans 8: 29. Not only is He the Leader of a chosen race, but He is the firstborn of many brethren. God is leading many sons to glory; there are just as many sons as there are brethren; there are not too many, nor too few for the counsels of God, but all synchronises with those counsels.
How important it is, then, to take in the idea of formation now, having the future in view, and as connected with our great calling. The apostle says, “I pursue, looking towards the goal, for the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus”, Philippians 3: 14. This involves formation. Hence Paul speaks with grave feeling in writing to the assemblies of Galatia, because they were going back to the weak and beggarly principles instead of being formed according to God. The apostle deeply resented the saints going back to the beggarly principles of mere religious legality. This sad feature appears in persons shallow in formation, who, like many of us, are very exuberant as something fresh comes along, but later drop back to the old level. As Paul says, “Plucking out your own eyes ye would have given them to me”, Galatians 4: 15. This does not speak of a steadiness of spiritual growth, and is not to be trusted. So he breaks into a reproachful spirit; he says, “I should wish to be present with you now, and change my voice, for I am perplexed as to you”; and further,
“[p. 435] My children, of whom I again travail”. Deep concern had marked him for them already, and now he was obliged to travail afresh for them. The Lord thus speaks to those who have retrograded, for the enemy will get them; such will begin to discredit the brethren, and worse things will follow. Now the secret of this is poverty of formation; so the apostle says, “I again travail in birth until Christ shall have been formed in you”, Galatians 4: 19.
The apostle spoke out of a profoundly exercised heart, because the Galatians were going back to the bondage of religious legality; but the bondmaid and her son were to be cast out. “Mount Sinai ... corresponds to Jerusalem which is now, for she is in bondage with her children” (Galatians 4: 25); that is, the whole of Christendom is like mount Sinai, which is in the Arabian desert, where there are no springs of God. “Jerusalem ... is in bondage with her children”. Let us not be one of those children. Paul had another formation in mind, according to the true pattern, which is Christ. Moses saw the pattern on the mount, and all things are to be according to that pattern. Let us then make room in our hearts and minds for Christ, God’s ideal which is presented in the gospel, in this way self is displaced by Christ.
Formation is not simply that I admire Christ in particular parts, such as His head or His feet, but in all His features. He is thus my ideal. God intends the gospel to so affect us that we prefer Christ to self. Formation is God’s work; I cannot form Christ in myself, any more than I can effect new birth, but I am responsible as to both; that is, I own the necessity for them, see John 3: 1 - 7. I cannot afford to be without being born again, nor to be without Christ being formed in me; so I have to make room for God to work by a moral process; I must judge and deny myself. It is not only a matter [p. 436] of light which brings the Model to me, but I must make room for Him. God works in relation to my intelligence, even as when He showed to Moses the model of the tabernacle. He says, as it were, “I want a place in you for that Person to whom I have given the highest place in heaven”. The process produces conformity to the image of God’s Son: I am like Christ, not like Ishmael.
Although certain religious systems may have something of God in them, they are man-made, and so are a mixture, which God hates. Hagar represents one system, Sarah the other. Christ formed in us, implies the latter; the legal formation has to go.
In Romans 7 I reach a point where I have authority and find my feet in my own establishment, so to speak: “I myself with the mind serve God’s law”; this is our real beginning spiritually. “Who shall deliver me out of this body of death? I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord”, verse 24, 25. We are left here to do the will of God, and for the reproduction of Christ down here. Paul says, “I am crucified with Christ, and no longer live I, but Christ lives in me; but in that I now live in flesh, I live by faith, the faith of the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me”, Galatians 2: 20. It is all personal, beautifully so, and it is due to the Lord that I should begin the principle of displacement of the old formation by the new, by Christ being formed in me.
In Romans 12: 2 God has the idea of formation in mind. The word is, “Be transformed”, which means being changed from one thing to another, “by the renewing of your mind”; it is a question of the mind; “that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God”.
In Luke 1 we have a beautiful example of formation. Mary appears amid several worshippers in that chapter, which is one of the most remarkable chapters in Scripture, for it introduces the incarnation [p. 437] of Christ in a unique way — it is so peculiarly sacred and holy. The incarnation is surrounded by holy feelings, to the exclusion of all taint that comes from natural curiosity. So must we be, or we shall be tainted with natural feelings. It does not say, Mary was filled with the Spirit, though doubtless she was, and because of this she may appear to be behind the others who, later in the chapter, are said to be filled with Him. This is rather a tribute to Mary, for she represents formation. What she says is not the result of a sudden incoming of the Spirit, though one should look for that in believers, since it may appear in the shallowest of us, as being in the sphere of the Spirit’s activities. Mary’s salutation to Elizabeth greatly affected her, and even the unborn babe. Afterwards Elizabeth praises, the Holy Spirit having come upon her; she says, “Whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” What precious light pervades the scene as those holy women conversed in the hill-country of Juda! There is not much in any locality without this permanent formation. A formed believer goes on steadily and can always speak a word in power. How beautifully Mary speaks, her praise being measured in such scriptural and spiritual terms. She can distinguish between her soul and spirit “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour”, Luke 1: 46, 47.
Divine formation in us stands, and will endure eternally. How important it is, then, that we should make room for it! You will agree that Mary’s worship here is the result of it: “He has wrought strength with his arm”, etc., verse 51. It is not here that He will do this, or that He can do it; these verses show what He has done. Thus Mary has a fixed, restful apprehension of God, which is only found in those formed of Him. How important, then, divine formation is! God will form me as I allow Him.