In Paul’s letter to the Galatian believers we see that he had a burden for them, was anew in labour to see Christ formed in them. Certain Jewish Christians had come in and tried to teach the Galatians, who initially were gentiles, to adhere to a mix of Old and New Testament doctrines, trying to divert their affection to themselves. There is also today, in the Body of Christ, an unhealthy obsession with Mosaic Jewishness. We, as Christians, are from a new generation, the generation of Jesus Christ, and should not be looking to be part of the genealogy of some Jewish tribe. There is a distinct difference between the grace gospel of Christ and the Law of Moses, the first being powerful unto change and the second without. They cannot be mixed into a blend, which, according to Paul, is a perversion. Jesus redeemed us from the whole law, establishing our righteousness in him, but once we have been converted, we must continue our lives with Christ, being rooted and built up in him and formed in him unto infinite glory, the fulness of God. However, the question is, how do we grow up into the image of Christ? It firstly is about what God does in and for us, and secondly what we do in response. What God did unto our salvation is of his grace. Our response, then, is by grace. Christ is revealed in us by God. Once He is revealed in us, we need to understand and co-operate with the fact that Christ lives in us as the hope of glory, that we are inseparably joined together. We need to be persuaded of the fact that He is in us and believe that it is a reality that we can be conformed to his image as the Bible teaches, something which we can experience in this life. We also need to really believe that the Holy Spirit is progressively changing us unto the character of Christ until all our life is flowing from him. This is a personal invitation to discipleship. God’s main purpose to our lives is to make us like Christ. Beholding Christ, having him fully revealed to us, will change us into the same image.
