186. Christ Formed within
Galatians 4:19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you.
The work and effort of preaching the Crucified Christ carries the resulting promise that Christ will be formed in us. The promise of Christ living, working and acting within the believer is repeated in various ways in the New Testament. This promise uses the word “form.” The forming of Christ is a process. Christ comes in the moment one believes the Gospel and is baptized. The forming is a process that apparently takes a long time and a lot of hard work.
The travailing and work that is done by the Apostle is the preaching of the Gospel. The preaching and hearing of the Gospel is the painful work that is done to form Christ within. The Law cannot form Christ; it can only accuse, condemn, and drive us to despair. After the Law has done its work then the Gospel is applied; it alone has the power to effect a change and form Christ. “Cruciformity” is a made-up theological word that describes the goal of the Gospel of the New Testament. This is what we want, although we don’t know that’s what we want. “Take up your cross” and die to yourself. Let Christ live by faith. That won’t happen unless and until we repent and believe the Gospel; and it must be believed over and over again.The natural man does not want the cross and he cannot believe the Gospel on his own, but the Holy Spirit calls me by the Gospel.
The natural man, the sinful man, must be crushed and killed by the Law and then be turned to the Gospel. Then the impossible happens: by the power of the Spirit through the Gospel he believes it; and then the forming begins and continues every time we apply the Gospel. Inside we look like Jesus, as God looks at us; outside, we look more and more Christ-like to the world. Even though we do not see it, it is still true, because God says it is so, and we can believe the Word does its intended work.