Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary

CONFORM*, CONFORMATION*

Spiritual process of molding the believer into the image of Jesus. Paul speaks of this in Romans 8:28-30:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified (niv).

Since it is God’s desire and plan to have many sons and daughters, each believer has to be conformed to the prototype, Jesus. Note how the words “predestined,” “called,” “justified,” and especially “glorified” in Romans 8:29-30 are in the past tense. That is because God, from his eternal perspective, sees this process as having been completed already. From God’s perspective, believers have been glorified already because he sees them like his Son. But still, in the reality of time, they must undergo the process of being conformed to the image of God’s Son. God is working together all things in the lives of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. His goal is to conform each son and daughter to the image of his beloved Son.

When one continues to read the rest of Romans 8, it is quite evident that the “things” God uses to conform Christians involve various kinds of suffering. Conformity to the image of Jesus Christ necessitates conformity to his death (see Phil 3:10). Whereas transformation involves an inward, life-imparted change in our essential constitution, conformation entails outward pressure that works the image of Christ into his children. If they are to be made like him, they must have both. To know Jesus, as far as Paul was concerned, was to know both the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings. No one likes to suffer; no one wants to be a Job. But Job was insightful when he said, “When he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (Jb 23:10, rsv). Suffering produces an element in the believer that they do not inherently possess. God uses sufferings to conform them to the image of his Son.

The Lord Jesus left his followers a pattern of suffering that cannot be avoided. This is the path that he, the pioneer of salvation, took. The Father perfected him through suffering (Heb 2:10)—i.e., he, as a man, was made fully qualified to be our leader and even our merciful High Priest because of what he suffered on our behalf. Christians should expect to suffer, at least in part, some of the things Jesus suffered. Of course, this does not mean that any believer can repeat his unique act of suffering on the cross for redemption. Peter says that “Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps” (1 Pt 2:21, rsv). The Greek word underlying “example” (hupogramma) in common Greek usage designated a tracing tablet that contained the entire Greek alphabet. Students would use this to trace the alphabet. They would have to learn each letter, from alpha to omega. The life of Jesus, a life of suffering, is just such a tracing tablet. Those who learn to follow Jesus will be those who know what it is to suffer, for suffering is the means by which God conforms us to the image of Jesus.