I.　Conformation—Rom. 8:26-29:

A.　Transformation issues in conformation, which is higher than transformation—12:2; 2 Cor. 3:18:

1.　Transformation is inward and is a matter of essence; conformation is outward and is a matter of shape.

2.　Transformation involves a change in form, whereas conformation involves the shaping of this form into a certain image, the image of Christ as the firstborn Son of God—Rom. 8:29.

3.　The Lord is sanctifying us and transforming us so that we may be conformed to His image; therefore, transformation results in conformation.

4.　As the divine life grows within us and transforms us, it spontaneously shapes us into the form, the image, of the firstborn Son of God—8:2.

B.　To be conformed to the image of the firstborn Son of God is to be saved in Christ's life from self-likeness, that is, from the expression, the appearance, of the self—5:10b; Matt. 16:23-24:

1.　Because in many aspects we do not yet have the appearance of God's sons, we need to be saved in the life of Christ from self-likeness.

2.　When we have been saved from our self-likeness and have been fully conformed to the image of Christ as the firstborn Son of God, we will be sons of God in reality, and in every respect, we will bear the appearance of God's sons—Heb. 2:10.

C.　God has predestinated us to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers—Rom. 8:29; 1:4; Eph. 1:5:

1.　We are to be conformed to the image of God's firstborn Son, Christ as the first God-man, that we may be a group of God-men who are exactly like Him.

2.　Through conformation we become the mass reproduction of God's firstborn Son, and thus we are the same as God in righteousness and holiness—Eph. 4:24.

3.　Through conformation, God will obtain the corporate expression of His firstborn Son with the many sons to accomplish His eternal purpose— 3:11.

D.　The Spirit intercedes for us and all things work together for good to us that we may be conformed to the image of the firstborn Son—Rom. 8:26-29.

II.　The grafted life—Rom. 6:3-5; 11:17-24:

A.　The Bible reveals that the relationship which God desires to have with man is that He and man become one—1 Cor. 6:17:

1.　God desires that the divine life and the human life be joined together to become one life.

2.　This oneness is an organic union, a union in life—a grafted life—Rom. 11:17-24.

B.　In grafting two similar lives are joined and then grow together organically:

1.　Because our human life was made in the image of God and according to the likeness of God, it can be joined to the divine life—Gen. 1:26.

2.　Our human life resembles the divine life; therefore, the divine life and the human life can be grafted together and then grow together organically.

C.　In order for us to be grafted into Christ, He had to pass through the processes of incarnation, crucifixion, and resurrection:

1.　Christ became flesh to be the seed of David, the branch of David, that we could be grafted together with Him—John 1:14; Matt. 1:1; Zech. 3:8; Jer. 23:5; 33:15.

2.　Christ was "cut" on the cross so that we could be grafted into Him.

3.　After Christ was "cut" on the cross, He was resurrected to become the life-giving Spirit—1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17a.

D.　As regenerated ones, we should live a grafted life—a life in which two parties are joined to grow organically; we should now live by our regenerated spirit, a spirit grafted with Christ—1 Cor. 6:17:

1.　After we have been grafted into Christ, we should no longer live by ourselves; rather, we should allow the pneumatic Christ to live in us— Gal. 2:20.

2.　Through this grafting we are united with Him, mingled with Him, and incorporated with Him to become in Him an enlarged, universal, divine-human incorporation—the Body of Christ, which consummates the New Jerusalem—John 14:20; 15:4a; Rom. 12:4-5.

E.　The grafted life is not an exchanged life but the mingling of the human life with the divine life—John 14:19b; 15:4a; Gal. 2:20.

F.　In the grafted life the human life is not eliminated but is strengthened, uplifted, and enriched by the divine life—Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23; 2 Cor. 3:18.