Chapter 16
Chapter 16
CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF CHRIST
*Tor whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren"—Romans 8:29.
God's ultimate purpose in our creation is that we be conformed to the image of Christ. Christ is the jfirstborn among many brethren, and His brethren are to be like Him. Throughout the discipline and training period of our lives, we should keep this goal in view.
God said in the beginning, '*Let us make man in our image, after our likeness" (Genesis 1:26). We cannot imagine that He meant we were to be made in the image or likeness of His body. He must have meant that man was to be made in the image or likeness of His nature and character. He could not have meant that man, when first created, was to be created completely in this image, but only that he was to begin, as all adult life is begun, in helpless, ignorant babyhood.
Just as an architect could say of a great building, when only the foundation stones were in place,
'This is a cathedral," so God could say of man, *This is My image," although as yet only the foundation stones of this image were laid. We are told in 1 Corinthians 15:47 that, **the first man is of the earth earthy."
It was only the foundation stones of God's final purpose for man which were laid at man's creation. This is plain from the fact that man had no knowledge of the dilBference between right and wrong. He was, therefore, in a very undeveloped state.
It could not possibly be said that he was in the likeness of God in this respect. But the embryo of God's image was in man, and God's purpose in regard to him began to be accomplished then.
It has gone on, in a grand process of growth, ever since—both in the individual and in the race.
Our Pattern Christ is the pattern of what each one of us is to be when finished. We are predestined to be conformed to His image, in order that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. We are to be partakers of the divine nature with Christ, filled with His Spirit, and sharing His resurrection life. We are to be one with Him, as He is one with the Father.
The glory that God gave to Him, He is to give to us. When all this is brought to pass, only then will
God's purpose in our creation be fully accomplished. We will stand in His image and likeness.
Our likeness to His image is an accomplished fact in the mind of God. We are, so to speak, in the factory as yet, and the great Master Workman is busy with us.
**It doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is"
(1 John 3:2).
**And so it is written. The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly" (1 Corinthians 15:45-49).
The grand process of Christian development is set forth here. *The first man Adam was made a living soul." This expression living soul means in the Hebrew the same thing as living creature which was the description given of the animal kingdom. Man, therefore, when first created, was simply * 'of the earth earthy," since he had no conscience nor any knowledge of the diflference between right and wrong.
The serpent tempted man to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and said, '*For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods,
knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5). After Adam and Eve had eaten of the tree, the Lord confirmed this and said, **Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil"
(Genesis 3:22).
Instead of this being a fall out of a higher state into a lower, as is so often thought, it actually was a step upward out of a lower stage of development into a higher.
As one of us—this could not have been said of him before. It marked a distinct step upward in his development. The baby's innocence that knows no diflFerence between right and wrong may be a beautiful thing in its place. But it becomes idiotic when it continues on into manhood. Man, who was destined to grow up into Christ in all things, needed first of all to become acquainted with the diflFerence between right and wrong. No progress was possible until this took place.
The first step in man's spiritual development had now been taken. Man discovered the diflFerence between right and wrong and began to develop a spiritual nature, a nature which God Himself declared was like His own. From that moment on, the conflict between the spiritual man and the natural man has never ceased.
'Tor the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would" (Galatians 5:17).
**For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit
the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Romans 8:5-7).
It is interesting to see that spiritual growth, which was begun in Genesis, is declared to be completed in Revelation. The **one like unto the Son of Man" gave John this significant message to the overcomers.
**Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is the new Jerusalem, which Cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name" (Revelation
3:12).
Since name always means character in the Bible, this message can only mean that at last God's purpose is accomplished, and the spiritual development of man is completed. He has been made into what God intended from the first, so truly into His likeness and image that he will have the name of God written upon him!
Complete Oneness With God Words fail in the face of such a glorious destiny as this! But our Lord foreshadowed it when He prayed for His brethren, 'That they all may be one; as thou. Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may
believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one"
(John 17:21-23). Could oneness be closer or more complete?
Paul also foreshadows this glorious communion when he declares, *'If so be that we suffer with him, we may also be glorified together.
For I reckon that the suiBFerings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Romans 8:17-18).
The whole creation waits for the revealing of * 'earnest this glory. Paul goes on to say that the expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God." And he adds, *'And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body" (Romans 8:19-23).
In view of such a glorious destiny, will we not cheerfully welcome the processes, however painful they may be, by which we are to reach it? And should we not strive eagerly and earnestly to work with God in helping to bring it about?
He is the great Master Builder, but He wants our cooperation in building up the fabric of our characters. He exhorts us to be prudent in how we build.
At every moment of our lives, we are engaged in this building. Sometimes we build with gold and silver and precious stones, and
sometimes we build with wood and hay and stubble. We are solemnly warned that every man's work is to be made manifest, **for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire" (1 Corinthians 3:13). There is no escaping this. We cannot hope when that day comes to conceal our wood and hay and stubble, no matter how successfully we may have managed to do so previously.
There is no more solemn passage in the whole Bible than Galatians 6:7 which says, *'Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting."
It is the certainty of this that is so awe inspiring.
It is far worse than any arbitrary punishment, for punishment can sometimes be averted. But there is no possibility of altering the work of a natural law such as this.
In a Catechism, I saw the following questions and answers Q. What is the reward for generosity?
A. More generosity.
Q. What is the punishment for meanness?
A. More meanness.
No Catechism ever spoke more truly. All of us know it for ourselves.
In the parable of the talents, our Lord illustrates this law. The condemnation on the unfaithful servant may have sometimes seemed to us unfair, but
the servant was only reaping what he had sowed.
*Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not, shall be taken away even that which he hath" (Matthew
25:28-29). This is no arbitrary pronouncement, but it is simply a revelation of the nature of things, from which none of us can escape.
Beholding His Glory In order to be laborers together with God, we must not only build with His materials, but also by His processes. Of these we are often very ignorant.
Our idea of building is of hard laborious work.
God's idea is far diflferent. Paul tells us what it is.
"But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Corinthians 3:18).
* 'behold, " and, as we behold, the Lord brings about the marvelous transformation.
We are **changed into the same image by the Spirit Our work is to of the Lord." This means to behold, not in our earthly sense of merely looking at a thing, but in the divine sense of seeing the thing. We are to behold with our spiritual eyes the glory of the Lord, and we are to continue beholding it. The glory of the Lord does not mean, however, a great heavenly halo. The real glory of the Lord is the
glory of what He is and of what He does, the glory of His character. This is what we are to behold.
Let me give an illustration.
If someone ojBFends me, I am tempted to get angry and retaliate. But instead, I look at Christ and think of what He would have done.
I meditate upon His gentleness and meekness and His love for the oflfending one.
As I look, I begin to want to be like Him, and I ask in faith that I may be made a ^'panaker of His nature." Anger and revenge die out of my heart, and I love my enemy and long to serve him.
It is by this sort of beholding Christ that we are to be changed into His image. The nearer we stay to Him, the more rapid the change will be.
There is a wonderful mirror which is called the parabolic mirror.
It consists of a hollow cone lined with a mirror all over its inside surface.
It has the power to focus rays of light in diflferent degrees of intensity, in proportion to the increasing nearness to its meeting-point at the top of the cone. The power intensifies as the terminal point is approached.
It has been discovered by science that at a certain stage in this advance toward the interior point all the sides of the mirror meet in absolute oneness. The power of the focus concentrates all the light-giving properties of the sun's rays into such an intense brilliancy and makes visible things never before discerned by the human eye.
It renders even flesh transparent and enables us to see through the outer covering of our bodies to the inner operations beneath.
Advancing a little further into the interior of our mirror, the heat properties of the sun's rays are so concentrated that enough heat is generated to melt iron in sixteen seconds.
It can also separate the alloys of gold, leaving only the solid globule of the pure metal, in fourteen seconds.
Advancing further still, the photographingproperties of the sunlight are so concentrated that they stamp a permanent image of the mirror upon anything that is passed through the focus.
Advancing still further, nearly to the point of oneness, the magnetizing powers of light are so concentrated that anything exposed to it for a single instant becomes a powerful magnet, drawing all things to itself.
I am not a scientist, but this illustration will serve as an allegory to show the progress of the soul, as it is changed from glory to glory into His image.
Our Process Of Change First, as we behold as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, we come to the light focus which reveals our sinfulness and our need. *Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that foUoweth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life" 0ohn 8:12).
Second, as we draw closer, we reach the heat focus, where all our dross is burned up. **For he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: And shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall
purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may oflfer unto the Lord an oflFering in righteousness" (Maiachi 3:2-3).
Third, as we draw^ closer still, we come to the photographing focus, where the image of Christ is impressed upon our souls, and we are made like
Him because we see Him as He is. '*We know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2).
Fourth and finally, as we come to the point of oneness, we reach the magnetic focus. Our character is so conformed to Christ that men, seeing it, will be drawn to glorify our Father which is in heaven.
If we want to be conformed to the image of Christ, we must grow ever closer to Him. We must become better acquainted with His character and His ways. We must look at things through His eyes and judge all things by His standards.
It is not by eflfort or by wrestling that this conformity is to be accomplished.
Rather, it is by assimilation. According to a natural law, we grow like those with whom we associate. The stronger character always exercises the controlling influence. Divine law is all one with natural law, only working in a higher sphere and with more unhindered power. It should not seem mysterious to us that we become like Christ by a spiritual union with Him.
The Indwelling Christ This union with Christ cannot come by our own efforts, no matter how strenuous they may be.
Christ is to **dweii in your hearts by faith" (Ephesians 3:17), and He can dwell there in no other way. Paul, when he tells us that he was crucified with Christ, says, ** nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me"
(Galatians 2:20).
**Christ liveth in me"—this is the transforming secret. If Christ lives in me. His life must be manifested in my mortal flesh. Therefore,
I cannot fail to be changed from glory to glory into His image.
Our Lord's teaching about this is very clear.
**Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing" 0ohn 15:4-5).
If we abide in Him, and He in us, we can no more help bringing forth much fruit than can the branches of a flourishing vine. In the very nature of things the fruit must come.
But we cannot take the old man into Christ. We must put off the old man with his deeds before we can put on the Lord Jesus Christ. In writing to the Colossians, Paul bases his exhortations to a life of
holiness on the fact that they had done this.
**Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put oJ0F the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him" (Colossians 3:910).
Sin must disappear at the incoming of Christ. A soul that is not prepared to surrender all that is contrary to His will cannot hope to welcome Him.
The old man must be put ojBf if the new man is to reign. But both the putting off and the putting on must be done by faith. There is no other way.
We must move our personality, our ego, and our will out of self and into Christ. We must consider ourselves to be dead to self and alive only to God.
** Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus
Cihrist our Lord. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God" (Romans 6:11-13).
The same kind of faith which brings the forgiveness of sins within our grasp also brings this union with Christ. To those who do not understand the law of faith, this will no doubt be as great a mystery as the secrets of gravity were before the law of gravity was discovered. But to those who understand it, the law of faith works as unerringly and as definitely as the law of gravity.
No one can read the seventh chapter of Hebrews
and fail to see that faith is an all-conquering force.
I believe it is the creative force of the universe.
It is the higher law that controls all the lower laws beneath it. What looks like a miracle is simply the working of the higher controlling law of faith.
The Law Of Creation Faith is the law of creation— * 'Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear" (Hebrews
11:3). We are told in Psalm 33:9, "For he spake and it was done, he commanded and it stood fast."
Our Lord tells us that if we have faith, we can do the same. **And Jesus answering saith unto them.
Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you. That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them" (Mark 11:22-24).
Faith, we are told, **calleth those things which be not as though they were." Calling them brings them into being. Therefore, we may not see any tangible sign of change when by faith we put oiBF the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and by faith put on the new man which God created in righteousness and true holi-
ness. Yet, it has been done, and faith has accomplished it. Those souls who abandon the self life and give themselves up to the Lord to be fully possessed by Him find that He takes possession of the inner springs of their being. He works there to will and to do great things in their lives.
Paul prayed for the Ephesians that **Christ might dwell in your hearts by faith" (Ephesians 3:17).
This is the whole secret of being conformed to His image. If Christ lives in my heart, I must necessarily be Christlike.
I cannot be unkind or irritable or self-seeking or dishonest.
Rather, His gentleness and sweetness and tender compassion and loving submission to the will of His Father must be manifested in my daily walk and conversation.
We will not be fully changed into the image of Christ until He appears and we see Him face to face. But meanwhile, the life of Jesus is to be *'made manifest in our mortal flesh" (2 Corinthians 4:11).
Is it made manifest in ours? Are we so conformed to the image of Christ that men, in seeing us, see a glimpse of Him also?
A minister's wife told me that when they had moved to a new place, her little boy came in after the first afternoon of play and exclaimed joyftiUy,
''Oh, Mother, I have found such a lovely, good little girl to play with here that I never want to go away again."
''I am very glad, darling," said the loving mother, happy because of her child's happiness,
''what is the little girl's name?"
**Oh," replied the child with a sudden solemnity, **I think her name is Jesus."
**Why, Frank!" exclaimed the horrified mother, *'what do you mean?"
**Well, Mother," he said apologetically, **she was so lovely that I did not know what else she could be called but Jesus."
Are our lives so Christlike that anyone could think this way about us?
Is it apparent to all around us that we have been with Jesus? Is it not, sadly, often just the contrary? Are some of us so irritable and uncomfortable in our daily lives that exactly the opposite thing would have to be said about us?
Paul says we are to be '*the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart"
(2 Corinthians 3:3).
If every child of God would begin today to be an epistle of Christ, living a truly Christlike life, in less than a month, the churches would be crowded by inquirers. People would come in to see what was the religion that could transform human nature into something divine.
The world is full of unbelievers, and nothing will convince them but the facts of Christianity which they cannot disprove. We must meet them with transformed lives.
If they see that once we were resentful, but now we are sweet; once we were proud, but now we are humble; once we were fretful, but now we are patient and calm; if
we are able to testify that it is Christ who has brought about this change, they cannot help but be impressed.
Convincing Transformations A Christian man who, on account of his earnest work, had gained a great reputation for his devotion, had unfortunately gained an equally great reputation for a bad temper and a sharp tongue.
But at last, for some reason which no one could understand, a change seemed to come over him.
His temper and his tongue became as sweet and as gentle as they had before been violent and sharp.
His friends watched and wondered. Before long one of them approached him on the subject and asked him if he had changed his faith.
**No," replied the man, **I have not changed my faith, but I have at last let my faith change me."
How much has our faith changed us?
It is very easy to have a church religion or a prayer-meeting religion or a Christian-work religion. But it is a different thing to have an everyday faith. To show love at home is one of the most vital parts of Christianity, but it is also one far too rare. It is not at all uncommon to find Christians who do their righteousness before outsiders to be seen by men. But they fail to show love or joy at home.
I knew a father who was powerful in prayer at the weekly prayer meeting and impressive in exhortation. The whole church was much edified by his example. But when he went home after the
meetings, he was so cross and ugly that his wife and family were afraid to say a word in his presence.
**And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you. They have their reward"
(Matthew 6:5).
What we do to be seen of men, is seen of men, and that is all there is to it. There is no conformity to the image of Christ in this sort of righteousness.
The righteousness that is Christlike is the righteousness that bears everyday trials cheerfully and is patient under home irritations.
It returns good for evil and meets all the friction of daily life with sweetness and gentleness.
It suffers long and is kind; it does not envy others or boast about itself.
It does not seek its own, is not easily provoked, and thinks no evil.
It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. This is what it means to be conformed to the image of Christ! Do we know anything of such righteousness as this?
True Christian Living We sometimes talk about performing what we call our ^'religious duties," meaning by this expression our church services or devotions or our Christian work of one sort or another. We never dream that it is far more our ** religious duty" to be Christlike in our daily walk and con-
versation than even to be faithful in these other things, desirable as they may be in themselves.
The righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees was a righteousness of words and phrases and of ceremonial observances. This is often very impressive to outsiders. But because it was nothing more, our Lord condemns it saying, *'Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and all of uncleanness.
. .Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity" (Matthew 23:23,
2728).
It is very easy to say beautiful things about the Christian life, but to live what we say is a diflferent matter.
I know a Sunday school teacher who had been teaching her students a great deal about casting all their cares on the Lord and trusting Him in times of trial. The students had been very much impressed. But when trouble came into the life of this teacher, her students watched while it lasted.
To their amazement and distress, they saw her fretting and worrying and complaining. She was acting just as if there was no God to trust or as if His ways were not ways of love and goodness.
It was an object lesson to those children that undid all the good which that teacher's previous teaching had seemed likely to accomplish. One of them, who was very observant, said to me triumphantly,
*'I wondered if it could be true what she was telling us about how we might trust the Lord for everything; now I see it was only talk, for she doesn't do it herself."
An ill-tempered, discouraged, gloomy, doubting, complaining, demanding Christian, or one with a sharp tongue or a bitter spirit, a Christian, in short, who is not Christlike, may preach to the winds with as much hope of success as to preach to his own family or friends who see him as he is.
There is no escape from this inevitable law. If we want our loved ones to trust the Lord, volumes of talk about it will not be nearly as convincing to them as the sight of a little sincere trust on our own part in the time of need. The longest prayer and the loudest preaching are of no use in any family circle, however well they may do in the pulpit, unless the preacher lives the things he preaches.
Being Made Perfect Some Christians seem to think that the fruits which the Bible calls for are some form of outward religious work, such as holding meetings, visiting the poor, or supporting charitable institutions.
The fact is that the Bible scarcely mentions these at all as fruits of the Spirit.
*'But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance"
(Galatians 5:22-23).
A Christlike character must be the fruit of Christ's indwelling. Other things will no doubt be the outcome of this character. But first comes the character or all the rest is a hollow sham. A writer once said:
'*A man can never be more than his character makes him. A man can never do more nor better than deliver or embody that which is his character. Nothing valuable can come out of a man that is not first in the man. Character must stand behind and back up everything—the sermon, the poem, the picture, the book. None of them is worth a straw without it."
In order to become conformed to the image of Christ, we must be made partakers of the divine nature. Our tastes, our wishes, and our purposes will then become like Christ's tastes, wishes, and purposes. We will exchange eyes with Him and see things as He sees them. This is inevitable; for where the divine nature is, its fruits cannot fail to be manifest.
**But," you may ask, **do you really mean to say that, in order to be made partakers of the divine nature, we must cease from our own eflforts entirely, and by faith put on Christ? Must we simply let Him live in us and work in us to will and to do of His good pleasure? And do you believe He will then actually do it?"
To this I answer most emphatically, **Yes, I
mean just that!" If we abandon ourselves entirely to Him, He comes to abide in us and is Himself our life. We must commit our whole lives to Him, our thoughts, our words, our daily work, our sitting down, and our rising up.
By faith we must abandon ourselves and move over into Christ and abide in Him. By faith we must put oflF the old man, and by faith we must put on the new man. By faith we must consider ourselves as dead to sin and alive to God. By faith we must realize that our daily life is Christ living in us. Ceasing from our own works, we must allow
Him to work in us to will and to do His good pleasure.
It is no longer truth about Him that will fill our hearts, but it is the living, loving, glorious Christ
Himself. He will, if we let Him, make us His dwelling place. He will reign and rule within us.
* Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17).
It was no mere figure of speech when our Lord said to His disciples, '*Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect"
(Matthew 5:48). In the letter to the Hebrews, we are shown how it is to be brought about. **Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant.
Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you th^t which is wellpleasing in
his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen" (Hebrews 13:20-21).
By His working in us, and not by our working in ourselves, this purpose of God in our creation will be accomplished.
It may look to some of us as though we are too far removed from any conformity to the image of Christ for such a transformation ever to take place. But we must remember that our
Maker is not finished with us yet. The day will come when the work begun in Genesis will be finished in Revelation.
All of creation will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
'Tor we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body" (Romans 8:22-23).