Why is God forming Christ in our inner man?

Back to Study the Book of Second Corinthians

So we may be clothed with a body suited to our calling as sons of God. God cannot invest us with a body like that of the Lord Jesus Christ when our inner man is disobedient, sinful, fearful, unbelieving, impatient, self-centred, prone to worshiping idols.

There are half-hearted, nominal Christians who believe that God intends to take them to Heaven in a "rapture" so they will not be harmed by tribulation. Then He will invest them (they imagine) with authority and power as His kings and priests that they may govern the nations of the earth.

They have never turned away from the world, taken up their cross, and followed the Lord Jesus in stern obedience to God. Their pastors and teachers have flattered and sought favour with them in order to gain their material support.

Such believers are ignorant of spiritual realities, of the laws of cause and effect that are unchanging. It is only as we suffer that we reign with Christ. It is tribulation that brings us down to death, providing the opportunity for resurrection life to strengthen our inner man and also fashion our body of life before the Throne of God in Heaven.

If God were to clothe a half-hearted Christian with a body of eternal power while that person is yet unformed by the rigorous trials of the wholly dedicated disciple, the result would be an unbalanced creature who would be a danger to himself and to those about him.

Only the victorious saints will take the Kingdom at the first resurrection (Revelation 20:6).