Conformed to the Image of His Son

Reconsidering Paul's Theology of Glory in Romans

Haley Goranson Jacob

• Publisher: IVP Academic
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9780830852109
• eBook ISBN:
  9780830885770
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

With its soaring affirmations and profound statements of salvation in Christ, Romans 8 is a high point in Pauline theology. But what does Paul mean when in 8:29 he speaks of being "conformed to the image of his Son"?Remarkably, there has been little scholarly attention awarded to this Pauline statement of the goal of salvation. And yet in Christian piety, preaching, and theology, this is a treasured phrase. Surprisingly, its meaning has been variously and ambiguously expressed. Is it a moralor spiritual or sanctifying conformity to Christ, or to his suffering, or does it point to an eschatological transformation into radiant glory?In Conformed to the Image of His Son, Haley Goranson Jacob probes and reopens a text perhaps too familiar and a meaning too often assumed. If conformity to the image of the Son is the goal of salvation, a proper understanding is paramount. Jacob points out that the key lies in the meaning of "glory" in Paul's biblical-theological perspective and in how he uses the language of glory in Romans. For this investigation of glory alone, her study would be valuable for the fresh understanding she brings to Paul's narrative of glory. But in introducing a new and compelling reading of Romans 8:29, this is a study that makes a strong bid to reorient our understanding of Paul's classic statement of the goal of salvation.

1

INTRODUCTION

1.1. GETTING TO THIS POINT

“The inner sanctuary within the cathedral of Christian faith; the tree of life in the midst of the Garden of Eden; the highest peak in a range of mountains—such are some of the metaphors used by interpreters who extol [Romans] chap. 8 as the greatest passage within what so many consider to be the greatest book in Scripture.”1 As the pinnacle of Paul’s letter to Rome, Romans 8 is laden with gold nuggets of encouragement and assurance: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1); “We know that in everything God works for good for those who love him” (Rom 8:28); “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, will he not also give us all things with him?” (Rom 8:32); “[Nothing] will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 8:39). Among those verses most cherished is Romans 8:29: “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family.” Like much of Romans 8, Romans 8:29 and particularly Romans 8:29b—“conformed to the image of his Son”—has encouraged, assured, and strengthened Christians throughout the centuries. To some it expresses the goal of salvation.2

But a problem seems to exist, one that confronted me in the early days of my research into what was then a larger examination of the themes of Genesis 1–3 in Paul’s letters. I began to notice a wide swath of interpretations of the phrase and no solidly substantiating arguments for any of them. Within both popular Christianity and academic New Testament studies, there is little agreement as to what Paul means by the arcane or, at a minimum, ambiguous phrase. This lack of agreement is due in part to the fact that Romans 8:29b is often obscured by Paul’s use of foreknew and predestined in Romans 8:29a. More often, though, “conformed to the Son’s image” is used as support for a presupposed theological or eschatological ideal—again, with little to no substantiation for the interpretation. Perhaps it is surprising that, to date, the meaning of the phrase συμμόρφους τῆς εἰκόνος τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτου has received exegetical treatment in only four articles and no monographs.3 Despite the lack of any sustained treatments of the phrase, various interpretations are nonetheless assumed by commentators and authors alike, none of which are upheld by solid literary or theological evidence. And yet many use the phrase to capture what is considered the end goal of the Christian life: conformity to Christ. How can this phrase be used so often within both popular and scholarly conversations, and yet have so few in agreement over its basic meaning? In this book I have one ultimate objective: to examine Romans 8:29b within its own literary and theological context so as to discover what this oft-used but rarely substantiated phrase means within Romans. Due to the multifarious uses of the phrase by practical theologians, biblical theologians, and laity alike, the phrase cries out for some attention.

But not this alone. As we progress through this examination of Romans 8:29, it will quickly become obvious that an interpretation of “conformed to the image of his Son” must be informed by several other theological motifs that are equally as ambiguous and/or assumed. If Romans 8:29 is at center stage, then occupying the front left and front right of the stage will be Paul’s use of glory and glorify, terms that have for centuries been used within Christian theology and jargon basically without question. It is one thing for God to receive glory or be glorified; it is another thing entirely for humanity to do so. Yet this is the heart of Romans 8—a motif that determines how one reads the “goal of salvation” in Romans 8:29. At the rear of the stage, then, is the Pauline motif of union with Christ. More specifically, it is the dual motifs of union and participation with or in Christ, the relationship between the two terms, and what, if any, role they play in deciphering “conformed to the image of [God’s] Son.”

The majority of this book will propose an interpretation of Romans 8:29b that can be substantiated on both literary and theological grounds—one that differs from nearly all interpretations of the phrase thus far offered. Such interpretations are found primarily in commentaries but also in particular monographs and articles. Writers who refer to Romans 8:29b in their work usually fall into one of six common categories, those who offer or propose

1. 1. no attempt at an explanation of the meaning of “conformity to the Son,” content to say that it refers to being made “like Christ”;
2. 2. a variety of explanations, often a combination of those listed below;
3. 3. a physical conformity, i.e., receiving the same “form” as Christ’s resurrected body;
4. 4. a spiritual or moral conformity, i.e., the process of sanctification;
5. 5. a conformity to the Son’s eschatological glory, with glory understood as radiance;
6. 6. a sacrificial conformity, wherein the believer becomes “like Christ” as she suffers with Christ.

An awareness of these six proposals will be important in recognizing how this comprehensive treatment is both necessary and unique.

Those who offer no meaning and those who suggest a variety of meanings behind Romans 8:29b arrive at the same result: ambiguity. We can treat them together for this reason. Leon Morris provides a typically ambiguous description of the phrase, saying,

We are to become like Christ. . . . It is God’s plan that his people become like his Son, not that they should muddle along in a modest respectability. . . . We have been admitted to the heavenly family. . . . We are accordingly to live as members of the family, and that means being made like our elder brother. . . . [God] predestined us . . . in order that we might become like his Son.4

“This is wonderful news!” one wants to exclaim. But what does it mean to be “like Christ”? Likewise, with three times the theology and complexity, C. E. B. Cranfield yet manages to offer the same amount of ambiguity:

Behind the συμμόρφους τῆς εἰκόνος τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτου there is probably the thought of man’s creation κατ᾽ εἰκόνα θεου (Gen. 1:27) and also the thought of Christ’s being eternally the very εἰκὼν τοῦ θεοῦ (not, be it noted, just κατ᾽ εἰκόνα θεου). The believers’ final glorification is their full conformity to the εἰκὼν of Christ glorified; but it is probable that Paul is here thinking not only of their final glorification but also of their growing conformity to Christ here and now in suffering and in obedience—that is, that συμμόρφους, κ.τ.λ. is meant to embrace sanctification as well as final glory, the former being thought of as a progressive conformity to Christ, who is the εἰκὼν of God, and so as a progressive renewal of the believer into that likeness of God which is God’s original purpose for man.5

When Romans 8:29b is approached in this way, it is often the natural result of gathering all the other verses in which these same themes appear throughout the Pauline corpus (1 Cor 15:49; 2 Cor 3:18; Phil 3:10, 21; Col 1:15, 18)6 and packing them tightly into a very stretchy but durable bag, as if Paul intended the phrase συμμόρφους τῆς εἰκόνος τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτου to include every theme at once. Of course, it is possible that more than one referent exists behind Paul’s phrase, and unarguably several of the preferred categories are related to one another, that is, glory and vocation; sanctification and suffering; suffering and glory; glory and body. But it is rarely wise to assume that in six Greek words Paul is packing a ForceFlex trash bag that just keeps stretching.

The four other common interpretations are more narrow in focus. The first is a shared physical conformity to that of the Son. A notable example is Ben Witherington’s translation, “to share the likeness of the form of his Son,” and explanation: “The end or destiny of believers is to become fully Christ-like, even in their bodily form. Paul has just said that the believer’s hope is the redemption of his or her body, and here he explains how God will be working to get the believer to that goal.”7 His explanation comes on the basis of two primary factors: that Paul refers to the physical resurrected body in Romans 8:23 and that, with Paul’s use of εἰκών in Romans 8:29, Adam is most likely in view, which therefore entails a return to Adam’s prefall physical state. I will leave any critique of these suggestions for when I more fully survey the larger literary and theological context.

A second, more focused explanation of conformity is that of spiritual or moral conformity, that is, sanctification. This is perhaps the most commonly assumed interpretation of σύμμορφος, particularly within popular church settings. The general assumption is that to be “made like Christ” is to be “holy like Christ.” What Morris voices in his ambiguous treatment of the phrase noted above is, when fleshed out, an interpretation of Romans 8:29b as moral or spiritual conformity—a present, spiritual conformity rather than a future, physical conformity. William Hendriksen takes this approach in his commentary, writing there: “If gradual renewal into the image of Christ is not what Paul had in mind, are we not forced to conclude that one very important link in the chain of salvation, namely the link of sanctification, is missing? The answer given by some that justification includes sanctification does not satisfy.”8

Hendriksen and Morris are not alone in their interpretation. F. F. Bruce agrees, and, though he offers little by way of explanation of σύμμορφος itself, he does suggest, like Hendriksen, that the reader must note Paul’s lack of mention of sanctification in the “golden chain” of Romans 8:30. Why does Paul choose not to include sanctified between justified and glorified? Bruce suggests that it is because

The coming glory has been in the forefront of his mind; but even more because the difference between sanctification and glory is one of degree only, not one of kind. Sanctification is pro...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Dedication Page
• Contents
• Foreword - N. T. Wright
• Preface
• Abbreviations
• 1 Introduction
• PART 1 THE HOPE OF GLORY IN ROMANS 5–8
• PART 2 - ROMANS 8:29
• Bibliography
• Author Index
• Subject Index
• Scripture Index
• Notes
• Praise for Conformed to the Image of His Son
• About the Author
• More Titles from InterVarsity Press
• Copyright