[B-Greek] Morph & Eikwn/Conformity to Christ in Romans 8:29

Kevin Shehan cocolapin37 at msn.com
Fri Jan 9 02:13:48 EST 2004


Hi…I’m new to the list (first time posting), and a beginning Greek student. 
I’ve been studying Romans 8:29, and I’m curious to see if there is something 
in the original Greek that may shed a little light on the meaning.

Many scholars take Paul’s discussion of “conformity to Christ” to mean a 
final glorified state for all believers. For instance, A.T. Robertson 
writes, “Here we have both morph and eikwn to express the gradual change in 
us till we acquire the likeness of Christ the Son of God so that we 
ourselves shall ultimately have the family likeness of sons of God. Glorious 
destiny.” (Robertson’s Word Pictures of the New Testament).

However, I’ve read differing opinions on this “glorious destiny.” One 
particular essay (seems a rather unique interpretation) claims that Paul is 
speaking here not of final glorification, but of a “positional 
glorification” that believers receive when they become “adopted children of 
God.” The use of edoxasen in v. 30, then, would (according to this view) 
mean simply a bestowal of honor, which could equate to something that 
happens when believers are adopted into the family of God (and “conformed to 
the image of Christ” positionally). Just curious to see if there's anything 
in the Greek that might indicate which interpretation would be most likely 
(the larger context seems to favor the popular “future glorification” view, 
while I could see how the immediate context of v. 28-30 could possibly allow 
for this other interpretation).

Thanks,

Kevin Shehan
USC-Spartanburg (student)

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