UCC members: The materials these questions relate to will be emailed to you immediately after the November 4, 2012 class. Please reflect on the passages cited and try to answer the questions on your own.
Other readers: See the Creation 2.0 page to find the materials these questions relate to.
1. The theme verse for the spiritual-formation movement is —
(Gal 4:18-19 ESV) 18 It is always good to be made much of for a good purpose, and not only when I am present with you, 19 my little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until Christ is formed in you!
What do you imagine Paul meant by wanting Jesus to be “formed” in his readers? (Some Greek dictionaries suggest that image is taken from the formation of a baby in the womb.)
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2. What was going on in the Galatian congregation that suggested the members were not fully formed in the image of Christ?
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3. If we wanted to measure the spiritual maturity of our members, what questions might we ask each member (as opposed to merely counting attendance or contribution)?
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4. Consider —
(Gen 1:26-27 ESV) 26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
This is the first time God is spoken of as a plural being (“us”; “our”). The text also says that God made man “male and female” in God’s image. Is God’s image plural?
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5. If God’s image is plural (or both plural and singular), then how can an individual Christian be in God’s image by himself?
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6. In what sense do Christians exist both in a singular form and a plural form? Are there ways in which we are both “I” and “we” at once?
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7. If being formed in the image of Christ requires that we have a community/plural existence with our fellow church members, how can we be one with our fellow members? (And no fair making demands on others and not yourself. What can you do to bring about unity among a very plural people?)
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8. The church is often called the “body of Christ.” In what senses is the church like Christ’s body?
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