How Is Christ Formed in a Christian?

I HAVE over the years been hearing Christians tell one another that “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” But I wonder whether those who make this declaration really understand how Christ comes in them.

The question is: how is He formed in His disciples? This short article seeks to explain how Christ is formed in a Christian. It is just like how faith comes to believers.

Paul, the apostle, talks about this in his letter to the church in Galatia. He wrote: “My little children; for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth until CHRIST IS FORMED in you” (Galatians 4:19).

Christ is formed in a person the moment he is saved. That is, the moment you receive the Word of faith, the gospel of salvation in your heart, and you confess Christ with your mouth after believing in Him and repenting of your sins.

However, at this level, the Christ that has been formed in you is like a fetus. In other words, you have received a seed of Christ in you through His Word and Spirit.

And the more we continue to receive and abide in the Word of Christ, believing and obeying its teachings the more Christ grows in us.

One night in January 2016, the Holy Spirit said to me during a Bible study after hours of prayers that, “The amount of Christ’s Word in your spirit determines the size of your spirit.”

This can be explained to mean that the size of Christ’s Word in your spirit determines the degree of the formation of Christ in you.

Remember that Christ is the Word of God (John 1:1, Revelation 19:13). And Jesus taught that His words are spirit and life (John 6:63).

We just learnt that Christ is formed in believers the same way faith comes to them. How does faith come?

In Romans 10:17, the Bible says, “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.” Other translations say faith comes from hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ.

This means, as we hear the Word of Christ preached to us, or as we study it regularly faith grows in our hearts.

It is the same way Christ is formed in us. It is the Christ in us by His Word through the Holy Spirit that makes us Christians.

This should inspire today’s Christians to spend quality time to feed on the Word of God by reading and studying the Bible especially the New Testament.

Thank you for reading. You may support this ministry financially by sending your donation to MTN MERCHANT ID: 951275 or MOBILE MONEY NUMBER: 05301659. God bless you.

James Quansah is the Executive Director of Christ-Conscious Leadership Centre (CLC) and lead Pastor of End-Time Christ’s Commissioners (ECC), Kumasi, Ghana. James is also a journalist by profession. He is married with four children.