Being Conformed to Christ in Community

Being Conformed to Christ in Community explores Paul's conception ofmaturity, paying particular attention to the maturation process and therole of the local church in facilitating this process.Although central to Paul's theology, maturity is often overlooked in Paulinestudies. Samra argues that Paul understood his apostolic commission toinvolve delivering mature believers on the day of Christ. He suggeststhat the central motif of Pauline maturity is conformity of believers tothe image of Christ, who provides the defi ning standard of maturity. ForPaul there are fi ve means used by the Spirit to conform believers to theimage of Christ, which Samra presents and analyzes as components of thematuration process, namely identifying with Christ, enduring suffering,experiencing the presence of God, receiving and living out wisdom fromGod and imitating a godly example. Samra concludes by arguing thatPaul expected the local church to facilitate maturation so that believers'participation in a local assembly would result in their being conformedto Christ.REV DR JAMES G. SAMRA is Senior Minister at Calvary Churchin Grand Rapids, USA. He earned a doctor of philosophy in NewTestament from Oxford University and a masters of theology fromDallas Theological Seminary.