Greek word · G3445
μορφόω
morphoō
to form
To give form or shape to something, to shape or fashion. In the passive it means to take shape or be formed. It belongs with morphē ('form, outward shape that expresses what something is', Phil 2:6–7).
Appears once in the Greek New Testament. ·
What it means
μορφόω, -ῶ
(μορφή), [in Aq.: Isaiah 44:13 * ;]
to form: figuratively, Galatians 4:19 (cf. μετα-, συμ-μορφόω)
(AS)
From G. Abbott-Smith, A Manual Greek Lexicon of the New Testament (1922), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).
In depth
From the study of Galatians 4:19
- Range of meaning
To give form or shape to something, to shape or fashion. In the passive it means to take shape or be formed. It belongs with morphē ('form, outward shape that expresses what something is', Phil 2:6–7). Medical and philosophical writers used it and related words for an embryo developing a definite shape in the womb.
- Against the English
Most versions say 'formed', which is accurate. The NLT's 'fully developed in your lives' keeps the idea of growth but loses the picture of the womb, and turns the community's 'in you (all)' into individual 'lives'.
- How it drifted
In modern church vocabulary 'formed' easily slides into 'spiritual formation', meaning a programme of personal habits and gradual character-building. That is not wrong, but it is narrower and more individual than Paul's image. His picture is of Christ himself taking shape like a child in the womb, against the 'shape' the rival teachers offered.
- Used elsewhere in the period
This is the only use in the New Testament. In Isa 44:13 LXX it describes the craftsman who 'shaped it like the form of a man', meaning an idol. The ancient discussion of whether an embryo was 'formed' or 'unformed' (Exod 21:22–23 LXX, which uses a related term, and Philo's comments on it) shows that shaping words were at home in talk about pregnancy. Paul uses related words of being 'conformed' (symmorphos, Rom 8:29; Phil 3:10, 21) and 'transformed' (metamorphoō, Rom 12:2; 2 Cor 3:18) to Christ.
Similar words
Where it appears
Galatians · 1
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Galatians 4:19 μορφωθῇ may have been formed
My children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you,
Here: "Has taken shape." The verb is passive and aorist, which looks at the outcome as a finished event: the point when Christ has actually taken form. The word was used of a fetus taking shape in the womb, so it continues the pregnancy image. Paul does not say who does the forming, but the passive points to God's own work and not to Paul's or the Galatians' effort.
Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.