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Colossians 1:15
“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”
Our look at the Bible’s teaching on the image of God has considered various aspects of that image, the relation of soul and body, and the creation of both men and women to represent the Lord to the universe. Before we move on to how the fall into sin has affected the divine image, there is yet one more truth about God’s image in mankind. We find this truth given in today’s passage, which says that Christ is “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15). If we want to know what it means for human beings to bear the image of God, we must ultimately look to Christ.
Of course, as we think about Jesus as the image of God, we must remember that He is the one divine person of the Son of God who has both a human nature and the divine nature. Thus, when we look to Jesus, not everything we see is going to show us what it means for us to bear the image of God. For example, His inherent power to work miracles manifests His divine nature and does not belong to human nature as such. His miracle-working, although mediated through His humanity when He laid hands on people, is not part of what it means for human beings to bear the image of God. In any case, we know God by looking to Christ Jesus our Lord. John Calvin comments on today’s passage, “God in himself, that is, in his naked majesty, is invisible, and that not to the eyes of the body merely, but also to the understandings of men, and that he is revealed to us in Christ alone, that we may behold him as in a mirror.”
Because Jesus is truly man, we do know that where we see His humanity on display, we see most clearly what it means to be truly human. When we see Him mourn the death of Lazarus, we see that we are truly human as we mourn the effects of sin on the world (John 11:35). Jesus completely submitted to the will of God even to the point of death on the cross. This submission was possible only according to His human will and in His human nature because the divine nature cannot change and thus cannot be the locus of suffering (Phil. 2:5–11). Consequently, we see that we must completely obey the will of God to be most fully human and to image Him as we are supposed to. For us to image God also means that we are gentle and yet not afraid to tell the truth about our Creator (Matt. 11:29; John 8:40). No one but Jesus shows us better what it means for a human being to bear the image of God.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Christianity is more than merely imitating Christ, but we are nonetheless called to imitate Him insofar as it is possible for us who are only human to do so (John 13:15). As we do so, imitating Him out of faith and love for God, we are more and more growing into what it means to bear the image of God.
For further study
- Ecclesiastes 12:13–14
- Isaiah 42:1
- John 19:5
- Philippians 2:8
The bible in a year
- Nehemiah 7–8
- Acts 3