Christ Is the Image of God

 

Christ Is the Image of God

 

Colossians 1:15 states, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation." 2 Corinthians 4:4 also speaks of the image of God: "In their case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."

God created the first man to manifest Himself in the likeness (image) of a sinner. The first man is the image of God. God is a Being without form; "image" here signifies a body, akin to a garment. For God to "wear a body" means He came clothed in a physical body.

The first man came into existence when God Himself entered the dust and became a human being, in order to impart a body of sin to mankind. The first man was created in the image of God, yet he possesses a body of sin. Thus, it is Jesus who came in the flesh to break the chains of that body of sin. Both the first man and Jesus represent God coming in the likeness of a sinner.

Regarding Jesus Christ, Colossians 1:15 says, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation." A translation from the Greek text reads, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn (first-begotten) of all creation."

This implies that the first man is a type of the Last Adam. The background of the creation of the "first man" is found in Genesis 2:7: "And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul (*nephesh*)." *Nephesh* translates to "soul" in English and signifies a living being. What was created as the "first man" is precisely the image of God; thus, the "first man" signifies Christ.

"So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." The phrase "in the image of God (Christ)" implies taking on a form resembling that of a sinner. That form is represented by the male (Adam) and the female (Eve). They were the ones who actually sinned against God; consequently, sin came to dwell within their bodies of sin.

The "first man" and the male and female are distinct entities. While the "first man" *is* the image of God, the male and female were created *according to* (or *like*) the image of God. The account of God creating the humans known as male and female is found in Genesis 1:26–27: "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.' So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them."

Here, God is conversing with the "first man" (Christ). Now that the image of God has been established, the proposal is to create humans—male and female—in accordance with this image. "Our image" refers to God appearing in the form of a sinner.

Therefore, the expression implies that when creating the male and female, they were to be made in this form of a sinner. Genesis 2:21–22 describes the creation of man and woman: "So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept, He took one of his ribs and closed up the flesh at that place. Then the LORD God fashioned the rib He had taken from the man into a woman and brought her to the man."

While the Hebrew word for the first human is *Adam* (meaning "human" or "man"), the specific name of the male was Adam, and the name of the female was Eve. Because the Revised Korean Version translates the term as "Adam" rather than "human," it creates confusion by overlapping the name of the male, Adam, with the general term for the first human.

The act of creating the woman by removing a rib from the first human signifies a separation and creation into male and female. According to Genesis 1:27, the first human was created, then vanished the moment sleep fell, after which the male Adam and the female Eve were created. The first human who fell asleep disappeared, and a man (named Adam) who opened his eyes emerged.

Believers today often speak of restoring the image of God. They believe that humans originally possessed the image of God but lost it when Adam sinned; consequently, they focus on how to live in order to restore that image. God reveals to humans that, through this "image of God" (which reflects the state of a sinner), they harbor a desire to become like God.

Humans tend to interpret the "image" (or likeness) of God according to their own conceptions. When the people who had left Egypt were waiting at Mount Sinai and Moses did not return after some forty days, they fashioned a golden calf, claiming it represented the image of God. Similarly, in modern times, Jesus is sometimes referred to as God the Son. In other words, it transforms the understanding so that Jesus is simply equated with God.

Jesus was the Son of God, yet He also became the Son of Man. Because He was the son of a human (Mary), He possessed a body of sin; yet because He was the Son of God, He had to fulfill God’s will. God’s will was for Him to die on the cross, carrying the mission of saving all humanity. Furthermore, the promise is that anyone united with Him in death is considered dead to sin. To become one with God, a person must die on the cross together with Jesus.

How does the "image of God" differ from one's "own image"? The image of God refers to God coming into the world in the likeness of a human (a sinner), whereas one's "own image" is an idol—the body of sin (the "old self") within the flesh that desires to be like God—and this idol manifests as that self-image.

Thus, the fallen angel was made to appear in the likeness of the flesh. Apart from the first man and Jesus Christ, all people are born possessing this self-image. This self-image is expressed as the "old self." Therefore, only when this self-image—present in everyone—dies with Jesus can one become one with God.

Many church members have often interpreted the "image of God" as holy character or the like, tending to equate the image of God with God Himself. They have even gone so far as to claim that the image of God is simply the invisible God appearing as a visible God. Believers even call Jesus—who was born into the world in the flesh—God. Yet Jesus is not God; He is the Son of God.

The point is that while Jesus was the image of God prior to His work on the cross, upon dying on the cross, rising again, and returning to the place of God, He was no longer merely the image of God but God Himself. Regarding "one's own image," Genesis 5:3–5 states: "When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Adam lived a total of 930 years, and then he died."

"One's own image" refers to the cycle of birth and death in the flesh; it is the life of the soul. The life of the soul is not eternal; "one's own image" signifies an existence destined to die.

The first person born into the world bearing God's image was the "first man" (Adam), while the last to be born in God's image is Jesus Christ. The first man passed on a body of sin to humanity, whereas Jesus Christ died on the cross and rose again to break the chains of that sinful body, bestowing a spiritual body upon the saints and enabling their return to the Kingdom of God.

Consequently, everyone born into the world after the first man is merely a sinner born in "one's own image," not in the image of God. To suggest that humans originally possessed God's image but lost it because of Adam—and that we should therefore "restore" God's image—is a notion bordering on Gnosticism.