The subject of this study is the image of God, and
its purpose is to reinforce that Jesus Christ really is the Son of God,
and that he is indeed the forerunner of what we too can become.
ADAM / MAN IS THE IMAGE AND GLORY OF GOD
Let's start where the phrase "image of God" is first
used in the Bible..
Gen 1:26 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. {27}
So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him;
male and female He created them.
Adam and Eve were made in the image and likeness
of God.
Gen 5:1-3 This is the book of the genealogy
of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of
God. {2} He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them
Mankind in the day they were created. {3} And Adam lived one hundred and
thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and
named him Seth.
Seth was made in the image and likeness of Adam.
The same Hebrew words for image and likeness are used of Adam in relation
to God as are used of Seth in relation to Adam (see also Gen 9:6).
We are also reminded in the NT that man is the image
and glory of God (1Cor 11:7; Jas 3:9).
Being created in the image of God carries blessings
and responsibilities and potential.
THE TWO ADAMS
Rom 5:15-19 also contrasts the one man, Adam, through
whom came sin, death and condemnation, with another man, Jesus Christ,
through whom came grace, justification and life. Verse 14 tells us that
Adam was a type of Jesus Christ. So Adam and Jesus Christ are representative
of two beginnings for mankind, and through whom came two covenants.
So we've established that Adam was created in the
image of God. We've read how the Bible talks of and contrasts two Adams
or two men - Adam and Jesus Christ. Just as the first Adam was created
in the image of God, so too the second Adam is the image of God. Let's
look at some scriptures to confirm this...
Col 1:15 He is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn over all creation.
(When the Father is called the "invisible God", He
is invisible to us, but Christ said he had seen the Father (Jn 3:32; 8:38)).
2 Cor 4:4 whose minds the god of this age
has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory
of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.
Heb 1:3 - the brightness of his glory and
the express image of His person.
These last two verses link the idea of glory and
image together. To be in the image of God carries with it a certain glory,
and the more faithfully that the image of God is carried, the greater is
the glory.
So Jesus Christ is the image of God. But was Jesus
Christ the image of God before he came as a human being, or only from the
time he became a human being? Or, as Orest asked a few weeks ago, was he
the Son of God before his first coming, or did he become the Son of God
at his first coming?
Let's look at a couple of scriptures that I believe
give us the answer to this question..
Jn 17:5 - restore the glory I had with
you before the world was.
Phil 2:6 - he was in the form of God, but
emptied himself.
These scriptures allude to Jesus Christ being in
the image of God, before and after his first coming. (It is interesting
to note that the being who wrestled with Jacob is called the face of God
in Gen 32:30.)
WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THIS IMAGE?
1 Cor 15:49 And as we have borne the image
of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.
Another scripture that bears this out is ...
1 John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children
of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that,
when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as
He is.
It involves our understanding, what we know.
Col 3:10 and have put on the new man who
is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him,
(Just as Adam was changed by the knowledge of the
image Satan put before him, so too are to be renewed in knowledge according
to the image of God.
It involves our nature.
Eph 4:23-24 ... and be renewed in the spirit
of your mind, {24} and that you put on the new man which was created according
to God, in true righteousness and holiness.
In summary, it involves becoming a new creation.
2 Cor 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ,
he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are
become new. (Gal 6:15)
REMADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD
As the children of God, we are to put off the image
of the first man, who was the son of God, but who broke the covenant with
God, and put on the image of the new man, who is the image and glory of
God, the Son of God, who was faithful to God's covenant. The old man is
a prisoner under the old covenant. The new man is free under the new covenant.
God's purpose for man to exercise dominion over the
earth and to live with him forever in accord with His will shall be fulfilled
by the second Adam, Jesus Christ, and all those who belong to him (Ps 2:8;
Dan 7:13; Heb 2:6-8).
Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also
did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might
be the firstborn among many brethren.
APPENDIX
Job 15:7-8; Prov 8:22-31; 1Cor 1:24.
Included in the covenant that God extended to Adam
were:
the blessing of increase (Gen 1:28).
dominion over the earth (Gen 1:26),
and eternal life.(Gen 2:16-17; 3:22)
We are told in 1Cor 15:45 that Jesus Christ is the
last, or second, Adam.
Firstly, it involves our bodies - what we look like.
1Cor 15:35-44 talks about the different bodies.
A physical body and a spiritual body. In this context, verse 49 says ...
This verse is interesting in another way.
RSV - after the image of its creator.
NIV - in the image of its creator.
But the verse simply reads .. in the image of Him
who created him.
In the NIC commentary on Colossians, there is an
interesting footnote on this verse...
"The words "Him that created him" do not of course
imply that Christ is personally a created being, although he is the new
man whom believers have put on."
The commentator, it seems ,believed that the verse
could be taken in this way, but wanted to lead readers away from such a
conclusion. I point this out to you and I'll let you consider the verse
and draw your own conclusions.)
We, like Adam, are created in the image of God.
One of Satan's fundamental deceptions is the knowledge of how we fulfil our potential to
become like God. He presented a different way of becoming god, and so presented
a different god - and a different image for man to worship and conform
to: the image of the beast. It is interesting that the image God wants
us to conform to is that of His Son, while the image that Satan wants us to
conform to is that of a system.
Other related scriptures to consider.
God sent His Son - Rom 8:3; John 3:17; 11:27; Gal
4:4; 1Jn 3:8; 4:9,14-15
Jesus Christ came forth from God - Jn 8:42; 13:3;
16:28,30; 17:8.
God gave Jesus Christ life - Jn 5:26; 6:57.
Rev 3:14; Col 1:15-17; Mic 5:2; Heb 2:11.