Jesus as the Image of God
The particular branch of the Christian family tree where I’ve developed does not value images. In fact, it would be fair to say that we go to some lengths to avoid anything remotely related to images - particularly material ones, like statuary, icons, even religious art. We have a particular mistrust of anything that is put forward as a material representation of God. We’re literalists, so we don’t care much for an artist’s conception of something or someone which has as much potential to mislead as to guide.
In light of this, it’s startling to read passages from the Bible which remind us that the man we know as Jesus was, Himself, an image. He was the image of God. He was a representation of God presented in human form to reveal God to us in a way that we could begin to understand. When we learn, we move from the known to the unknown. With Jesus, we move from the known (His humanity) to the unknown (His divinity).
In 2 Corinthians 4:4, we read of “Christ, who is the image of God.” and in Colossians 1:15, we find this stark statement concerning Jesus: “He is the image of the invisible God.” In Colossians 2:9, we find a third witness, as Paul states that “in Christ all the fulness of the Deity lives in bodily form.”
When I was a child I had a split view of God. I attended a Sunday school at which didn't candy coat things for little children, when God's judgment fell, God's judgment fell and they told us about it. We got the impression that God was pretty scary. He got angry with people who disobeyed and were rebellious. We learned that bad things happened to people who don’t obey God. We got that message loud and clear.
Then we would hear a New Testament story and it was always Jesus healing people and raising the poor widow's son so she would have her boy back and gathering the little children on His knee. Jesus seemed so nice. He didn’t seem much like God at all - except that He was really powerful and could do miracles.
But the New Testament makes it clear that Jesus is the image of God. When we look at Jesus we are seeing God. It is misleading to give the impression that God the Father is harsh, severe maybe even vindictive, but Jesus is gentle, kind and loving. When we look into the face of Jesus we are looking into the face of God.
When we see all His different attitudes and emotions as expressed throughout the gospels, we are looking at the attitudes and emotions of God. When you see His eyes flash in anger and the whip in His hand in the temple or you see Him tenderly touching a leper, you’re seeing divine anger and compassion. When you see Jesus with arms outstretched on the cross, you’re seeing nothing less than the love of God toward us.
Jesus is revealed in so many different pictures, I’ve already looked at many and still have more to consider, but I know that when I look at those pictures of Jesus, I’m gazing though a window into divinity itself. Many religions have holy writings which describe their god or gods. Careful study of these writings reward adherents with a firm idea about the divine according to the doctrines of their faith.
Christians, too, have holy writings which help us understand our God and what He is like, however, we also have God in the flesh revealed in those writings. More than that, we have God the Spirit, who brings those writings to life within us and teaches us to call God, “Father” in a way that would be blasphemous to others. We believe the Bible and trust its message to be true, but the faith that saves us and gives us life is not faith in a book, but in a person. The Bible is important because that is where we find out about Jesus, but ultimately it is not our view or position on this that or the other thing that is going to make the difference when we stand before God, it is going to be Him and what He did for us.
Ron Hughes
© July 2007
