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Author
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Topic: The Image Of God
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Eden
unregistered
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posted
Carmela wrote quote:
I just look forward to the day when I meet my Savior face to face and then He will show me His "TRUE" identity. Moses couldn't even look upon His face and live...
But in the meantime, don't forget to live life more abundantly and to enjoy the earth. When we delight ourselves in the LORD, the LORD will give us the desires of our heart. Then we will have life more abundantly. As the soul stops ruling and starts listening to their spirit of man again, which in turn hears from the Spirit of God, then we live life MORE ABUNDANTLY.
God is so Smart, He points out all the best ways to go, in the store, on the street, in my house, everywhere and anywhere, and all the time.
So yes, we can look forward to seeing Jesus face to face, but that desire should not be because our current living is NOT SO ABUNDANT.
If our current living is NOT SO ABUNDANT, it is because we are NOT DELIGHTING ourselves that much in the LORD, and the LORD sees and hears and notes, what we are doing.
When we work in the vineyard of the LORD, the LORD is SO RICH that He absolutely SPLURGES BLESSINGS on anyone who is WORKING IN THE VINEYARD OF THE LORD right now.
So seeing the face of Jesus will be spectacular, but living life more abundantly is also spectacular. Let us not be "trying to get away from here" because the "here" is a bit painful and "by thinking oh, I know I will be happy then".
If we are not yet living life MORE ABUNDANTLY, it is because we are doing too many of our OWN activities and too little working in the vineyard of the LORD on a daily basis.
Psalm 37:4
Delight yourself also in the LORD: and He shall give you the desires of your heart.
Isaiah 58:14
Then shall you delight yourself in the LORD; and I will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.
love, Eden
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Zeena
Advanced Member
Member # 7223
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posted
quote:
Originally posted by Carmela:
I just look forward to the day when I meet my Savior face to face and then He will show me His "TRUE" identity. Moses couldn't even look upon His face and live. One day, I will look into His face, no matter what His identity really is. I am saved by Grace and my sins are covered by the blood, so I know that I will see my Savior some day. Praise God!
The book of Revelation describes Jesus as having eyes of fire, white woolen hair glowing like flames, and dressed in clean clothes with gold adornments. Later in the book Jesus may be depicted as a conqueror riding a white horse. ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
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Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates.
Posts: 749 | From: Toronto, Canada-EH! | Registered: Jun 2008
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Carmela
Advanced Member
Member # 4817
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posted
I just look forward to the day when I meet my Savior face to face and then He will show me His "TRUE" identity. Moses couldn't even look upon His face and live. One day, I will look into His face, no matter what His identity really is. I am saved by Grace and my sins are covered by the blood, so I know that I will see my Savior some day. Praise God!
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www.pinecrest.org
Posts: 646 | From: Central New York | Registered: Jun 2005
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Eden
unregistered
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posted
Re the statement in Basic Theology quote:
Much has been written attempting to explain what is meant by man’s being created in the image of God.
I think it meant that the first Adam looked a lot like Jesus before Adam sinned in the garden.
love, Eden
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chosenone
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posted
Hi Carol, may I give my opinion? I believe that a correct translation of Gen.1:27, according to the "Interlinear Scripture Analyser" is:
"And creating is the Aluim humanity in His image. In the image of the Alueim He creats it. Male and female He creats them."
Notice the term "creating", this is future tense. If He had "created" them, it would be past tense. God is perfecting all mankind, who will be in "the image of God" at the consummation, when God will be "All in all" (1cor.15:28). It stands to reason we are not in His image now, there is only one, Christ Jesus who is the "Image of the invisable God". This is my understanding of this phrase.
God Bless, Jerry.
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Carol Swenson
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Member # 6929
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posted
quote:
Originally posted by WildB:
When one hears the word "image" do they associate it with as it matters to the Bible.
a. Filter
b. mirror
c. both
d. idolatry
Good questions in light of recent debates!
Christ the Image of God
In two passages of the NT Christ is thus designated. In Colossians 1:15 He is “the image of the invisible God”; in Hebrews 1:3 He is “the radiance of His glory,” “the exact representation of His nature” (cf. John 1:1; 17:25-26).
Ellicott remarks, “The Son is the Father’s image in all things, save only in being the Father.” Christ has appeared in the world as the perfect manifestation of God. And that He called Himself “the Son of man” is not opposed to this fact. For if man in his original state bore the divine image, certainly He must bear it who is not only perfect in His human nature but is also the “only begotten Son” of God. What this designation of Christ may convey to us as to the eternal relations between the Father and the Son is a deep matter that cannot be considered here. But it should be noted that this “second man,” this “Son from heaven,” this eternal “Word,” this “image of the invisible God,” appears in the NT as the Author of salvation. And the end of this salvation is conformity to His image. In the OT man appears created after the image of God; in the NT “the Son is the prototype of redeemed or renewed humanity” (Romans 8:29; Colossians 3:10-11; cf. Romans 8:19 with 1 John 3:2; Philippians 3:21; 2 Corinthians 3:18; 1 Corinthians 15:47, 49).
(The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary)
Posts: 6787 | From: Colorado | Registered: Dec 2007
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Carol Swenson
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posted
Each of the redeemed shall forever know and praise some one aspect of the divine beauty better than any other creature can. Why else were individuals created, but that God, loving all infinitely, should love each differently? If all experience God in the same way and returned him an identical worship, the song of the church triumphant would have no symphony, it would be like an orchestra in which all the instruments played the same note. . . . Heaven is a city and a body because the blessed remain eternally different. . . . For doubtless the continually successful, yet never completed, attempt by each soul to communicate its vision to all others . . . is also among the ends for which the individual was created.
C. S. Lewis (1898–1963)
Posts: 6787 | From: Colorado | Registered: Dec 2007
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WildB
Moderator
Member # 2917
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posted
When one hears the word "image" do they associate it with as it matters to the Bible.
a. Filter
b. mirror
c. both
d. idolatry
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That is all.....
Posts: 8775 | From: USA, MICHIGAN | Registered: Mar 2004
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Zeena
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Member # 7223
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posted
![[clap2]](graemlins/clap2.gif)
Hebrews 2:9a
But we see Jesus
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Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?
But I trust that ye shall know that we are not reprobates.
Posts: 749 | From: Toronto, Canada-EH! | Registered: Jun 2008
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Carol Swenson
Admin
Member # 6929
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posted
Much has been written attempting to explain what is meant by man’s being created in the image of God.
Genesis 1:27 states that mankind male and female was created in the image of God. No one attributes sex to God because of this statement; yet male and female indicate sex. Similarly, just because man, created in the image of God, has a body, does not necessitate attributing a body to God. But obviously man was created a total being, material and immaterial, and that total being was created in the image of God.
(1) man’s body is included in the image of God. “While God is not physical in any way, there is a sense in which even a man’s body is included in the image of God, for man is a unitary being composed of both body and soul. His body is a fit instrument for the self-expression of a soul made for fellowship with the Creator and is suited eschatologically to become a ‘spiritual body’ (1 Cor. 15:44). . . . [His body] was not something apart from the real self of Adam, but was essentially one with it” (Ralph E. Powell, “Image of God” Wycliffe Bible Encyclopedia [Chicago: Moody, 1975], 1:832).
(2) To be created in the image of God also means to be a living being. This was Paul’s emphasis on Areopagus (Acts 17:28-29). Refuting the belief that inanimate idols could represent the living God, he argues that since mankind is the offspring of God, and since human beings are living beings, God must also be a living Being.
(3) Man is not only a living being, but a being like God with both intelligence and will that give him the ability to make decisions that enable him to have dominion over the world (Gen. 1:28).
(4) Adam was not only a unitary, living, intelligent, determining being, but also one who was able to have unhindered fellowship with God. How can we express Adam’s original condition? Some use the word innocent, but Adam was more than innocent, which seems to connote only the absence of wrong. Adam’s original holiness was positive; yet it was not equal with God’s—it was creaturely. Because it was subject to testing, it was unconfirmed. It provided immortality, for until Adam failed the test, he was not subject to the inevitable law of death due to sin.
To sum up: the image of God in which man was created included the totality of his being as living, intelligent, determining, and moral.
Ramifications of the Concept
When sin entered the human race, the image of God in which man was created was not lost. One may say it was defaced though not erased. If the image concept was described correctly, then if man lost it he would no longer be a living, rational being.
Further evidence that the image was not lost is found in the use the Scripture makes of it after the Fall. The fact that man was created in the image of God is the basis for the institution of capital punishment (9:6). Headship of the man is also based on his being in the image of God (1 Cor. 11:7). James cautions us about cursing a fellow human being on the ground that mankind was made in the likeness of God (James 3:9). These passages would have no basis if the image had been erased in the Fall.
Regeneration and sanctification serve to renew the believer according to the image of Christ to whose image we shall someday be perfectly conformed (Rom. 8:29; 2 Cor. 3:18). Only grace can do this.
(Basic Theology)
Posts: 6787 | From: Colorado | Registered: Dec 2007
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