He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. – Colossians 1:15
He is the visible image of the invisible God. Eikōn is the Greek word translated as image. As it is used here, it does not mean a mere likeness – like Jesus seems to appear like God. It means that Jesus is the exact and full representation of God’s character and attributes.
Everything that is true about God is true about His Son. Jesus claimed in John 14:9, “…Whoever has seen me has seen the Father…” That is to say that the nature and being of God is PERFECTLY revealed in the person of Jesus Christ.
Jesus is the exact imprint of God’s nature – Heb. 1:3
Hebrews 1:3a “3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature”
Jesus shares every attribute of who God is including God’s perfect and infinite knowledge, wisdom, goodness, power, presence, and holiness (to name a few).
- Like God, Jesus is self-existent and he has existed from eternity past into eternity future.
- Before the cross, there has never been a time in all of eternity past when God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit were not in perfect fellowship with one another.
- Even at the cross, they were united together in their purpose and resolve to provide a way for us, as imperfect sinners, to be reconciled with God. Look at Col 1:19-20, “19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”
The Apostle John in John 1:18 says, “18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he (Jesus) has made him known.” No one has seen God, but Jesus has made God known.
Jesus came to make God known – John 1:14, 18
How did Jesus make God known to us?
- By living among us.
- By taking on flesh.
John 1:14 says “14 And the Word (Jesus) became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Jesus is full of glory and full of grace and full of truth because God is glorious and filled with grace and filled with truth. The attributes of God are put on display in the life of Christ.
Over the years, people have questioned if Jesus really came physically. Some theorize that maybe he was really an angel or a phantom or some other kind of ethereal being. John 1:14 says that Jesus became flesh. Paul also addressed those ideas in Philippians 2
Jesus Came to Earth in the Flesh – Philippians 2:5-8
In Philippians 2, the Apostle Paul makes it totally clear that Jesus came not as an ethereal or spiritual being, but as a physical, material human being. He came as a physical being… You could:
- Touch Him
- Handle Him
- Hug Him
- Shake his hand
- Put your arm around him
He came a physical being made of flesh.
Philippians 2:5-8 states: “5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” It is clear from both the apostle John (Word became flesh and dwelt among us) and the Apostle Paul (Christ came to earth in human form) that Jesus came to earth physically, in the flesh.
Paul proclaims that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. Paul writes in verse 19, “For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell. When Paul says that “Christ is the image of the invisible God,” he is making 2 things crystal clear to the Colossians.
- Christ is God in human form. (He is 100% God and 100% man)
- Christ is the full representation of God’s nature and character.
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Mark Stafford
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