Comments on: Reflections on the Deity of Christ – The Image of God http://eclecticchristian.com/2009/01/21/reflections-on-the-deity-of-christ-the-image-of-god/ Learning to appreciate the many different facets of Christianity Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:50:05 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Kris http://eclecticchristian.com/2009/01/21/reflections-on-the-deity-of-christ-the-image-of-god/#comment-4799 Wed, 01 Feb 2012 21:09:21 +0000 http://eclecticchristian.com/?p=611#comment-4799 Just to share, I believe that many do seek God. As children, many were taught that we were created to know, love and serve God. We cannot know something, without seeking to know and even to try to understand IT. It wasn’t until I openly, without fear, asked God, “What is this all about?”, that I started really being able to receive the answer.

I believe that God communicates with anyone that seeks Him, in a way in which we are prepared to receive the information. God has always come to us in a way in which we could understand, as individuals, and as human beings. It is the fact that God is truly in us, that we seek to understand the love that is within us.

Consider how at Pentecost, everyone understood the Holy Spirit in their own language. Even now, each person understands things in a different way, according to their own personal abilities, as well as intelligence and maturity. It has always been a wonder at how different we each are, and yet, we are all joined in a way that we can exist and work together as a team, in so many ways. We often miss how much of life is truly a miracle in itself. We are conditioned to accept things so matter-of-a-factly. That is amazing in itself. ;o)

]]> By: Kris http://eclecticchristian.com/2009/01/21/reflections-on-the-deity-of-christ-the-image-of-god/#comment-4797 Wed, 01 Feb 2012 20:52:22 +0000 http://eclecticchristian.com/?p=611#comment-4797 There is a reason why no one has “seen the Father”. The One True God is an Infinite, Perfect, Supreme “BEING” which means He can only be “experienced” in Spirit. God is indescribable in human terms, but we try and try, but how can true perfection be explained finite terms. It can’t. However, Christ is our connection to this Perfection of Supreme Being. As humans, we can never be perfect in being; so it is in Christ’s unconditional love that he connects all of us; even those that do not know Him, to that which is Perfection. This has been communicated, over time, to me, in ways that would be difficult to share. I understand that can be said of all of us, for even those that we may not think have any kind of connection according to our beliefs, we must assume that they could not exist unless they do so through the Will of God, and therefore must be accepted as such.

This is why I believe that to be truly Christian, we can never destroy anything that God has made with any type of negative feeling. When we decide that we must stop the life of anyone or any creature that God created, we must do so with some degree of sorrow that it had to be done for the good of the majority.

]]> By: Eclectic Christian http://eclecticchristian.com/2009/01/21/reflections-on-the-deity-of-christ-the-image-of-god/#comment-486 Sat, 24 Jan 2009 03:35:56 +0000 http://eclecticchristian.com/?p=611#comment-486 The printing press / seal imagery is one that I hadn’t heard before but is certainly (along with many of the other comments) a welcome addition to the discussion.

Mike Bell

]]> By: willohroots http://eclecticchristian.com/2009/01/21/reflections-on-the-deity-of-christ-the-image-of-god/#comment-485 Sat, 24 Jan 2009 03:30:27 +0000 http://eclecticchristian.com/?p=611#comment-485 KJV
Who being the brightness of [his] glory, and the express image of his person, NLT
The Son reflects God’s own glory, and everything about him represents God exactly.
NIV
The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being,
ESV
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature,
NASB
And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature,
RSV
He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of his nature,
YNG
who being the brightness of the glory, and the impress of His subsistence,1) the instrument used for engraving or carving
The word in Greek here is where we get our English word character check out the def.
χαρακτήρ
Transliteration
charaktēr
2) the mark stamped upon that instrument or wrought out on it
a) a mark or figure burned in (Lev. 13:28) or stamped on, an impression
b) the exact expression (the image) of any person or thing, marked likeness, precise reproduction in every respect, i.e facsimile

The language is like unto a printing press or seal/stamp hence the Young’s translation and RSV that try to show that when Jesus is pressed upon reality He leaves a God shaped impression.
I hope that helps.
The NIV can be a bit misleading on this,again. Nasb has the thought down well, but This is a fine example of how my lack of Greek makes sermon prep a real chore. Searching word by word takes time, but in some cases, and this was one, I couldn’t get it without a dip into the original. Now I am fascinated with the picture of Christ being sent to leave God’s image behind. If you see the character of Christ, you see the Character of God. wow Praise the Lord!

]]> By: Eclectic Christian http://eclecticchristian.com/2009/01/21/reflections-on-the-deity-of-christ-the-image-of-god/#comment-478 Fri, 23 Jan 2009 02:29:19 +0000 http://eclecticchristian.com/?p=611#comment-478 Josh,

I don’t have a problem with the word “exact” as long as it is qualified with a word like “representation”. As noted in post two, we need to keep away from the concept of Son=Father.

Mike Bell

]]> By: Eclectic Christian http://eclecticchristian.com/2009/01/21/reflections-on-the-deity-of-christ-the-image-of-god/#comment-477 Fri, 23 Jan 2009 02:26:20 +0000 http://eclecticchristian.com/?p=611#comment-477 Cynthia,

I agree with Josh about the terminology “exact replica”. When we make a exact replica of something it is indistinguishable from the original. This would leave no real difference between the Father and the Son. A representation however, is more of a projection or an image. I think the star or sun analogy can be used here. If I see a picture of a sun, it might be an exact representation of the sun. It is not however a replica of the sun. Even an exact representation only gives us a sense of the scale or majesty or power of the original object. A representation typically only shows us an image of the surface, and not what the interior looks like.

Mike Bell

]]> By: Josh http://eclecticchristian.com/2009/01/21/reflections-on-the-deity-of-christ-the-image-of-god/#comment-476 Fri, 23 Jan 2009 01:39:38 +0000 http://eclecticchristian.com/?p=611#comment-476 I think there is room to be theologically worried about language like “exact replica.” First, what do we mean when we say “exact” because I don’t think we can mean the strict definition unless we want to say that God the Father has a body and this body is that of a middle-eastern Jew. Plus, I fear that the language of “exact replica” suggests that Jesus is superfluous in some way–a grace note.

Exact representation is a little better but I still don’t care much for the usage of the word “exact.”

]]> By: willohroots http://eclecticchristian.com/2009/01/21/reflections-on-the-deity-of-christ-the-image-of-god/#comment-474 Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:15:59 +0000 http://eclecticchristian.com/?p=611#comment-474 Hebrews 1. amazing! Love the star light thing. That will give me something for the Sci-fi crowd that they can understand. Thanks!

]]> By: theoldadam http://eclecticchristian.com/2009/01/21/reflections-on-the-deity-of-christ-the-image-of-god/#comment-473 Thu, 22 Jan 2009 15:53:52 +0000 http://eclecticchristian.com/?p=611#comment-473 I like very much that idea of the image of the star as a way to help us understand the unseen God.

I like to tell my friends who wonder about God that He has to remain invisable…otherwise we would not love Him, but only fear and hate Him.

Through the gift of faith, and faith alone, we can ,love him because He first loved us. Otherwise we would remain with the lost, for as St. Paul reminds us…”…no one seeks for God.”

]]> By: Cynthia http://eclecticchristian.com/2009/01/21/reflections-on-the-deity-of-christ-the-image-of-god/#comment-471 Thu, 22 Jan 2009 03:48:41 +0000 http://eclecticchristian.com/?p=611#comment-471 As a homeschooling mom, I know my boys are fascinated by the whole concept of light years. When we do science tomorrow I will bring them to this post so we can discuss how this imagery works for them. I think that many people err in making Jesus too human sometimes…He was an exact replica, image of God the Father…how utterly amazing that I am in relationship with such a God as that!

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