CHRIST – IMAGE OF GOD, A CHAPTER OF PAULINE CHRISTOLOGY

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CHRIST – IMAGE OF GOD, A CHAPTER OF
PAULINE CHRISTOLOGY
Ioan MIHOC
Abstract: This article focuses on certain prominent concepts that Apostle
Paul uses in different contexts to describe Jesus as the one who preexisted
in God’s form and whose Incarnation supremely imaged God (1 Tim 3:16:
ephanerōthē en sarki). Christ, the new Adam, is the perfect image of God
(2 Cor 4:4) who reflects the glory of God. The Apostle identifies Christ
as the eikōn (representation, icon) of God on Whose face the glory of God
shines (2 Cor 4:4.6). In Phil 2:6-11, being equal with God is related to
being in the form of God (morphē theou). The Son of God is the eikōn of
the unseen God and superior to all creation (Col 1:15), because all things
were created through Him (Col 1:16). Heb 1:3 expresses the Son’s
identity of nature in relation to His Father (apaugasma tes doxes,
brightness of His glory), and that the Son is the perfect and eternal “icon”
of the Father (charactēr tes upostaseos, the express image of His person).
This study argues for the Christological significance of Paul’s
hermeneutic of these concepts in relation to the Holy Scripture and
Church’s Tradition, as well as in the current research context.
Keywords: Eikōn-Christology, morphē theou, eikōn theou, charactēr tes
upostaseos, form, image, icon
Introduction
The contemplation of the person and work of Jesus Christ
represents the unchanging heart of Christian theology
1
. The Apostle Paul
held that man was made in the image of the preexistent Christ, Who is the
 PhD, Rev., Associate Professor, “Eftimie Murgu” University of Reșița (Department of
Orthodox Didactic Theology – Caransebeș), Romania.
1
John BEHR, Formation of Christian Theology. The Way to Nicaea, volume 1, Crestwood,
St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2001, p.237.

16th International Symposium on Science, Theology and Arts (ISSTA2017)
image of God
2
. This means that what the Old Testament says about our
divine likeness is to be understood in the light of Paul’s statements that
call Jesus Christ the image of God and that speak of the transforming of
believers into this image. Oliver Crisp shows that “God eternally ordains
that Christ be the archetype of human beings”
3
.
By using some specific expressions, St Paul declares that Christ is
the image (eikōn)
4
of the invisible God (Col 1:15), the impress of his
Father’s hypostasis (charactēr tes upostaseos autou, Heb 1:3), and in Him
the fullness of the divinity dwells bodily (Col 2:9); in Him we see God,
and it is in Him that the glory of God is revealed (cf. also Jn 1:14), shining
in the face (en prosopo) of Christ (2 Cor 4:6), the Lord of glory (1 Cor
2:8)
5
. In the hymnic language of Phil 2:6-11, Jesus Christ is confessed to
be in the form of God and equal to God.
The preexistent Christ, image of God, is also named by St Paul the
heavenly man (ho epouranios, 1 Cor 15:49). He has been assigned a role
within creation, alongside God the Father (1 Cor 8:6). This means that He
is truly divine, sharing the same nature (homoousios), with the Father. St.
Basil illustrates this aspect in the following excerpt: “It is held about the
Son that He is a firstborn icon (2 Cor 4.4; Col 1:15), the brightness of the
Father’s glory (Heb 1:3)... according not to a [temporary] state, or to the
way of being, but He is [through Himself] God’s living, working being
and shining glory”
6
. Within the same writing against Eunomius, St. Basil
2
A. T. HANSON, “The Midrash in 2 Corinthians 3: A Reconsideration”, in Stanley E.
PORTER, Craig A. EVANS (ed.), The Pauline Writings, London, Bloomsbury, p.107.
3
Oliver CRISP, “A Christological Model of the Imago Dei”, in Joshua R. FARRIS, Charles
TALIAFERRO, The Ashgate Research Companion to Theological Anthropology,
Ashgate Publishing, Burlington, 2015, p.226. Adam was a representative of God on
earth, created in the image of God, but only Christ, the last Adam (1 Cor 15:45), the
man from heaven (1 Cor 15:47), is the image of the invisible God (Col 1:15), so making
Adam a “type of the One to come” (Rom 5:14) John BEHR, Formation of Christian
Theology, p.52.
4
In the Koinē period the word eikōn was used for bills of sales, portrait pictures, statues,
coin impressions, and even human rulers who represented a god. It was also used for
abstract concepts, such as ideas, thoughts, and dreams, as well as Platonic ideas, such
as the cosmos as an image of God (Daniel WALACE, The Image of God as the
Resurrected State in Pauline Thought, https://bible.org/article/image-god-resurrected-
state-pauline-thought, note 3 (accessed on March 31, 2017).
5
John BEHR, Formation of Christian Theology, p.53.
6
SF. VASILE CEL MARE, Scrieri dogmatice și exegetice, rom.transl. Policarp Pârvuloiu &
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ARS LITURGICA. From the Image of Glory to the images of the idols of Modernity
teaches thus: “And if He makes the Father known through Himself (Jn
17:26), it is because He is not a creature but God’s true Son and icon (2
Cor 4:4; Col 1:15) and the express image of His person (Heb 1:3)”
7
.
Focusing on some specific Pauline phrases regarding Christ as
being the image of God, in the following lines we try to underscore their
theological meanings in their original settings.
1 Corinthians 15:49. In the context of this verse the emphasis lies
primarily with Christ’s bearing the imago Dei in His human life. In His
coming as the ‘second Adam’, He did what Adam failed to do: bear the
divine image in His humanity
8
.
In his homilies on Genesis, Origen alludes to this Pauline verse and
teaches as follows: “You bore at that time ‘the image of the earthly.’ But
now since these things have been heard, having been cleansed from the
whole earthly mass and weight by the Word of God, make the ‘image of
the heavenly’ shine brightly in you”
9
.
Writing about the image of the man of heaven, Ambrosiaster says:
“This means that just as we have borne the corruptible body of the earthly
Adam, so we shall in the future bear an incorruptible body, like that of
the resurrected Christ” (Commentary on Paul’s Epistles)
10
.
2 Corinthians 3:18; 4:4-6. It is in Christ that the believer can be
changed from glory to glory (2 Cor 3:18), which is another Pauline way
of stating conformity to the image of Christ (Rom 8:29)
11
. Eikōn in 3:18
is generated by the mirror imagery, the Corinth being at that time a city
Dumitru Fecioru, București, Basilica Ph., 2011, p.140.
7
SF. VASILE CEL MARE, Scrieri dogmatice și exegetice, p.168.
8
Gordon D. FEE, Pauline Christology.An Exegetical-Theological Study, Peabody,
Hendrickson Publishers, 2007, p.519.
9
Thomas C. ODEN (general editor), Gerald BRAY (edited by), Ancient Christian
Commentary on Scripture , I – II Corinthians, New York, London, Routledge, 2012,
p.176.
10
Thomas C. ODEN, Gerald BRAY, I – II Corinthians, p. 176. Jung Hoon Kim explains
that in this context “eikōn has the connotation of ‘essential character’, and can be
understood as equivalent to morphē’… At present, believers bear the image of Adam
in his physicality, but they will ultimately bear the image of Christ in his spirituality
(cf. vv. 53-54) (Jung Hoon KIM, The Significance of Clothing Imagery in the Pauline
Corpus, New York, T&T Clark International, London, 2004, p.199).
11
Bill TRASHER, The Attributes of God in Pauline Theology, Wiph and Stock Publishers,
Eugene, 2001, p.166.
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16th International Symposium on Science, Theology and Arts (ISSTA2017)
famous for its bronze mirrors. The Apostle states that the Corinthians
themselves are being transformed into the same ‘image’, the image of
God as that is borne perfectly by Christ.
Further on, Paul refers to the glory of Christ Who, as the very image
of God, reflected His character (2 Cor 4:4). As James Howard shows,
Paul’s argument that Christ reflects God’s glory is the key of
understanding Christ as the image of God
12
.
St Gregory Nazienzen stresses that Christ is a living image: “this is
of nature of an image, to be the reproduction of its archetype and of that
whose name it bears; only that there is more here. For in ordinary
language an image is a motionless representation of that which has
motion, but in this case it is the living reproduction of the living one and
is more exactly like than was Seth to Adam or any son to his father (The
Theological Orations 4.20)
13
. Asking rhetorically what is the face of God
like? Jerome replies that it is “as His image, certainly, for as the apostle
says, the image of the Father is the Son… He who sees the Son sees also
the Father (Homily 6 on Psalm 66/67)
14
.
According to Frank Matera, “when Paul calls Christ the image of
God (2 Cor 4:4b), he is affirming that Christ is the way we know God”
Then he states that “Paul is not so much interested in telling believers that
Christ is the image of God as he is in teaching them that they are being
transformed into the image of Christ, Who is the image of God”
15
.
Nevertheless, we may consider with G. Fee that in 4:4b - with its twofold
language ‘image’ and ‘glory’ - the emphasis is on Christ Himself, here
the true image of God being borne by the one who shares the divine
glory
16
.
Paul teaches that those spiritually blinded are prevented from
seeing the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God (2 Cor 4:4a). As
God’s image, Christ the Saviour casts clarity upon the hazy notions
12
James M. HOWARD, Paul, the Community, and Progressive Santification: An
Exploration into Community-Based Transformation within Pauline Theology, New
York, Peter Lang, 2006, p.64.
13
Thomas C. ODEN, Gerald BRAY, I – II Corinthians, p.229.
14
Thomas C. ODEN, Gerald BRAY, I – II Corinthians, p.229.
15
Frank J. MATERA, God’s Saving Grace: A Pauline Theology, Grand Rapids/Cambridge,
Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2012, p.7-8.
16
Gordon FEE, Pauline Christology, p.520.
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ARS LITURGICA. From the Image of Glory to the images of the idols of Modernity
regarding the ‘immortal and invisible’ God ‘dwelling in unapproachable
light’ (1 Tim 1:17; 6:16). The title image of God signifies here that Christ
acts against the satanic counter-power, as representative of the kingdom
of God. In this Pauline context, Christ’s title eikōn tou theou asserts the
glorified Christ’s unique relation to God and means that Christ’s rightful
place is at the throne of God.
The Apostle emphasizes that God, Who has revealed glory to
creation, has revealed now His full glory in Christ (4:6). The eikōn is the
person himself and, therefore, prōsopon in 2 Cor 4:6 is probably best
rendered ‘person’, rather than ‘face’: the stress lies here not so much on
the appearance but on the totality of the Lord Jesus Christ. Differently
from Ezek 1:26-28, Paul’s explicit statement involves a direct
identification of concrete human as the eikōn theou
17
.
Romans 8:29. According to St Paul, God has foreordained that
believers are to be ‘conformed to the image of his Son’, who Himself is
God’s ‘firstborn’ among the many who are to become His brothers and
sisters. The eternal Son of God perfectly bears the divine image in the
condition of His own identity with our humanity.
Regarding Rom 8:29, St. Cyril of Alexandria teaches that “Christ
models us again through the Spirit according to His image and imprints
upon the souls of the believers, in a spiritually and unspoken manner, the
beauty of His flesh... For we have been restored to the first image, being
sealed in that face through the Son, Who is the image and likeness of the
Father (Heb 1:3), and not different of Him, through the being’s
identity”
18
.
Philippians 2:6-8. The first strophe of the hymn from Phil 2:6-11
states that Christ existed in the form of God (en morphē theou) but in the
emptying process He took the form of a slave (morphēn doulou). The
Pauline language suggests an antithesis of ‘God’ and ‘slave’, but the
repetition of morphē identifies the two in the way that John in his gospel
17
C. Kavin ROWE, “New Testament Iconography? Situating Paul in the Absence of
Material Evidence”, in Annette Weissenrieder, Friederike Wendt & Petra von
Gemünden (ed.), Picturing the New Testament: Studies in Ancient Visual Images,
Tübingen, Mohr Siebeck, p.300.
18
SF. CHIRIL AL ALEXANDRIEI, “Despre Sfânta Treime. Altă pildă de lucrare neîmpărțită:
chipul”, în Scrieri. Partea a III-a, București, EIBM al BOR, trad. pr. Dumitru
Stăniloae, 1994, p.107.
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16th International Symposium on Science, Theology and Arts (ISSTA2017)
identifies crucifixion with exaltation
19
.
Larry Hurtado acknowledges that most scholars take these verses
to reflect a belief in the personal preexistence and incarnation of Christ
20
.
He argues then that Phil 2:6-7 should be read as describing the action of
the ‘preincarnated’ or ‘preexistent’ Christ
21
.
Gordon Fee shows that Paul’s choice of the term is meant to define
Christ’s ‘mode’ of preexistence with God and to indicate the extreme
nature of the ‘mode’ of His incarnation: in the ‘form’ of a slave. Fee
explains that en morphē theou is used only with regard to Christ’s being
the divine image-bearer in His incarnation, not with regard to His
preexistence, although recognizing that Adam’s Christology is present in
Paul’s thought
22
.
According to Origen, under the abasement of the Cross the Son
appears as “more divine and truly in the image of the Father”
23
. In this
way, Christ becomes as an exemplary paradigm for the conduct of
believers. Phil 2:6-11 (esp. vv. 6-8) are usually related to 2 Cor 8:9: Christ
having graciously ‘impoverished’ Himself for the redemptive
‘enrichment’ of believers. As a paradigm for believers these verses show
how Christ acted as God, and how He acted in His humanity.
Prior to his “having taken the ‘form’ of a slave”, Christ was in fact
19
Graham WARD, “Kenosis: Death, Discourse and Resurrection”, in L. GARDNER, David
MOSS, Ben QUASH, Graham WARD (ed.), Balthasar at the End of Modernity,
Edinburgh, T & T Clark, 1999, p.22.
20
Larry W. HURTADO, Lord Jesus Christ, p.121.
21
Larry W. HURTADO, Lord Jesus Christ, p.123. He remarks that in Greek texts en morphē
theou is not interchangeably used with eikōn theou. In the Genesis passages eikōn
theou is used to express the status of the human creature (Gen 1:26-27; 5:1; 9:6). As
he shows, explicit Christological meaning of eikōn is to be found in 2 Cor 4:4; Col
1:15 and less direct but still likely in 1 Cor 15:49; 2 Cor 3:18. By contrast, morphē
theou is never used elsewhere in any allusion to Adam. In fact, morphē theou is not
used at all in the Greek Old Testament (Larry W. Hurtado, Lord Jesus Christ, p.122).
22
Gordon FEE, Pauline Christology, p.523. Fee thinks that Paul’s references to the Son of
God as bearing the divine “image” (Rom 8:29; Col 1:13-19; cf. 1 Cor 15:49; 2 Cor
3:18-4:6; Col 3:10) are deliberately contrasting Christ as “second Adam” with the first
Adam (Gordon FEE, Pauline Christology, p.518). Peter Ellis quotes Cullmann’s
interpretation in saying that the “form of God” (morphē theou) in Phil v. 2:6a is to be
understood in the sense of Gen 1:26 (Peter F. ELLIS, Seven Pauline Leters,
Collegeville, Minnesota, The Liturgical Press, 1982, p.127).
23
ORIGEN, Com. Jn.1.231 (Cf. John BEHR, Formation of Christian Theology, p.189).
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ARS LITURGICA. From the Image of Glory to the images of the idols of Modernity
“in the ‘form’ of God” (en morphē theou uparchon v. 6a). Fee states that
en morphe theou can scarcely be an allusion to Christ’s humanity as being
‘in God’s image’
24
. Christ was characterized by what was essential to
being God. Starting from the definition of morphe, which means that
which truly characterizes a given reality, Fee acknowledges that this is
the right word to characterize both the reality (His being God) and the
metaphor (His taking on the role of a slave), since it denotes ‘form’ or
‘shape’ in terms of those characteristics that are essential to it. Therefore,
some translations render morphē by the phrase ‘in very nature God’
(TNIV)
25
.
Graham Ward explores the theological implications of the Pauline
phrase en morphē theou. First, he states that this may be the equivalent of
the Johannine “that glory I had with you before the world began” (17:5).
Second, he understands that the dative en suggests Trinitarian
participation by the Son in the Father. As for the eikōn, he thinks that this
concept do not implies a distinction between form and substance, but a
participation of one in the other. His reason for this interpretation is that
in both the LXX and elsewhere in the New Testament eikōn is associated
with the glory of God, His doxa
26
.
Colossians 1:15. Paul states in the hymn from Col 1:15-20 that the
Son of God is the divine agent both of creation and of redemption. With
his use of eikōn in this passage Paul’s emphasis is on the incarnated Son
of God as the divine image-bearer. The emphasis on the Son’s bearing the
divine image, in the first strophe, moves towards His human identity,
resembling ourselves, which transpires in His work of reconciliation, in
the second strophe. It is the one in Whom all the divine fullness dwells
(bodily) (Col 2:9)
27
. In the John’s Gospel, Jesus declares: “He who has
24
Gordon FEE, Pauline Christology, p.377.
25
Gordon FEE, Pauline Christology, p.378-379. Thomas Schreiner stresses that Christ
shared the divine nature before he took humanity upon himself. “To say that Jesus was
in form of God is another way of saying that he was divine. The divinity of Jesus is
confirmed by the phrase equality with God in Phil 2:6, for Jesus’equality with God is
another way of speaking of the form of God” (Thomas R. SCHREINER, New Testament
Theology: Magnifying God in Christ, Grand Rapids, Baker Academic, 2008, p.324-
325).
26
Graham WARD, “Kenosis: Death, Discourse and Resurrection”, p.22.
27
Gordon FEE, Pauline Christology, p.521.
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16th International Symposium on Science, Theology and Arts (ISSTA2017)
seen Me has seen the Father” (Jn 14:9). Adam and Eve were created ‘in’
God’s image (Gen 1:26-27), but Jesus is uniquely the image of the
invisible God
28
. One could say that as the Gospel alone unlocks the
treasures of the Scripture, so it is only in the Son, as preached in the
Gospel, that the invisible and immeasurable God becomes visible and
comprehensible
29
.
What is said here of Christ and of God must be understood for
every icon, as John of Damascus states. In his view eikōn tou theou tou
aoratou, icon of the invisible God (Col 1:15), must be generalized to
every icon: “What audacity! What boldness of mind, to fight God and His
commands! You, who refuse to worship images, would not worship the
Son of God, the Living Image of the invisible God (Col 1:15) and His
unchanging form. I worship the image of Christ as the Incarnate God”
30
.
Hanson underscores that according to Paul, Christ was “the one
visible representative of the invisible God” (Col 1:15). Eikōn must mean
the visible image of the invisible despite the efforts of Origen and other
Platonists to argue otherwise
31
. John Heil points to the fact “that He
[Christ] has a likeness to the invisible God that transcends the realm of
the created world and that is preexistent and preeminent over it”
32
. Earle
Ellis observes rightly that “the primary basis for the ascriptions given to
Christ in Col 1:15-19 was in all likelihood the author’s own experience
of the resurrected Lord”
33
. Robert Kappelle underlines ‘image’ as one of
the divine names likewise those in Phil 2:6 ff, and he remarks that Col
1:15 ff is ascribing to Jesus deeds only deity can perform. As he points
28
Thomas R. SCHREINER, New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ, p.327.
29
John BEHR, Formation of Christian Theology, p.122.
30
ST. JOHN OF DAMASCUS, Apologia Against Those Who Decry Holy Images,
https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/johndamascus-images.asp (accessed on 9 april
2017). The incarnation supports the icon and the icon witnesses to the incarnation. In
the iconophiles’ view, the incarnation of the Logos was the main scriptural argument
justifying religious visual art. According to Col 1:15, Christ is not only the Word of
God but also his “icon” (eikōn) (See Eugen J. PENTIUC, The Old Testament in Eastern
Orthodox Tradition, Oxford University Press, 2014, p.268-269).
31
A. T. HANSON, “The Midrash in 2 Corinthians 3”, p.108-109.
32
John Paul HEIL, Colossians: Encouragement to Walk in All Wisdom as holy Ones in
Christ, Atlanta, Society of Biblical Literature, 2010, p.64.
33
E. Earle ELLIS, “Collosians 1:12-20. Christus Creator, Christus Salvator”, in Idem, The
Sovereignity of God in Salvation: Biblical Essays, London, T & T Clark, 2009, p.43.
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ARS LITURGICA. From the Image of Glory to the images of the idols of Modernity
out, the meaning of ‘icon’ is that Christ makes visible what is invisible.
If God could be seen, then this is what God would look like (cf. Col 2:9)
34
.
Colossians 3:10. The main topic of the exhortations of 3:5 ff. is the
creation of a new human being according to the image (kat’eikōna) of its
Creator (Col 3:10)
35
. Of course, here is a deliberate reference back to
Christ as the ‘image’, as proclaimed in the hymn
36
.
Kavin Rowe conceives that “the image of God is anthropological
in a double – and very Pauline – sense: Jesus Christ and the community
of human beings that participate in him… In the person of Jesus Christ
and his Christologicaly shaped community, the God of Israel does in fact
have an image”
37
.
Hebrews 1:3. The author of the Epistle proclaims Jesus as “the
reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being” (Heb
1:3). In this verse the whole emphasis is on the unity between Christ and
God the Father. Although there are two statements, there is expressed the
same idea: Jesus Christ provides a perfect expression of God. The Greek
word translated by ‘reflection’ (apaugasma) no longer appears in the New
Testament; it can be translated as ‘brightness’ as well as ‘reflection’.
Translating it as ‘reflection’ implies a passive sense, approved by a
majority of modern commentators, while ‘brightness’ an active one. The
Greek Fathers have preferred the active meaning, retained also in the
Nicene Creed as phos ek photos (Chrysostom)
38
.
St. John Chrysostom highlights the difficulty to give an appropriate
name to the divine being
39
. Theodoret of Cyrus says that “on the one hand,
34
Robert P. Vande KAPPELLE, Wisdom Revealed: The Messange of Biblical Wisdom
Literature – Then and Now, Eugene, Wipf & Stock, 2014, p.211.
35
In light of Col 1:15 the phrase eikōna tou ktisantos (Col 3:10) reads as circumlocution
for eikōn tou theou. Chrysostom et al. read tou ktisantos of Christ (C. Kavin ROWE,
“New Testament Iconography?” p.305, note 72).
36
Andrew T. LINCOLN, A. J. WEDERBURN, The Theology of the Later Pauline Letters,
Cambridge University Press, 1993, p.40.
37
C. Kavin ROWE, “New Testament Iconography?”, p.306.
38
Paul ELLINGWORTH, Commentary on Hebrews, p.98.
39
“Through the expression the brightness, there has been showed the equalness of the
essence or of the being of the Son and the Father, and His proximity to the Father.
Think to the finesse of these words: He took one essence and being represented by two
hypostases, same as He does in relation to the knowledge of the Spirit... Think about
what kind of names he employs, not finding at all the denomination or the name to be
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16th International Symposium on Science, Theology and Arts (ISSTA2017)
the glory is eternal, therefore, eternal also the shine is. And on the other
hand, the brightness has the same nature with the fire; same semblance
between the Son and the Father... Thus, through a lot of words has taught
us the divine Apostle... the same being
40
and eternity”
41
. By the
expression “the brightness of the glory”, St. Theophylact understands that
1) the Son is born of the Father; 2) that He was born without passion; 3)
that the Father has not lessened, nor has lowered because He bore the Son;
and 4) that the Father and the Son are one in essence, namely that the Son
is born of the Father as light is born of light
42
.
The very being (hypostasis) of God stamped in Jesus Christ is the
fundamental reality or the essence of God. The word translated ‘the exact
imprint’ (charaktēr) does not appear elsewhere in the New Testament,
appearing only three times in the LXX
43
. In the current verse, charaktēr tēs
hypostaseōs autou strengthens apaugasma tēs doxēs in describing the
essential unity and the exact likeness between God the Father and His Son
44
.
St. Theophylact stresses that the Pauline expression ‘image of the
hypostasis’ of the Father shows that the Son is a person: “as the Father is
enhypostatic and has perfect self hypostasis…, in the same manner the
Son also is enhypostatic and has separate and perfect hypostasis”
45
.
Conclusions
1. In some statements of high Christology character, St Paul is teaching
us that Jesus is the image of God. By this phrase we are to understand
given for the being” (Sf. IOAN GURĂ DE AUR, Comentariile sau explicarea Epistolei
către Evrei, trad. Theodosie Athanasiu, Tipografia Cărților Bisericești, București,
1923, p.61-62).
40
of the Son and the Father.
41
Fericitul TEODORET AL CIRULUI, Tâlcuire la Epistolele Sfântului Apostol Pavel, vol. I,
trad. Iulia Cărare și Mircea Ștefan, Ed. Doxologia, Iași, 2015, p.247-248.
42
Sfântul TEOFILACT AL BULGARIEI, Tâlcuirea Epistolei către Evrei, trad. mitrop.
Veniamim Costache, îndreptarea tălmăcirii Florin Stuparu, București, Ed. Sophia,
2011, p.16.
43
Edgar V. MCKNIGHT / Christopher CHURCH, Hebrews-James, The Smyth & Helwys
Bible commentary, 28, Smyth & Helwys Publishing, 2004, p.32-33.
44
Paul ELLINGWORTH, Commentary on Hebrews, William B. Eerdmans, Grand Rapids,
MI, 1993, p.99-100.
45
Sfântul TEOFILACT AL BULGARIEI, Tâlcuirea Epistolei către Evrei, p.18.
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ARS LITURGICA. From the Image of Glory to the images of the idols of Modernity
first Adam’s Christology, as illustrated in 1 Cor 15:49, and that what
is implied in Phil 2:6-7. At the same time, Christ’s title eikōn tou
theou proclaims the glorified Christ’s unique relation to God (2 Cor
3:18; 4:4.6).
2. To say that Jesus was in the form of God is another way of saying that
He was divine. Paul uses en morphē theou in Phil 2:6 with regard to
His being the divine image-bearer in His incarnation. Christ was
characterized by what was essential to being God. Therefore, some
translations render morphē by the phrase ‘in very nature God’.
3. The divine nature of Jesus is suggested also by the statement that He
is “the image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15; cf. 2 Cor 4:4), which
played a central place in the theological debate for sustaining the
veneration of icons.
4. The two words hapax-legomena of Hebrews 1:3, apaugasma and
charaktēr, render the same teaching according to which Jesus Christ,
as God’s incarnated Son, provides a perfect expression of God.
5. The Christological title image of God has anthropological
implications. Human beings were made in the image of God. Jesus
incarnates that image, demonstrating the possibilities available to
every human as God intended. In Rom 8:29 eikōn is determined
eschatologically and refers to the human existence in light of its
participation in Christ. The emphasis in Col 3:10 stands on Christ’s
being the divine image-bearer Who in His Church also re-creates the
fallen humanity into that same image.
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4. ELLIS, E. Earle, “Collosians 1:12-20. Christus Creator, Christus
Salvator”, in Idem, The Sovereignity of God in Salvation: Biblical
Essays, London, T & T Clark, 2009.
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