UNITED STATES
A WING AND A PRAYER
Carlin Lawrence carlin@agairupdate.com
Jesus Christ— The Perfect Image Of God
Even though we are made in God’s image we’re all natural born sinners and can make the choice to sin.
Speaking of Jesus, Paul said, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation” (Colossians 1:15). Jesus said, “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him…He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:7, 9). Jesus Christ has all of God’s characteristics of omniscience (all knowing), omnipotence (all powerful), immutability (never changing), or omnipresence (everywhere at once). God cannot sin, He cannot violate His holy nature. Humans are not like God in many ways. Even though we are made in God’s image we’re all natural born sinners and can make the choice to sin, and we will all eventually die physically. “It is appointed for men to die once” (Hebrews 9:27). “He is the image of the invisible God.” Jesus Christ is the perfect, exact, complete, and absolute image of God. In human terms we would say, “He is just like His Father.” The apostle John wrote, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). The apostle Paul wrote, “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily…And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen by angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory” (Colossians 2:9, 1 Timothy 3:16). Even though Jesus was equal with God in every way, He made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant,
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and came to this earth in the likeness of men (Philippians 2:6-7). “The firstborn over all creation.” Some argue that “first born” means that Jesus was a created being, but that’s not the case here. The Greek word “prototokos” that’s translated into “first born” is used in other places in the Bible speaking of rank or position. Jesus is God’s only begotten Son, and He has the right to the full inheritance of all God’s creation. Jesus existed before anything was ever created (Micah 5:2). There are many cults in this world who deny the deity of Jesus Christ. Some believe He was an angel and some believe that the angel Michael was an Old Testament manifestation of Jesus. This kind of thinking puts a person under the curse of God and John tells Christians not to bring them into your house or even greet them (Galatians 1:1-7, 2 John 10-11). When we study the Bible we must always consider who the writer is talking to, what he is talking about, and the reason for writing the message. Teaching the Bible in its context is extremely important. “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers” (Colossians 1:16). Jesus was there with God in the creation of this universe. John wrote, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made” (John 1:1-4). The writer of the book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is not only the
