The Image of GOD
The Image of GOD
He is the image of the invisible God – Colossians 1:15
Jesus is the clear Image of God. But not because He looks like God (God is spirit) – but because as a man, He manifests the character and attributes of God.
5Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, as He already existed in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself by taking the form of a bond-servant and being born in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death: death on a cross. Philippians 2:6
The one who has seen Me has seen the Father – John 14:9
As a man, Jesus was the image of God is His righteoueness and justice – Holy and pure.
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne. – Psalm 97:2
“… to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” Ephesians 4:24
Jesus was essentially the Persona regis (“the person of the king”). The basic idea was that the individual represented the king’s own presence. When the Persona Regis was standing before you – it was as if the King was standing there – or in this case – God is standing before you.
When God created man He said…
26 Then God said, “Let Us make mankind in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the livestock and over all the earth, and over every crawling thing that crawls on the earth. So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Genesis 1
What seems to be true is that God wanted mankind to reflect “The Image of God” to all creation and angelic hosts.
Because we understand that God is ethereal – He is Spirit
“God is spirit,” John 4:24
and that His presence is to great for man to endure.
“You cannot see My face, for mankind shall not see Me and live!” Exodus 33:20
This exalted role therefore, must mean that man was to occupy a position unlike the angels.
“4 What is man that You think of him, And a son of man that You are concerned about him? Yet You have made him a little lower than angels and You crown him with glory and majesty!” Psalm 8
“For He did not subject to angels – the world to come…” Hebrews 2:5
The purpose of man’s creation is revealed in this typeology.
“19 For I have chosen him (Abraham), so that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice…” Genesis 18:19
“… the way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice…” Genesis 18:19
… to become conformed to the image of His Son, – Romans 8:29
“created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” Ephesians 4:24
The New Testament uses language about the Holy Spirit that goes beyond representation. Believers are described as being “filled with the Holy Spirit” (e.g. Acts 2:4; Ephesians 5:18), and the Spirit is also described as dwelling in believers (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19). The classical Christian understanding is that the Holy Spirit is God, the third person of the Trinity. Consequently, when Scripture speaks of God’s Spirit dwelling in believers, it is describing God’s own presence, rather than merely representation by an authorized deputy.
“Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” — 1 Corinthians 3:16
A temple is not merely a place displaying an image of the deity; it is a place associated with the deity’s presence. Christianity doesn’t merely claim that humans can represent the King; it claims that God’s own Spirit dwells within those who belong to him.
Often religions try to copy the truth of scripture and represent it in their own twisted false beliefs. A shrine is an interesting Idolized version of our topic.
San Phra Phum (ศาลพระภูมิ) — usually a relatively tall, elegant shrine on a single pedestal/column. It is associated with a guardian spirit of the land.
San Chao Thi (ศาลเจ้าที่) — often lower and more house-like, sometimes resembling a traditional Thai dwelling. It is associated with the spirits of the place/local land guardians, sometimes understood as the spirits of former inhabitants or ancestral/local beings.
Traditionally, the underlying idea is that a piece of land isn’t spiritually empty. When someone builds a house or business on that land, they establish a respectful relationship with these beings rather than simply treating the land as an inert physical space. The spirit house is conceived as a proper residence for the spirit, and raising it above the ground distinguishes its domain from the ordinary human space below.
We are not advocating Idolatry. But it is interesting to see how much false religious take from real spiritual truths in order to pretend to be true.