Colossians 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
Jesus is the image of the invisible God. From the websters 1828 dictionary:
Image
IM'AGE, noun
A representation or similitude of any person or thing, formed of a material substance; as an image wrought out of stone, wood or wax.
A statue.
An idol; the representation of any person or thing, that is an object of worship. The second commandment forbids the worship of images.
The likeness of any thing on canvas; a picture; a resemblance painted.
Any copy, representation or likeness. (The child is the image of its mother.)
Semblance; show; appearance.
An idea; a representation of any thing to the mind; a conception; a picture drawn by fancy.
In rhetoric, a lively description of any thing in discourse, which presents a kind of picture to the mind.
In optics, the figure of any object, made by rays of light proceeding from the several points of it. Thus a mirror reflects the image of a person standing before it, as does water in a vessel or stream, when undisturbed.
Jesus is the representation of God and the likeness of God. Pay special attention to definitions 1 and 5. Jesus is a representative of God but formed of the flesh. By definition and by true Biblical standard, Jesus is not God and cannot be God. Jesus is the image: a representative of God, made in His likeness.
An image of a thing is not the thing itself, but represents it. Jesus came to represent His Father, not to be His Father. Jesus is the son of God and therefore the image of God as shown in the example of definition 5.
We too are sons of God and made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26). We are not God but we do represent Him. Jesus, however, is the perfect representative; The perfect son who reflects the mind and will of God to man.
Christians who choose to worship Jesus as God bring Jesus into definition 3 and turn Jesus into an idol. Many Christians today worship Jesus as God and are guilty of blasphemy. They worship the representative of God in place of God. The second commandment forbids the worship of images. Jesus did not come to glorify himself. He humbled himself and glorified God in all things. He does not seek worship, but seeks to lead us to God, his Father and our Father.
To believe in Jesus is to believe the testimony that he gave of his Father, to know that he was sent by his Father, and to accept his sacrifice for our sins. Jesus came to bring us to his Father and the Father alone is the one and only God.
Mark 12:29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The LORD our God is one LORD:
