Stephen W. Hiemstra's Blog, page 96

Image of God

Then God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps 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. And God blessed them. And God said to them, be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth. (Gen 1:26-28)

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

What does it mean to be created in the image of God?

Meaning of The Image

The context of our creation as an image of God here is important. We are in the first chapter of the first book in the Bible, so every implied by these three verses about what it means to be created in the image of God has to appear in the prior verses. Knowing who God is has a direct bearing on who we are (Hoekema 1986, 1). So how does the text describe God?

Consider these four attributes:

Verse one tells us that God is a creator who, being eternal, sovereignly stands outside time and space.
Verse two shows us that God can through his spirit enter into his creation.
Having created heaven and earth, verse three describes God speaking to shape the form of creation beginning with light. Note the exact correspondence between what God says (“Let there be light”) and what he does (“and there was light”). God is truthful, authentic.
Verse four tells us that God judged it to be good, and he separated it from darkness—God discriminates good (light) from the not-so-good (darkness).

Clearly, God cares about ethics.

The Ethical Image

God later describes his ethical character in detail to Moses after giving the Ten Commandments a second time, as cited earlier in Exodus 34:6. God’s self-disclosure was important for understanding how to interpret the Ten Commandments, should questions arise, but it also underscores the creation account providing insight into whose image we are created to reflect.

Going back to Genesis 1:26-28, two aspects of God’s image are highlighted in our own creation description. We are created by a sovereign God who creates us to participate in his creation in two specific ways: we are to “have dominion” over the created order and we are to “be fruitful and multiply.” How are we to accomplish these things? Following God’s ethical image, we are to be discerning of the good, merciful, gracious, patient, loving, and truthful.

The Charge and the Test

Although God created animals prior to Adam and Eve and they were also commanded to “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen 1:22), the animals could not reflect God’s ethical image and God did not give them dominion.

At this point in Genesis, God also intended us also to share in his eternal nature. However, before God conferred immortality on us, he posed an ethical test. Would Adam and Eve reflect God’s ethical nature?

The test came in the form of a command:

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, you may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. (Gen 2:16-17)

Satan tempted Adam and Eve to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and they ate. Because Satan had done this, God cursed him: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Gen 3:15)

The “he” in this verse is singular and points to a future redeemer (Job 19:25), who Christians identify as Jesus Christ (John 1:1-3). After this point in the narrative, God cast Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden, where they were subject to the curse of death. We thus see that the original sin of Adam and Eve separated us from the Garden of Eden, eternal life, and fully reflecting the image of God.

Image as Parallel Ministry

Jesus underscores this image theology in several important ways. First, he is revealed as the ethical image of God with God during creation:

He [Jesus] was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John. 1:2-5)

Second, Jesus uses image theology in teaching prayer to his disciples: “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” (Matt 6:10) Note how earth is patterned after heaven just like we are patterned after God.

Third, just like Jesus asserts God’s sovereignty over heaven and hell in his death on the cross, the disciples are commissioned to assert God’s sovereignty over the earth after the ascension (Matt 28:18). Right before he ascended, Jesus said: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

This parallel ministry is also discussed in John’s Gospel: “As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” (John 20:21) In other words, the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations…”, is not an incidental footnote in Jesus’ ministry or a latter addition to the text as some allege, it is a direct consequence of the image theology in Genesis 1. Likewise in the Apostle Paul’s writing we see a dichotomy between a putting off of the old self and a putting on of the new self in Christ (Eph 4:22-24), as we are transformed by the image of the living God.

References

Hoekema, Anthony A. 1994. Created in God’s Image. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Image of God
Also see:
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
Other ways to engage online:



Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com




Newsletter: https://bit.ly/Christ_2021

 

 

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Hoekema Examines the Image

 

Hoekema, Anthony A. 1994. Created in God’s Image (Orig Pub 1986). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.

Review by Stephen W. Hiemstra

Much of the conflict in society over the past century has been over the doctrine of man, which I refer to as Christian anthropology. Who are we as human beings? What is our nature? Are we truly free? If you think these are trivial questions, consider the question of insanity. If a person commits murder, but is out of their mind or haunted by predispositions, can they be held responsible for a criminal act? What if the people involved differ racially or in gender? Curious minds want to know

Introduction

In Created in God’s Image, Anthony Hoekema writes:

“In this book I will attempt to set forth what the Bible teaches about the nature and destiny of human beings. Central to the biblical understanding of man is the teaching that men and women were created in the image of God. (ix)

Hoekema (1913-1988) graduated from Calvin College (A.B.), the University of Michigan (M.A.), Calvin Theological Seminary (Th.B.) and Princeton Theological Seminary (Th.D., 1953). He was ordained by the Christian Reformed church and retired as a Professor of Systematic Theology at Calvin Theological Seminary.

Hoekema writes in twelve chapters:

The importance of the Doctrine of ManMan as a Created PersonThe Image of God: Biblical TeachingThe Image of God: Historical SurveyThe Image of God: A Theological SummaryThe Question of the Self-ImageThe Origin of SinThe Spread of SinThe Nature of SinThe Restraint of SinThe Whole PersonThe Question of Freedom (vii)

These chapters are preceded by a preface and followed by references and several indices.

Notice the importance of the image of God and sin in Hoekema’s chapter headings. Hoekema final chapter focusing on freedom is also interesting. In this review, I will focus on these three main topics.

The Image of God

Hoekema sees the doctrine of man as critically important (1). As belief in God has waned, focus on belief in man (humanism) has increased, but he sees humanism yielding to nihilism, which denies that life has any meaning, and, with it, a new, more viral form of authoritarianism:

 “Manipulation of the masses by the few. Practices such as artificial insemination, test-tube babes, abortion, chemical control of behavior, euthanasia, genetic engineering, and the like raise questions about the dignity of human life.” (2)

 Hoekema sees two, non-Christian anthropologies:

1. “Idealistic anthropologies consider the human being to be basically spirit, his physical body foreign to his real nature.”

2. “The materialistic type …. man is a being composed of material-elements, his mental, emotional, and spiritual life being simply by-products of his material structure.” (2-3)

Notice these anthropologies basically emphasize either the body or the spirit as being dominant. Hoekema sees both as guilty of idolatry—worshipping the creature in place of the creator (4).

In Hoekema’s Christian anthropology, the human being is both a creature, created by God, and a person, someone with the ability to make some independent choices (5). Determinism denies the personhood of human beings, dehumanizing them (7). The tension between being creatures and persons leads to sin, but also points to the possibility of redemption with God’s help.

Hoekema Genesis 1:26-28, 5;1-3, and 9:6 being the only Old Testament passages dealing with the image of God, with Psalm 8 providing an echo of these (11). He sees four passages in the New Testament (Rom 8:29, 2 Cor 3:18, Col 3:9-10, and Eph 4:22-24) that describe Christ’s redemption as perfecting our reflection of the image of God (28).

The Problem of Sin

Hoekema writes:

“The narrative of the Fall … tells us that man was created in a state of integrity but fell into a state of corruption through actual event that occurred in time… This means that sin is accidental, not essential, to man. It means, further, that redemption from sin is possible human beings can again become sinless without ceasing to be human. Since sinfulness is not essential to humanness, Jesus Christ, though sinless, was a genuine man.” (117)

He later writes:

“Original sin is the sinful state and condition in which every human being is born; actual sin, however, is the sins of act, word, or thought that human beings commit.” (143)

Sin pollutes not only our actions but also our reason, will, and appetites leaving us unable to meet with God’s approval or to love God on our own. (150-152). As Jesus said: “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” (John 8:34)

Freedom in Christ

Hoekema writes: “One of the most important aspects of the Christian view of man is that we must see him in his unity, as a whole person.” (203) This is what in the New Testament is referred as the heart (214). Hoekema prefers the term: psychosomatic unity (217).

This unity of the person arises in the context of freedom because Hoekema see true freedom as: “the ability of humans, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to think, say, and do what is pleasing to God and in harmony with his revealed will.” (228) When we sin, this harmony is disrupted (231). Redemption consists of restoring this disrupted harmony (234).

Hoekema’s view is attractive because the polluting characteristic of sin affects the whole persons, not just a person’s actions, thinking, or feeling. If sin is not restricted to only a part of us, then the whole of us requires redemption. Likewise, the whole person, heart and mind, must come together in faith.  This is why emotional experiences alone or clever arguments alone seldom engender a lasting faith.

Assessment

Anthony A. Hoekema’s Created in God’s Image is likely to become a Christian classic on Christian anthropology even if the audience may be limited to mature Christians and seminary students. Myself, I first introduced to Hoekema in seminary, but I have returned to him several times since then as I have grown in my understanding of faith. I commend this book to anyone willing to commit the effort to understand their own faith.

Footnotes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony....

Hoekema Examines the ImageAlso see:Books, Films, and MinistryOther ways to engage online:Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.netPublisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com Newsletter: https://bit.ly/Christ_2021

 

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Image and Illumination: Monday Monologues (podcast), December 27, 2021

 By Stephen W. Hiemstra

This morning I will share a prayer and reflect on Image and Illumination. After listening, please click here to take a brief listener survey (10 questions).

To listen, click on this link.

Hear the words; Walk the steps; Experience the joy!

Image and Illumination: Monday Monologues (podcast), December 27, 2021
Also see:



Monday Monologue On March 26, 2018 



Other ways to engage online:



Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net,
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.





Newsletter: https://bit.ly/Christ_2021

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A Visual Prayer

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

Beloved Lord Jesus,

All praise and honor be to you, light of the world, who has been with us since the creation and set us apart from the beasts of the field safe in a well-watered garden.

I confess that I am anxious being alone in person and with others when all are silent and I do not feel up to the task of reflecting your divine image, being the designed adult in a world of adolescents. Forgive our timid nature.

Thank you for your sovereign example of humble strength in creation and ministry, even to the point of death on a cross.

In the power of your Holy Spirit, strengthen us in dark moments and scary places when we are alone with our fears. Be ever near.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, Amen.

A Visual Prayer
Also see:
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
Other ways to engage online:



Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com





Newsletter: https://bit.ly/Christ_2021

 

 

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Image and Illumination

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and

it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others,

so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

(Matt 5:14-16)

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

In Jewish tradition, the covenantal name of God, YHWH, could only be uttered in the context of community worship. Even in the biblical text, the word, Lord, was frequently substituted for God’s covenantal name. Artwork could likewise not picture God himself or the likeness of animals, the object of idol worship in surrounding cultures in the ancient world. The principle behind these prohibitions was to refrain from limiting God in word or image. God’s glory simply extended beyond human understanding, description, or depiction.

Holy Light

Think of the description of the Transfiguration account in Matthew:  “And he [Jesus] was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.” (Matt 17:2) Jesus is described as oozing light, perhaps like a miniature atomic explosion. Or consider the description of heaven in Revelation: “And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.” (Rev 21:23) We are reminded of the account in creation: “And God said, Let there be light, and there was light.” (Gen 1:3)

The Role of Faith

Being created in the image of God could be compared with the moon’s light that only reflects the more powerful light of the sun, yet by itself can light up the night, even casting its own shadows. The Gospel of Matthew sums it up in words cited above focusing on the light of the world. Being created in the image of God is not a static concept like stamping out a facsimile of God’s image on crate paper, it is the dynamic process of sharing God’s light to those around you. 

The image of God is of no use until it illuminates.

Being created in the image of God is like making a vacuum cleaner, which is of no use until plugged in. Without electricity, toasters, computers, and vacuum cleaners have no function and are expensive, incomprehensible curiosities. Only with electricity is the function of each revealed. 

For us, faith completes our creation in the image of God is like the vacuum cleaner that is designed to work when plugged in. Without faith, though we may still reflect God’s image, our function remains hidden and life appears incomprehensible. It would be like the young person who ran around declaring themself to be pear or perhaps a cabbage—who could argue? In a world teaming with pears and cabbages, we are called to be light.

Hearing and Seeing

The spoken word complements and helps explain the visual images of God offered by scripture. If you someone smiling or crying, the first thing that you ask is why. Words help us interpret our actions and emotions.

Even word pictures may require interpretation. When Jesus tells the Parable of the Sower, he paints a word picture of a farmer sowing seeds and what happens to the seeds that land on different types of soil. When the disciples ask him to explain this parable, he interprets the soil analogically as the response of different listeners to the Gospel message (e.g. Mark 4).

The focus on God’s visual appearance also provides an interesting counterpoint to the spoken word, which is associated with creation, covenant making, and faith. In Genesis, God speaks the universe into existence, as mentioned above. In Exodus, God gives the law to Moses verbally (Exod 20:1). The Apostle Paul writes that faith itself must be twice spoken, once in hearing the Good News and once in declaring faith:

“For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” (Rom 10:13-14)

Visual images are striking, but verbal communication is highly personal and associated with life itself.  Working as a chaplain intern in the Providence Hospital, initially for me the hardest patients to work with were those who could not speak. As I gained more experience as a chaplain, I came to appreciate the value of a ministry of presence and began singing to my non-verbal patients.

Image and Illumination
Also see:
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
Other ways to engage online:



Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com





Newsletter: https://bit.ly/Christ_2021

 

 

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Alston Dreams Big, Shares Pain

Gary L. Alston.  2011. Dreams—Poems and Short Stores.  Xlibris:  United States.

Review by Stephen W. Hiemstra

Pastors love to illustrate their points by telling stories.  Stories communicate—we remember stories—because stories define who we are and why.  We all tell stories.

Earlier this month I attended an interesting presentation on non-fiction, Christian narrative. Author Catherine Claire Larson defines non-fiction, Christian narrative as: a story of a sequence of actions that occur when a sympathetic character encounters a complicating situation that he/she confronts and solves.

Sitting next to me during this presentation was author Gary L. Alston. Alston lives in Riverdale, Maryland where I grew up and attended high school.  We had an immediate connection. Before the evening was over we had traded books.

Gary’s title, Dreams—Poems and Short Stores, describes his book’s content and structure.  After dedicating the book to his mother, wife, and friends that encouraged him, there is a foreword by Adrienne Felton. Then, Gary provides a series of poem (13-44), a section of personal photographs (44-53), and a series of short-stories.

Gary’s writing is highly personal recording his personal experiences—many quite painful—and maintaining a keen eye to the human condition.  Although Gary is African American (and I am not), I found my own experiences among his poems and stories growing up in Washington DC.  In reading along, Gary’s first love is obviously poetry because even his short stories have a poetic character, if not meter.

A personal favorite is his story:  I’ll Be Seeing You (55-57).  In this story with three moves, he starts out by describing eye glasses:  “They come in many colors and shapes” (55). He then describes his first encounter where he noticed glasses—on a young woman in the third grade:  Etta Mae (55).  His final and most lengthy move describes a glasses-wearing cousin, Fred, whose nickname, Puddin, was unappreciated and required a scuffle with bullies to prove his mettle (55-57). Fred’s coming of age story took me back to my youth in an unexpected turn of events.

None of us control the world that we live in, but we control our response to it.  Do we respond to tragedy with God’s grace and dignity or do we melt before the refiner’s fire and become embittered?  Gary’s response has been to welcome us into his world where grace and dignity are lived out.

Footnotes

John Savage makes this point in his book: Listening & Caring Skills:  A Guide for Groups and Leaders (http://wp.me/p3Xeut-4e).

Billy Graham’s writing and preaching make extensive use of non-fiction, Christian narrative (http://wp.me/p3Xeut-52).

Catherine Claire Larson–Author, Reporter, Feature Writer, Script Writer, Monday, January 12, 2015: “Stories of Reality: Finding and Telling the True Stories That Matter” (http://bit.ly/1CVHxq7).

“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts. But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.  He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the LORD. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD as in the days of old and as in former years. (Mal 3:1-4 ESV)

Alston Dreams Big, Shares PainAlso see:Books, Films, and MinistryOther ways to engage online:Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.netPublisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com Newsletter: https://bit.ly/Christ_2021

 

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Restoration: Monday Monologues (podcast), December 20, 2021

 By Stephen W. Hiemstra

This morning I will share a prayer and reflect on Restoration. After listening, please click here to take a brief listener survey (10 questions).

To listen, click on this link.

Hear the words; Walk the steps; Experience the joy!

Restoration: Monday Monologues (podcast), December 20, 2021
Also see:



Monday Monologue On March 26, 2018 



Other ways to engage online:



Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net,
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com.






Newsletter: https://bit.ly/Christ_2021

 

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Restoration Prayer

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

Blessed Lord Jesus,

We praise you for embodying the restoration of God the Father’s divine image in human form, for your humility, self-sacrifice, and death on our behalf.

We confess that we are unwilling and unfaithful stewards of the blessings that you have bestowed on us in thoughts, words, and deeds. We have broken every commandment and, but the intervention of your Holy Spirit, would be unable to recognize our own sin. Forgive us.

We thank you for the many blessings of this life: our health, our families, and our resources. Teach us to be better stewards and give us hearts to extend your love.

In the power of your Holy Spirit, make us whole again. Worthy participants in extending your divine image to those around us.

In Jesus’ precious name, Amen.

Restoration Prayer
Also see:
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
Other ways to engage online:



Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com




Newsletter: https://bit.ly/GiveThanks_2021

 

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Restoration

The LORD God said to the serpent, Because you have done this, 

cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; 

on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. 

I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring 

and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” 

(Gen 3:14-15)

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

Restoring the image in which God created us requires that the original sin that tarnished the divine image in us must be accounted for and overcome. The cycle of sin and death must be overcome because human progress is fleeting. It is not enough to condemn the sin or to console the brokenhearted because our heart need to be transformed. Divine intervention is required because we cannot do it on our own. This is why Christ needed to pay the penalty for sin on the cross and we need the intervention of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives..

Restoration of the Image

If sin were an isolated event, then it might be possible to apologize, make restitution, and learn from the event, never to repeat it. Restoration might be considered feasible. Too often, however, sin is seldom not an isolated event in our heavily populated world. Too often wars break out, entire cities are incinerated and people groups are subjected to ethnic cleansing. Even the body counts in these wars are often wild guesses. If you are alive, it is because someone in your family tree participated in such wars.

The curse of Satan in Genesis 3:15 cited above includes the prophesy of a deliverer, the offspring of a woman, who will successfully contend with and overcome Satan. The Prophet Job speaks of a redeemer:

“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall asee God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.” (Job 19:25-27)

Job’s vision is significant because he not only sees the need for a deliverer, but also anticipates resurrection and bodily re-creation. This is in spite of his own vindication by God himself (Job 42:10). When Jesus submits to God’s will and to his own crucifixion in the Garden of Gethsemane, it seems no accident that he finds himself in a garden, like the Garden of Eden. 

Heaven itself is pictured in Revelation as a garden. The idea of gaining a heavenly body is consistent with the total re-creation of divine image, both as a physical and spiritual restoration.

Deuteronomic Cycle not Progress

The idea that forming a community will somehow result in progress towards righteousness among fallen human beings is unfounded. The biblical expectation cited earlier is the cycle of sin and death prophesied by Moses in Deuteronomy 30: doing evil, angering YHWH enough to produce historical subjugation, crying to the Lord in need, and raising up a deliverer (Brueggemann 2016, 59). This is not an endorsement of cultural progress, but rather of the need for divine intervention because of human proclivity to sin.

Outside of faith, even the church is a fallen institution, as we read in the first three chapters of Revelation. The warning in Revelation of special concern to the postmodern church is the letter to the church at Laodicea. John writes:

“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” (Rev 3:15-17)

This is not the usual idyllic image we have of the first century church. We could imagine the postmodern church sharing in tribulations similar to those articulated in Deuteronomy that applied earlier to the Nation of Israel. More generally, Revelation talks about a great tribulation (Rev 7:14) that will occur before the second coming of Christ. This tribulation has all the markings of a reversal of cultural progress and should serve as a reminder that our only hope is in Christ.

Evangelism not Condemnation

Restoration is not a private affair. There is no holy huddle. 

Like Abraham, we are blessed to be a blessing (Gen 12:1-3). God’s first characteristic is mercy (Exod 34:6). We called by scripture to pray for sinners, like Abraham standing before Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 18:32), not like Jonah standing before Nineveh (Jonah 4). We reflect the divine image when we evangelize sinners, not condemn them, especially as we approach the end times.

Transformation not just Consolation

Jesus clearly offers consolation, but he does not stop there. His goal is transformation, preparation for the coming kingdom. The Apostle Paul most clearly wrote: “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Rom 12:2)

In the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15), the father does not attempt to persuade the younger son from wasting his inheritance, nor is he rewarded once he does. The son must suffer in order to realize the error of his ways. The cycle of sin and death is only broken because he grows to love his father. Restoration is restoration of the relationship with his father, not restoration of his inheritance.

Image of Christ

The New Testament includes many images of Christ. In life, the dominant image of Christ is that of the suffering servant, who lives a humble life of obedience, even unto death. This emphasis on humility is underscored in that the first three beatitudes in Matthew 5—poor in spirit, mourning, and meekness—are attributes of humility that point to Isaiah 61, one of the suffering servant passages. When Jesus washes the disciples feet at the Last Supper, his humility is highlighted again (John 13).

In suffering and death, Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection dominate the image of Christ seen in the confessions and creeds. Every word written in the New Testament is post resurrection, which colors our understanding of what is written. Without the resurrection, we probably would not have a New Testament or even know who Jesus is. The Apostle Paul eloquently describes in the influence of the resurrection:

“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor 15:55-57)

Would the disciples have been martyred had there been no resurrection? Probably not.

More generally, the image of Christ takes on the image of God, as reflected in the Old Testament understanding of God and discussed earlier. The two images are inseparable because the New Testament repeatedly confesses Jesus to be divine (e.g. John 1:1-3) and the capstone of God’s restoration project (e.g. John 3:16).

Restoration
Also see:
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
Other ways to engage online:



Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com




Newsletter: https://bit.ly/GiveThanks_2021

 

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Masquerade on Sale on KDP for 99 Cents Ends December 17 at Midnight

December 10 through December 17 only (link)

Masquerade on Sale on KDP for 99 Cent Ends December 17 at Midnight

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