(15) The image of the invisible God.--This all important clause needs the most careful examination. We note accordingly (1) that the word "image" (like the word "form," Philippians 2:6-7) is used in the New Testament for real and essential embodiment, as distinguished from mere likeness. Thus in Hebrews 10:1 we read, "The law, having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things;" we note also in Romans 1:23 the distinction between the mere outward "likeness" and the "image" which it represented; we find in 1Corinthians 15:49 that the "image of the earthy" and "the image of the heavenly" Adam denote actual identity of nature with both; and in 2Corinthians 3:18 the actual work of the Spirit in the heart is described as "changing us from glory to glory" into "the image" of the glorified Christ. (2) Next we observe that although, speaking popularly, St. Paul in 1Corinthians 11:7 calls man "the image and glory of God," yet the allusion is to Genesis 1:26; Genesis 1:28, where man is said, with stricter accuracy, to be made "after the image of God" (as in Ephesians 4:24, "created after God"), and this more accurate expression is used in Colossians 3:10 of this Epistle, "renewed after the image of Him that created him." Who then, or what, is the "image of God," after which man is created? St. Paul here emphatically (as in 2Corinthians 4:4 parenthetically) answers "Christ," as the Son of God, "first-born before all creation." The same truth is conveyed in a different form, clearer (if possible) even than this, in Hebrews 1:3, where "the Son" is said to be not only "the brightness of the glory of the Father," but "the express image of His Person." For the word "express image" is character in the original, used here (as when we speak of the alphabetical "characters") to signify the visible drawn image, and the word "Person" is substance or essence. (3) It is not to be forgotten that at this time in the Platonising Judaism of Philo, "the Word" was called the eternal "image of God." (See passages quoted in Dr. Light-foot's note on this passage.) This expression was not peculiar to him; it was but a working out of that personification of the "wisdom of God," of which we have a magnificent example in Proverbs 8:22-30, and of which we trace the effect in the Alexandrine Book of "Wisdom" (Wisdom Of Solomon 7:25-26). "Wisdom is the breath of the power of God, and a pure stream from the glory of the Most High--the brightness of the everlasting light, the unspotted mirror of the power of God, and the image of His goodness." It seems to have represented in the Jewish schools the idea complementary to the ordinary idea of the Messiah in the Jewish world. Just as St. John took up the vague idea of "the Word," and gave it a clear divine personality in Christ, so St. Paul seems to act here in relation to the other phrase, used as a description of the Word. In Christ he fixes in solid reality the floating vision of the "image of God." (4) There is an emphasis on the words "of the invisible God." Now, since the whole context shows that the reference is to the eternal pre-existence of Christ, ancient interpreters (of whom Chrysostom may be taken as the type) argued that the image of the invisible must be also invisible. But this seems opposed to the whole idea of the word "image," and to its use in the New Testament and elsewhere. The true key to this passage is in our Lord's own words in John 1:8, "No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son" (here is the remarkable reading, "the only begotten God"), "who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath revealed Him." In anticipation of the future revelation of Godhead, Christ, even as pre-existent, is called "The image of the invisible God." . . . Verse 15.

(a) Who is Image of God the invisible, Firstborn of all creation:

Parallel Commentaries ...

[The Son]
Ὅς (Hos)
Personal / Relative Pronoun - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3739: Who, which, what, that.

is
ἐστιν (estin)
Verb - Present Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
Strong's 1510: I am, exist. The first person singular present indicative; a prolonged form of a primary and defective verb; I exist.

[the] image
εἰκὼν (eikōn)
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 1504: An image, likeness, bust. From eiko; a likeness, i.e. statue, profile, or representation, resemblance.

of the
τοῦ (tou)
Article - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

invisible
ἀοράτου (aoratou)
Adjective - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 517: Unseen, invisible. Invisible.

God,
Θεοῦ (Theou)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 2316: A deity, especially the supreme Divinity; figuratively, a magistrate; by Hebraism, very.

[the] firstborn
πρωτότοκος (prōtotokos)
Adjective - Nominative Masculine Singular
Strong's 4416: First-born, eldest. From protos and the alternate of tikto; first-born.

over all
πάσης (pasēs)
Adjective - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 3956: All, the whole, every kind of. Including all the forms of declension; apparently a primary word; all, any, every, the whole.

creation.
κτίσεως (ktiseōs)
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 2937: From ktizo; original formation.


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NT Letters: Colossians 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible (Coloss. Col Co)