Daily Verse Daily Verse by Faithlife | Colossians 1:15

[Lori Jane]

 

[Lori Jane]

image of the invisible God Jesus Christ makes the Father and the Spirit visible to people. Paul later draws on the notion of resembling God when writing about how people should treat one another (3:10).


Barry, J. D., Mangum, D., Brown, D. R., Heiser, M. S., Custis, M., Ritzema, E., … Bomar, D. (2012, 2016). Faithlife Study Bible (Col 1:15). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

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Image of the Invisible God

The first line of the hymn in Col 1:15–20 refers to the Son (Col 1:13) as the “image of the invisible God” (eikōn tou theou tou aoratou). The term eikōn refers to something that represents or bears the likeness of something or someone. As Abbott (1909, 210) points out, eikōn differs from the Greek word homoiōma (e.g., Rom 1:23; 5:14; Phil 2:7; Rev 9:7; compare Isa 40:18–19 lxx), which refers to the resemblance of something rather than the representation of it. In the biblical tradition, eikōn is often used to refer to the representation of various gods. In the lxx of Daniel, for example, the statue of Nebuchadnezzar is called an eikōn (see Dan 2:31–3:18 lxx; compare Hebrew tselem). The book of Revelation frequently uses eikōn in a similar manner to refer to the “image” or “mark” of the beast (e.g., Rev 13:14–15; 14:9–11). The most relevant use of the term eikōn for understanding Col 1:15 occurs in the creation narrative in Genesis. In this passage, God declares His intention to make human beings (Hebrew: adam; Greek: anthrōpos) “in our image” (eikōn; compare Gen 1:28). Later passages in Genesis echo the idea of human beings as the bearers of God’s image (see Gen 5:1, 3; 9:5).​

Brown, D. R. (2013). Colossians. (D. Mangum, Ed.) (Col 1:15–23). Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press.

 

[Lori Jane]

Here is a related video from the monotarian forum https://simplychristian.faith/commu...tence-or-preeminence-pastor-bill-wachtel.289/