The Image Of The Invisible God

Theologian Ian McFarland claims that Christians have mainly misappropriated the "image of God" language for 2000 years and thereby missed a rich resource for our knowledge of God. What, then, does it mean to say that we are made in God's image, or that Christ is the very image or prototype of God? Rather than referring to some germinal divine element in humans, such as reason, McFarland claims that the image of God in us tells us something about God and how we know God. It tells us that God, though not identical with us, communicates Godself to us in creative love, in a way that offers precious clues about God's transcendence, immanence, triune life, self-disclosure, incarnation, and intentions for human life. Too, we "learn from Jesus something new about God." Gathered as Christ's body, the church too images God and sets us on a quest to discern the image of God in Christ's incarnate body. McFarland's careful and exacting work builds from this kernel a powerful Christian vision of God's life and our own destiny in Christ.

If You Love God's Word You Will Love This New Testament! The Disciples' Literal New Testament sets you free from our artificial 460 year old chapter and verse structure, replacing it with paragraphing that reflects the flow of thought in the original Greek writings. Paragraph headings make that flow of thought explicit to you, speeding your understanding of the NT books. This translation retains the writing style of the apostles themselves, rather than transforming their Greek ways of writing into an elegant or contemporary English writing style, as has been beautifully done so many times. It is the same translation as the author's New Testament TransLine, first published by Zondervan in 2002. Now you can read the New Testament as the original writers intended it, and see it with a clarity formerly available only to those who could carefully study their Greek New Testament. You can even see the difference in writing style between Matthew, Mark and Luke! Used along with your standard Bible version, you will profit from both methods of translation. *Easily grasp the relationship of the whole and the parts of each book with the big-picture overview outlines that use the words of the original author. *Gain quick insight into the flow of thought from descriptive paragraph headings that summarize the main point of each paragraph in its context. *You can visually follow the apostles' thinking because the 'Intelligent Paragraphing' visually displays their main and subordinate thoughts. *The hindrance to your understanding caused by our artificial chapter and verse structure is eliminated by paragraphing based on the Greek writings. *You will more fully appreciate the minds and thinking patterns and intent of the original writers because the translation corresponds more closely to their words and their grammar and their sentence structure. *Deepen and expand your understanding of the New Testament by meditating on the notes containing alternative renderings, explanations of what is being said, and different views of the meaning.

Profound reflections on the cross that help you to meditate on and marvel at the sacrificial love of Jesus. This book can be used as a devotional, especially during Lent and Easter. These profound reflections on the cross from David Mathis, author of The Christmas We Didn’t Expect, will help you to meditate on and marvel at Jesus’ life, sacrificial death, and spectacular resurrection-enabling you to treasure anew who Jesus is and what he has done. Many of us are so familiar with the Easter story that it becomes easy to miss subtle details and difficult to really enjoy its meaning. This book will help you to pause and marvel at Jesus, whose now-glorified wounds are a sign of his unfailing love and the decisive victory that he has won: “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5) This book can be used as a devotional. The chapters on Holy Week make it especially helpful during the Lent season and at Easter.

What does it mean for Christ to be the "image of God"? And, if Christ is the "image of God," can the human person also unequivocally be understood to be the "image of God"? Augustine's Early Theology of Image examines Augustine's conception of the imago dei and makes the case that it represents a significant departure from the Latin pro-Nicene theologies of Hilary of Poitiers, Marius Victorinus, and Ambrose of Milan only a generation earlier. Augustine's predecessors understood the imago dei principally as a Christological term designating the unity of divine substance. But, Gerald P. Boersma argues, Augustine affirms that Christ is an image of equal likeness, while the human person is an image of unequal likeness. Boersma's careful study thus argues that a Platonic and participatory evaluation of the nature of "image" enables Augustine's early theology of the image of God to move beyond that of his Latin predecessors and affirm the imago dei both of Christ and of the human person.

Twelve centuries before Christ, Colossae was a large and important city; twelve centuries after Christ it had completely disappeared, save only for a few unexcavated ruins. At the time Paul wrote to the Colossians, the city was far into its decline, and considered the least important community to which the apostle had any correspondence. Nevertheless, the Epistle to the Colossians is the most important of all the apostle's letters in defense of the deity of Christ and the sufficiency of His life and death.The Colossian Church was only five or six years old at the time Paul addressed his letter to them, yet insidious heresies were already threatening the purity of this Body from within her own ranks. False teachers were beguiling the believers "with enticing words" (2:4) and "through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ" (2:8). Although the exact nature of the so-called "Colossian heresy" cannot be definitely determined, yet it seemed to be a three-pronged attack on Christ's relationship to God, creation, and the Church. In response Paul addressed these issues, respectively, by declaring Jesus to be "the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature" (1:15) and "the firstborn from the dead" (1:18).Like their close neighbors at Laodicea, who eventually "were neither cold nor hot" (Rev. 3:15) toward the things of Christ, the believers at Colossae apparently did not heed the apostle's advice and instruction. Sometime later Paul told Timothy, "This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me" (2 Tim. 1:15); a statement from which many Bible commentators conclude that there was large-scale departure from the faith in the Churches of Asia Minor. The Colossians had much in common with the Laodiceans, who within the span of a single generation, might still have been able to quote some scripture and explain the plan of salvation, but gave no evidence of its influence in their lives.The Epistle of Paul to the Colossians is especially relevant today, as many in our Churches, while still recognizing the prominence of Christ, yet fail to give Him preeminence in their lives.