Edited by David MacLeod
Editor’s Note: This article is an edited transcription of a message delivered by Alex Strauch at the 2004 “Iron Sharpens Iron” Conference held on the campus of Emmaus Bible College.

Every Christian is to Be Involved

Too many people think that the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19–20) is just for evangelists, elders or missionaries. In Colossians 4:2–6 the great Apostle clearly demonstrates that everyone is to be proactive in evangelism.

“Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; praying at the same time for us as well, that God will open up to us a door for the word, so that we may speak forth the mystery of Christ, for which I have also been imprisoned; that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak. Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.”

In this text the Apostle addressed the entire congregation, not just a select group. He charged them to devote themselves to prayer. Prayer is to be a priority among the people of God. A new freedom of access was opened to God through the Cross of Jesus Christ. Believers may come into God’s presence anytime day or night with great confidence through the blood of Christ and in the name of Christ (Heb. 10:19–22; John 14:13–14).

Paul was a practitioner of his own words, so he immediately made two requests. First, he asked the Colossians to pray that God would open a door for him to preach the gospel (v. 3). It is a scriptural prayer to ask the Lord on behalf of any missionary or person in the Lord’s work that they would have opportunities for evangelism. Paul’s second request is that they would pray “that I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak” (v. 4). Remarkably, this veteran missionary and preacher of the gospel asked for prayer for clarity in preaching the gospel.

Do you think it was easy for the apostle Paul in a Roman prison with polytheistic, pagan Roman guards to make the gospel clear? The gospel was almost unintelligible to these heathen Romans. The Christian message that a Jew had died on the cross as the Savior of the world and that one’s sins would be forgiven as a result of his substitutionary death on the cross would be meaningless to them. It was not easy for Paul, and it is not easy for us today to explain the gospel to post-modern people. People today just don’t comprehend the “one way only” gospel through the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. So Paul asked the Colossians to pray that he will be clear in presenting the gospel to the Romans.

Paul’s two prayer requests are followed by two charges to the Christians in Colossae. Each of the two charges parallels one of the prayer requests. The first charge or exhortation is, “Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity” (v. 5). This parallels the first prayer request. They are to pray for open doors for Paul, and they themselves are to seize opportunities to communicate the gospel to outsiders, that is, unbelievers.

The second charge or exhortation is, “Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person” (v. 6). This parallels the second prayer request. They are to pray that Paul will have clarity in presenting the gospel, and they themselves are to speak graciously and clearly to unbelievers in order to win them.

The question often arises—we may express it verbally, or we may only think it in our minds—“Am I to evangelize? After all, I don’t have the gift of evangelism. I’m sort of timid. I don’t have that kind of personality.” Our text gives a very clear answer to the question. Every single Christian is to devote himself to prayer, to walk in wisdom before the outsider, and to seize opportunities to share the gospel, that is, to evangelize with grace and clarity. That doesn’t mean that every Christian has the gift of evangelism. It does mean that we all have a responsibility to our unbelieving neighbors, relatives, and fellow workers.

Be Alert for Evangelistic Opportunities

The Apostle wrote, “Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders [that is, unbelievers]” (v. 5). We are to think of our unbelieving contacts with wisdom. We are “to make the most” of our opportunities. We are to use our intelligence, or God-given wisdom, to keep us alert to evangelistic opportunities. The word “opportunity” has the idea of buying something up—jumping on a sale.

For example, if you were a car salesman man and someone walked on the lot, you would know exactly what this word means. You would think, “Here’s an opportunity to sell a car, and I need to make money to support my family.” You would seize that opportunity. If someone walked on the lot, and you said, “Oh my, there’s a good baseball game on now,” and you left the lot to watch it, you would have lost an opportunity. If you thought, “I just don’t feel like talking about cars today. I’m awfully tired, and I talk about cars all the time. This customer can figure it out. If he wants to buy a car, he can come find me. I’m going to go lie down in my office in the showroom.” No, you would never do that or you’d starve. Instead, you would seize the opportunity. You’d buy it up. You’d jump on it. That’s what he’s saying here. When an opportunity to share the gospel with an unbeliever arises, we are to seize it.

Campus Crusade for Christ tells us that every single person has as a minimum 75 people that he or she is in regular contact with. Some of us, because of our church contacts, may have hundreds of people that we are in contact with on a weekly basis. We all have contact with people at church, people at business, people in the neighborhood, people that serve you in different ways at the grocery store, the UPS man, the mailman, the gas station attendant, the doctor, etc. Most of us have at least 75 people in our little networks. Some of us have hundreds. In other words, my dear friends, you and I have opportunities! They’re all around us. Sometimes we are tripping over them, but we’re not looking; we are not being alert.

My younger brother was a sleepwalker when we were in our teens. On a number of occasions, when my dad and I were in the living room talking, my brother would walk through, and he was sound asleep. We would talk to him, but he would not respond—he was sleepwalking. The amazing thing is that he did not walk into one piece of furniture. Many of us are sleepwalkers. We walk right past people and we don’t even see them. They even come to our church meetings, sit next to us, say “Hello,” and tell us their names. We may mumble a response, but we actually ignore them. We are sleepwalking. We are not awake or alert, and the opportunities go right past us.

Every time we go into a restaurant, someone is being paid money to be nice to us—I cannot get over that! That’s an opportunity. All I have to do is be nice to them—be a little friendly and smile. It takes fewer muscles to smile than to frown. Just open a conversation. Give them your name and get their name. Joke with them a bit. It’s an opportunity. Over the past few years my wife Marilyn has spoken in a friendly, courteous way to the trash man who stops in front of our house every week. In the summer she would often bring a Coke out to him. As they spoke he confided that he had marital problems, and she got him into contact with one of our elders. Last year he was saved. Marilyn seized an opportunity. We walk right by such people. We don’t see them. We are sleepwalking spiritually. Paul says, when you’re with outsiders (unbelievers) open your eyes. Be wise toward them. Be intelligent towards them. They are people without the message of life.

Opportunities arise in our neighborhoods, and we don’t seize them. For example, every time we have a snowstorm, it’s an opportunity. Normally we see our neighbors briefly as they enter or leave their houses. But when it snows everyone comes out and spends time shoveling snow. We can shovel snow with them, or use our snow blowers to clear their walks. The Bible commands us to seize opportunities, and we either obey or disobey the command.

Evangelistic Committees

There are specific ways that you as a local congregation can seize opportunities. Nothing has helped my home assembly more in the past few years than forming an evangelistic committee. This committee meets at lunchtime once every six weeks, and its purpose is to think of creative ways to evangelize, inform the assembly about them, and to plan for them. The committee’s goals are to spread an atmosphere of evangelism in the church, identify all evangelistic efforts going on in the assembly, and identify people in the church who are interested in evangelism. The committee functions as a hub, center, or clearinghouse for everything evangelistic in the assembly—whether it be Sunday School classes, Vacation Bible School, Bible camp programs, etc. Let me encourage you, even if your initial efforts are small, to form such a committee. Without such a committee your efforts will be inconsistent and hit-or-miss.

Leaders and Evangelism

If the leaders in the church have no passion for evangelism, very little will happen. By “leaders” I, of course, mean the elders. But I also mean leaders on every level in the assembly—Sunday School leaders, small group leaders, youth ministry leaders, high school and college age leaders, etc. All the leaders must wake up to this subject and ask, “How does our particular ministry fit into the over-all evangelistic thrust of this church? Which of our activities, with just a little adjusting, could be evangelistic opportunities?” Since most of us do not ask this question, we let opportunities go by. So leaders have to become a part of this. In our assembly we have several elders on the evangelistic committee. We’re not on this committee to add any more work to our busy schedules, but to show the church that this is important. You can’t tell the church it’s important and then have no part in it. Key Sunday school leaders and our youth leader are also on that committee. As a result concern for evangelism is being spread by leaders throughout the church.

Elder Communication with the Church

Years ago we saw that leaders need to have time to communicate to the church. It’s so easy for the elders to be very busy eldering and yet not be communicating anything to the assembly. People start viewing the elders as “that back-room group” that opens the doors every week, prepares the elements for the Lord’s Supper, and picks the Sunday preachers. Some in the congregation think that this is all that elders do.

At Littleton Bible Chapel we determined to regularly communicate to the congregation as a body of elders. Every week after the Lord’s Supper we have our little time with the congregation. At that time the people hear from the elders, and the elders share their heartbeat and set before them their vision for the future. Some weeks we give a report; other weeks we have a time of prayer or interview a visiting missionary. It is our time to communicate. Another large elder-run church I know puts a report of the weekly elder meeting in the church bulletin. They tell the people what was discussed, and they include prayer requests for the elders. However it’s done, the elders must do a good job of communicating with the congregation. And if evangelism is something you’ve been neglecting, you’ve got to verbally communicate that to them.

So think of a time when your elders can communicate something of their work, as well as their direction, values, vision, and guidance for the assembly. As elders, do not think you’re communicating with the people because you’re talking among yourselves. The elders can be speaking to themselves and the people in the congregation really don’t have a clue what’s on their minds. In some churches they might not even know who the elders are. So communication is extremely important—the elders have to be verbalizing.

Fishponds

“Fishponds” is an expression that some have used for evangelistic opportunities. It is an important concept and one that has helped our assembly. A fisherman knows that he has to go where the fish are. He has to go to a fishpond if he wants the possibility of catching fish. There are no fish in his bathtub, so he doesn’t fish there. There are evangelistic “fishponds”—opportunities to win people to Christ that are right in front of us, but that we are not seizing.

Let me give some examples of “fishponds.” Easter is the biggest fishpond of the Christian calendar. People who have no thought of Christian things will come to church on Easter—it is the most highly attended Sunday of the year. This past year many were open to religious things because of the film, The Passion of the Christ. In any case, Easter is a fishpond, a wonderful opportunity to evangelize. Your church can either seize the opportunity or sleepwalk right by it. Sadly there are churches that use Easter morning for a service totally unrelated to the Cross and the resurrection.

To make the most of this opportunity you must not wait until the week before Easter. You must start planning for it right after Christmas and the New Year. Twenty years ago our assembly started an annual Easter breakfast to which the congregation was encouraged to invite guests. We have sought to make this a beautiful, positive event with a full breakfast (eggs, bacon, sausage, and pancakes). Our people have grown to love this event, and they bring friends, relatives, and neighbors. We speak to the congregation about how to reach out to new people. This year we prepared invitations for the Christians to give to friends they felt would come. The whole church gets mobilized for this event, and weeks ahead of time prayer groups are organized to pray about the Easter morning service. Every year we have many visitors. They have decided to go to church on Sunday, and they then decided to go where they would get a meal as well as a service. At such a service you will want to use you most gifted preacher to give an Easter message that is specially designed to communicate to unsaved people. You will also want to give special attention to your music program for this important day. Easter morning is our biggest annual evangelistic outreach as far as a church service is concerned. And the people want to be involved with something they can put their hand to—setting up, cooking, cleaning, greeting, etc.

A second “fishpond” is Christmas, another time of the year when people think about Christian things. All kinds of Christian music is being played on the radio. All of the groups in the assembly need to be alerted to make good use of Christmas. We all have a little niche in the church (a ladies group, a high school or college group, a small group fellowship). We need to ask, “How can we use Christmas to evangelize?”

Perhaps you could have a special party. As a family we’ve held neighborhood Christmas parties. Over the years every single one of our neighbors has attended, and they love it. We tell them ahead of time when the party is to be over, but many of them stay around and talk to one another. Most of these people are so busy that they never talk to one another during the year. At the Christmas party they can meet with their neighbors in a home. We have literature on one of the tables, and we invite them to our Christmas service.

Many people think it is nice to attend a religious service on Christmas Eve. Seize the opportunity with such people. Some time ago we rented a barn and had “Christmas Eve on the Farm.” We provided lots of food and brought in a special speaker to give an evangelistic Christmas message. People were all dressed in heavy coats and draped in blankets. Large bonfires were burning outside, and it was a wonderful “Christmas” atmosphere. This is only one of many things that can be done when people think creatively about “fishponds.” It doesn’t have to be a big thing—perhaps just a rented room in a restaurant with a guest speaker.

A month or more before Christmas we make Christmas tracts, Christmas cards, and Christmas books available to the congregation. We encourage them to send them to their friends and relatives. They’ve got to be in the mail a good month in advance, so in early November we begin telling people to send tracts and books to their relatives. Most people send some kind of Christmas cards. It’s a time of year to connect with your unsaved relatives or people you’ve known from the past. The church should be prepared, all geared up, by the end of November for these things.

Thanksgiving has proven to be a big “fishpond.” We have usually just some small refreshment and an evening of music. Earlier in the month we remind the congregation it is the start of the holiday season, and it’s a nice time to invite people to a Thanksgiving evening. I would suggest that you make such an event an evening of testimony. But if you don’t plan ahead, nothing is going to happen. You’re going to have holiday after holiday pass you right by and you’ll say, “Oh, we’ve missed another opportunity.” Well, the Bible says walk with wisdom. Seize opportunities.

The Fourth of July can be a “fishpond.” Our chapel has sponsored 4^th of July parties and picnics with all kinds of food and activities for the kids. Valentines Day can be a “fishpond”—invite friends and neighbors to a dinner with a special speaker who will speak on romance and recharging your marriage. There are many such fishponds that you can use to connect with the community. They’re opportunities looking you right in the face.

The key to this is planning ahead. It’s too late to be planning for the 4^th of July on July 1, but you can start planning on July 1 for some things coming up in the fall. Talk to each group at the church. Ask them, “How are you going to use your group for some evangelistic opportunity this fall—at Thanksgiving or Christmas?” Every single group in the assembly should be seizing these opportunities. But if you’re not preparing people early enough, they won’t get anything done. That’s why you need some kind of committee that has a calendar and that will start warning people that the next big fishpond is coming.

Be Prepared to Evangelize

Be Ready

The Apostle writes, “Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt” (v. 6). He is speaking of our conversation with “outsiders,” that is, unbelievers. We are to seize opportunities, but once we have seized them, we must speak with clarity and we must season what we say. The ancient world didn’t have the delicious, tender meats that we have today—that we can preserve with tenderizers and refrigeration. The ancients would take meat and beat it to tenderize it, and they would salt it to preserve and flavor it. Paul is saying that our conversation with unbelievers is to be salted, that is, it is to be attractively packaged.

Paul tells his readers that they need to know how to respond to each individual unbeliever the way the Lord Jesus responded. Elsewhere Peter wrote, “But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence” (1 Pet. 3:15). We are always to be ready to evangelize!

Be Prepared

One message on evangelism every three or four years will not do the job. We need to be constantly and consistently training and helping people to seize opportunities and to be comfortable with opportunities. This means that as an assembly you must have sermons on evangelism. But more than that is needed. You will need to have classes on evangelism. Even if only one or two people show up for the class, you need to have it. You need to get started at some place.

At our assembly we’ve done a number of things. A couple of times a year we have classes on personal evangelism during the 11 o’clock Sunday service. We take some people out of the preaching service for a two-week course. One of the elders will give them training on the content and methods of evangelism. If one of our missionaries is home and is an excellent evangelist, we will ask him to run a Sunday evening class on evangelism. These classes, incidentally, are not long prolonged courses—people today will not commit to that. Rather, they are short courses instructing Christians in the many methods and approaches to evangelism. We want to help people evangelize.

Be Simple

One of the most important things in training people is to help them to learn to be simple. I think many of our messages and presentations are far too complex. We have to remember to whom we’re speaking today. Modern people do not know anything about the Bible. Whenever I go to a restaurant and I meet a waitress or waiter who has a Bible name, I have an automatic opening to start talking to them. For example, the name Sarah is very popular today, and about once a month we’re waited on by a Sarah in a restaurant. Just this week we were waited on by a Sarah, and I said, “Sarah we want to have fun this evening at this restaurant. Are we going to have some fun?” She said, “Yes, you’re going to have fun.” I then said, “Do you know your name is in the Bible?” She said, “Yeah, I know that.” I then asked her, “What was the name of Sarah’s husband in the Bible?” As in ninety-nine percent of the cases, Sarah didn’t have a clue. However, she really took the question as a challenge. “It’s on the tip of my tongue,” she said. “Ichabod?” “Ichabod,” I said, “where did you ever get that?” She said, “Am I right?” I said, “No, his name was Abraham.” Then I asked her, “What was the name of Abraham and Sarah’s son?”

I told Sarah that she could ask for help from friends back in the kitchen. “Tell them I am giving you a test, and if you get the questions right I will double your tip.” She went back with our order and returned with an answer, “Isaac.” I asked her who knew the answer, and she replied that one of the girls knew quite a bit about the Bible. “All right,” I said, “What was the name of Isaac’s wife?” “Oh, that’s a hard one,” she said. She brought our order, and said, “Rebecca.” I said, “That’s good. You girls are doing well. Let’s keep this going. What are the name of Isaac and Rebecca’s children?” We went on the whole evening that way, and we had a lot of fun together and got other people back in the kitchen talking about this. Most people don’t have a clue about the Bible.

So, one of the most important things you can teach Christians—and this will help them in their witness—is that they have to be very simple. In witnessing, we cannot be like a dump truck and dump fifty Bible verses on non-Christian people. They won’t know what we’re talking about. Give the unbeliever one verse—a simple verse like John 3:16 or 1 Corinthians 15:3. “Christ died for our sins” is five words. Or use simple illustrations. For example, explain that the Cross is like a bridge spanning the chasm between sinful man and a holy God. The person who died on that Cross was both God and man and is a perfect bridge between God and man. Leave a simple seed in people’s mind.

So, “keep it simple, stupid,” remembering that you cannot keep it simple enough in today’s world. If we keep it simple we are less likely to be afraid. Just cover the essentials—we are sinners, Christ died for sinner, God forgives sinners on the basis of the Cross. We’re afraid because we actually think that we’ve got to answer everyone’s questions. No one is smart enough to do that. Encourage people to be simple, friendly, and non-argumentative, and that will help them immensely.

Be Creative

In being prepared, I believe the Lord wants us to be creative. Paul rented the school of Tyrannus, where he reasoned with unbelievers, both Jews and Greeks (Acts 19:9). That was like renting a university room and giving lectures where people would come and hear him. It was a very creative idea in the city of Ephesus. It might not have worked in another place, but it worked in the cosmopolitan city of Ephesus. Let me suggest a number of ideas that might work for you.

Neighborhood Hospitality

Many people will not go to a church today—they find it too too scary. They will, however, come to your home for a cookout. They’ll come over on a holiday. Your home is one of the most powerful evangelistic tools in your neighborhood. It’s a lighthouse in a dark place. Have some kind of plan to have your neighbors over for a meal at your dinner table or out in the back yard so you can, at least, meet them. And then you can start praying for them and be the neighborhood prayer warrior for all your neighbors.

Home Bible Studies

The Lord has greatly used home Bible studies—especially home Bible studies for women. It’s very significant, I believe, that one of the apostles’ primary methods of evangelism was using homes to spread the Word. Peter and the apostles taught and preached “from house to house” (Acts 5:42). Paul taught “from house to house” (Acts 20:20). A private home has a very natural atmosphere. It is informal, relaxed, and non-threatening. Home Bible studies have been one of the most powerful tools of evangelism in our assemblies.

Music Concerts

I recently watched an advertisement for contemporary Christian music CDs, and I thought, “What a terrific idea for evangelism.” We’re going to have a music concert this summer and try and use it for evangelism. Music is a wonderful tool for evangelism—especially with young people

Free Counseling

Counseling is a marvelous tool for evangelism—especially pre-marital or marital counseling. Unsaved people will frequently call our church and ask to rent our building for a wedding. We permit this if such couples will consent to a program of pre-marital counseling. Just a few weeks ago we married an unsaved couple at the chapel. For five months they were mentored by one of our assembly couples. For five months they opened up their hearts and talked about their lives. The newlyweds are not saved yet, but their mentoring couple gave them a special wedding gift—they are going to have a home Bible study with them on the Gospel of John. They young couple responded, “That’s neat, we’ve loved our time with you.” Marriage is a great way to enter peoples’ lives.

Incidentally, divorce counseling—helping people through a terrible marital tragedy—is another way to enter peoples’ lives evangelistically.

Funerals

Funerals are a tremendous opportunity to share the gospel. I do a lot of them—at least ten or twelve a year. We’ve had some funerals with literally hundreds of unsaved people sitting there for an hour and hearing the gospel. I did the funeral for one of our neighbors, a well-known businessman, and there were five hundred people in the audience. Ninety percent of the group were unsaved people. It’s good to think ahead about what you are going to do at funerals. Read up on this and develop some techniques. There’s a way to do it, and a way not to do it. People are serious at that moment and, strange to say, most of them love a good funeral.

Many preachers will yell and scream at the audience; that is inappropriate. We use the story of the deceased person’s life and we build about 20 minutes of the funeral service around that story. Beforehand we ask all the family members to write out characteristics of the person’s life and humorous events from his or her life. Focusing on the person’s life captures the audience’s attention, and you can easily transition into a presentation of the Gospel. It’s not necessary to mention whether the person was unsaved if that is the case. Go right from the person’s biography to the wonderful story of salvation. You may tell the audience that they have a wonderful opportunity to listen for 20 minutes to the truth about eternal life—something that they do not normally do in their busy lives. I have never had a person complain. Funerals are a terrific opportunity for evangelism—take as many of them as you can.

Raising Children

People today are concerned about their young children and their teens. They are willing to leave their homes and go somewhere if someone can give them help. There is a wonderful film series entitled, Shepherding a Child’s Heart, that can be shown in your church. Advertise it in your local newspaper, and invite people to come. Another way to get families to come is to offer a class on raising young children or raising teens. This will provide another opportunity to share the Gospel.

Youth Evangelism

Youth evangelism is one of our most important tools. Be willing to put money and manpower into any evangelistic outreach to youth—Vacation Bible School, Sunday School, and Bible camp. God has used Bible camps more than anything else we do to reach youth. I meet people all the time who were saved at camp. People are most open to the gospel when they are young. Statistics show that the older people get the more closed they become to the truth.

Sunday Morning Service

Whether we like it or not, Americans think that Sunday morning is churchy time. So why fight it? Take advantage of it. If you have a church that unsaved people come to, use the opportunity. You have time during the service to teach God’s people, and you also have time to proclaim the Gospel. It is important that the elders think long and hard about how to make your Sunday service one that is conducive to inviting unsaved friends, neighbors, and fellow workers. It should be a time that has your best preachers and quality music.

Special Evangelistic Series

Last summer we advertised a three night series of meetings on Pilgrim’s Progress. Many people have heard about Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, but they don’t know much about it. We showed film strips, and we had a speaker who narrated it and explained it. The program was aimed at young people, but parents were invited to come if they wished. At the end of the three days a lady from the neighborhood, whom we had never seen before, came up front and sat down. I thought she might want to talk about her children, but she said, “I want to get saved.” Someone did get saved as a result of this opportunity. This summer we’re having an evangelistic series using a video presentation of C. S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. In addition to the video, we shall use power point slides and a sermon. If one is creative, there are a wide variety of evangelistic series that the local assembly can sponsor.

Literature

Your assembly should have plenty of evangelistic resources. The local church should be a gospel church, and a gospel church must have gospel literature. Someone should be put in charge of selecting and replenishing a display of good, contemporary tracts. The assembly should also have available a wide variety of tapes and books. Recently a man asked for a book for his non-Christian mother in law, who is dying of cancer. You need to make the assembly aware of good books for unsaved people, and you need to have such books available.

Personal Relationships

The best evangelism is personal evangelism—person to person. Everyday life brings all of us into a network of natural contacts with people. And the apostle Paul tells us, “Conduct yourselves with wisdom” toward these people (Col. 4:5). We are to keep our eyes wide open, and we are to be alert for opportunities. Be alert especially for those seasons in a person’s life when he or she has tragedy or need. His time of suffering or grief, his financial problems, and his marital woes are all opportunities. At such a moment, you can say, “My church can help you in such and such a way.”

Keep your many personal contacts fresh and open. I grew up with a number of young men, who all went the camp together and to the local assembly together. Around the age of eighteen we all went our separate ways, and three of these very close friends walked away from the Lord. It is probable that, although they had made professions of faith as children, they were never truly converted. They married non-Christians and lived non-Christian lives. Yet we kept our friendship going because we had such a wonderful relationship growing up. We would do vacations together—they would visit us in Colorado, and we would visit them in New Jersey. For thirty years we maintained this connection, and in the last five years all three of those men have been saved. Isn’t it interesting how God uses tragedy (terminal cancer, lives ruined by sinful habits, shattered marriages) to awaken people to their rebellion and rejection of the Lord. And when they have been awakened, God can use a Christian friend to lead them to the Savior and a new life. Do not neglect your contacts with unsaved friends. Keep those relationships, for the Lord may use you to win them back to Himself.

English as a Second Language

With the tremendous influx of immigrants to America, teaching English has become a very popular. It can be an evangelistic opportunity. For the first time this year we are offering a course in “English as a Second Language” (ESL). We had no idea how it would work, but we advertised with a large sign in front of our church. Almost fifty non-Christians signed up for the course. Our building is near the public library, and a large number of Spanish speaking people from the area saw it and enrolled. A committee set up the program, purchased books and materials, and priced the course so that all could afford it. We now have another opportunity to evangelize in our own building.

Be Salt, But be Bold

Be Salt

Evangelist Bob Smith says, “Ninety percent of evangelism is love.” Evangelism involves loving people, wanting to reach out to them, being friendly and open to them, and serving them. We must not be argumentative in witnessing—conveying the impression that we have all the answers. We must not be obnoxious and proud, dominating every conversation. We must learn to relax—to simply give people the gospel and let the Holy Spirit unleash its power. If the Holy Spirit does not work in a person’s heart, all of our arguing is not going to help. Answer questions the best you can, and if you do not have an answer tell the person to whom you are speaking that you will try to find it.

Paul says, “Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt” (Col. 4:6). When you know that you’re to be gracious and seasoned with salt, then you don’t get so frightened and think, “I’ve got to argue them into Heaven. I’ve got to show them I’m right. I’ve got to show them I’m orthodox and not in one of the cults.” It is an amazing thing when you seek to be gracious and winsome. You don’t get concerned when the unbeliever argues and calls you names. You can quietly respond, “I understand your perspective, but I want you to know my sins have been forgiven. I have a new hope because I know that God’s new life is in me.

Be Bold

The Apostle wrote, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes” (Rom. 1:16). It is a very serious matter to be ashamed of the gospel. The great apostle himself said, “And pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to men in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak” (Eph. 6:19–20). Frankly, we are not seeing people saved today because we are afraid, and we are not speaking up. Do you know why certain groups are seeing so many people saved—even if their gospel is somewhat defective? They are speaking up! No one gets saved if we don’t speak up.

Be Prayerful

Luke introduced one of Jesus parables with the explanation that the Lord was seeking to show his listeners, “that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart” (Luke 18:1). When it comes to evangelism many of us have lost heart. Many of us have never seen a person saved through our personal witness. People today ridicule the gospel, which is more and more out of sync with our modern culture. Biblical Christians are more and more offensive to the contemporary worldview. The end result is that we clam up and hide our Christianity. Many feel, “No one is going to believe me. They’re going to misunderstand what I say.” It’s normal to feel that way, but we must not neglect to pray about it. Our prayer should be, “Lord, make me bold. Help me to seize opportunities.” We should make a list of unsaved people to pray for. We should ask the Lord to give us an opportunity to speak to our neighbor across the street, our unsaved relatives, and the people with whom we work every day

May I challenge you to keep praying about this. Never give up praying about this matter. May we all be challenged by Paul’s words in Colossians 4:2–6. Remember that the Word of God is a transforming word. Its purpose is to transform and change us. If we don’t have change, it’s because we are not letting it do its work in our lives. May we end this study rechallenged—recharged with fresh vision, new boldness, new graciousness, and new excitement and love for the Lord and his work.

Conclusion

Pray for yourself personally and your local church that these words of the inspired apostle will have transforming power in your local church and in your personal life. Pray that the Lord will give our local assemblies unity in these matters. We can do almost nothing if we’re fighting. We’re paralyzed and the devil loves it. And the first casualty of fighting is the gospel. Who’d want a gospel where the saints can’t get along? Who’d want to bring people to a church like that? So ask the Lord to forgive us for fighting, pushing our petty agendas, and wanting our own way. Ask the Lord for greater skill in changing and moving people for His glory with patience and wisdom. With skill and humility and the power of the Holy Spirit we can see change. Let’s be change agents.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

International Standard Bible Encylopedia

Smith's Dictionary

ETS Southwest Regional Conference
New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary
March 11, 2005

Editor’s Note: Eric Montgomery was one of my Th.M. interns for the 2004-05 school year at Dallas Seminary. This paper was the major task of his internship. He suggests an innovative way of viewing Paul’s notion of the image of God.

Daniel B. Wallace

Introduction

For more than two millennia theologians have interpreted and reinterpreted the mysterious passages from Genesis in which the first humans are said to be created in the “image of God.” The author of Genesis employs this phrase, or its equivalent, five times over the course of nine chapters.¹ Oddly, subsequent writers during the Old Testament period never repeat the phrase “image of God” or make direct reference to it. However, during the theological reflection which took place in the mid- to late Second Temple period the terms “image of God” and “likeness of God” were revived, and gained new and unprecedented use. Legends and myths formed around these phrases and continued to flourish in Jewish and Christian traditions for centuries.

A number of New Testament writers also use or allude to the phrase “image of God,” though these terms are most frequently found in the Pauline corpus.² The purpose of the present study is to locate Paul’s thought within the broader Second Temple imago Dei traditions and then to identify his understanding of this phrase in light of his anthropology, eschatology, and Christology. Our study will begin with a brief survey of the various Second Temple traditions and then we will focus our attention on several key Pauline passages.

The Image of God in Second Temple Thought

The Second Temple period inaugurated an era of rich theological reflection. During this time the phrases “image of God” and “likeness of God” were interpreted in a wide variety of ways.³ Some authors associated the image with man’s physical body, and the likeness was its corresponding similarity to God’s visible form. Other writers interpreted the image as an incorporeal mental or spiritual quality which man possessed. In either case the first man, Adam, was usually seen as the original bearer of this image which may or may not have been passed on to his descendents.

Though it is not possible to construct one systematic view of Second Temple Jewish thought, we do need to survey the various streams of ideas so that we can better understand Paul in light of his historical context.⁴

Adam as the Image of Perfection

As early as the sixth century B.C.E. Jews may have been developing stories and legends around the tradition of the first man.⁵ The idea that Adam was somehow created or formed in the image and likeness of God piqued their interest and excited their imaginations. By the second century B.C.E. these stories had been thoroughly worked over and had gained an enduring place in the Jewish concept of creation. The first man came to be seen as a magnificent and glorious creature who, being the image of God, was originally created in a state of splendid perfection.

For example, Sirach 49:16 states that the glory of Adam was above every created thing. First Enoch 69:11⁶ declares how human beings were originally intended to be like angels, and to live in an eternal state of purity and righteousness.⁷ Philo is even more picturesque when he describes the first human man as “the height of perfection” in both “body and soul.” He states that the original man was “the most beautiful of beings,” because his body and soul were far superior to all those who have come after him.⁸

Within these traditions it was particularly common to associate the image of God with a visible splendor possessed by the first man—a radiance variously described as light, sublime beauty, or an emanation of glory. Thus, the image of God came to be identified as that which manifests the radiance of God’s glorious appearance.⁹

These examples serve to demonstrate the prevalence of the belief that Adam was created by God in a perfect and ideal state in which he was intended to dwell for eternity.

The Image as the Human Body

It is likely that the phrase “image of God” was first interpreted as a reference to the visible similitude of the human body to the form of God.¹⁰ The earliest available evidence from the Second Temple period, such as the Life of Adam and Eve and book one of the Sibylline Oracles, only makes veiled references to the human body as the image of God.¹¹ It is not until the middle of the first century C.E., or later, that more explicit statements become available to us. One example from this period can be found in the Testament of Isaac where the patriarch commands his son Jacob to carefully preserve his body once he dies so that the image of God is not defiled.¹² In the following centuries some rabbinic and Gnostic writings became even more direct in associating the image of God with the physical form of the human body.¹³

The Image as Humanity’s Inner Being

Naturally as Judaism collided with the Hellenistic world many Jews became more consciously uncomfortable with the idea that God might possess a physical form and that a human was in some way similar to this form. Hence, the image of God was reinterpreted to mean other immaterial qualities which humanity shared in common with his creator. One of the more prominent concepts was that a person’s immortal soul, housed within a temporal body, represented the image of God.¹⁴ It was this immortal soul which functioned in someway as a likeness of the divine.¹⁵ Philo took this view and used it to specifically describe the human mind as the image and likeness of God, since the mind is “the most important part of the soul.”¹⁶ Thus, a broad stream of largely Hellenistic Jewish thought conceived of the image of God as displayed in humanity’s incorporeal being (their heart, soul, or mind).

The Image as Divine Wisdom

The third stream of thought which utilized “image of God” language is that of the divine Wisdom tradition. Anthony Thiselton writes of the Second Temple concept of Wisdom that “the figure of Wisdom manifests, radiates, and mediates the otherwise inaccessible, transcendent reality of God.”¹⁷ In the Second Temple literature image terminology is seldom used to directly refer to divine Wisdom.¹⁸ However, the few instances we do have are important for understanding how the divine Wisdom may serve as a backdrop for Paul’s idea of Christ as the image of God.¹⁹

The most significant place where image language is used to refer to the divine Wisdom is found in Wisdom of Solomon 7:26. Here the writer describes Wisdom as “a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness.” The author goes on to describe Wisdom as one who can do all things and who renews all things. She is more beautiful than the sun and covers the entire earth. Philo also refers to Wisdom as “the beginning, and the image, and the sight of God.” In addition, he sees man as an image of God because he displays wisdom with his mind and wise virtue by his actions.²⁰ The Wisdom tradition identifies the divine Wisdom as the image of God, but also identifies man as the image when he comes to possess knowledge and virtue.

Paul’s Joining of Traditions

Given the discussion above we must now ask how Paul understood the phrase “image of God” in light of his diverse conceptual milieu. It has long been known that Paul was a collector and re-interpreter of various ideas, focusing them in a new and profound way through the lens of the incarnate and risen Christ.²¹ It is for this reason that Dunn²², Kim²³ and others have argued that many aspects of Paul’s Christology are a refined amalgam of divine Wisdom traditions and Jewish first-man speculations. Paul apparently felt some freedom to use surrounding traditions in order to best express the majesty of Christ.

As we shall see below, Paul’s understanding of the image of God was put forth using the same method of selectively choosing from among existing traditions and re-interpreting them in light of the risen Christ. It has become apparent in recent scholarship that Paul’s doctrine of the image of God was built upon the ideas of the image as divine Wisdom, the physical body, the human soul, and the uncorrupted state of the original man.²⁴ These traditions he focused through the lens of the risen Christ to produce a new and unique view of the imago Dei.²⁵

The Pauline Concept of the Image of God

It is our thesis that Paul, by drawing upon the diverse Adam and Wisdom speculations of the Second Temple period, viewed the imago Dei as the ideal state in which God created the first man, and which God intended all humanity to possess. For Paul, this original ideal state consisted of the physical human body as well as the mental and spiritual aspect of a person’s being. However, when the first man transgressed, this image was lost for all subsequent generations. Never again could humanity possess the image of God apart from a complete renewal of their total being.

Sometime after Paul’s conversion he conceived the idea of Christ as an antithetical second Adam. With this realization Paul found a means for the image of God to be restored to humanity—a concept which became central to his soteriology.²⁶ Paul believed that Jesus, through his incarnation and resurrection, became the perfect and ideal man—the man which God intended all humanity to resemble. Thus, the resurrected Christ became the archetype to which humanity should be conformed.

For Paul the eschatological restoration of humanity was both a present and future reality. As Paul’s anthropology and eschatology coalesced around the imago Dei he came to understand that the two aspects of the human being, the “inner person” (the spirit, mind, or heart) and the “outer person” (the physical body), would be renewed separately, one part now and one part in the future.²⁷ The inner person would be progressively renewed in this life by morally and ethically displaying likeness to Christ, while the physical body would continue to degenerate until death. Then, at the event of the final resurrection, the body would be renewed to its intended glorious form, restoring the complete image of God back to humanity.

The Image Perfected in Christ

One of Paul’s most significant theological innovations was his belief that Jesus had replaced Adam as the true and perfect image of God. At least twice Paul explicitly refers to Christ as the imago Dei (Col 1:15 and 2 Cor 4:4). In both cases he employs the language of the creation narrative in Genesis to describe the magnificence of Jesus as the ideal man—the image—who represents God and manifests his glory.

Colossians 1:15

Looking first to the “Christ hymn” contained in Col 1:15-20, the prominence of Jesus as the image of God immediately catches our attention.²⁸ The hymn opens with a declaration about Jesus “who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation [or, over all creation²⁹].” It is here that Christ is called the image of the invisible God, implying that there is a visible quality to the image; i.e., the image visibly manifests something about God which is otherwise hidden.³⁰

Understanding the background of this hymn may help us to deduce what sort of claim is being made about Christ. The broad consensus of modern scholarship is that the hymn in Col 1:15-20 is based primarily on the ideas and language of Jewish divine Wisdom traditions.³¹ As was mentioned previously these traditions personified Wisdom and assigned it the role of God’s representative and active agent. As James Dunn has stated, “The invisible God makes himself visible in and through his wisdom.”³²

In the Colossians hymn Jesus replaces Wisdom as the perfect agent and representative of God. It is Jesus who manifests God’s creative power and dominion (Col 1:16-18). Jesus is the full visible display of God’s character and attributes (Col 1:19). The risen Jesus, as the image of God, bridges the gap between an invisible, incomprehensible deity and a fallen creation. In Col 1:15 the image of God represents the full revelation of divine essence (Col 2:2-3, 9-10).

2 Corinthians 4:4

In 2 Cor 4:4 Paul again refers to Christ as “the image of God.” This statement falls in the middle of a larger passage in which Paul validates his activity as God’s minister.³³ Starting in 3:7 he uses Moses as a description of how God’s appointed ministers radiate a divine glory. Paul continues to play off the word “glory” and the typology of Moses as he describes Christians as those who emanate the gospel of glory (4:3-4), and Christ as the supreme manifestation of God’s glory.

The final section of 2 Cor 4:4 is a string of concatenative genitives which may be translated, “the illumination (φωτισμός) of the gospel³⁴ of the glory³⁵ of Christ, who is the image of God.” A similar statement is made in v. 6 where Paul proclaims that God, “shined in our hearts for the illumination of the knowledge of God’s glory in the face of Christ.”³⁶

It is this visibly radiant Christ whom Paul speaks of as the image of God.³⁷ It is almost certain that Paul is making a double comparison between Christ and Moses, and Christ and Adam. The contextual discussion (3:7-18; cf. also 3:13 and 4:6) indicates that Paul is comparing Jesus to Moses. Yet, the language is also reminiscent of Gen 1-2, and the allusions to Adam as the radiant and glorious image of God lead us to believe that Paul is also contrasting Jesus to Adam. Essentially, Paul is stating that Jesus is a better representative of God’s glory than either Moses or Adam.

It is in light of both of these biblical figures that we need to interpret Paul’s statement that Christ is “the image of God.” The idea of the “image” being God’s representative agent is certainly in view here.³⁸ But, more specific to this passage is the concept that the “image” is that which visibly manifests the attributes and splendor of its archetype. Both Moses and Adam were representatives who displayed the visible radiance of God’s luminous glory in their bodies, yet both of these figures lost their glorious state. Jesus, however, is the perfect and enduring manifestation of God’s glory.

We may summarize our findings in Col 1:15 and 2 Cor 4:4 by stating that the image of God, as Paul relates this term to Christ, is that which acts as a perfect representative agent of God and that which visibly manifests God’s glory. Paul uses divine Wisdom and Adam language to paint a picture of the risen Christ who is a perfect display of God’s attributes, power, and majesty.

Anthropology, Eschatology, and the Imago Dei

Having seen how Paul views the image of God with respect to Christ, it is now left for us to understand the image of God as Paul relates it to mankind. What we will see in this part of our study is that Paul thought of Jesus as an archetype of ideal humanity—a pattern to which Christians are conformed.

Colossians 3:10

In Colossians chapter three Paul exhorts the Colossian believers to live morally and righteously because of the present reality of their resurrection in Christ (Col 3:1; Rom 6:1-14). In vv. 9-10 Paul interrupts his admonition with an explanatory clause connecting the believer’s present (spiritually) resurrected state to their possession of the image of God. Paul writes, “Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old person together with its practices and have put on the new person which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it.”³⁹

Paul uses the language of Gen 1-2 to bring to mind a contrast between the old life “in Adam” and the new life “in Christ” (1 Cor 15:22). With the conversion of a person to Christianity comes a resurrection of the inner person. The old “inner person” is crucified and dies (Rom 6:6), and a new “inner person” is born—an inner person bearing likeness to Christ and not to Adam. In Col 3:10 Paul states that this new “inner person” is being progressively renewed (τὸν ἀνακαινούμενον)⁴⁰ in knowledge (Rom 12:2) with the end result that it will correspond to the standard or measure of the image (κατ' εἰκόνα).

Paul’s exhortation to refrain from lying, in verse nine, is based on the premise that the Colossian believers have already taken off the old person and put on the new person; it is a past event from Paul’s perspective.⁴¹ Further, this new person is not the “image” itself, but is rather in the process of being renewed, or conformed (2 Cor 3:18), to that image. Thus, the image serves as an archetype to which the new person is progressively being aligned. It would appear, in light of Col 1:15, that Christ is the archetypal image mentioned here. In addition, just as Col 1:15 described Christ as the image which manifests God’s character and majesty, so now Paul states that Christians should display God’s character through their ethical behavior as they are progressively renewed in their minds to become more like the image of God.

Ephesians 4:24

In many ways Eph 4:24 closely parallels Col 3:9-10. Both passages are found within an ethical context, where proper Christian behavior is being contrasted with non-Christian behavior. In addition, both passages use the language of “old person” and “new person,” and both speak of the progressive renewal⁴² of this new person in accordance with a certain standard—that standard being the image of God.⁴³

Paul reminds the Ephesian Christians that when they heard about Christ they were taught, with respect to their former way of life, to lay aside (ἀποθέσθαι) the old person, to be renewed in the spirit of their mind⁴⁴ (ἀνανεοῦσθαι δὲ τῷ πνεύματι τοῦ νοὸς ὑμῶν), and to put on the new person, the one created according to God (ἐνδύσασθαι τὸν καινὸν ἄνθρωπον τὸν κατὰ θεὸν κτισθέντα) – in righteousness and true holiness. In v. 25 Paul concludes by saying, “Therefore, having lain aside… (διὸ ἀποθέμενοι),” implying that at the time of writing he expected that the Ephesians had already put off the old person and put on the new person.⁴⁵ Paul exhorts his audience to live out the reality of their transformation by walking in accordance with their new state.

As in Col 3:9-10, Paul uses imago Dei language in Eph 4:24 to refer to a behavioral archetype which the new person is to resemble.⁴⁶ The image of God is viewed here as a model upon which the new person has been created—a model characterized by righteousness and true holiness.⁴⁷ Paul’s instruction to the Ephesians was that they should put on this new person who had been created in similarity with the image of God, and that they should begin the process of renewal in their minds. The underlying idea is that those Ephesian believers who continually practice righteousness and holiness would progressively become more like the human being which God intended for them to be. Thus, we can summarize Paul’s view of the image of God, as found in Eph 4:24 and Col 3:10, as a behavioral manifestation of God’s character, purity, and love (cf. Eph 5:1-5).⁴⁸

2 Corinthians 3:18

In 2 Cor 3:18 Paul compares Christians to the unbelieving Jews by saying, “we all, with unveiled faces beholding [or, reflecting⁴⁹] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, which is from the Lord, the Spirit.”

Though this passage has proven notoriously difficult to interpret, the main force of Paul’s argument is fairly straightforward. The believing person is being transformed (μεταμορφούμεθα), as a present continuous process, toward a certain archetypal image—the image which they are beholding [or reflecting].⁵⁰ Paul goes on to clarify his statement a few verses later (4:4) when he writes that this archetypal image is Christ, whom he calls “the image of God.” As believers look upon the luminous Christ (2 Cor 4:6) they are transformed and they begin to radiate a light of their own—a light which is the gospel message (the word or knowledge of God – 2 Cor 2:14; 4:6, 23). Thus, in 2 Cor 3:18 Paul is essentially stating that as ministers of the gospel proclaim their message they radiate God’s glory and are made more like Christ, the perfect image of God’s glory (2 Cor 4:10).

Within the context of 2 Cor 3-5 there is also an additional implication which underlies Paul’s statement in 3:18. Note that he says, “we all… are being transformed… from glory to glory.” Paul makes a similar statement in 2 Cor 4:16, within a discussion of physical resurrection, where he says, “…but even if our outer person is wasting away, yet our inner person is being renewed day by day.” It is here that we can see the twofold eschatological and anthropological meaning behind Paul’s statement that Christians are being transformed into the image of God. As believers proclaim the gospel and act righteously (2 Cor 4:2) their inner person is being progressively renewed (cf. Col 3:10), though the outer body is still destined for death in its present state. But, at the time of the future bodily resurrection their physical aspect (the “outer person”) will be renewed to match their spiritual state (2 Cor 5:1-5).

Thus, in 2 Cor 3:18 Paul sees the image of God as twofold. First, believing humanity is progressively becoming like the image of God in their inner person as they manifest God’s glory through the proclamation of the gospel and righteous conduct (2 Cor 4:2-4). Second, these believers will be physically transformed into the image of God at their future bodily resurrection. In both cases the risen Jesus is the archetypal image to which Christians are being transformed. He is the perfect moral and physical manifestation of God’s character and magnificence.

Romans 8:29

Moving from the concept of the imago Dei as present moral action and improvement, it remains for us to discuss the one passage which most clearly associates the bearing of the image of God with a future physical transformation. In Paul’s eschatological soteriology the event of physical transformation will conclude God’s redemptive work. The new creation which began with Christ’s resurrection will be completed with the final redemption and renewal of the physical body and the material world (Rom 8:17-30).

It is within this context of physical renewal that Paul proclaims a message of hope in Rom 8:29: “those whom he foreknew he also predestined to share in the form (συμμόρφους)⁵¹ of the image of his son⁵²….” Once again Paul uses the language of Gen 1-2 to exalt Christ over Adam, giving us a picture of Jesus as the very image which Adam was intended to be.⁵³ Whereas Adam now represents the broken image which lost its glory (Rom 3:23),⁵⁴ Christ is the perfect and complete image which radiates God’s glory. In Rom 8, Paul joyfully declares that the glory which Adam lost will be restored through the redemption of creation at the end of this age (Rom 8:17-18, 23).⁵⁵

Here in Romans, Paul views the image of God as the body of the resurrected Christ—a body of physical perfection.⁵⁶ Whereas we have previously seen that the imago Dei was understood as a moral manifestation of God’s character, here Paul views the image as a physical manifestation of God’s radiant glory, of which the risen Christ is the most perfect archetype. Further, Paul declares that it is the elect humanity, who presently carry the imprint of Adam in their flesh, who have the hope of being transformed into the same physically perfect state (i.e., into the same image) in which Christ now exists.

1 Corinthians 15:49

In 1 Cor 15:49 we find the culmination of Paul’s resurrection discourse comparing the present corrupt life in Adam with the future glorious life in Christ. Paul concludes his discussion in v. 49 by saying, “And just as we bore the image of the man of dust, we will also bear [or, let us also bear]⁵⁷ the image of the man of heaven.” Paul again uses the imago Dei language of Gen 1-2 in order to contrast Adam and Christ. Adam is the image fallen and broken, but the risen Jesus is the proper and perfect image of God.

There is an exceptionally difficult textual problem in this passage which prevents us from drawing an interpretive conclusion too dogmatically. If we accept the conventional future indicative reading (“we will also bear the image”) then Paul intends to communicate the idea that just as we have borne a physically corrupt body (the image made of dust) so also will we come to bear a spiritually renewed body at the time of the resurrection (the image of the heavenly). However, if we take the less popular subjunctive reading (“let us also bear the image”) then this implies that Paul is exhorting the Corinthians to presently act in an ethical manner which properly corresponds to their hope of future resurrection. To bear the image, then, is to act in a way which morally represents the character of the heavenly man, Christ (the image made of dust would represent the immoral practices characteristic of life in Adam).

Either way in which this textual problem is resolved falls into alignment with our thesis that Paul understood the image of God as both a present moral manifestation of Christ’s character and a future physical likeness to Christ’s resurrected body.

1 Corinthians 11:7

First Corinthians 11:7 is one of the most intriguing and difficult passages to interpret dealing with Paul’s concept of the imago Dei. Here Paul states that “a man should not have his head covered, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man.” There are a number of ways in which commentators have attempted to interpret this passage, though none are completely satisfactory. 1) Paul could have meant that the human male presently possesses the image of God, while the human female does not (though she may possess an “image of man”).⁵⁸ 2) Zerwick and Grosvenor have suggested, based on the participle ὑπάρχων, that v. 7 may be speaking of the origin of man and woman, not necessarily their present state. In other words, Paul may not be arguing that the male is now the image of God, but rather that the male was originally created in the image of God.⁵⁹ 3) Other commentators have suggested that Paul’s concern here is not with “image” at all, but rather “glory.” According to this view Paul is using the word δόξα to describe how each gender has an appointed role to bring honor to that which is over it.⁶⁰

This said, the question still needs to be asked, “How does Paul’s prohibition against the covering of a man’s head relate to men being the image of God?” The discussion which Paul is having concerns the physical, visible appearance of a person. By visibly concealing his head a man hides the glory of God and dishonors Christ (1 Cor 11:4). Morna Hooker is likely correct in interpreting Paul’s theological argument through the lens of Second Temple Jewish exegesis.⁶¹ It was Adam, as the image of God, and not Eve, who originally possessed a radiant appearance which reflected God’s visible glory.⁶² Though Paul certainly did not think that men still possessed a radiant appearance, he apparently believed that the human male was, somehow, heir to the divine image which Adam originally possessed, and that the human male still had a responsibility to display God’s glory visibly in his body.⁶³ Thus, Paul makes a connection here between the male’s physical appearance and his being the image of God.

Though many uncertainties still remain in our interpretation of this passage, we must conclude that Paul is basing his theological argument in 1 Cor 11:7 on the understanding that the image of God is, in someway, a physical, visible display of God’s glory.⁶⁴

Conclusion

To conclude, we can generally define Paul’s concept of the image of God as that which manifests God’s glory. It is the perfect, visible manifestation of God’s character, attributes, power, and majesty. Paul applied this phrase primarily to the risen Christ, who functions as God’s representative agent (displacing the concept of the divine Wisdom), and who has usurped Adam’s position as the perfect human being who visibly displays God’s character and majestic beauty. Paul also viewed Christ, the imago Dei, as an archetype for redeemed humanity. Fallen and broken mankind, who no longer display the image of God as they should, can be renewed and restored to their proper state through the present and future resurrections made possible by belief in Christ.

James Dunn has summarized Paul’s doctrine well by saying, “The dominant motif in Paul is that man is… the image of fallen Adam, shares his corruptibility (I Cor. 15:49), and that salvation consists in the believer being transformed into the image of God (II Cor. 3:18), consists in a progressive renewal in knowledge according to the image of the Creator (Col. 3:10; Eph. 4:24).”⁶⁵ Stanley Grenz rightly calls the human conformity to Christ as the image of God “the divinely determined goal for human existence.”⁶⁶ Paul presents the resurrected Christ as the objective of human redemption. In Paul’s understanding, the conversion of a person to Christian faith initiates a present, spiritual resurrection of their inner person.⁶⁷ This resurrection begins a process of renewal, during which time they will manifest the glory of God through their ethical behavior (Eph 4:24; Col 3:9-10) and the ministry of the gospel (2 Cor 3:18-4:3). At the time of their physical death, and subsequent resurrection, the Christian’s body will be redeemed and transformed into the same perfect and glorious state as the risen Christ (Rom 8:29). The end result of this process is that the Christian will become like Christ⁶⁸ in body and spirit—images of God who visibly manifest God’s moral character and radiant majesty.

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Dunn, James D. G. Christology in the Making: A New Testament Inquiry into the Origins of the Doctrine of the Incarnation. London: SCM Press Ltd, 1980.

________. Romans 1-8. Word Biblical Commentary, ed. David A. Hubbard and Glenn W. Baker. Dallas: Word, 1988.

________. The Epistle to the Colossians and to Philemon. The New International Greek Testament Commentary, ed. I. Howard Marshall and W. Ward Gasque. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996.

________. The Theology of Paul the Apostle. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998.

Eichrodt, Walther. Theology of the Old Testament. Translated by John Baker, vol. 2. The Old Testament Library, ed. G. Ernest Wright, John Bright, and James Barr. 2 vols. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1967.

Fee, Gordon D. The First Epistle to the Corinthians. The New International Commentary on the New Testament, ed. Gordon D. Fee. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988.

Fossum, Jarl E. The Image of the Invisible God: Essays on the Influence of Jewish Mysticism on Early Christology. NTOA. Freiburg: Universittsverlag Freiburg, 1995.

Gottstein, Alon Goshen. “The Body as Image of God in Rabbinic Literature.” Harvard Theological Review 87, no. 2 (1994).

Grenz, Stanley. “Jesus as the Imago Dei: Image-of-God Christology and the Non-Linear Linearity of Theology.” JETS 47 (2004).

Gundry, Robert H. Soma in Biblical Theology. Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series, vol. 29, ed. Matthew Black. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976.

Hodge, Charles. An Exposition of the First Epistle to the Corinthians. New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1857.

Hoehner, Harold W. Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002.

Hooker, Morna D. From Adam to Christ: Essays on Paul. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.

Jewett, Robert. Paul's Anthropological Terms: A Study of Their Use in Conflict Settings. Leiden: Brill, 1971.

Kim, Seyoon. The Origin of Paul's Gospel. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, ed. Martin Hengel and Otfried Hofius. Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1984.

Lambrecht, Jan. “Transformation in 2 Corinthians 3,18.” In Studies on 2 Corinthians, ed. R. Bieringer and J. Lambrecht, Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium. Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1994.

Levinson, John R. Portraits of Adam in Early Judaism: From Sirach to 2 Baruch. Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Supplement Series, ed. James H. Charlesworth. Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1988.

Lohse, Eduard. Colossians and Philemon. Translated by WIlliam R. Poehlmann and Robert J. Karris. Hermeneia, ed. Helmut Koester. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1971.

MacDonald, Margaret. Colossians and Ephesians, vol. 17. Sacra Pagina, ed. Daniel J. Harrington. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2000.

Martin, Ralph P. Carmen Christi: Philippians ii.5-11 in Recent Interpretation and in the Setting of Early Christian Worship. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983.

Matthewson, Dave. “Verbal Aspect in Imperatival Constructions in Pauline Ethical Injunctions.” Filologia neotestamentaria 9 (1996).

Metzger, Bruce M. A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament. 2nd ed. New York: American Bible Society, 1994.

Moule, C. F. D. An Idiom Book of New Testament Greek. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1960.

Robertson, A. T. A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research. Nashville: Broadman, 1934.

Robertson, A. T., and Alfred Plummer. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians. 2nd ed. The International Critical Commentary, ed. Samuel Rolls Driver, Alfred Plummer, and Charles Augustus Briggs. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1914.

Steenburg, Dave. “The Worship of Adam and Christ as the Image of God.” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 39 (1990): 95-109.

Thiselton, Anthony C. The First Epistle to the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text. The New International Greek Testament Commentary, ed. I. Howard Marshall and Donald A. Hagner. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000.

Trail, Ronald. An Exegetical Summary of 1 Corinthians 10-16. Dallas: SIL International, 2001.

Wallace, Daniel B. Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996.

Wedderburn, A. J. M. “Philo's 'Heavenly Man'.” NovT 15, no. 4 (1973).

Zerwick, Maximilian. Biblical Greek: Illustrated By Examples. Translated by Joseph Smith. Rome: Pontificio Istituto Biblico, 1963.

Zerwick, Maximilian, and Mary Grosvenor. A Grammatical Analysis of the Greek New Testament. Translated by Mary Grosvenor. 5th revised ed. Rome: Pontificio Istituto Biblico, 1996.

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¹ Gen 1:26, 27; 5:1, 3; 9:6.

² Non-Pauline references include Matt 22:20; Mark 12:16; Luke 20:24; Heb 1:3; Jas 3:9. Paul explicitly mentions or alludes to the image of God in eight places: Rom 8:29; 1 Cor 11:7; 15:49; 2 Cor 3:18; 4:4; Eph 4:24; Col 1:15; and Col 3:10. In addition to these references several scholars have postulated allusions in Rom 1:22-23 (Morna D. Hooker, From Adam to Christ: Essays on Paul [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990], 73-87) and Phil 2:6 (Ralph P. Martin, Carmen Christi: Philippians ii.5-11 in Recent Interpretation and in the Setting of Early Christian Worship [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983], 99-119). Rom 1:22-23 and Phil 2:6 will not be addressed in this paper, as further study is needed to determine whether or not these truly are references to the image of God.

To complicate matters the Pauline authorship of Ephesians and Colossians is disputed, and the Pauline origin of the other imago Dei references has been called into doubt at times. The question of Pauline authorship for Ephesians and Colossians is still a matter of heated debate. However, a number of modern scholars have adequately defended the traditional view, and Pauline authorship should be retained until more convincing evidence can be produced otherwise. Markus Barth, Ephesians, vol. 2, The Anchor Bible, ed. William Foxwell Albright and David Noel Freedman, 2 vols. (New York: Doubleday, 1974), 36-50; Harold W. Hoehner, Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002), 2-61; Markus Barth and Helmut Blanke, Colossians: A New Translation With Introduction and Commentary, trans. Astrid B. Beck, The Anchor Bible, ed. William Foxwell Albright and David Noel Freedman (New York: Doubleday, 1994), 114-25; James D. G. Dunn, The Epistle to the Colossians and to Philemon, The New International Greek Testament Commentary, ed. I. Howard Marshall and W. Ward Gasque (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996), 35-39. (Though Dunn does not believe that Paul himself was the author, he suggests that the thought of Colossians so closely reflects Paul that the non-Pauline authorship becomes a moot point).

Some of the individual imago Dei passages also present a problem for our study. Two passages, Col 1:15 and Phil 2:6 (if it were to be included), are hymns, and it is likely that they were not completely original to Paul. Nevertheless, he did employ these hymns in a positive and approving manner, and the content of the hymns reflects his own thought elsewhere. The Pauline origin of the other image of God passages (Rom 8:29; 1 Cor 11:7; 15:49; 2 Cor 3:18; 4:4) has been disputed by some authors. However, these objections have been adequately answered by more recent studies (Seyoon Kim, The Origin of Paul's Gospel, Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, ed. Martin Hengel and Otfried Hofius [Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1984], 141-59).

³ The word εἰκών has a fairly broad lexical range. In the Koinē period it was used for bills of sales, portrait pictures, statues, coin impressions, and even human rulers who represented a god (BDAG, 281-82; MM, 183; TDNT, 2.388-90). The word was also used for abstract concepts, such as ideas, thoughts, and dreams (e.g. Philo, Conf. Ling. 97), as well as Platonic ideas, such as the cosmos as an image of God (Corp. Herm. 8:2-5; 11:15). In general εἰκών should be defined as something which resembles the form, appearance, or characteristics of something else.

⁴ The warnings and criticisms which John Levison wrote, in reference to the study of Adam in early Judaism, are appropriate reminders for us (John R. Levison, Portraits of Adam in Early Judaism: From Sirach to 2 Baruch, Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Supplement Series, ed. James H. Charlesworth [Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1988], 13). We do not want to squeeze “the early Jewish data into the mold of Pauline concepts and motifs,” but rather we want to listen carefully and attentively to what these early Jewish writers were saying.

⁵ Dexter E. Callender, “The Primal Man in Ezekiel and the Image of God,” in Society of Biblical Literature 1998 Seminar Papers, vol. 2. 2 vols. (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1998), 606-25.

⁶ All Old Testament Pseudepigrapha citations are rendered according to James H. Charlesworth, ed., The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, 2 vols. (New York: Doubleday, 1983).

⁷ See also Wisdom of Solomon 2:23-24, which states that “God created the man in immortality and he made him an image of his own eternity.” In both 1 Enoch and Wisdom of Solomon it is clear that man, in his original state, was not intended to experience death.

⁸ Philo understood the “image of God” in this first man not as his body but rather his soul (variously labeled as reason, virtue, or mind) which was housed in his body.

⁹ 1QS IV, 19-23; CD A III, 20, “Those who remained steadfast in it will acquire eternal life, and all the glory of Adam is for them”; and 4Q504 VIII, 4, “[…Adam] our father, you fashioned in the likeness (דמות) of [your] glory […].” The concept of the physically perfect and glorious first man became more fully developed in the first few centuries C.E. (Hist. Rech. 5:4; 7:2; 12:1-3; Apoc. Ab. 23:5; Poimandres 12-14).

¹⁰ D. J. A. Clines, “The Image of God in Man,” Tyndale Bulletin 19 (1968): 56-58. Walther Eichrodt, Theology of the Old Testament, trans. John Baker, vol. 2, The Old Testament Library, ed. G. Ernest Wright, John Bright, and James Barr, 2 vols. (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1967), 122-24.

¹¹ Sib. Or. 1:23. L.A.E. 13:3 may be one of the more explicit references, which states that Adam’s face and likeness were made in the image of God. It is also possible that the description of Christ in Heb 1:3 is meant to convey the idea of Jesus as a physical representative of God (χαρακτὴρ τῆς ὑποστάσεως αὐτοῦ). See also 2 En. 44:1-5; 65:2; Dave Steenburg, “The Worship of Adam and Christ as the Image of God,” JSNT 39 (1990): 96-97.

¹² T. Isaac 6:33-35.

¹³ Cf. b. B. Bat. 58a; b. San. 38a-b; Gen. Rab. 8:9-12; 24:2; Poimandres 12-14. See also Alon Goshen Gottstein, “The Body as Image of God in Rabbinic Literature,” Harvard Theological Review 87 (1994): 171-95.

¹⁴ Ps.-Phoc. 105-108. In Hist. Rech. 15:10 the disembodied soul, which ascends to God after death, is described as “the likeness of a glorious light.”

¹⁵ The likeness shared between the soul and its creator was in some cases immortality (Wis 2:23), in other cases it was reason, wisdom, or virtue (Hel. Syn. Pr. 3:18-21; 12:36-40; Philo, Opif. 134-139).

¹⁶ Philo, Opif. 69. For Philo, however, it is not the human mind in itself that is the image of God, but rather it is because the individual mind “has been created after the likeness of that one mind which is in the universe as its primitive model.” In other words, the human mind is the image of God because its creation was based upon the pattern of God’s mind.

¹⁷ Anthony C. Thiselton, The First Epistle to the Corinthians: A Commentary on the Greek Text, The New International Greek Testament Commentary, ed. I. Howard Marshall and Donald A. Hagner (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000), 834.

¹⁸ Steenburg, “Adam and Christ,” 102.

¹⁹ Concerning the extent of this Wisdom-Christology James Dunn writes, “It is clear therefore that the tradition of (pre-existent) Wisdom has been influential at many points in NT christology. In some of the earlier (i.e. Pauline) passages it may be no more than that language or exegesis has been prompted by specific language or some particular exegesis used in Wisdom tradition. But in other cases there can be little doubt that the role of Wisdom is being attributed to Christ” (italics his). James D. G. Dunn, Christology in the Making: A New Testament Inquiry into the Origins of the Doctrine of the Incarnation (London: SCM Press, 1980), 167.

²⁰ Philo, Leg. 1.43-55.

²¹ John F. Balchin, “Paul, Wisdom and Christ,” in Christ the Lord: Studies in Christology presented to Donald Guthrie, ed. Harold H. Rowdon (Downers Grove: Intervarsity, 1982), 211-14.

²² James D. G. Dunn, The Theology of Paul the Apostle (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 204-05, 293.

²³ Kim, Origin, 137.

²⁴ It was popular in the beginning to mid-twentieth century to attribute Paul’s Adam-Christ typology to a Gnostic redeemer myth or Urmensch theory. However, these have been shown in more recent years to be insufficient explanations for the origin of Paul’s thought. Rather, it is more likely that Paul is basing his ideas on purely Jewish traditions which arose around the creation accounts. See ibid., 163-83; Jarl E. Fossum, The Image of the Invisible God: Essays on the Influence of Jewish Mysticism on Early Christology, NTOA (Freiburg: Universittsverlag Freiburg, 1995), 13; A. J. M. Wedderburn, “Philo's 'Heavenly Man',” NovT 15 (1973): 160-77.

²⁵ The uniqueness of Paul’s view was not his eclectic joining of traditions. During the first and second centuries C.E. a number of authors began merging these streams of thought (e.g. Hell. Syn. Pr. 3:16-21; 12:35-50; Steenburg, “Adam and Christ,” 104). Rather, Paul was unique in his belief that Christ was the archetypal image and that the restoration of the image to humanity begins as a process in the present and ends at a future resurrection event.

²⁶ Dunn, Theology of Paul, 53.

²⁷ The meaning of the phrase “image of God” is, in part, a question of anthropology, and it must be deduced based on an accurate understanding of how any particular writer views the human being. It is widely believed that Paul understood humanity as composed of two parts or aspects. Paul labeled these as the “outer person” and the “inner person” (Rom 7:22-25; 2 Cor 4:16; Eph 3:16). The “outer person” is generally believed to be the physical body, while the “inner person” is variously identified as the heart, mind, or spirit (i.e. the incorporeal aspect of the human). In Paul’s conception the human being who is to be renewed must be renewed in both aspects of their being. Robert H. Gundry, Soma in Biblical Theology, Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series, vol. 29, ed. Matthew Black (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976), 135-56. Robert Jewett, Paul's Anthropological Terms: A Study of Their Use in Conflict Settings (Leiden: Brill, 1971), 396-401.

²⁸ The value of Col 1:15-20 for our study of Pauline theology is contingent upon the origin of this hymn. If the hymn did not originate with Paul, as is widely thought, then the passage has limited value. However, Paul does appear to employ the hymn as an extension of his own Christological thought. Further, the subject matter of the Colossians hymn is attested to in other Pauline passages (Rom 8:29; 2 Cor 4:4). Therefore, we may use this hymn to make speculative conclusions about Paul’s Christology, being careful in the process to support these conclusions from more certain Pauline literature.

²⁹ Daniel B. Wallace, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996), 104, 128.

³⁰ Though the genitive τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ἀοράτου could express possession over the εἰκὼν, it is more likely that τοῦ θεοῦ is an objective genitive. It is the invisible God who is being “imaged” by Jesus. Margaret MacDonald, Colossians and Ephesians, Sacra Pagina, ed. Daniel J. Harrington (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 2000), 58-59.

It is also worth noting that Paul uses the word ἀόρατος with reference to God’s attributes in Romans 1:20 as part of a passage which may be a veiled reference to Adam’s loss of the image of God.

³¹ Dunn, Colossians and Philemon, 86 n.8, 88-90. Eduard Lohse, Colossians and Philemon, trans. WIlliam R. Poehlmann and Robert J. Karris, Hermeneia, ed. Helmut Koester (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1971), 46-49. Though in general broad agreement exists on this point there are some dissenting scholars. These minority views tends to see the Christ hymn as a reflection of Anthropos- (heavenly Man) or Adam-Christology (e.g. Fossum, Image of the Invisible God, 13-39). Yet, the adoption of one of these minority views would not drastically alter how the concept of the image of God is being used in Col 1:15. The εἰκών would still represent an intermediate agent who acts on God’s behalf and who manifests God’s character and attributes. Though, if the hymn writer did have a heavenly man concept in mind, then it is likely that the phrase εἰκὼν τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ἀοράτου is meant to emphasis the physical radiance and beauty of the image (i.e. the display of God’s glory) over its role as a representative agent.

³² Dunn goes on to comment on the connection between Wisdom and “image” by noting that, “The importance of this in Hellenistic Judaism was that ‘image’ could thus bridge the otherwise unbridgeable gulf between the invisible world and God on the one side and visible creation and humanity on the other—denoting both that which produces the divine image and the image thus produced.” Dunn, Colossians and Philemon, 88.

The divine Wisdom is described throughout the Second Temple literature in terms similar to those found in Col 1:15-20. Some of these include: wisdom as the creative agent (Ps 104:24; Prov 3:19; 2 En. 30:8-12; Wis 7:22; 8:5; Philo, Det. 54; Her. 199; Fug. 109) wisdom as the first creation (Prov 8:22; Sir 1:4; 24:9; Philo, Conf. 146; Agr. 51; Somn. 1.215) and wisdom as the image of God (Wis 7:26; Philo Leg. 1.43; Conf. 146).

³³ This section of validation begins in 2:14 and ends in 5:21. Second Corinthians 3-4 is remarkable in the number of times that the word δόξα is used (15 occurrences). Throughout these two chapters Paul alternates the meaning of δόξα, sometimes using it to refer to a radiant light and at other times using it to mean honorable. Paul’s association of δόξα with ministry and the proclamation of God’s message is worthy of further study.

³⁴ τοῦ εὐαγγελίου is either the source of the φωτισμὸς or it is in apposition to φωτισμὸς.

³⁵ The genitive, δόξης, may be taken as an objective genitive (BDAG, 403; Maximilian Zerwick, Biblical Greek: Illustrated By Examples, trans. Joseph Smith [Rome: Pontificio Istituto Biblico, 1963], 18).

³⁶ Again, the concatenative genitives are problematic here.

³⁷ 2 Cor 4:1-6 is filled with words related to light and vision: φανέρωσις - v. 2; καλύπτω - v. 3; τυφλόω - v. 4; αὐγάζω - v. 4; φωτισμός - v. 4; λάμπω - v. 6; φῶς - v. 6; φωτισμός - v. 6. The abundance of these words in such close proximity to the phrase “image of God” indicates that Paul was thinking of the imago Dei as something visibly radiant.

³⁸ That is, both Moses and Adam (especially in extra-biblical traditions) were agents who spoke for and represented God. Further, interpreting the “image of God” in a representational sense fits well within the context of 2 Cor 3-5, which is largely concerned with how God’s message and will are made known to the world.

³⁹ The “one who created” is to be understood as God. The pronoun “it” (αὐτόν) refers back to the new [person] (τὸν νέον).

⁴⁰ The present middle/passive participle indicates a progressive renewal of which God is probably the unstated agent. While the actions of “putting off” and “putting on” appear to be activities which the believer has control over, the process of renewal is passive in nature. Thus, Paul touches upon the delicate balance between human and divine agency in moral improvement and spiritual regeneration.

⁴¹ The participles ἀπεκδυσάμενοι and ἐνδυσάμενοι should be understood causally, giving the reason why the Colossians should not lie to one another. Dave Matthewson, “Verbal Aspect in Imperatival Constructions in Pauline Ethical Injunctions,” Filologia neotestamentaria 9 (1996): 34.

⁴² Eph 4:23 ἀνανεόω; Col 3:10 ἀνακαινόω. ἀνανεοῦσθαι is best taken with a passive sense rather than a reflexive sense (BDAG, 68).

⁴³ Though Paul does not use the words “image of God” in this passage, it is most likely that this is what he meant by the phrase “the one created according to God (τὸν κατὰ θεὸν κτισθέντα). This interpretation is not certain, however, since κατὰ θεόν is used elsewhere in the NT to mean “according to God’s will” or “according to God’s standard” (Rom 8:27; 2 Cor 7:10-11; 1 Pet 4:6). Because of the absence of the word εἰκών some commentators prefer to translate this passage “You were taught… to put on the new man, the one created according to God’s will” (T. K. Abbott, The Epistle to the Ephesians and the Colossians, International Critical Commentary, ed. S. R. Driver, A. Plummer, and C. A. Briggs [Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1897], 138). However, the strong linguistic and theological parallels between Eph 4:22-25 and Col 3:9-12 (where εἰκών is used) have persuaded us to interpret κατὰ θεόν as an allusion to Gen 1:26-27 just as Col 3:9-12 alludes to this same passage. See Barth, Ephesians, 509-10; Ernest Best, Ephesians, International Critical Commentary, ed. J. A. Emerton, C. E. B. Cranfield, and G. N. Stanton (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1998), 436-41; Hoehner, Ephesians, 611; C. F. D. Moule, An Idiom Book of New Testament Greek (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1960), 59.

⁴⁴ The “spirit of the mind” and the “new person” may be taken as roughly synonymous. The mind, or the way of thinking (cf. Philo, Leg. 1.53-55), is changed through the activity of God’s Spirit (Tit 3:5). It is for this reason that Paul closely associates renewal with knowledge in Rom 12:2 and Col 3:10 (see also Eph 1:17-18; 5:15-17; Col 1:27-28; 2:2-3). It is, perhaps, the idea of this renewed inner person which Paul has in mind when he prayers in Eph 3:16-19 that the Ephesians would be strengthened in their inner person (ἔσω ἄνθρωπον), that Christ would indwell their hearts, and that they would be filled with all the fullness of God.

⁴⁵ Eph 4:22-24 presents some interpretive difficulty in that this passage is composed of three infinitives of indirect discourse. The first and third infinitives are aorist (ἀποθέσθαι, ἐνδύσασθαι), while the second infinitive is present (ἀνανεοῦσθαι) – all three relating to the verb ἐδιδάχθητε. The question is whether these infinitives represent imperatives in the original direct discourse, or whether they were indicatives. If the original direct discourse was composed of imperatives then Eph 4:22-24 should be interpreted as “you were taught that you must put off….” But, if the original direct discourse was composed of indicatives then Eph 4:22-24 should be read “you were taught that you have put off….” See Hoehner, Ephesians, 598-602; Wallace, Grammar, 605; Darrell L. Bock, “"The New Man" as Community in Colossians and Ephesians,” in Integrity of Heart, Skillfulness of Hands: Biblical and Leadership Studies in Honor of Donald K. Campbell, ed. Charles H. Dyer and Roy B. Zuck (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1994), 162-63.

The theological difference between these two interpretations is temporal. At the time in which the Ephesians “learned about Christ” had they already put off the old person or was this an action still yet to be accomplished? The answer to this question may also depend upon whether or not the Ephesians were Christian converts at the time of their instruction. The significance for our present topic is whether a person begins the renewal process of their inner person at the moment of conversion or whether it is initiated at some other time. It is clear, however, that by the time Paul wrote this letter he believed that his recipients had already began the process of renewal. The present reality of their transformation can be seen in the use of the aorist participle ἀποθέμενοι (“having put off”), and in Eph 5:8-10, where Paul states that these people “were at one time darkness” but now they are “light in the Lord.”

⁴⁶ A few verses earlier in Eph 4:15 Paul says, “Because we practice (or speak) the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ.”

⁴⁷ The phrase “in righteousness and true holiness” (ἐν δικαιοσύνῃ καὶ ὁσιότητι τῆς ἀληθείας) modifies the participle κτισθέντα, indicating the sphere or quality in which the new person was created. Yet, since the act of creation is associated here with an archetypal model, it is implied that the model also has these characteristics.

⁴⁸ It is possible that Paul connects the image of God to ethics based on a loose interpretation of Gen 9:6. However, the thought processes in Genesis 9:6 and in Paul’s writings are reversed from each other. In the former passage humans are to be treated ethically because they are the image of God. But, in Paul’s thought believers are to treat one another righteously and lovingly because they themselves are becoming like the image of God.

⁴⁹ κατοπτριζω can mean, in the middle voice, “to look at oneself in the mirror; to look at something in the mirror; to contemplate.” Some prefer the meaning “reflect.” See BDAG, 535; Jan Lambrecht, “Transformation in 2 Corinthians 3,18,” in Studies on 2 Corinthians, ed. R. Bieringer and J. Lambrecht, Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium (Leuven: Leuven University Press, 1994), 296-300.

⁵⁰ τὴν δὸξαν κυρίου is most likely the antecedent to τὴν αὐτὴν εἰκόνα. The believer is transformed into the very same image which they behold. Further, the participle κατοπτριζόμενοι is probably causal, expressing the reason for the transformation. Ibid., 298.

⁵¹ συμμόρφος – “having a similar form, nature or style” (BDAG, 958). συμμόρφος plus genitive: “participating in the form of his image” (BDF, 182.1). Cf. Phil 3:10, 21.

⁵² τῆς εἰκόνος τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ. Probably, τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐτοῦ is epexegetically describing τῆς εἰκόνος (“the image which is his son”). James D. G. Dunn, Romans 1-8, Word Biblical Commentary, ed. David A. Hubbard and Glenn W. Baker (Dallas: Word, 1988), 483.

⁵³ Ibid.

⁵⁴ C. E. B. Cranfield, The Epistle to the Romans, vol. 1, The International Critical Commentary, ed. J. A. Emerton, C. E. B. Cranfield, and G. N. Stanton, 2 vols. (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1975), 204-5.

⁵⁵ The eschatological restoration of humanity’s original glorious state can also be found in a small handful of intertestamental references: 4 Ezra 7:95-98; 1 En. 62:16; 90:28-39; 108:13-14.

⁵⁶ That Paul views the image of God as the resurrected Christ, as opposed to the incarnate Christ, can be demonstrated on several points. First, Paul states previously in 8:3 that God sent Christ in the likeness of sinful flesh (perhaps a reference to the image of Adam). Certainly it is not a future life in sinful flesh that we have to look forward to. Rather, Christ died in his sinful flesh so that his body could be redeemed and renewed (8:11). Second, it is within the context of physical restoration and resurrection that people are predestined to share in the image of his son (29a), with the result or purpose that they will become brothers and sisters of him who has already been reborn (note Paul’s use of the word πρωτότοκος, firstborn, within the context of resurrection). Thus, Paul sees the image as the firstborn, resurrected Christ (cf. Col 1:15), whose renewed physical form the elect will take part in (Phil 3:21).

⁵⁷ This textual problem strongly determines how the passage is to be interpreted. If the future indicative (φορέσομεν) is taken then the implied meaning is that the bearing of the heavenly image is a future event (the future bodily resurrection). But, if the aorist subjunctive (φορέσωμεν) is read here then it indicates that Paul is commanding the Corinthians to presently bear the image, probably in a moral and ethical sense.

The future indicative reading is accepted by the vast majority of commentators and translations. It is most strongly supported by internal evidence, with little significant external support (B, I, 6, 1881, cop^sa al sa). The context of the 1 Cor 15:42-49 is clearly concerned with bodily resurrection, and thus an abrupt moral exhortation strikes the reader as being out of place. Further, the conjunction and comparative, καὶ καθώς, which introduces v. 49, seems to connect the thoughts here with those of the preceding argument. Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, 2nd ed. (New York: American Bible Society, 1994), 502.

The aorist subjunctive reading, while difficult contextually, is supported by an overwhelming amount of external evidence (p⁴⁶, א, A, C, D, F, G, Ψ, 075, 0243, 33, 1739, Byz, latt, vg, cop^bo, Ir^lat, Cl, Or^{gr, lat}). Though the subjunctive could be the result of a very early scribal error (A. T. Robertson, A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research [Nashville: Broadman, 1934], 200-201), it is difficult to see how this reading was propagated through most of the major witnesses for all of the textual families. The subjunctive reading is difficult, but not impossible within this context. It does occur at the climax of Paul’s discussion, and it is possible that this exhortation is harkening back to Paul’s earlier command to live righteously because of the coming resurrection (1 Cor 15:33-34). See Gordon D. Fee, The First Epistle to the Corinthians, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, ed. Gordon D. Fee (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988), 787 n. 5.

⁵⁸ Those who hold to this view usually understand the phrase “image of God” as a reference to authority or dominion which has been granted to males alone. Charles Hodge, An Exposition of the First Epistle to the Corinthians (New York: Robert Carter and Brothers, 1857), 210. See also Ronald Trail, An Exegetical Summary of 1 Corinthians 10-16 (Dallas: SIL International, 2001), 71.

⁵⁹ “ὑπάρχων… here perh. in its proper sense, since he is in origin, being so constituted.” Maximilian Zerwick and Mary Grosvenor, A Grammatical Analysis of the Greek New Testament, trans. Mary Grosvenor, 5th revised ed. (Rome: Pontificio Istituto Biblico, 1996), 519. See also A. T. Robertson and Alfred Plummer, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians, 2nd ed., The International Critical Commentary, ed. Samuel Rolls Driver, Alfred Plummer, and Charles Augustus Briggs (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1914), 231.

⁶⁰ “Paul’s own interest, however, is finally not in man as being God’s image, but in his being God’s glory….” Fee, First Corinthians, 515. See also Thiselton, First Corinthians, 834-36.

⁶¹ Hooker, From Adam to Christ, 118-20.

⁶² L.A.E. 12-17.

⁶³ The male inheritance of the imago Dei can be seen in Gen 5:1-3; as well as L.A.E. 37:3; 39:1-3. In later Jewish tradition Eve was also described as a radiant and glorious being, though usually lesser by comparison to Adam (b. B. Bat. 58a; Sib. Or. 1:32-33).

⁶⁴ It is more difficult to suggest, however, that Paul believed that only males possessed the image and that the possession was present at the time he wrote to them. Paul’s argument in 1 Cor 11:1-12 is largely historical, though he brings it into his present social context to strengthen the force of his argument (thus, perhaps Zerwick and Grosvenor are generally correct – see note 59 above). Further, as numerous commentators have pointed out, it may be significant that Paul does not say that women are the “image of man.” Given Paul’s theology elsewhere (Rom 8:29; 2 Cor 3:18; Col 3:10; Gal 3:28) we should favor interpretations of 1 Cor 11:7 which suggest that unredeemed humanity does not possess the image of God presently, nor is the image of God gender exclusive. See Dunn, Christology, 308 n. 31.

1 Cor 11:7 also forces us to ask the question as to whether Paul thought that humans presently possess the image of God, or not. In the other passages we have surveyed it is clear that Paul believed that no human in their unregenerate state possesses the image of God. It is only those people who are renewed through belief in Christ who become present partial- and future full-bearers of the image of God. Thus, though 1 Cor 11:7 may seem to imply that some humans (possibly only males) presently possess the image, this a difficult interpretation to reconcile with Paul’s thought elsewhere.

⁶⁵ Ibid., 105.

⁶⁶ Stanley Grenz, “Jesus as the Imago Dei: Image-of-God Christology and the Non-Linear Linearity of Theology,” JETS 47 (2004): 617.

⁶⁷ For Paul this first transformative resurrection appears to takes place at baptism (Rom 6:4; Col 2:12). However, some commentators are more particular and argue that the first resurrection is an event which takes place, not necessarily at baptism, but rather with the forgiveness of sins (Barth and Blanke, Colossians, 461).

⁶⁸ Becoming “like Christ” is not simply an aphorism of modern Christian pop-theology. In Paul’s thought there is a very real sense in which the Christian is to become like Christ. As Paul discusses this in his letters he is doing more than metaphorically describing behavior change. He perceives that there is an ontological change that begins to take place within a Christian’s “inner person”—a change which results in their assimilation into the nature of Christ’s being. This understanding of Paul’s thought goes far in explaining many of his otherwise cryptic statements about humanity’s relationship to Christ. E.g., “My children, with whom I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you…” (Gal 4:19). “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts” (Rom 13:14). “God wanted to make known to them what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col 1:27). See Hooker, From Adam to Christ, 59-65.

Small Group Bible Studies (meeting in homes or at church) have quickly become one of the primary ways in which Christians find a great combination of fellowship and the study of the Christian life during the week. It is a vital part of most churches’ desire to create balance in their church life. The developers of The Theology Program have intentionally adapted the material in all seven courses of TTP to be used in such an environment. Whatever the make-up of your small group, TTP will add a much needed element of intellectual challenge, while stimulating great discussion that is both practical and penetrating. 

 

 

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