Several times in our discussion I sensed disagreement with one image idea I
referred to repeatedly. I summarized this position in a message dated
3/3/98 5:21:22 PM:
<If Christ restores the broken image (Paul) and, also according to Paul,
Christ restores what Adam broke, then what happens to the theory that there
were pre-Adamic image bearers?>
The sticking point seems to be the claim that Paul teaches Christ restores
that which Adam broke. I shall assume here the doctrine of original sin,
although it seems not everyone in this group is willing to make that
assumption. (I think Romans 5:12-19 is one of the places that the Bible
assumes original sin and shows how it is removed.)
Now I'll quote a few New Testament passages (all NIV) in which the word
_eikon_ (image or likeness) is used by Paul. (It's the same word, for
example, that appears in all three synoptic Gospels when Christ asks whose
_image_ and superscription is on this coin.)
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Col. 3:9-10. ...since you have taken off your old self with its practices
and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the
_image_ of its Creator.
The change from "old self" to "new self" seems indicate the transition from
the "old Adam" to the "new Adam."
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Rom 8:29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the
_likeness_ of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
As Christ takes away our sin, we receive his image--the image that had been
broken.
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1 Cor 15:49 And just as we have borne the _likeness_ of the earthly man, so
shall we bear the _likeness_ of the man from heaven.
The "earthly man," Adam, was created in God's image but harmed that image.
Christ, the "man from heaven," once again gives us the unharmed image of
God.
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2 Cor 3:18 And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory,
are being transformed into his _likeness_ with ever-increasing glory, which
comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
That transformation is the process of sanctification, completed at the end
of our lives, when we will once again bear the untainted image of God.
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Thanks for listening!
Russ
Russell Maatman
e-mail: rmaat@mtcnet.net
Home: 401 5th Avenue
Sioux Center, IA 51250