NOT KNOWN BY GNOTICISM

NOT KNOWN BY GNOTICISM

 

 

From all eternity there existed the image of the invisible God in the second person of the Godhead. That is the sense of the words to the Colossians, "Who is the image of the invisible God" (Col. 1:15). This was Paul's attempt to offset the subtle inroads of Gnosticism which were threatening to catapult the Church right back into the pagan darkness from which they had been rescued by the preaching of the gospel.

1.     The purpose of Gnosticizing was to demean and depreciate the person of Christ. The word Gnosticism means knowledge and those who endorsed it were the knowers. They purported to be on the inside in possession of the deeper truths. By means of combining a species of oriental mysticism, Old Testament legalism, and paganism with the Christian faith, they demoted Christ to the level of a mere creature and exalted angelic creatures above Him. Worship was then directed to angels (Col. 2:18), and the performance of works became the way of salvation (Col. 2:16-17), and as a result men were cut off from Christ the head (Col. 2:19). So the apostle strikes at the heart of the matter, declaring that Christ is the image of the invisible God, is higher in position than any creature, and is Himself the Creator (Col. 1:15-17).

2.     In the person of Christ is the image of the invisible God. He is the second person of the triune God and in Him dwells all fullness (Col. 1:19). Every attribute in the Father is also in the Son, both quantitatively and qualitatively. For He is "the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person" (Heb. 1:3), brightness referring to the quantitative breadth of attributes, and express image defining the qualitative value of each attribute. He is therefore the exact image of the Father. This fact makes it perfectly clear that there would be no value in knowing the Father as over against the Son, for they are coextensive and coequal. But it also makes clear that in the event that men con­front the Son, it would be unwise to bypass Him in order to get to the Father.

3.       In function, Christ is the appointed medium of revelation of God to all created intelligences. That is the sense of the words, "the image of the invisible God." "All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knows the Son, but the Father; neither knows any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him" (Matt. 11:27). As the exact image of God, the Son has been that person of the Godhead through whom God always works in revelation. In His pre-incarnate state God always revealed Himself through Him. It was Christ who spoke to Moses out of the burning bush (Exod. 3:6, 13; John 8:58). The angel of Jehovah who appeared to Hagar (Gen. 21:17), to the parents of Sam­son (Judges 13:2-3), and watched over the people of Israel (Isa. 63:9) was none other than Christ (cf. Judges 13:15-18 and Isa. 9:6; name Wonderful for both). He is that messenger (angel) of the covenant who will eventually in the plan of God take upon Him humanity to make full revelation of God (Mal. 3:1).

4.       The climax in the unfolding of God's plan to make full revelation of Himself to men was to bring this image within the grasp of men. This is alluded to in the statement which follows in Col. 1:15. Christ is not only "the image of the invisible God," but He is also "the firstborn of every creature." By incarna­tion He was joined to the creation of which He is the Creator. He became man. He did not cease to be all that He was as God, namely, "the image of the invisible God," but in addition He has now taken on human flesh, and is in every respect also a true man. But His relationship to creation stands in a class all by itself. He is the "firstborn." While this word carried an original significance of priority in time, its very usage has changed and it has come to mean priority in position (2 Chron. 26:10; Psa. 89:27). Though united to creation by incarnation, yet He is higher in position than any creation, and the two verses which follow support this explanation (Col. 1:17, 19). This means that the image of the invisible God is now within the grasp of men, and yet at the same time retains every element and value as a revelation of God.