Man Making an Image of God

V1 Servant

δοῦλος doulos; from 1210; a slave (literal or figurative, involuntary or voluntary; frequently, therefore in a qualified sense of subjection or subserviency): — bond(-man), servant

V2 He has an earthly lineage. He is the Son of David.

V4 …declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead

He is the Son of God for He is God born of God. He is the Son of man for He is God born of man. He is the only way that man can know God.

Declared- to define to mark out the boundaries or limits (of any place or thing) 1b to determine, appoint

We have to understand that it’s not His death on the cross that declares Him to be the Son of God. All men die:

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Instead, it’s His resurrection from the dead that declares Him to be the Son of God. It proves that His Spirit is the Spirit of holiness.

Boundaries have been determined. He alone is the Son of God. He alone is the one proven to be without sin. While two men walked on earth w out sin, only one man died without sin and robbed the grave of its victory:

1 Corinthians 15:54-55

So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?

V 12 …comforted together

Robertson suggests, "Instead of saying that he had a spiritual gift for them, he wishes to add that they also have one for him." He translates, "That I with you may be comforted," and adds, "My being comforted in you with you, a mutual blessing to each party (you and me)." The word "comfort" usually carries with it the idea of consolation which is not Paul's thought here. The word is sumparakaleo, "to strengthen with others." It is a mutual strengthening, brought about by Paul's ministry among them and their association with him, that the apostle is speaking of. The fellowship of the saints.

V 14  debtor

1 Corinthians 9:16

For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!

V 15 preach the gospel εὐαγγελίζω euaggelizō; from 2095 and 32; to announce good news

V 16 …for it is the power of God unto salvation

1 Corinthians 1:18.                                  2 Corinthians 4:3 lost

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

V 17 in it the righteousness of God ESV

Ch 3 Jesus is God’s righteousness manifested on earth

Ch 4:3 faith allows man to receive God’s righteousness

Imputed

It is like the proffered hand of a drowning man that makes it possible for the life guard to save him. There is nothing meritorious in the act of a drowning man in stretching out his hand in order to be saved. It is the efficient medium through which he is saved. Thus, the act of faith on the sinner's part is not meritorious but only the efficient medium through which God is able save him. The "it" therefore refers to the outstretched hand of faith of a sinner reaching out for salvation that God grasps in His own to lift him out of the mire of sin and place him upon the Rock, Christ Jesus

Ch 5 righteousness give access to grace and is a free gift given by God to man based on faith and made available through the cross

Ch 6 you’re no longer a slave to unrighteousness but a slave of righteousness

Titus 3:5

Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;

Isaiah 64:6

6 But we are all as an unclean thing,

and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags;

and we all do fade as a leaf;

and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

V18 … For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against…

Suppress

to hold back, detain, retain

The idea is there are men who suppress the truth of God’s word. There is an attempt by the powers that be to stop the progress of God’s word and kingdom message.

V 21 …neither were thankful

Obscure: to cover with darkness, to darken

Vain- empty

Imaginations- thinking, reasoning, discussions

God is removed from their thoughts the word thankful is eucharisteo specifically used often to describe a prayer of thanks before a meal. Thankfulness and acknowledgment towards God is a really big deal. Illustration of a farmer and his meat and piece of bread.

They let their minds be empty of Him. He darkened their hearts towards Him

The text is focused on the wicked heart of man, but it would be foolish to forget who is the source of the wickedness that is in the heart of man and that the whole purpose of evil is to steal God’s glory.

V 23 two words in verse 23

1. Glory

2. Image

Glory

This verse is focused on pointing out that the deceitful heart of man is determined to refuse God of His glory, His worship, His honor, His acknowledgement that is due towards Him as the sovereign creator of the universe, the sovereign creator of humanity.

While Satan isn’t mentioned in the passage, we would not be acknowledging the full story if we did not acknowledge the created being that started this thought and placed it into the heart of man.

Isaiah 14:12-14

12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!

how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven,

I will exalt my throne above the stars of God:

I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

Ezekiel 28:2

Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:

Ezekiel 28:15-17

15 Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. 16 By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. 17 Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee.

Image

Ezekiel 8:10

So I went in and saw. And there, engraved on the wall all around, was every form of creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel.

Exodus 32 golden calf both Egypt Apis and Canaan Baal rain-- crops

What did the god Apis do?

Apis brought fertility to crops, virility to Egyptian kings, and protection to the dead. As the Apis bull incarnate in Memphis Egypt, he lived in the temple of Ptah and participated in ceremonies, festivals, and acted as an oracle.

God gave humanity an image to worship

Colossians 1:15

Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

Colossians 1:19-20

19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; 20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

Colossians 2:9-10

9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. 10 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:

V 24 Wherefore God gave them up

to give into the hands (of another)

2 Thessalonians 2:9-12

9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

V 25

…changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator

They worship the creation,  the earth, their humanity, Their identity, their sexuality, they form and fashion a God to their liking that meets the pleasures of their desires and their definition of love.

God's Image

Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

When God says that He made man in His image and after His likeness what do you imagine that means? Do you imagine it means that God looks like a man? Do you imagine that it means that because God is triunity and man is tripartite = divided into or composed of three parts that the connection of the 3 persons of God to the dividing of man into 3 parts is somehow what God meant when He said that He created man in His image?

Or do we believe that in some way before the fall, man was a reflection of God’s glory, sinlessness, His splendor and brightness?

Image— Greek eikon = used of the moral likeness of renewed men to God__ Strong’s

I do know that something changed it all with the fall of man. It’s clear that God is communicating something to us through the fact that He clearly states that

The image of Adam describes the fallen nature of man born of Adam. Does fallen man reflect the glory of God? Can fallen man reflect the glory of God?

Genesis 5:3 And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:

59 times the word image is used in the OT. Approximately 5 times the word is used to describe God’s work and all the other times it’s used to describe man’s work creating graven images that were used as objects of worship and essentially stole God’s glory, because worship belongs to God and God alone.

Deuteronomy 27:15

Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place. And all the people shall answer and say, Amen.

Ezekiel 8:3

And he put forth the form of an hand, and took me by a lock of mine head; and the spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heaven, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the inner gate that looketh toward the north; where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy.

Romans 1:23

And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.

Colossians 1:12-15

12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet [qualified] to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: 14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:

15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

I. Made us qualified through the redemption of His blood which translated us from darkness to light. He has removed us from darkness and into His light. He is the image of God and now in the light, we can reflect His glory.

Colossians 3:5-10

5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: 6 For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: 7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.

8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. 9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; 10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:

II. Renewed in knowledge after the image of Him— renewed mind

Illustration: If you are a believer, and the pulpit is the Lord and I am fornication, adultery, malice, filthy communication, lying…then I am an image, an idol that is in your life and I stand in between you and God and I am in the way of the light of God shining on you and therefore, I am stealing God’s reflection off of your life. When that happens there is less light of God reflecting on to the world from God. Therefore, the night is darker than it should be. As a child of God, you are light. You are not of the night:

Once the water breaks, it’s too late. They were deceived. They thought peace and safety but then it came suddenly.

1 Thessalonians 5:1-10

1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. 3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. 4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. 5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. 7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. 8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. 9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.

2 Corinthians 3:18

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

III. Changed into His image from glory to glory by the Spirit of God

So who is the image of God? Jesus! That is interesting.

2 Corinthians 4:4

In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

Hebrews 1:3

Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

IV. The enemy has a plan to blind the eyes of people from the gospel of Christ, for it is through the gospel of Christ that the image of God is revealed to man’s heart, and it is the Spirit’s work, through the gospel that changes us from glory to glory and moment by moment into the image of God, where we can begin to outwardly reflect what He has placed in us inwardly.

2 Corinthians 4:7

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

Revelation 13:15

And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.