The Image of the Invisible God
The United States Secret Service is most commonly known for its protection of our nation’s president. However, it was originally founded in 1865 to identify and eradicate counterfeit currency. This is still a significant component of their responsibility today. The Secret Service trains banks and law enforcement agencies internationally to detect counterfeit currency, and has published a short pamphlet entitled Know Your Money, which highlights each security feature of U.S. bills in order to help the reader discern between real and fake currency. Their rationale: the more familiar you are with what is real, the better equipped you will be to identify what is fake. The Apostle Paul uses the same rationale in his letter to the Colossians. Since false teaching affected the church at the time, he focused their attention on Jesus, rather than on the heresy attempting to infiltrate the church. To protect and promote their spiritual well-being, he showed them the real, glorious Savior, so they would be able to identify and reject falsehood.
The glory of this preeminent, all-sufficient Savior is what we find described for us in Colossians 1:15, which begins with the words, “He is the image of the invisible God” (NKJV). Because He is a spirit, God does not have a body, though the Bible does speak as if He has the parts of a body. This is what theologians call anthropomorphism—using human references to help us better understand characteristics of God. Though there is nothing physical about God, He is a real and substantive being, but at the same time, He cannot be touched or seen by any of His creatures. He is spiritual, which makes Him invisible.
How, then, can we know the invisible God? We can only know God as He reveals Himself to us. Like an x-ray machine enables us to see the bones that are hidden from view within our bodies, we need something that will enable us to “see” the invisible God. Jesus is our x-ray machine! Although God has made Himself known to us in the created world (Psalm 19:1), and especially in the written Word (2 Timothy 3:16), we have the greatest revelation of God in His Son, because Jesus is “the image of the invisible God”. Literally, He is the icon (or picture) of God. Therefore, when you look at Jesus you see God.
The reason Jesus shows you what you would not otherwise be able to behold of the Almighty is because the Son is one with the Father (John 10:30). As the second person of the trinity, Jesus is equal to the Father in power and glory. This was true of Him in eternity past and it will always be true of Him, including when He lived on earth as the God-Man. With two distinct natures in one person, Jesus was (and is) fully God and fully man. He never set aside His deity in order to take on humanity, but remained divine. As a result, Jesus was God during His earthly life and ministry, and He revealed God to us.
First, Jesus appeared to us in His incarnation. Then, through His teaching and preaching, His healing and miracles, and His character and conduct, Jesus continued to make God visible to us. The Apostle John writes, “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” (John 1:18 NKJV) This means our understanding of God should never conflict with our understanding of Jesus, and vice versa. There are no contradictions between the two.
We know that God is righteous, merciful, and all-powerful, because we read in the gospel accounts that Jesus hates sin, that He is eager and willing to help those in need, and has all power to heal sickness, raise the dead, and provide the forgiveness of sin. Jesus is not just the image of the invisible God, but a perfect and complete image.
This is why Paul wanted the Colossians to pursue Christ—not the alternative, so-called ways of knowing and experiencing God that false teachers promoted, like asceticism and Jewish legalism. If Jesus is the image of God, He is all you need to know God intellectually, as well as personally and redemptively. Therefore, if Jesus is the image of the invisible God, we must learn from Him and worship Him.
Instead of charting your own course, or idolizing people or things here on earth, you need to look at Jesus in the Scriptures and learn from Him. He will teach you truth about God and help you live in accordance with it. Do you want to know God as He really is? Do you want to know God and be in a saving relationship with Him? Do you want your life to reflect His will and be pleasing to Him, rather than invite His chastisement or eternal judgment? If so, the only way is through Jesus. Will you look to Jesus and learn from Him?
Also, if Jesus is the image of the invisible God, then you should worship Him as God. Jesus is the Holy One; He is not to be relegated to the outer parts of your life, but He is to have first place in your life. He is not to be an afterthought, but always your first thought. In everything, He is to be supreme and preeminent, never secondary or peripheral. He deserves your praise and your service. In your desires, thoughts, words, and actions, you are to pursue all that aligns with His commands in Scripture. Since He is God, then He must be treated as God by you and by others. If you’re honest with yourself, who do you worship? Who determines what you believe and how you live? Upon whom do you rely when things get tough?
Jesus is the image of the invisible God. Stop and think about that today, so that you take it to heart and are duly affected - so that you learn from Jesus and worship Him.
