MAN, GOD’S IMAGE!! (Part 1)

Text: Colossians [Shows “Christ our very Life”].

·        Colossians 3:9-10: “Lie not one to another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds”:  vs 10: “And have put on the new man that is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him”.

Colossae is a city of Phrygia in Asia Minor.  It was destroyed by an earthquake about 65 A.D., during the reign of Nero, and was rebuilt.

Colossians was written from Rome about 64 A.D and sent with Ephesians and Philemon by Tychicus.  He was a Christian, faithful minister, and fellow worker of Paul (Ephesians 6:21). 

Colossians is about freedom from the law, all outward forms of religion, rituals, human philosophies, and false mysticism, and complete and real union with Christ in life and conduct.  Paul contends that we died with Christ, and that ordinances, rituals, dead forms of religion, observance of Sabbaths, holy days, and mystical rites are of no use to dead persons. 

·        Ephesians 2:1: And you hath he quickened (made alive), who were dead (past tense) in trespasses and sins; vs 6: And hath (present tense), raised us up together, and made us sit together (already) in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Practical holiness is shown to spring from truth and faith, and walking in the light (Colossians 1:23; 2:6-7; 3:11-17), by coming to know our Creator!

So, our theme scripture says:  Colossians 3:9-10: “Lie not one to another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds; and have put on the new (ne’os) [regenerate] (reformed; reborn; converted; made over; revived) man, which is renewed (anakaino’o) [renovated] in knowledge,  (epig’nosis) [recognition, full discernment, acknowledgement] after the image of him that created him”.

The “old man”, is the pala’ios (antique; former; ancient) man.  This is the natural (psuchikos’) [sensitive; irrational] man.  He’s driven by his senses, what he sees, hears, feels, tastes, and smells, or by outside sources.  This natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned, as spoken of in 1^st Corinthians 2:14. 

Man is yet able, to put off this “old man” by “renewing” (renovating [redeveloping; reconstructing] his mind (nous) [intellect; thoughts; feelings or will; understanding]. 

·        Romans 12:2: Be ye transformed (changed) by the renewing of your mind. 

When this happens the man is made new (ne’os), because he is now regenerated [reformed; reborn; converted; made over; revived].  He now is renewed in knowledge (epig’nosis), because he/she has come to know, discern clearly, and acknowledge the God that created them, as to who He is in them, and who they are in Him.

·        2^nd Corinthians 5:17: If any man be in Christ, he is a NEW (kainos’) [freshness] (unused; healthy; vigorous; rested; unfatigued; brisk; keen; revived; restored) creature (creation); old things are passed away, behold, all things are become NEW (fresh; revived; restored).

Ephesians 2:15: Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one NEW man.

The NEW MAN in 2^nd Corinthians 5:17 and Ephesians 2:15, is the kainos’ man, the man that is fresh (unused; healthy; vigorous; rested; unfatigued; brisk; keen; restored).  But the NEW MAN in Colossians 3:10 is the ne’os man, the regenerate (reformed; reborn; converted; made over] man.  This new birth has made him a proceeding (continuous; progressive; advancing; ongoing) man.  If he’s ongoing that makes him/her immortal and incorruptible!

·        1^st John 3:9: He that is born (genna’o) [regenerated] of God doth not commit sin, because his seed remains in him and he cannot sin because he is born (regened) of God!

Biologically, the gene is a unit of heredity which is transferred from a parent to offspring and is held to determine some characteristic of the offspring.  We are God’s offspring.  Acts 17:28: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, “For we are also his offspring” (gen’os) [kin; stock; kind (red); generation (ratio of genes)].

He that is free from sin is free from death, because Jesus conquered sin and death! 

·        Romans 8:2: For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.  Vs 3: For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:  Vs 4: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

MAN, GOD’S IMAGE!  

What is an image?  In our text Colossians 3:10, image is from the root word ei’kon (ikone’), which is a likeness [the same]; form; copy (duplicate; replica); portrait; statue (figure as of a person); profile, or representation (likeness; picture).

·        Philippians 2:5-6: Let this mind be in you, which was also, in Christ Jesus; who being in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Vs 7: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him, the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.  Vs 8: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

For Jesus to deliver man, He had to become what man was, and that was flesh!  St. John 1:1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God:  vs 14: And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

Matthew 8: 16-17: When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils:  and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:  vs 17: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, “Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses”.

Hebrews 4:15: We have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Form, in both verses in Philippians 2:5, 7, is the Greek root word, morphe’, meaning the idea of adjustment of parts; shape; nature. 

Jesus being in the form of God was Him showing forth His humanity being in the form of a servant as a man, even though in His DEITY, He was still God!!  But His being in the form of God was also because He had the mind of His Father.  He had to have the Father’s mind to do what He was sent to do. 

Jesus said: John 10:30: I and my Father are one.  Then in John 14:7-11 [Philip is questioning Jesus about His Father]: 

·        Vs 9: Jesus said unto him, “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip”?  He that hath seen me hath seen the Father:  and how say thou then, show us the Father”?  Vs 10: Believe thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me?  The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself:  but the Father that dwells in me, he doeth the works.  Vs 11: Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me:  or else believe me for the very works sake.

So Jesus being in the form of God showed forth both aspects:  He was God in flesh form, and He had His Father’s mind working through Him with the ability to walk in the dominion, power, authority, wisdom, and knowledge of God!!

Back to “man, God’s image”:

·        Genesis 1:26: And God (Elohiym) 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 creeps upon the earth”.  Vs 27: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

When God created, He called that which wasn’t, into what it became.  That which is “made” is made from that which was created.  When He made man He already had something in place that He could work with. 

·        Genesis 1:24, And God (Elohiym) said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind”, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind”:  and it was so.

Man was amongst the living creatures, and the vision Prophet Ezekiel was given, supports this.

·        Ezekiel 1:4: And I looked, and behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the color of amber, out of the midst of the fire.  Vs 5: Also out of the midst thereof came the likeness of four living creatures.  And this was their appearance; they had the likeness of a man.  Vs 10: As for the likeness of their faces, they four had the face of a man, and the face of a lion on the right side:  and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; they four also had the face of an eagle.

These four faces Ezekiel saw, was in the man, which are the manifestations of the personality of man.  The face of a man (heart/spirit):   the face of a lion (soul/emotions):  the face of an ox (body strength):   the face of an eagle (mind).

This is also what John saw in Revelation 4:7, in relation to the four living creatures.

Man in Ezekiel 1:5, 10, is from the root word adam (aw-dawm’), meaning to be ruddy; a human being (an individual or the species, mankind):  Adam; hypocrite; common sort; low; man, men, person(s).  But, it goes to another root word adam (aw-dam’), meaning, to show blood (in the face); flush or turn rosy:  dyed red; ruddy. 

This is the same definition of man in Genesis 1:26, the man (male/female) that God made in his image after his likeness, who also was a living creature.

Living is the Hebrew root word chay (khah’ee) meaning, to be alive; raw (flesh); living thing; company; multitude; congregation.  Then it goes to another word chayah’, meaning, to live; revive; make alive; give life; nourish up; preserve (live); quicken; recover; repair; restore (to life); save (alive); be whole.   

Creature is the root word ne’phesh, meaning a breathing creature, animal of vitality; (fig) sense (bodily or mentally):  soul; life; person; mind; heart; body; man; dead; desire; appetite; beast; greedy; lust; breath; mortally.  It’s also from the root word naphash’, meaning, to breathe; to be breathed upon; refreshed.

This company, multitude, or congregation of living creatures (ne’phesh), were people with a body that contained a heart, soul, and mind, but they were dead, because their desires, appetites, and lusts were of a beastly nature, that was geared toward mortality.  They were of low degree or of a common sort, with no status (standing; rank) in the earth.  But these creatures needed the naphash’, to be breathed upon and refreshed by the ru’wach, the Spirit, wind, or breath of God the Creator that would revive, give life, nourish up, preserve (alive), quicken, recover, repair; restore their souls (to life), so they could be made whole.

In Genesis 1:26-27, this was a people out of a people, composed of both male and female that God made in His own image, and after His likeness, that were called Adam.

·        Genesis 5:1: This is the book of the generations of Adam.  In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him:  vs 2: Male and female created he them:  and blessed them, and called their name Adam, in the day when they were created.

This lets me know that these people, that God created in His own image and after His likeness were already in existence.  They were governed by raw flesh, of a natural state, without yet going through any process of change.

Let’s go back to the definition of man in Genesis 1:26.  He was a hypocrite, of common sort, or of low degree.  This means that he had no status (standing; rank; position) in the earth, until God got hold of him and made him in His image, after His likeness!!  And God did this by His Spirit! 

·        Genesis 1:1: In the beginning God created, the heaven and the earth.  Vs 2c: And the Spirit of God moved upon the face (countenance; fore-front; within; person) of the waters.

These waters were not the Atlantic or the Pacific Ocean, nor the Mediterranean, but they were people.  Revelation 17:15: And he said unto me, “The waters which thou saw, where the whore sits, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues”.

Spirit in Hebrew is ru’wach, meaning, wind; breath; a sensible exhalation; life; a rational being; mind; spiritual; to blow; breathe; to smell or perceive (to anticipate; enjoy):  accept; smell (to discern); touch; make of quick understanding.

In Genesis 1:24, the earth brought forth “man” as a living creature with a body containing a soul, a spirit and mind in it.  This man the living creature that the earth brought forth, in 1^st Corinthians is called “earthy”.

·        1^st Corinthians 15:47: The first man is of the earth, earthy:  the second man is the Lord from heaven.

Earth in this verse means soil; a region or the solid part or the whole of the terrene globe (incl the occupants); earth as arable (suitable for plowing).  God brought man from death to life and from darkness to light!   God knew that once He plowed into “man’s earth” (his body), and plant His seed (His Word) in that earth man, it would reproduce and bring forth a God-man with His life, wisdom, knowledge, immortality, dominion and power in it!!

EARTHY is the root word choikos’) meaning dusty or dirty (soil-like).  It also means cho’os, which is a heap (as poured out); rubbish; dust. 

Dust in Genesis 2:7 is aphar’, meaning dust (as powdered or gray); clay, earth, rubbish.

That’s what this “living creature” (man) was, being “of the earth, earthy”.  He was a heap as poured out, dust (gray – the color of death), rubbish, sensitive and of a frail state, of low degree, until God (Elohiym) made (asah’) [prepared; dressed; advanced; appointed; brought him forth; furnished; fashioned]  him (male and female) in His own image after His likeness with God mindedness in them and gave them a command to subdue (bring under their control) and have dominion (rule; reign) over the earth.

·        Genesis 1:28: And God blessed them and God said unto them, “Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it:  and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moves upon the earth”.

So God created and made (prepared; dressed; appointed; furnished) man (male and female) in His image, after His own likeness by reviving “the man” (Adam/male & female), nourishing them up; preserving, repairing, making them whole (complete and entire) in every area, of their being (heart, soul, mind, and body), with God’s own vitality or life source in them and advanced them into a place of dominion, power and authority, in and over the earth. 

This dominion over the earth is not just God’s people having supremacy, rule, lordship, authority and power in creation over the physical earth that we walk on, but He has also given us dominion, authority and power over the earth (flesh body) we live in, this sensitive, frail, and mortal man, the first man we came to know.  The “first man or old man” that fear, poverty, misery, ignorance, sickness, disease and death wants to control.  Whatever tries to creep up on our earth (body) in any form of negativity that’s opposite of God, our Heavenly Father has given us authority and power over the works of it!!!  Therefore we must allow the second man, the Lord from heaven to reign over that first man (Adam nature) and bring him under subjection to the CHRIST man that we now are become!! 

·        1^st Corinthians 15:22: For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive).

·        Luke 10:19: Behold, I give unto you power (exousi’a) ability [privilege; force; capacity; competency; freedom; mastery; token of control; delegated influence; potentate; superhuman; jurisdiction; right; liberty; strength] to tread (pate’o) [trample under foot] on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy:  and nothing shall by any means hurt (adike’o) [to be unjust; do wrong (morally; socially; physically) you.

These serpents do not crawl on their belly, nor do these scorpions have many legs, but they walk around on two feet, which is a type of sly malicious people, preaching death in their messages.   Matthew 23:1-39 [Jesus pronounces woes upon the Scribes and Pharisees and said]:  vs 33: You serpents, you generation of vipers, how can you escape the damnation of hell?

I choose to believe Jesus’ report, and He said, John 8:31: “If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed”:  vs 32: “And you shall know the truth and the truth would make you free”.

Let us believe, accept, walk and live with the understanding, that we are the image of God now, in the earth!  1^st John 4:17: As he is, so are we, in this world!

Pastor Gracie Perry