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THE CONCLUSION
OF THE NEW TESTAMENT

MESSAGE THREE HUNDRED SEVENTEEN

EXPERIENCING AND ENJOYING CHRIST
IN THE EPISTLES

(23)

41. The Image of God and the Treasure

Second Corinthians 4:4-7 shows that we may experience and enjoy Christ as the image of God and the treasure. The image of God refers to Christ as our outward expression, whereas the treasure refers to Christ as our inward content. We should bear Christ as the image of God without, and we should have Christ as the treasure within. We need to enter into the rich and full enjoyment of this Christ.

a. The Image of God

In 2 Corinthians 4:4 Paul speaks of “Christ, who is the image of God.” The image of God is a subject that concerns a great many Bible teachers. It is exceedingly difficult to understand and to define the image of God. Twice the New Testament tells us that Christ is the image of God. Aside from the aforementioned verse, Paul refers to Christ as the image of God also in Colossians 1:15. The expression the image of the invisible God implies that although God Himself is invisible, His image is visible. The invisible God has a visible image, and this image is Christ. John 1:18 says, “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” This means that Christ, the only begotten Son of God, came to man to express what God is. Christ being the image of God means that He is the expression of what God is. Although God is invisible, He is expressed by a living person, that is, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This living person as the expression of God is the image of God.

(1) The Illumination of the Gospel of His Glory
Shining in the Believers

In 2 Corinthians 4:4 Paul says that “the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine on them.” This verse indicates that the terms God, image, Christ, glory, gospel, and illumination are all in apposition to one another; thus, they all refer to the same wonderful person. God is the image, the image is Christ, Christ is the glory, the glory is the gospel, and the gospel is the illumination. First, the expression the image of God shows that the image is in apposition to God. God, who is the source, has an image, and this image is simply God Himself. If we see the image of God, we see God; if God disappears, His image disappears as well. Since in verse 4 the image and God are in apposition to each other, they are one. Therefore, the image of God is nothing less than God Himself.

Second, as we have pointed out, the image of God is Christ. As the image of God, Christ is the expression of the invisible God. Third, Christ is the glory. This is confirmed by Hebrews 1:3, which says that Christ is the effulgence of God’s glory. Fourth, Christ, the glory, is the gospel. Acts tells us that the believers preached Christ Jesus as the gospel (5:42; 8:35; 11:20; 17:18). This shows that the gospel is not something separate from Christ; rather, Christ is the gospel. Today some Christians in their preaching separate the gospel from Christ. But according to the divine revelation in the Bible, the gospel is a living person, Christ. Christ who is the gospel is the image of God, and the image of God is God. Therefore, the gospel is God Himself embodied and expressed in Christ.

Fifth, the gospel is the illumination, the enlightenment. The gospel is the gospel of the glory of Christ, which illuminates, radiates, and shines in the heart of man. When the gospel came to us, it came to us by shining, and this shining brought into us Christ, who is the image of the processed Triune God. As a result, Christ, the living person, was illuminated into our being. Many believers can testify that when they heard Christ as the gospel, a certain impression of Christ entered into them. Although they may try to reject this impression of Christ or erase it from their being, they cannot do it. Once the impression of Christ is illuminated into us, it remains within us forever. This illumination is the gospel, this gospel is the glory, this glory is Christ, Christ is the image of God, and as such, Christ is God. Therefore, what has been illuminated into our being is a living person, the Triune God embodied in Christ, who is the image, the expression, of God.

Furthermore, we need to see that the gospel of the glory of Christ first shines into us, and then it shines out from within us. The more the glory shines within us, the more it penetrates into our being and saturates it. Eventually, the inner glory will consume, swallow up, our entire inward being. Then the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ will shine out through us. Such a shining cannot come by way of teaching; it can come only through the experience of Christ who is Himself the glory of God and the manifestation of God. We praise the Lord that Christ has shone into the depths of our being, that now He is shining within us, and that He will shine throughout our inward being. Therefore, we need to pay attention to the inner shining of Christ as the glory within. The goal of God’s economy is that we all shine forth His glory. As we are under such a shining, Christ saturates us with Himself, and we enjoy the sweetness of Christ living in us to be our life and our person.


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Conclusion of the New Testament, The (Msgs. 306-322)   pg 35