D
DustinQuick
Guest
I think a good way to frame it is like this:
When God created Adam, the Incarnate Christ - the whole person, not just one aspect (free will, rationality, the soul) - was used as the model or pattern for humanity. The first Adam was made in the image of the last Adam. Athanasius and other fathers taught this. Ultimately, the last Adam is the telos of those redeemed in the family of God.
And when angels, or the pre-incarnate Christ appear to people in the bible, it’s as a Man. I think that’s a pretty profound reality. When Ezekiel sees the Holy One, as did Daniel, they saw a man seated on a throne. This is a vision of Christ, who is the image of the invisible God, and that’s the image after which man was made.
I think relegating the image to only certain aspects of humanity is not entirely faithful to the ancient near eastern world of the scriptures. But the whole person as the image - body and soul - is both Christocentric and patristic.
In fact, in the Catechism, Iranaeus is cited as saying the image does not pertain to part of man, but the whole person, including the body.
I think that’s as complete a picture as you can get: the image of God is the incarnate Christ. And Adam was made in His image.
When God created Adam, the Incarnate Christ - the whole person, not just one aspect (free will, rationality, the soul) - was used as the model or pattern for humanity. The first Adam was made in the image of the last Adam. Athanasius and other fathers taught this. Ultimately, the last Adam is the telos of those redeemed in the family of God.
And when angels, or the pre-incarnate Christ appear to people in the bible, it’s as a Man. I think that’s a pretty profound reality. When Ezekiel sees the Holy One, as did Daniel, they saw a man seated on a throne. This is a vision of Christ, who is the image of the invisible God, and that’s the image after which man was made.
I think relegating the image to only certain aspects of humanity is not entirely faithful to the ancient near eastern world of the scriptures. But the whole person as the image - body and soul - is both Christocentric and patristic.
In fact, in the Catechism, Iranaeus is cited as saying the image does not pertain to part of man, but the whole person, including the body.
I think that’s as complete a picture as you can get: the image of God is the incarnate Christ. And Adam was made in His image.