| IMAGE |
An exact and complete copy or counterpart of any thing. Christ is called "the image of God," 2Co 4:4 Col 1:15 Heb 1:3, as being the same in nature and attributes. The image of God in which man was created, Ge 1:27 was in his spiritual, intellectual, and moral nature, in righteousness and true holiness. The posterity of Adam were born in his fallen, sinful likeness, Ge 5:3; and as we have borne the image of sinful Adam, so we should be molded into the moral image of the heavenly man Christ, 1Co 15:47-49 2Co 3:18.
"An image," Job 4:16, was that which seemed to the dreamer a reality. The word sometimes appears to include, with the image, the idea of the real object, Ps 73:20 Heb 10:1. It is usually applied in the Bible to representations of false gods, painted, graven, etc., Da 3:1-30. All use of images in religious worship was clearly and peremptorily prohibited, Ex 20:4,5 De 16:22 Ac 17:16 Ro 1:23. Their introduction into Christian churches, near the close of the fourth century, was at first strenuously resisted. Now, however, they are universally used by Papists: by most in a gross breach of the second commandment, and by the best in opposition to both the letter and the spirit of the Bible, Ex 20:4,5 32:4,5 De 4:15 Isa 40:18-31 Joh 4:23,24 Re 22:8,9.
The "chambers of imagery," in Eze 8:7-12, had their walls covered with idolatrous paintings, such as are found on the still more ancient stone walls of Egyptian temples, and such as modern researches have disclosed in Assyrian ruins. See NINEVEH. |