Bill Cosby has some classic comedy bits, but the ones about parenting have taken on new meaning for me since my girls were born. My favorite line of all is this one:
My father established our relationship when I was seven years old. He looked at me and said, “You know, I brought you into this world, I’ll take you out. And it don’t make no difference to me, I’ll make another one look just like you.”
I have to wonder if Bill Cosby used that last line on his own kids. I have to think he did – most kids resemble their parents – if not in looks, than in mannerisms. As the saying goes: “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
That’s also true of our Heavenly Father. Ever think about that? We were made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27), and even fallen humans still bear the image of their Maker – even if it’s marred or barely recognizable. What does it mean? Obviously, it can’t be looks, since God is spirit (John 4:24).
In the ancient world, “image bearer” was a political term. The image of a king would be put up in lands that he conquered – whether chiseled into pillars or painted on walls – as a reminder of his ownership. Maybe more to the point, the king’s governors and territorial rulers were considered to be “the king’s image,” and so you obeyed them out of respect (or fear) of the power behind the territorial ruler. So if someone came to you as an “image bearer,” the unspoken question would be, “what kind of power is behind this image?”
In ancient Ephesus, one of the most powerful groups in town was the guild of craftsmen who made figurines of Artemis to sell. These little figurines were placed in houses and – like the image of a king in a conquered land – they were treated as if they were truly Artemis herself. When Paul came to town and preached the gospel, his success came at the financial expense of these craftsmen – who rioted (Acts 19:21-41) and then ran Paul out of town. While it was economically damaging to the craftsmen, Paul’s message went beyond that, challenging the very identity of Ephesus. He was forcing the issue. Ultimately, Paul – an image bearer of God – was challenging the power of Artemis and calling her images a fraud. He was saying that the images of her had no power behind them – unlike the power behind Him.
This is the same “foreign policy debate” that is playing out for mankind, and you and I are – like Paul – image bearers. We are Christ’s ambassadors (2 Cor 5:20), and we are sent to stake His rightful claim over this world.
Remember how Paul described life apart from God:
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience…
And then remember how he described all God has done in those He has rescued from that death. He has made you alive (2:5), adopted you into His family (1:5), blessed you with every spiritual blessing (1:3), and given you an inheritance (1:11). If you are in Christ, God is your Father, your Maker. And you are His image bearer.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works
Eph 2:10
As Paul tells the Corinthians:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
2 Cor 5:17
If you have been saved, then the old dead ways in which you used to live are defeated. You are now His image bearer, His representative, as He conquers this lost and dying world. And unlike the images of Artemis, there is no question whether His image has power behind it. As you go into a new week, don’t forget your mission – and don’t forget whose image you bear.
“Enemy-occupied territory—that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us to take part in a great campaign of sabotage.”
— C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
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