Some great thoughts from Stanley Grenz and John Franke on the relationship between being the image bearers of God and the church community.
“In short, the entire Biblical panorama may be read as presenting the purpose of God as that of bringing into being a people who reflect the divine character and thus are the imago dei. At the eschaton, God will complete what was the divine intention from the beginning and has from the beginning been set forth before us as our human destiny. On that escatological day we will reflect fully the divine image as God’s represenatives after the pattern of Christ.” (Beyond Foundationalism, p. 200)
Now, that’s some meaty stuff. What a beautiful way to see the church, as a community of poeple who reflect the divine character and as a result are the image of God. Man, if our community could only be a true reflection of the image of God!
matt said...
1The only problem with his quote is that on “that escatological day” we won’t need to be Christ’s representatives anymore…
01/14/04 4:08 PM | Comment Link
Todd said...
2Good point, but it might be an issue of semantics…that is, what is is defination of “represenatives.” In the new heaven and new earth, we will finally be restored and “made complete” and we will “represent” (i.e. be examples of and be like) Christ.
I guess the reason I loved this quote so much is beacuse it reminds us that the Biblical story is about how God has “begun a new work and will be faithful to complete it.” That is restore us to the image of God as we were originally intended to be.
If as a people of God (i.e. the chruch) can reflect the image of God (in the midst of our sinfulness) what a beautiful and unstoppable thing it would be…
again and as always, just imperfect thoughts…
01/14/04 9:04 PM | Comment Link
matt said...
3Agree Todd… unstoppable.
01/15/04 7:59 AM | Comment Link