The theology of Christ as the true and fullest image of God is closely linked to Paul’s
teaching concerning a new community of believers who are being transformed into the imago
Christi. Thus, the new humanity, the church, uniquely shares in the divine image through participation in Christ. This distinguishes the community of believers from universal
humanity, whom Paul presumably believes have been created according to the image and likeness of God.99 Yet for Paul, just as Israel was set apart via the old covenant that was
established by the promises and the law, the church is likewise set apart via the new covenant that is established by Jesus Christ and enlivened by the Spirit. Paul incorporates this
ecclesiological designation into four texts: Rom 8:28-30, 1 Cor 15:49, 2 Cor 3:18, and Col 3:9-10.100 Within the larger context of each text, Paul modifies and extends the imago Dei
designation by maintaining that believers are being transformed into the imago Christi. These two designations, Christ as the image of God and believers as the image of Christ, are fused through literary and linguistic affinities that effectively link Paul’s Christology with his ecclesiology. In both instances, Paul has developed a signature theological motif that is unique in the NT. In each of these texts, the theme is clear: those who have been incorporated into Christ by the Spirit are in the process of being collectively transformed into the image of Christ. This has present and eschatological implications.101
(a) Rom 8:28-30
Romans 8:28-30 occurs within a larger unit (8:18-30) that is considered by many scholars to be the climax to an extended discussion beginning at least in 5:1. Some scholars suggest that the strong semantic and theological coherence of creation themes in Rom 1 and 8 functions as a framework for all of Rom 1-8.102 One initial theme of Rom 8:1-17 is the comparison of the
‘law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus’ with the ‘law of sin and death’ (Rom 8:2). Paul then develops the comparison between ‘life in the Spirit’ and ‘life in the flesh’ (8:3-17), with verse ---
99 It is impossible to know whether Paul affirms this given that 1 Cor 11:7 is the only text that references Gen
1:26-28 in this way, albeit in a modified form of the original.
100 Like Col 1:15-20, Col 3:9-10 is included here with the acknowledgement that it may have been written later
by someone within the Pauline school.
101 Kittel, “ει’κω'ν,” TDNT, 2:392-397 (397).
102 See for example, Kraftchick who outlines all of the creation themes and motifs of Rom 1-8, S. Kraftchick,
9 standing as a unique text as it is the only reference in Paul to the ‘Spirit of Christ’ (πνευñμα Χριστουñ; cf. 1 Pet 1:11). R. Jewett identifies two key features of this verse. First, it
emphatically affirms that the possession of the Spirit is a precondition of belonging to Christ; and second it affirms that, in light of Paul’s use of a second-person plural address, a
community is implied: ‘God’s Spirit dwells “among,” “within,” or “in the midst of” (ε’ν) the congregation, rather than merely within the heart of individuals’.103
Building toward the pneumatic high point of this text, Paul correlates the groaning of creation with the groaning of humanity: ‘We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies’ (8:22-23; cf. 2 Cor 5:4-5).104 This text assures readers that even in the midst of
suffering, they have already received the firstfruits of the Spirit; this down-payment becomes the hope of full ‘adoption as sons’ and ‘the redemption of our bodies’ (8:23).
Paul continues pursuing the theme of the Spirit and the church in the text of interest for this section, Rom 8:28-30:
28 Οι»δαμεν δε` ο«τι τοιñς α’γαπωñσιν το`ν θεο`ν πα'ντα συνεργειñ ει’ς α’γαθο'ν, τοιñς κατα` προ'θεσιν κλητοιñς ουòσιν. 29 ο«τι ου‹ς προε'γνω, και` προω'ρισεν συμμο'ρφους τηñς ει’κο'νος τουñ υι‘ουñ αυ’τουñ, ει’ς το` ειòναι αυ’το`ν πρωτο'τοκον ε’ν πολλοιñς α’δελφοιñς· 30 ου‹ς δε` προω'ρισεν, του'τους και` ε’κα'λεσεν· και` ου‹ς ε’κα'λεσεν, του'τους και` ε’δικαι'ωσεν· ου‹ς δε` ε’δικαι'ωσεν, του'τους και` ε’δο'ξασεν (Rom 8:28- 30).
After declaring the shared knowledge ‘that God works in everything for good for those who love them’ (8:28), Paul includes two resonant verses that rhetorically build to a climax via a string of eight aorist indicative verbs. The first three verbs include the suffix προ' indicating God’s predetermined divine plan (προγινω'σκω, προορι'ζω (2x)),105 whereas the following five
verbs outline the historical acts of God in history (καλε'ω (2x), δικαιο'ω (2x), δοξα'ζω). The
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103 R. Jewett, Romans: A Commentary (Hermeneia; Minneapolis: Fortress, 2007), 489.
104 For an analysis of these themes, see for example, Jewett, Romans, 474–503; R. N. Longenecker, “The Focus
of Romans: The Central Role of 5:1–8:39 in the Argument of the Letter,” in Romans & the People of God:
Essays in Honor of Gordon D. Fee on the Occasion of His 65th Birthday (S. K. Soderlund and Wright N. T.;
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), 49–69; J. A. Fitzmyer, Romans (AB; New York: Doubleday, 1992), 479– 502.
105 Note the connection of these first three verbs with προ'θεσις in 8:28 and see the discussion of Paul’s broader
language in these verses thus binds the church to the predetermined and eternal purposes of God through their conformity to the image of Christ.
Many features of this text could be investigated further, yet here my main inquiry concerns Paul’s use of the phrase και` προω'ρισεν συμμο'ρφους τηñς ει’κο'νος τουñ υι‘ουñ αυ’τουñ in verse 29. By using an aorist verb in this way, Paul clearly points to a preordained plan of God that believers are to be transformed into the image of God’s son and he conveys this by using the relatively rare term συ'μμορφος which has its closest parallels in Phil 3:10 and 1 Cor 15:49. As an adjective followed by a genitive, this term takes on a more substantive force with the sense of a realized transformation into a nature that is similar in form to the Son and that is at least partially realized in the present.106 The current presence of the Spirit as the
firstfruits is the assurance of a future full transformation. It seems likely that in making this statement, Paul is drawing from the OT tradition, particularly Gen 1:26-27 and Ps 8:6-7 and as Jewett suggests extends ‘the restoration of sovereignty and glory to all those conforming to Christ’s image’.107 Moreover, as McDonough observes, ‘Romans 8:29 provides an interesting
analogue to Col. 1:15, since here we also find ει’κω'ν and πρωτο'τοκος together’.108 Certainly,
these terms parallel the language in Colossians (Col 1:13, 15, 18) and Ps 89:28 (LXX 88:28), yet the sovereign kingship motifs present in Col 1 are not as explicit in Rom 8.109 In light of
this, Colin Gunton’s comment perhaps more accurately reflects the intent of Rom 8:29: ‘First that Jesus represents God to the creation in the way that the first human beings were called, but failed, to do; and second that he enables other human beings to achieve the directedness to God of which their fallenness has deprived them’.110
In an analogous way to Col 1:15-20, the focus here is on Christ as the originating source (πρωτο'τοκος) of the new community.111 The series of verbs (e.g., predestined, called,
set right, and glorified) confirm the status of this community as being set apart and uniquely
--- 106 BAGD, 958.
107 Jewett, Romans, 529.
108 McDonough, Christ as Creator, 183. 109 Ibid.
110 Gunton, Christ, 100.
111 Jewett, Romans, 529. See also, L. Morris, The Epistle to the Romans (PNTC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
transformed into the image of Christ. S. Grenz suggests that this text ‘expresses the Christological intent of God’s foreordination, namely, the pre-eminence of Christ among those who participate in the eschatological resurrection. The designation of these as Christ’s
adelphoi indicates the communal interest of the text, which makes Rom. 8.29 as the final
exegesis of Gen. 1.26-27’.112
Romans 8:23 reflects the anticipation of the eschatological redemption of mortal bodies. Joel White nicely summarizes how Rom 8:23 fits into the realized eschatology of the remainder of chapter 8:
The point of Rom 8.23 would then be that, since believers have the Spirit who raised Christ from the dead (cf. Rom. 8.11; this explains the genitivus
auctoris) and indeed have witnessed the beginning of the resurrection in
Christ, they long for its completion, namely the ‘liberation’ of their own mortal bodies. Understood in this way, the implication of Paul’s argument in Rom. 8.19-23 is that the resurrection of Christ has set eschatological new creation in motion and that, as a result, both the cosmos and believers long to experience its ultimate fulfillment.113
This larger discussion in Romans 8 particularly helps to clarify the focus of 1 Cor 15:49 to which I now turn.
(b) 1 Cor 15:49
Given that I have already established the broader contours of this text (§3.2 and §4.3.2), here I am primarily interested in the textual variant for the verb φορε'ω in 1 Cor 15:49. Because of uncertainty over the mood of φορε'ω, there exists some question among scholars whether the status of ‘bearing the image of the one of heaven’ is reserved for the future or whether it might also be relevant to the present. the text is found in two forms: a future indicative or aorist subjunctive.114
As I have already noted (§4.3.2), Paul presents Christ and Adam here as representative figures with the titles ‘the first human’ and ‘the second human’. All humanity is said to bear
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112 S. Grenz, “The Social God and the Relational Self,” in Trinitarian Soundings in Systematic Theology (ed.
P.L. Metzger; New York: T & T Clark, 2005), 87–100, (91).
113 J. White, “Paul’s Cosmology: The Witness of Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Galatians,” in Cosmology
And New Testament Theology (ed. J. T. Pennington and S. M. McDonough; LNTS; New York: T & T Clark,
2008), 90–106 (104).
114 The future indicative φορε'σομεν has a much weaker textual witness supported by B and a few minuscules (B
I 6. 630. 945. syrp copsa), than the subjunctive φορε'σωμεν (P46א A C D F G Ψ 075. 0243. 33. 1739 latt bo;
‘the image of the man of dust’ and believers are identified as those ‘who will bear [or let us bear] the image of the man of heaven’. Although the textual witness supports the subjunctive rendering, virtually all translations have chosen the future indicative.115 Fee sharply disagrees
with this translation decision on textual and contextual grounds: ‘They [the Corinthians] are being urged to conform to the life of the “man of heaven” as those who now share his character and behavior. . . . Thus, we have another expression of Paul’s “already/not yet” eschatological framework’.116 In a similar vein, Hays suggests that the subjunctive reading is
an exhortation for Paul’s readers ‘to look to the coming one, Jesus Christ, as the source and hope of transformation, rather than looking to their own wisdom or to some alleged primal divine image within’.117
Both Hays and Fee present reasonable cases for a subjunctive reading, particularly because this reading is supported by the bulk of the textual witness; nevertheless, the context of the unit seems to suggest otherwise which aligns with the majority of scholars who identify the future indicative tense as the preferred reading. This interpretation is based on the broader context of the text, which indicates that Paul’s underlying question here is related to the nature of, and distinction between, the ‘earthy’ and ‘spiritual’ bodies. Paul’s concern with distinguishing between ‘types of bodies’ supports a future indicative reading, given that
spiritual bodies will only be manifest in the future resurrection. A corresponding text is Phil
3:20-21 where Paul states, ‘But our commonwealth is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power which enables him even to subject all things to himself’. I concur with Thiselton on this point: ‘Humankind remains human and fragile prior to the resurrection of the last
days. . . . It is in the future that “Christians are destined to become heavenly in the image of the heavenly Man,” i.e., the man from heaven’.118
---
115 See the UBS committee decision, which indicated that its translation opted for the future sense because “the
context is didactic, not hortatory.” See B. M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament (Germany: German Bible Society, 1971), 569. For subjunctive readings, see Fee, 1 Corinthians, 787, 794– 95; R. B. Hays, First Corinthians (Interpretation; Louisville: Knox Publishing, 1997), 273–74; Minear, New
Creation, 62–81. For a discussion of the debate, see Thiselton, First Corinthians, 1288–90.
116 Fee, 1 Corinthians, 795. 117 Hays, First Corinthians, 274.
118 Thiselton, First Corinthians, 1288. Internal citation from J. Héring, The First Epistle of St Paul to the
Those scholars who reject the future reading, however, do so on the premise that such an interpretation constitutes a de facto denial of a present transformation among believers into the image of Christ. Texts such as Rom 8 and 2 Cor 3:18 (discussed below; cf. 2 Cor 1:22, 5:4-5) clearly counter such a conclusion, for Paul explicitly states in Rom 8 that the Spirit, as the ‘first fruits’, has already taken residence in those of Christ and certainly carries with it ethical implications.119 These motifs are virtually synonymous with 2 Cor 5:4-5, which states,
‘For while we are still in this tent, we sigh with anxiety; not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee’. First Corinthians 15:49 parallels 2 Cor 5:4-5 as well as Rom 8:23, which states that those ‘who have the first fruits of the Spirit groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the
redemption of our bodies’. This latter text demonstrates the already/not yet of Paul’s
theology; believers already experience the new life in the Spirit while simultaneously
anticipating the not yet future redemption of their bodies, what Paul calls ‘spiritual bodies’ in 1 Cor 15:49. Thus, the eschatological emphasis in 1 Cor 15 is on the ultimate and final culmination of the Spirit’s work in resurrected bodies, but this does not negate the present transformation taking place within the body of Christ, the church. I thus concur with D. Martin who highlights this dual reality for believers.
The current image (eikōn) of the earthly and earthy human body is due to its participation in the body of Adam (15:49). . . . Paul teaches that the different forms of the human body are composed of the elements appropriate to the realm in which they participate at any particular time. . . . Christians currently partake of two natures: because they possess pneuma, they share something with the heavenly natures; because they are also made up of sarx and psyche, they share something with the earth, Adam, animals, birds, fish, and even dirt (15:39-40, 47-49).120
(c) 2 Cor 3:18
Within the broader textual context, Paul designates Christ as the image of God (2 Cor 4:4 in §4.3.3.a). However, a few verses earlier, when he is comparing those under the limitations of
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119 Fee seems to make this distinction when he states that the Spirit has an immediate manifestation although the
bodily resurrection is in the future, he speaks of “their living now in conformity to the One whose new kind of body they are in fact destined to bear.” See Fee, Christology, 119.
the old covenant (the Israelites and Moses) with the Corinthians and himself (3:7-11), Paul introduces ει’κω'ν language. He explains that the Israelites have a veil hindering their minds (νο'ημα) and hearts (καρδι'α) from fully comprehending the glory of the new covenant (3:14- 15) and that the new is no longer bound to a written code (ε’ν γρα'μμασιν ε’ντετυπωμε'νη λι'θοις, 2 Cor 3:7) but that it is inscribed in human hearts by the Spirit of the living God (ου’ γρα'μματος α’λλα` πνευ'ματος· το` γα`ρ γρα'μμα α’ποκτε'ννει, το` δε` πνευñμα ζω,οποιειñ. 2 Cor 3:6). Paul paraphrases Exodus 34:34 (cf. 34:29-35) here, declaring that ‘when one turns to the Lord the veil is removed’ (3:16). This leads into the ecclesiological climax of this unit:
17 ο‘ δε` κυ'ριος το` πνευñμα' ε’στιν· ουð δε` το` πνευñμα κυρι'ου, ε’λευθερι'α.18 η‘μειñς δε`
πα'ντες α’νακεκαλυμμε'νω, προσω'πω, τη`ν δο'ξαν κυρι'ου κατοπτριζο'μενοι τη`ν αυ’τη`ν ει’κο'να μεταμορφου'μεθα α’πο` δο'ξης ει’ς δο'ξαν καθα'περ α’πο` κυρι'ου πνευ'ματος. (2 Cor 3:17-18)
As I have already noted, many features of this text have prompted scholarly debate and disagreement,121 but most of that debate is tangential to my study of the ecclesiological claim
made in 3:17-18 and Paul’s use of ει’κω'ν. The context surrounding this passage indicates that the ‘image’ language likely does not originate from Genesis but rather functions as a
metaphor for a mirror and its reflection.122 The language and imagery of this text harkens
back to the example of Moses, who though unveiled did encounter the Lord, yet within the limitations of the old covenant this encounter was incomplete, temporary, and exclusive to Moses (3:7-15).123 Paul now draws attention to the superiority of the new covenant, where
through Christ and the Spirit the new community (no longer exclusive to Moses) not only beholds the glory of the Lord but is also ‘being transformed into the same [his] image’ (κατοπτριζο'μενοι τη`ν αυ’τη`ν ει’κο'να). In this text, the phrase the ‘same image’ does not have an immediate referent, yet the careful exegetical work of R. Hays and others convincingly demonstrates that the referent is Jesus Christ, as described in 4:4-6.124 Paul’s inclusion of
Spirit three times, his repeated citation of Lord, and his present tense use of ‘transformation’
together point toward Christ as the one to whom the community is being transformed. The use of ει’κωñν here, as well as in 4:4, further clarifies this connection. Additionally, as Thrall ---
121 See for example, the discussion in Furnish, II Corinthians, 237–45. Also, Hays, Echoes, 122–53. 122 Fee, Christology, 519.
123 Van Kooten, Paul’s Anthropology, 323–24. 124 Hays, Echoes, 153; Furnish, II Corinthians, 241.
indicates, the comparison that Paul draws with Moses indicates that the glory of the Lord in the Exodus account was ‘a visible phenomenon, and is visibly reflected on the face of Moses’.125 Thus, Paul seems to indicate some type of visible equivalent in Christ who
becomes reflected in the visible form of the church.
Paul’s use of μεταμορφο'ω semantically recalls the related adjectival use of
συ'μμορφος in Rom 8:28; both suggest a progressive dynamic change.126 As R. Hays suggests,
‘The veiled telos is, if we must express it in a discursive proposition, the glory of God in Jesus Christ that makes itself visible in fleshy communities conformed to Christ’s image. . . . Christ is the glory-bearing eikon into which the community is being transformed’.127 Christ as
the imago Dei creates a new ontological possibility for the church to reflect as it embodies the knowledge and glory of God (cf. 2 Cor 2:14). Paul concludes this section by identifying the ultimate purpose for which this embodiment is directed: ‘as grace abounds more and more, it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God’ (4:15).
Victor Furnish draws a parallel between this imagery and other motifs in Paul: ‘For him [Paul], transformation means conformity to the image of Christ (Rom 8:29), “to be like his glorious body” (Phil 3:21). Expressed otherwise, it means Christ’s being “formed in” the believer (Gal 4:19), a transformative event which faith receives and affirms already in the present (Gal 2:20) as “a new creation” (2 Cor 5:17)’.128 Likewise, Fee notes the integral
connection between Paul’s use of ει•κω'ν for Christ and for the church: ‘Thus he [Christ] is the one who, because he is also fully divine, bears the perfect image of God — the image to which believers themselves are in the process of being conformed’.129 The fact that Paul
aligns believers with the image of Christ and not the image of God heightens the radical newness that Paul understands the Christ event has inaugurated for the church. As a community, the church now embodies Christ to the world.
(d) Col 3:9-10
Here again, the theme of the old is contrasted with the new, the life directed by the ‘old’ α»νθρωπος contrasted to the ‘new’, which is ‘renewed in knowledge after the image of its
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125 Thrall, II Corinthians, 284.
126 BAGD, 639-640; Furnish, II Corinthians, 242.
127 Hays, Echoes, 137, 146; see also his larger discussion of this text, 125-153. 128 Furnish, II Corinthians, 241.
creator’. The inclusion of τουñ κτι'σαντος places the writer’s image language within a creation context and this placement has resulted in many scholars interpreting the referent of τουñ κτι'σαντος as God the father.130 However, I argue that the high Christology of the letter paired
with its internal contextual markers together make this reading unlikely. For example, the