Sunday, August 31, 2008

Col 1, 15 He is the image of the invisible God

(Col 1, 15) He is the image of the invisible God
[15] He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
(CCC 241) For this reason the apostles confess Jesus to be the Word: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God"; as "the image of the invisible God"; as the "radiance of the glory of God and the very stamp of his nature" (Jn 1:1; Col 1:15; Heb 1:3). (CCC 1701) "Christ,… in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of his love, makes man fully manifest to himself and brings to light his exalted vocation" (GS 22). It is in Christ, "the image of the invisible God" (Col 1:15; cf. 2 Cor 4:4), that man has been created "in the image and likeness" of the Creator. It is in Christ, Redeemer and Savior, that the divine image, disfigured in man by the first sin, has been restored to its original beauty and ennobled by the grace of God (Cf. GS 22). (CCC 380) "Father,… you formed man in your own likeness and set him over the whole world to serve you, his creator, and to rule over all creatures" (Roman Missal, EP IV 118).

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