Χαρακτήρ,

Character;

“How To Be Like Thee”

“Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:3).

 

The Anglicized Greek word character (Strong's Greek Dictionary's i.d. number is G5481) is used only one time in the New Testament and is translated by the KJV as “express image” (Hebrews 1:3).The meaning of this Greek word reminds me of two other Anglicized words with close meanings.

 

THE FIRST IS “TYPE” (tupos, τύπος^G5179) which according to Strong's Greek Dictionary is fundamentally “a die (as struck [with a blow]), that is, (by implication) a stamp or scar; by analogy a shape, that is, a statue, (figuratively) style or resemblance; specifically, a sampler (“type”), that is, a model (for imitation) or instance (for warning).”

 

The nails left prints (tupos) in Christ's hands (John 20:25).The word is translated in the KJV English as “ensample/s, pattern, print, example/s, remembrance, fashion, figure/s, form, manner.”A specific example, “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come” (Romans 5:14). Adam was a type of Jesus as used in the respective context.“There was some sort of analogy or resemblance between the results of his [Adam's] act and the results of the work of Christ.”[i]Notice that only a resemblance is in mind of the writer for type or tupos.[ii]

 

ICON VERSUS CHARACTER.I am also reminded of another Greek word, Anglicized icon (eikōn, εἰκών^G1504) that is similar. According to Strong's Definitions icon refers to “a likeness, that is, (literally) statue, profile, or (figuratively) representation, resemblance” and is translated by KJV simply as “image.”For example, “And He saith unto them, Whose is this image [icon] and superscription? [of a coin] They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's” (Matthew 22:20,21).So, we have (1) “type” and (2) “icon” each of which is a “resemblance” in its specific representation.

 

MAN WAS CREATED AS A SHADOW: i.e., ICON.Genesis 1:26 also uses the word “image” to show that the Creator intended to “make man in His image” and in His likeness.The LXX OT Greek version's word for this image is icon ^G1504. It is neither character nor type but is icon^G1504 which in this instance represented the Hebrew original word tselem^H6754 that “denotes the shadow outline of a figure, and damuth [likeness^H1823]”. Man is the shadow of the Creator.”[iii] “Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God” (James 3:9). My point is that Jesus is not just a shadow or a figure of God but is God's character.

 

JESUS COMMANDS us to be “perfect” like the Invisible God. “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).The meaning of being perfect is not being sinless but is to be “complete.”It is to be teleios^G5046); which is according to Strong's Definitions, “complete (in various applications of labor, growth, mental and moral character.” We are to be complete, like our Father in Heaven.

 

WHAT IS VISIBLE. We can see proofs of God's existence.The apostle declares that His eternal power and deity are fully visible to us from what things God has made (Romans 1:20).

 

BUT GOD HIMSELF IS INVISIBLE. How can we mirror God's completeness if His person is invisible to us (Colossians 1:15; 1 Timothy 1:17)? Even to Moses, God was invisible. For example, Moses did not see or even hear God personally at the burning bush (Genesis 3:6); His angel spoke with Moses (Acts 7:35).Moses at the Mount never fully saw God but he did see His glory ( Exodus 33:19-23 ). The “face to face[iv]” of Exodus 33:11 [v] has been suggested to be metaphorical of the “close agreement” between Moses and God. [vi] They “saw eye to eye” is also a metaphor.And we know that although Jacob felt that he had seen God when he saw “the ladder to heaven” in a dream, he did not actually see the Person God (Genesis 32:30; 33:10).

 

JESUS IS THE VERY CHARACTER OF GOD THE FATHER. “[Jesus] being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:3).The translation of the Greek word character in the KJV is “the express image of.” Its meaning was “to write”, “engraved mark”, “imprint”, and in Hellenistic times (during the earthly ministry of Jesus) was metaphorically “defining quality, individual feature.”Its reference in the Bible of 1611 predates its popular definition of “moral qualities assigned to one by reputation” (which is only from 1712AD).[vii]

GOD IS PERSONALLY VISIBLE TO US IN JESUS. Christ is “the radiance of the glory of God” (Hebrews 1:3 ). Jesus has revealed our God visibly for us.Therefore, we can fulfil our duty of imitating the perfection of God via Jesus.Jesus has provided everything we need through the teaching of the word for us to be perfect as our Father.By imitating Jesus we come to the “perfect” man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-13). The “perfect” man here refers to the complete man “grown up,” the maturity, since the context of the Ephesians passage continues with “no longer being [like] children” (verse 14).

 

GOD IS VISIBLE through Jesus, who is the character of God the Father. “Not that any man hath seen the Father, save He which is of God, He hath seen the Father” (John 6:46). “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him” (John 1:18).

 

Jesus taught that those accompanying Him during His earthly ministry had thereby seen God, the Father. “Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.  Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?” (John 14:8, 9).  Jesus is the actual imprint of God, the Father.

 

SUMMARY.We all then can be like God, by studying Jesus through the Spirit written records of the apostles and prophets.The Lord Jesus is shown to us by His Spirit's Word ( 2 Corinthians 3:18 ; Ephesians 6:17; 3:5). We can be consequently transformed into His image from one degree of glory to another (see 2 Peter 3:18). We can be “more like God every day.” Only imitating this character of Jesus can we ever hope to fulfil our divine expectation of being complete and “like” our Father in Heaven.

O to be like Thee! O to be like Thee!
Blessed Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
  Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.

“O To Be Like Thee” (1897 Thomas O. Chisholm writing the lyrics)

 

 

GAYLON WEST

Eds. Janie and Mary Lou