Literature.— T. Mommsen, Hist, of Rome, Eng. tr., 1894, Index, «.».; Prow, of Rom. Einp.^, 1909, i. 10!) ; artt s.v in HDB (Ramsay), SDB (Souter), and Smith's DOUG (E. B. James).
J. Strahan.
IMAGE.— The use of this term in the apostolic writings may be conveniently discussed under three heads.
1. Connexion with idolatry.— Apart from Ro 1**, where St. Paul is reviewing the corruption of the pagan world and the perversity with which men neglected the living God for ' the likeness of an image ' of men, birds, quadrupeds, and reptiles, all our references are found in the Apocalypse and concern the particular form of idolatry that acutely distressed the early Church, viz. the worship of the bust of Caesar. This ' image ' is first brought forward in Rev 13"'- (but cf. 'Satan's throne' at Pergamum, 2^^). The Seer has described the Roman Empire in the guise of a monster rising out
IMAGE
of the sea (v.^^--), and its counterpart, a monster from the land (afterwards described as the false prophet), who represents the Caesar-cult and its priests in the Eastern provinces. This sacerdotal land-monster is plausible and seductive, and his inducements to Christians to show themselves good citizens are backed up by miracles. The image or .statue of the first monster, i.e. the bust of the Emperor, is set up among the statues of the gods to receive tlie otierings and devotion of the citizens, and through ventriloquy it seems to have the power of speech. The cult was enforced with all the resources that could be devised, and to counter- act it an angel utters fearful judgment on all who worship the monster and his statue (14^-"). The supremely happy fate of those who resisted both blandishment and compulsion is depicted in 15^'- and 20* ; the punishment of those who conformed, in 16^ and 19-". See, further, art. IDOLATRY.
We may note at this point that the word elxiuv (like elStoXov) in classical Greek usually stands for the portrait statues or paint- ings of men and women ; seldom for images of the gods. An instance of its use in the NT which may be regarded as focusing the range of its varied application and as a transition from the above discussion to those which follow, is found in He lOi, where the Mosaic Law is spoken of as being a mere 'shadow ' of the coming bliss, instead of representing its reality or being its 'very image.' 'The "shadow" is the dark outlined figure cast by the object . . . contrasted with the complete representa- tion (eiKwi/) produced by the help of colour and solid mass. The e'lKmv brings before us under the conditions of space, as we can understand it, that which is spiritual ' (B. F. Westcott, in toe).
2. Christ as the image of God.— Two of the passages where Christ is spoken of as the image of God are Pauline — 2 Co 4* (' the iniaoe of God '), and Col 11' ('the image of the invisible God'). The first is in a context which clearly points back to the Apostle's conversion experiences. All his thought turns on his doctrine of the Divinity of Christ, and the basis of that doctrine was the bright vision he had beheld on the way to Damascus. This was his distinctive gospel, that which marked him off from those who simply knew the human Jesus, blameless and pure though His life had been. In the second passage he is concerned to set before the people of Colossae the overwhelming superiority of Christ as a mediator between man and God, over the many and strange spirits and forces which they thought of as intervening between the Divine and the human. Hence he uses the word elKtiv, which, even in its material sense already referred to, connotes true representation rather than accidental similarity, and representation of that which is at any rate temporarily out of sight. His thought is that Christ is the external expression as it were of God : at once His representation and manifestation. 'Ethically and essentially He is at once the Revealer and the Revelation of the Eternal Spirit' (J. Strachan, The Captivity and the Pastoral Epp. [Westminster NT, 1910], p. 41). It is not simply that He is like God — He is God manifest. And beyond the reference to the earthly life and ministry of Christ, even primarily perhaps, there is the implication that in the time- less heavenly life He is the elKtbv deoO, God's repre- sentative acting in the sphere of the visilfle (cf. Jn V^, He P). We may state it more fully thus : Christ is the outcome of His Father's nature, and so related to Him in a unique manner ; and He is especially the means by which the Father has manifested Himself to all that is without, from the first moment of creation and for ever, though the centre and focus of that manifestation is the Incar- nation. We recall at once the Johannine doctrine of the Logos ; the one is a manifestation to the mind of man tlirough Ear-gate, the other ('Image') through Eye-gate. A title given to the Logos in the Midrash, ' the light of the raiment of the Holy One,' is suggestive in this connexion. We are re- minded also of Christ's own word recorded in Jn 14* : ' he that hath seen me hath seen the