Paul penned his epistle to the Colossians specifically to confront a growing problem in their understanding regarding the nature and Person of Jesus Christ. The Gnostics demoted Him to an "emanation." The Jews speculated that He might possibly be an angel. However, as Paul begins His specific address regarding the identity and character of Jesus, he opens with what would seem to be a paradox, referring to Christ as the "image of the invisible God" (Col.1:15). By definition, that which is invisible does not have an image. However, Paul's statement implies a distinction between the physical and the spiritual. God is invisible, being spirit (Jn. 4:24), and has no image physically. But God does indeed have substance spiritually, and it is this spiritual image, the ethical and moral dimensions of God's nature, that the apostle intended to emphasize to the Colossians. The word "image" (Gr. eikon) refers to a visible manifestation and representation along with likeness. Therefore, Paul is not suggesting that Christ is a poor imitation or a shadow of God's character (cf. Heb. 10:1ff). Rather, he is teaching that in character Jesus is exactly like God, that Here presents God perfectly and that He, through His moral behavior, has made that previously unseen character completely visible to all mankind, so that He told Philip "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (Jn. 14:9). By this he does not imply that God had not given evidence of His character previously. Since His first dealings with Adam and Eve, God's character is evident. However, only in Jesus Christ is the moral essence of Deity put in a form that demonstrates His character in a form that man can fully understand. Moreover, Jesus' life shows that such character is attainable by man. Thus, by giving us the "image of the invisible God," Christ proved that the moral character of God is a proper standard for morality in man, bridging the supposed gap of inability to which so many men cling. So Christ, by exhibiting the essence of God's moral character in human form, not only revealed God to man (Jn. 1:18) but also provided a pattern for man to follow (1 Pet. 2:21-22). Jesus became flesh (Jn. 1:14) in order to provide the opportunity of salvation (Jn. 3:16), and He did so by being the ideal man, the man God desires all of us to be. After God created man in His own image (Gen. 1:26-27), man scarred that image by allowing sin to enter (Gen. 3). But we have the opportunity to renew our image by conforming our own lives to the image provided by the Son (Rom. 8:29), to be a visible representation of His character just as He was of God the Father's (Gal. 2:20). For we are to "put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him" (Col. 3:10) and "which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness" (Eph. 4:24). We know of these things and understand these concepts only because Jesus Christ is the "image of the invisible God."