08 CHAPTER II

CHRIST: EFFULGENCE AND IMAGE The second pair of epithets ascribed to Christ and illustrative to the Hebrew mind of the uniqueness of his character occurs in the same sentence with those discussed in the foregoing chapter, with the apparent design of enlarging and elucidating their meaning. While these designations Effulgence and Image are obviously corollary to the titles of Son and Heir, they are, like them, cognate to each other, and together complete the idea of relationship which exists between the Father and the Son. The early Hebrew Christians, accustomed to the use and aid of type and symbolism in apprehending religious truths, looked at God through Jesus. For them the divine personality was made distinct and luminous not by the recognition of an eternal fatherhood, but by "the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." In the first epistle of Clement, written about A. D. 95, is a beautifully significant passage which sets forth the conception of the relation of Christ to the Father prevalent at that time: "By him (Christ) we behold, as in a glass, his (the Father’s) immaculate and most excellent visage. By him are the eyes of our heart opened, by him our foolish and darkened understanding blossoms up anew towards the light." Being himself divine Christ was the only true revealer of God. Indeed the very heart of Christianity is that Christ, being co-eternal and co-equal with the Father, became the unveiler of the Father. Around these centers were waged the intellectual conflicts of the Christianity of the first centuries. Whatever theory threatened to separate the personality of Christ from the personality of God was recognized as hostile and dangerous and was therefore vigorously combated. Much that is written in Hebrews and in some of the other epistles is in refutation of these heresies. The Battle Around the King. The terms " Effulgence of his Glory" and the "Image of his Substance" are a concrete means of setting forth the fact of the Son’s essential, divine personality, and are designed in their use to explain and strengthen the idea of sonship, not merely reasserting it, but illustrating in a fresh and pleasing way the community of nature between the Father and the Son. Other passages which teach the same thing are: "The light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God." (2 Corinthians 4:4). "Who is the image of the invisible God." (Colossians 1:15). These identical words Effulgence and Image were in common use to uphold a heretical doctrine against which strong protest is raised in the Epistle to the Colossians. This Colossian heresy maintained that all nature was essentially evil, and therefore the material creation could not have come from God directly, but in a certain sense was set over against him, or at least removed from him by an immense gulf. This vast intermediate space between the spiritual and holy God and the material, evil universe was bridged over by a long line of intermediate beings who gradually became more and more material and divided out into different grades or orders called "thrones," "dominions," "principalities," "powers." The lowest in rank of these orders of intermediate beings had created the material universe and ruled over it. On this account therefore they were to be propitiated by worship, and the great God of all could be approached only through them. Over against these foolish, fanciful theories is set up the solid truth of Christ and his gospel. Instead of this vast coterie of intermediate beings in whom the divine glory was gradually shaded down and finally obscured, while the spirit became more and more blunted and condensed into matter, there is lifted high and supreme the solitary figure of the one Christ. It is he, and he alone, who occupies all the space betwixt God and man, so that there is no need for a connecting chain of shadowy beings to link earth with heaven. Nor do these hazy, angelic hierarchies have anything whatever to do with creation, nor hold any claim on the worship of men. The great Creator and Lord is Christ who is the Image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. "Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him were all things created, in the heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things have been created through him, and unto him; and he is before all things, and in him all things consist." (Colossians 1:15-17). And if by any chance among the unseen things of earth or heaven there be any such throne, dominion, principality, or power as claimed by this false philosophy Christ himself made them also, and is their master, since "all things were created through him and unto him and he is before all things, and in him all things consist"; and since he is the first and the last in all things, the creator, the end, and Lord of all, he is to be listened to, loved, and worshiped, and no rival must be allowed to usurp his place. He alone is the Effulgence of the divine glory, and the very Image of the divine substance. As a trophy from this long and hard fought battle these names were rescued from the obscurity of the Alexandrian and Eastern philosophy and employed to describe the person of the Son and his relations to the Father. They are rare jewels captured from paganism to shine in the crown of Christ, CHRIST: THE EFFULGENCE OF THE DIVINE GLORY This word Effulgence has reference to the sun and its radiance. As the radiance of the sun manifests the sun which otherwise would be unrevealed, but is inseparable from the sun and one with it, so does Christ reveal the Father and at the same time is eternally one with him. The radiance is as old as the sun, and without it the sun would not be the sun. So Christ, while revealing the Father, is co-eternal and co-equal with him. The relation between them is as constant and inseparable as between the center of light and the light which emanates from that center. Christ is the Effulgence of the disseminated light through which the otherwise inaccessible glory is revealed. In the Apocryphal book entitled "Wisdom," Wis 7:26, wisdom is described as "the brightness of the everlasting light, the unspotted mirror of the power of God, and the image of his goodness." But in this description the idea of personality is clearly not developed; here, however, when the same terms are applied to Christ they are so hedged about and modified by ascriptions to him of creative, upholding, and redemptive power, that, while losing nothing of their fine illustrative value, they serve to emphasize the fact of Christ’s divinity. "God hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds." (1The bare reading of this verse leaves the impression that the one thus described can be in no whit inferior to all that God himself can be conceived of as being. At the same time, though awed by the sense of his deity, we grow confident in discovering his kinship with ourselves; and finding in him the answer to the soul’s profoundest call, we feel a keen appreciation of his blessed nearness which Browning has so splendidly portrayed in his "Saul ": He who did most, shall bear most; the strongest shall stand the most weak. ’Tis the weakness in strength, that I cry for! my flesh, that I seek In the Godhead! I seek and I find it! O Saul, it shall be A Face like my face that receives thee; a Man like to me, Thou shalt love and be loved by, forever: a Hand like this hand Shall throw open the gates of new life to thee! See the Christ stand!

How the Word Grew. Glory was not a new word among the Hebrew people, but was for them one of the richest and most meaningful of all scriptural terms. The most common word for glory in the Old Testament often signified a bright appearance and is used in a great variety of senses. Etymologically it comes from a root expressing an idea of heaviness, so in the New Testament we find "an eternal weight of glory." (2 Corinthians 4:17). From its use in various connections it may be concluded that it means the external manifestation of power, worth, purity, dignity; for example, the glory of the king consisted in his riches, authority, sumptuous buildings and garments, and the awe-inspiring retinue which attended him, (Matthew 6:29); the glory of Lebanon was in the stately cedars, the spreading firs, the fragrant pines, and the flowering box trees with which its slopes were covered, (Isaiah 60:13); while the king’s daughter was all glorious in the virtue of her richly adorned clothing inwrought with gold, (Psalms 45:13). Thus it came to signify the pomp and circumstance of military array, the splendor and pageantry of a royal court, the waving beauty of a mountain landscape, or the delicate comeliness of a royal princess; in fact anything which impressed the minds of men with the sense of magnificence, grandeur and beauty. In the same manner when ascribed to Jehovah it signified some reflection of his majesty as seen in the outer world, something which at once both revealed and concealed his essential Godhead. For example, when the Psalmist says, "The heavens declare the glory of God" he means that the visible heavens afford matter and occasion, in respect of their vast extent, glorious furniture, and powerful influences, for acknowledging and admiring the glorious being, the infinite power, wisdom and goodness of God. Glory in the Bush and in the Cloud. Applied to the Supreme Being glory was first used of that visible brightness which indicated and symbolized the presence of the great and holy God, as when the angel of the Lord appeared to Moses in the wilderness in the flame of fire out of the midst of a bush, and the bush was not consumed, while Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. (Exodus 3:2). Again to Israel, wandering in the wilderness, the glory of the Lord " appeared in the cloud." (Exodus 16:10). While they were assembled at Sinai to receive the law, "the glory of the Lord abode upon Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days; and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud." (Exodus 24:16). When the tabernacle was completed and set up, "the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of meeting because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle." (Exodus 40:34-35). Likewise upon the dedication of the first temple, "the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud: for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord." (1 Kings 8:10-11). The Terror of the Presence. And so attending this glory there is also an element of terror and destruction. "And Mount Sinai was altogether on smoke because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly." (Exodus 19:18). "And the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel." (Exodus 24:17). "And the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people. And there came forth fire from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat: and when all the people saw it, they shouted, and fell on their faces." (Leviticus 9:23-24). "And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took each of them his censer, and put fire therein, and laid incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he had not commanded them. And there came forth fire from before the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord." (Leviticus 10:1-2). Many other passages might be cited illustrating the character of this brilliant, awe-inspiring glory which indicated the divine presence. The Old Testament abounds in them, but only a few are given. In the New Testament we come upon several highly significant passages showing that this brilliant appearance on several occasions accompanied the presence of Christ, as when the angels announced his birth the glory of the Lord shone round about them. And elsewhere, again, we read of this glory on the occasion of our Lord’s transfiguration on the mount, and of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. This word then signified some shining appearance which suggested the divine presence — the presence which could not be perceived with the natural eye. The idea is illustrated in an interview said to have occurred between Hadrian and Rabbi Joshua upon the occasion of the former’s last visit to Jerusalem. Said the emperor, " I desire to see thy God." Whereupon Joshua requested him to stand facing the brilliant summer sun, and said, "Now gaze upon the sun." The emperor replied, " I can not." Then said Joshua, "If thou are not able to look upon this creature of God, how much less mayest thou gaze upon God himself." The After-Glow. While it is impossible to gaze steadily at the noon-day sun, we may behold its glory disseminated over clouds and flowers and fields. In somewhat the same way something of the glorious character of God is comprehended in the works of nature, more fully comprehended in revelation, but fully manifested in his Son. In Exodus 33:23 the term "back" has been translated "after-glow" by some scholars, as the after-glow of the setting sun which in the genial clime and among the majestic mountains of Arabia is a glorious and awe-inspiring sight. On the occasion described in this passage Moses had been speaking of God’s presence going with him, and begged for a special display of the divine glory. To this request Jehovah said: "Thou canst not see my face: for man shall not see me and live," the answer seeming to imply that it would be impossible for Moses to obtain any immediate conception of God’s complete character, while on the other hand it is equally true that all medial manifestations are only faint reflections of the actual glory and light of God. "For man shall not see me and live. And the Lord said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon the rock: and it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand until I have passed by: and I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back (after-glow) : but my face shall not be seen." (Exodus 33:21-23). While the glory was passing by Jehovah graciously shielded Moses under his hand. Then the divine hand being taken away Moses looked upon the after-glow which lingered behind the disappearing glory like the gently diffused and slanting rays of light emanating from the setting sun which could not be beheld when shining unveiled and undimmed in its full strength. Such theophanies granted to Moses and other Old Testament saints contained only a partial manifestation of the divine Being who could not be fully looked upon and comprehended, just as we can not know the sun by gazing upon its brilliant, fiery disk, but by its broadly scattered and softened light. He upon whose glowing face no man could look and live is now revealed in his Son. "Seeing it is God, that said, Light shall shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." (2 Corinthians 4:6). "My face shall not be seen," says Jehovah, but we can see the face of Jesus Christ. No longer then do we have to depend on glimpses of him in burning bushes and fiery clouds, while we lave seen the Word, beholding his glory, the glory as of the only begotten from the Father. So it is that outside of Christ we can seize only a few isolated rays of the divine truth thinly diffused in nature and conscience — "They are but broken lights of thee
And thou, O Lord, art more than they." But while it is true that no one has seen God at any time, it is also true "that the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." (John 1:18). This is enough. No fuller revelation is needed. No further revelation is to be given. On one occasion Philip said, "Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us." (John 14:8). In answer to this desire to behold a theophany after the manner of the Old Testament Jesus said, " He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. How sayest thou then, Show us the Father? " indicating clearly that during the whole time that he had been with them they had had this perfect theophany and visible resplendence of God for which they were asking. "He, who from the Father forth was sent,
Came the true Light, light to our hearts to bring;
The Word of God — the telling of his thought;
The light of God — the making visible;
The far-transcending glory brought
In human form with man to dwell;
The dazzling gone — the power not less
To show, irradiate and bless,
The gathering of the primal race divine,
Informing chaos to a pure sunshine." The True Shekinah. "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth." (John 1:14). The word dwell in this verse means literally to dwell (Gr. skenoun) in a tent, and according to the "Jewish Encyclopedia" has a direct reference to the divine presence which dwelt in the tabernacle in the wilderness. The common name ascribed to this divine presence by the Hebrew people was Skekinah, which, though not found in the Old Testament, is the equivalent Hebrew word for the Aramaic term therein used for glory. In the Old Testament there are many references to this glory or Shekinah which appeared in the cloud and later in the tabernacle and the temple, and which, in Deuteronomy 33:16 is spoken of as the one that "dwelt in the bush," referring to the bush which Moses saw flaming with the divine presence. One noted Jewish writer says: "The tabernacle was erected in order that the Shekinah might dwell on earth." This reference then to the Word tabernacling and revealing the divine glory is rich in suggestion and historical meaning, and throws great light upon the word Effulgence of his Glory used to set forth to the Hebrew Christians the character and office of Christ. On this subject Dr. Alexander McLaren, in his sermon on "The Light of the World" says: "That guiding pillar, which moved before the moving people — a cloud to shelter from the scorching heat, a fire to cheer in the blackness of night — spread itself above the sanctuary of the wilderness; and ’the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.’ When the moving tabernacle gave place to the fixed temple, again ’ the cloud filled the house of the Lord;’ and there,— dwelling between the cherubim, the types of the whole order of creatural life; and above the mercy-seat, that spoke of pardon; and the ark that held the law; and behind the veil, in the thick darkness of the holy of holies, where no feet trod, save once a year one white-robed priest, in the garb of penitence, and bearing the blood that made atonement,— shone the light of the glory of God, the visible majesty of the present Deity." But the Shekinah thus described had long ago ceased from the temple in Jerusalem, and the light which shone between the cherubim had disappeared. In fact one of the five things lacking in the second temple was the presence of this Shekinah. But this lack is now filled in the coming of Christ. He is the true Effulgence. He takes the place of the Shekinah and so fulfills the hopes and promises of Israel which had been long postponed. This view of Christ must have afforded great comfort to the Jewish Christians who at the time of the writing of this epistle were largely scattered, and in common with all of their nation felt that in many respects the glory and grandeur of their religion had departed. And it is worthy of note that the Apostle John, in keeping with this thought expressed in Hebrews, not only in his Gospel keeps referring to the glory of God as manifested in Christ on earth, but in his glowing picture of the New Jerusalem declares that the " city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine upon it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the lamp thereof is the Lamb." (Revelation 21:23). Thus in heaven as well as on earth Christ is the revealer of the Father and the revealer and bestower of all the joys and blessings which the Father has in store for his people. CHRIST: THE IMAGE OF THE DIVINE SUBSTANCE
Only here is this word image (Gr. charakter) found in the New Testament. Two other words are translated image, but they have not the breadth and spiritual meaning conveyed by this one, as a comparison of the three will show: The first word omoioma (image) is a likeness or figure, not a complete representation of its original, but amounting almost to visible conformity, just as a photograph to a face. It institutes a comparison in which the points of resemblance to the larger object are set out and seen in a smaller one. For example: It is used of baptlsm as a likeness (omoioma) of Christ’s death. It is also used of idolatry which "changed the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image (omoioma) of corruptible man." (Romans 1:23). The second word, eikon, means also a likeness or image, but differs from omoioma in that in its use the lesser bears resemblance to the greater, as when the believer is renewed "after the image (eikon) of him that created him." (Colossians 3:10). It is used again in Romans 8:29, where those predestinated are "conformed to the image (eikon) of his Son." And once more in 2 Corinthians 3:18, where "beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, we are transformed into the same image (eikon) from glory to glory." The word charakter has a larger meaning. It suggests nothing of inequality, but signifies an exact expression, a precise reproduction in every part — a facsimile. It is not found elsewhere than in this passage and here describes Christ as co-equal with the Father in every way. Its meaning is strengthened by the accompanying ascriptions to Christ of the functions of creating and upholding all things by the word of his power. The teaching then, involved in the use of this word may be expressed as follows: In Christ the fact of deity stands forth in visible form, and in him the divine substance is expressly imaged. The Gospel of the Glory. Christianity then is the self-revelation of God. In 1 Timothy 1:11 we read, "The gospel of the glory of the blessed God." The apostle is dealing not with the quality of the gospel, but with its contents. It is a gospel which reveals or manifests the glory of God, and it must be so since it is the gospel of Christ who is both the Effulgence of the Glory and the Image of the Divine Substance. In what has already been said, an effort has been made to show what is meant by the glory of God, and that that glory is fully expressed in Jesus Christ. Now, if that be true is it not a startling thing to speak of the gospel of Christ as the gospel of the glory, if Christ is any less than God himself? In answer to this question Dr. Alexander McLaren says: "Suppose a man who had no previous knowledge of Christianity, being told that in it he would find the highest revelation of the glory of God. He comes to the Book, and finds that the very heart of it is not about God, but about a man; that this revelation of the glory of God is the biography of a man; and more than that, that the larger portion of that biography is the story of the humiliations, and the sufferings, and the death of the man. Would it not strike him as a strange paradox that the history of a man’s life was the shining apex of all revelations of the glory of God? And yet so it is, and the Apostle, just because to him the gospel was the story of the Christ who lived and died, declares that in this story of a human life, patient, meek, limited, despised, rejected, and at last crucified, lies, brighter than all other flashings of the divine light, the very heart of the luster and palpitating center and fontal source of all radiance with which God has flooded the world. The history of Jesus Christ is the glory of God." But all this cannot be true if when we deal with the story of his life and death we are simply dealing with the biography of a man, however pure, lofty, and inspired he may be. It can be true only on the ground that Jesus Christ is very God himself — the express Image of the divine substance. Take Romans 5:8 which says: "But God commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." What sense and logic do these words contain unless there is some altogether different connection between the God who commends his love, and the Christ who dies to commend it, than exists between God and a mere man? To save this text and the whole teaching of scripture from the charge of being extravagant nonsense we are compelled to believe that in Christ Jesus we behold God’s glory, and that listening to his voice we hear God’s voice, and that beholding his gentleness we behold God’s patience, and looking upon his tears we look upon God’s pity, and gazing upon his cross we see the depth and reach of the divine love. The Fourth Gospel opens with an abstract, philosophical presentation of the eternal Word as the hypothesis of faith, but closes with the confession of Thomas, "My Lord and My God!" in which the abstract and theoretical gives way to the concrete and personal, the hypothetical to the experiential. The irresistible brightness of the light has at last penetrated and flooded the depths of the slowest, dullest soul among the group of the apostles. By a single bound from the lowest depths of doubt he rises to the highest degree of faith and proclaims the divinity of his Master in a greater expression than all those which had ever before come from the lips of any of his fellows. Thomas’ confession is the human acceptance of that divine pronouncement made in the prologue of the Fourth Gospel. At last Thomas receives Christ’s estimate of himself at its full value. The history of the development of faith in the school of the apostles closes with this incident in which the man Jesus still bearing in his hands and side the marks of his humiliation and suffering is proclaimed Lord and God by the slowest of them all, and that without any quibbling, protest, or reservation. The Mirroring of the Divine. In the Rospiglioso Palace in Rome is the elegant fresco by Guido —" The Aurora." It covers a lofty ceiling in the spacious hall. Looking up at it from the pavement your neck grows weary, your head becomes dizzy, and the figures appear indistinct. You soon grow tired, lose interest, and would turn away in disappointment were it not that the owner of the palace has caused to be placed near the floor a broad and perfectly clear mirror before which you may now sit down as at a large table and, at your leisure, look into its limpid surface and see the glorious painting which is now brought down within easy reach of your vision. There is no more weariness, no more dizziness, no more indistinctness. By means of the perfect mirror " The Aurora " has been brought down to us. For all purposes of observation and study the reflection is the precise reproduction in every particular of the wonderful fresco. Like this mirror beneath "The Aurora," Christ in his flawless human nature is indeed the Image of the invisible God, and brings down the divine nature, revealing it to our eyes. Thus beheld he is declared to be the express Image of the divine Substance.