In His Image

The oldest known camera photograph was taken by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, a French inventor. View from the Window at Le Gras, a somewhat blurry image, was taken in 1826. But as early as 1816, he was making negative photographs of camera images on paper coated with silver chloride. But Niépce couldn’t figure out how to adequately “fix” them to keep them from darkening completely when exposed to light.

The first surviving photograph of a human was taken by Louis Daguerre in 1838. His Boulevard du Temple was a candid shot of a busy street in Paris, but the long exposure time made the moving traffic invisible. What can be seen is a distant figure standing on a sidewalk having his boots polished.

The man stood motionless long enough to have his image captured.

Wouldn’t it be amazing to capture the image of God in a photograph? After all, if humans are made in God’s image, doesn’t the Lord have physical features? Of course, if God is a spirit, then wouldn’t this be impossible? Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy elders saw God’s feet (Exodus 24:9–11). Moses also saw God’s back (Exodus 33:20–23), and Daniel saw a vision of a judgment scene with the Ancient of Days seated on a throne (Daniel 7:9, 10).

The apostle Paul describes Christ as “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). Though the Lord is above all that we can picture, the Bible tells us that God is a personal being. We may know this because humans were created in the image of God.

But even more important, people were created “upright” (Ecclesiastes 7:29) and in the moral image of God. Humans were given the freedom to love and obey the Lord, or to disobey and distrust God. Adam chose to turn from the Creator and so lost the beautiful image of God in his character. By looking to Jesus, people may regain the quality of being like God (2 Corinthians 3:18)—a quality that cannot be captured on photographic paper, but only in the heart.

Apply It:

Study some paintings of Jesus. What character qualities do you see revealed in these images?

Dig Deeper:

Genesis 1:27; Romans 8:29; Hebrews 1:3

Key Bible Texts

And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. (1 Corinthians 15:49 KJV)