Creation, the things that are made, as Rom. 1: 18-22 makes clear, the other is Christ the

only begotten Son, Who `declares' Him (John 1: 18).

"The one object of the incarnation was to satisfy the natural desire for a sensible

representation of the Divine Being" (Webster and Wilkinson). Even though we might

feel obliged to correct this statement, and say that "one of the objects of the incarnation"

instead of "The one object of the incarnation", it is sufficiently true to enable us to see

that all idolatry is necessarily of the spirit of Antichrist, that it did not originate in man's

ignorance, but comes from the same source as the original temptation of man "Ye shall

be as God", and betrays an appreciation by the Evil One of the original purpose of God in

the creation of man in His Own image and which shows how vital that truth of the

`image' is to the ultimate purpose of God and how near this conception of the `image'

must be to the attainment of the goal of the ages.

Let us look very briefly at the references to idolatry that are found in the epistles. In

I Cor. 10: 14, the Apostle urges the believer to "flee from idolatry", in Gal. 5: 20 it is

included in the "works of the flesh". Conversion is described as "turning to God from

idols" (I Thess. 1: 9). John writing to his believing children says "Little children, keep

yourselves from idols" (I John 5: 21), but it is in the epistles of the mystery that light is

shed upon the essential nature of idolatry.

The moment we read these revealing words, can we not see that He Who framed the

ten commandments, fully understood this fact? The law opens with the commandment to

have `no other gods' before the Lord, nor to make graven images, while the

commandments close with the words "Thou shalt not covet".

The composition of the word idolatry shows that it means "The service of that which

is seen", and anything, be it money, business or brains, anything that becomes a substitute

for simple faith in God, be it bowing to "stocks and stones", or to "stocks and shares" is

incipient idolatry. Thus we see that God made man to be the shadow of His Own glory,

to set forth in miniature the purpose of the ages, and that the `likeness' after which he was

created, was nothing less than that of the Person of Christ "Who is the Image of the

Invisible God". We shall be obliged to give a fuller consideration to this aspect of the

subject when we are able to assemble what is said under the word `Likeness". For the

moment we must pursue our study of the several aspects of the word `image' that still

await investigation.  Our next study being the references to the `earthly' and the

`heavenly' image as taught in I Cor. 15: