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An old story tells of an artist, poor and struggling, who did not have enough money to purchase a canvas to paint what he was sure would be a masterpiece. He discovered an old painting of what was supposed to be Napoleon III. The poor artist decided he could clean off the picture and use the canvas.
Arriving home, he cleaned the canvas, to find another painting underneath. The last artist had not removed it. So, after fully removing the painting of Napoleon, the poor artist discovered what looked to be a painting by the famed Corot. He submitted the painting to experts, and they pronounced the original a genuine Corot. The poor painter’s poverty ended with the discovery.
This story, long believed in the artists' colony in Paris, is of doubtful factuality. But, it teaches a factual lesson on the nature of the human person.
The early Church Fathers did not agree on the impact of Adam's sin on the human race. Some Fathers taught that the human person lost all likeness to the Creator. The Divine Image in human persons was not marred, but lost. St. Augustine followed these Fathers; he taught the total depravity of every person outside grace. Other Church Fathers taught that Adam's sin did not lead to loss of the Divine Image, but loss of the Divine Likeness. Adam's sin did not deprive of the full original shape of Divinity within. Basically, simplifying this leads to the question: Is there anything left of God in us or not, as a natural endowment?
I agree with those who teach a process view of Image. We are formed with an Image, or Likeness, that entails inherent potential for full realization of Christlikeness: what I have elsewhere spoken of as Christo-form (i.e., the shape intended for all creation, not just human persons).
Christ, then, is the incarnation of the realization of the immature, incomplete Image. Says St. Paul, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation" (Colossians 1.15, ESV).
Like the story above, underneath our flesh, is the brightness of Divinity, though not a fully matured Image. St. Paul refers to the Grace within the fleshly body: But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us (II Corinthians 4.7, ESV).
Therefore, the Potentiality of Divinity, with its realization dependent on Grace, will continue being realized, and even beyond earthly death and forever, according to some Church Fathers and great Christian theologians. Realization of the Immaculate Likeness, the Ineffable Image, because God is Infinite, will continue infinitely. That potential is inherent in every child born with a jar of clay: a body.
Being in Christ is the acceptance of the process of maturation, the unfolding of the Light Within. The purpose of human life is the channeling of all our energies, through all providential avenues begraced to us, toward the Full-Flowering of the Bloom of Divinity. We are, and we will always be, in process, through Grace. Therefore, we will always have a Divine meaning and purpose to guide our lives and vivify all our relations and every endeavor.
What would be the potential impact on our children, if they were taught the Christocentric optimistic view described above for each human life? Contrast the view above with the "total depracvity" view St. Augustine taught and that many still do. What is the potential impact of teaching a child that he or she is totally depraved, totally bereft of likeness to the Creator?
*OneLife writings are offered by Brian K. Wilcox, a United Methodist pastor serving in the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. Brian lives a vowed contemplative life with his two dogs, Bandit Ty and St. Francis, in North Florida. OneLife writings are for anyone seeking to live and share love, joy, and peace in the world and in devotion to God as she or he best understands God.
The Peace of Christ to All!
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