Hello Bob,



You wrote:



>>I don't have a problem with the fact that believers will be conformed to Christ's image. The question is, what is that image? Is it "to inherit the same power, the same glory and the same exaltation, until you arrive at the station of a God? Or, something less than equal to God. Let's define image intead:>>



DW: You then quote Vine?s. But note the following:

QUOTE:
The passage presupposes that Christ is the → image of God. In Christ God is really present. Again symmorphos means that we shall not only be similar to or like Christ but that we shall come into the same realm of power as he. We shall be identified with the same substance as he, and enter into the same essential nature as Christ. One might even speak in the same vein as the Hel. mystery religions and speak of a ?divinization? of ?Christening?. (Colin Brown ed., Dictionary of New Testament Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1975) 6th ed., vol. 1, p. 707.)

DW: Jesus Christ, the Son, is the image of God the Father (Col. 1:15), and as such He is God. Arians/Unitarians weakened the sense in which the Son was the image of the Father, arguing that He was ?something less than equal to God?, something I am not willing to do. With this in mind I have grave reservations about your interpretation of Rom. 8:29. The construct seems quite simple to me: the Son is the image of the Father, so he is equal to the Father; glorified, redeemed Christians will be ?conformed? to the image of the Son, so they will become equal to the Son (by grace, of course).



Bob:>> But, what the "image" will be, is never described in the Bible as an exact equal to almighty God. God is omnipotent. Being omnipotent precludes God from making others omnipotent. It precludes God from having an equal (disolving the "council of Gods" theory). If others were equal to Him or MORE powerful than Him (God's Heavenly Father, Grandfather, etc., then He wouldn't be ALL powerful anymore. There can only be one ALL powerful God. No one else could have the same power as God, if God is ALL powerful.>>



DW: Once again, I think most Christians are in agreement that ?image? in the Son?s case is not to be diluted; what in Rom. 8:29 convinces you to do so in that context?



Grace and peace,



David