Texts in Conversation
Colossians 3 quotes the Greek Septuagint translation of Genesis 1:27, which describes humanity made in God’s image. The writer changes the language, changing “God” to “the one who created,” showing that it either modified the text or quoted a variation.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
LXX Genesis 1:27
Septuagint
26 And God said, Let us make man according to our image and likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the flying creatures of heaven, and over the cattle and all the earth, and over all the reptiles that creep on the earth. 27 And God made man, according to the image of God he made him, male and female he made them. 28 And God blessed them, saying, Increase and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and flying creatures of heaven, and all the cattle and all the earth, and all the reptiles that creep on the earth.
Date: 300–201 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Colossians 3:10
New Testament
9 Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with its practices 10 and have been clothed with the new man that is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it. 11 Here there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all and in all.
Date: 80–85 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... It is notable that there is no explicit citation of scripture in Colossians. There is only one echo or allusion that is widely recognized by commentators, which is the intertextual link with LXX Genesis 1:26-27 in Colossians 3.10. However, the parallel is part of the almost ubiquitous theological affirmation that humanity is made in the divine image ... The key parallel phrases here are κατ᾽ εἰκόνα θεοῦ ἐποίησεν αὐτόν (LXX Genesis 1:27) and κατ᾽ εἰκόνα τοῦ κτίσαντος αὐτόν (Colossians 3.10). The key differences are that the genitive noun θεοῦ ‘God’ contained in LXX Genesis 1:27 is replaced by the substantivized participle τοῦ κτίσαντος in Colossians 3:10, and secondly that this makes the verb ἐποίησεν redundant. Thus, it is not present in Colossians 3:10. Consequently, this makes the case for an intentional allusion to LXX Genesis 1:27 far less certain because the verbal parallels are not strong, and the imago dei tradition was widespread and asserted at times without reference to the original context ..."
P. Foster, “Echoes without Refernce: Critiquing Certain Aspects of Recent Scholarly Trends in the Study of the Jewish Scriptures in the New Testament,” JSNT 38.1 (2015): 96–111.
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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