48. The Apostle
saith that Christ is the image of the Father—for he calls Him the
image of the invisible God, the first-begotten of all creation.
First-begotten, mark you, not first-created, in order that He may be
believed to be both begotten, in virtue of His nature, i. e., of
His Sonship. St. Ambrose refers to Col. i. 15. and first in virtue of His
eternity. In another place also the Apostle has declared that God
made the Son “heir of all things, by Whom also He made the
worlds, Who is the brightness of His glory, and the express image of
His substance.” Heb. i. 2. The
Apostle calls Christ the image of the Father, and Arius says that He is
unlike the Father. Why, then, is He called an image, if He hath
no likeness? Men will not have their portraits unlike them, and
Arius contends that the Father is unlike the Son, and would have it
that the Father has begotten one unlike Himself, as though unable to
generate His like.