manifestation. That is, Christ is the image of God in the sense that the nature and being of God are perfectly revealed in him (cf. John 1:18). Therefore Paul can boldly say that we have “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (2 Cor 4:6) and that believers, reflecting the Lord’s glory, “are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory” (2 Cor 3:18). Paul’s statement leaves no place for the vague emanations and shadowy abstractions so prominent in the gnostic system.