God's Understudy

In the world of theater, most of us are familiar with the understudy. This is the individual who is to learn a particular role and be prepared to step up and replace the main actor if necessary.

There is another definition of understudy, it is: one who is trained to do the work of another. To me, this concept goes well with the biblical idea of image and representation.

Representation: the action or fact of one person standing for another so as to have the rights and obligations of the person represented Miriam Webster On line Dictionary

Adam, as the image of God, was to act as His representative to creation. Adam was to stand in for God, if you will, in regards to the interaction with creation. Doing such, Adam was given the same basic rights as God.

For instance, God brought the animals to Adam for him to name them. In the biblical sense, naming was a demonstration of authority over something. So Adam was exercising a God given authority when he spoke the names of the animals. Which brings us to the next point: how did Adam demonstrate this authority from God? He spoke.

In the creation process, God exercised his power by speaking; “let there be” and it happened. As God’s representative (standing in with the same rights) Adam exercised his God given authority by acting just like God did – he spoke it.

In Gen 2:19 tell us “and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.” The idea here is more than just what they were called, but it is a defining of them. In the original text, “the name there of” is one word and it speaks of being placed in a conspicuous position, a brand or putting something in its place. By speaking, Adam defined or established the identity of these animals; he was acting as God’s representative.

Being born again, we have been renewed after the image of the one who created us, Col 3:10, therefore our responsibility is the manifestation and the representation of the one who created us. We are to make Him real and have been authorized to act on His behalf in this world. This is the essence of apostolic authority: we have been sent by Jesus to operate by His authority to continue His purpose(Jn 17:18).

Paul tells us in 2 Cor 5:18-20, that we have been given the “ministry” & “word of reconciliation.” It is our privilege and responsibility to represent the Kingdom of heaven and affect the reconciliation of man to God. It is when we are actively involved in this purpose, we will see the power of the Kingdom revealed in our lives.