The word character is not used a single time in the King James Version and only three times in a translation so recent as the New American Standard. But the idea of what we mean by the term is an essential subject of emphasis in the Bible. The Biblical model of good character is without doubt Jesus, and there is one place which especially demonstrates this with reference to the derivation of our word "character." In presenting Jesus in his roles of supreme Prophet, Creator, and Savior, Heb. 1:3 also states that "He is the radiance of [God's] glory and the exact representation of His nature." Notice the phrase that calls Jesus "the exact representation of [God's] nature," because the two words "exact repre-sentation" translate only one Greek word. And that word is carakthr (kah-RAK-tayr … character), which is the original of the English word character.
It's very interesting and very significant that this is the only occurence of the word in the Greek New Testament and that then it is applied only to Jesus. In several other places Jesus is called the eikon (aye-KOHN …image) of God, but this word is often appplied to others also. In fact, in Gen. 1:26, all men are declared to be made "in the image of God." This means we are all endowed with a living spirit that corresponds to the anture of God who gace it, (Gen. 2:7). Of course, Jesus possessed the divine image to a degree we can never attain, but nevertheless we all do have at least a spark of that divine nature within us, (Jas. 3:9). But never of any man except Jesus does the Bible say that he is "the exact representation of God the Father. Any valid and profitable study of character must therefore begin with a careful examination of the Person of Jesus in the Scriptures.
There is yet more in this phrase of Heb. 1:3 to enlighten us. In 1st Century Koinê Greek, the verb form of carakthr is carasso … (KAH-ras-so … to stamp, impress). It was specifically used to signify stamping coins in a mint with a picture and an inscription. There is little doubt the writer of Hebrews had that precise idea in mind when he aimed at informing his readers about the true nature of Jesus. And when they read this special word, they would have made the precise connection easily. When the die was stamped into the metal, it left in it a perfect, exact representation of the image and wording on the die. Likewise, when a baby was born in a stable in Bethlehem to Mary, God as the die stamped Himself into that tiny baby of flesh and left therein the exact representation of Himself. This is what Heb. 1:3 is telling us. It also clarifies what Jesus meant in Jno. 14:9 when He said to Philip, "Have I been so long with you, and yet have you not come to know Me? He who has seen Me has seen the Father."
When we begin to grasp these essential ideas, we are already beginning to develop an idea of what character truly is and why it's so important. Character is not merely a configuration of certain virtues in an individual that gives him moral strength. In its original connotation, which has just been shown in reference to Jesus, character is what is left when one's life has been impacted by the person of Jesus. When God was stamped into human flesh, the character of Jesus was the result; and when Jesus is stamped into the life of an individual, Christian character is the result.
