Representation
Webster's Dictionary [1]
(1): ( n.) The body of those who act as representatives of a community or society; as, the representation of a State in Congress.
(2): ( n.) That which represents.
(3): ( n.) A likeness, a picture, or a model; as, a representation of the human face, or figure, and the like.
(4): ( n.) A dramatic performance; as, a theatrical representation; a representation of Hamlet.
(5): ( n.) A description or statement; as, the representation of an historian, of a witness, or an advocate.
(6): ( n.) The act of representing, in any sense of the verb.
(7): ( n.) Any collateral statement of fact, made orally or in writing, by which an estimate of the risk is affected, or either party is influenced.
(8): ( n.) The state of being represented.
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [2]
The theological use of this word by English writers of the 16th and 17th centuries was, in the strict sense of its Latin original, that of "presenting over again" in reality; the subordinate idea of "portrayal" as in a picture, being little, if at all, in use by them. Thus when bishop Pearson writes, "by virtue of his death, perpetually represented to his Father, ‘ he destroyeth him that hath the power of death,'" the word refers to our Lord's continual pleading of the sacrifice once offered. It is of importance to remember this use of the term "representation," as it is not unfrequently used with reference to the eucharistic sacrifice; and by losing sight of the sense in which the word was understood by former writers, modern readers have understood "representation" to mean a dramatic or pictorial imitation rather than a real and actual making present, and offering over again, of that which is present by virtue of the once only offered sacrifice.
