There's a problem with being in the image of God. Especially when you're writing an article about it. The problem is that it's a point of doctrine which branches out into implications of who we are as people, how we relate with God and how we relate with one another. It's a point of doctrine that leads to knowing Christ. And within this article I may be trying to give clarity to a point of doctrine that was already fairly clear to you. If so, I apologise and give you permission to go over and read “Bridget James' Diary” instead. If not, then let's begin at the beginning.
The first time that we see the phrase “the image of God”
is in Genesis 1:26-7. This will be our first touchstone in searching for the truth within the phrase. I think many of the problems that come with misreading the concept of “the image of God”
stem from the use or misuse of this passage. The logic goes something like this:
- The idea of the Image of God is linked to God's creation of man.
- Therefore, the characteristics of being in the image of God is something that is universal to all mankind.
- Therefore, if we trace back any aspects that we can see are universal within all people (taking into account that it's a fallen world) then we will be able to determine some of the characteristics of the image of God.
This kind of thinking has led to arguments that the image of God includes existing in physical presence, living within a framework of morality, and being singularly human within the duality of male and female. All of these things have an element of truth to them because they are truths universal to the human race. However, they present a problem as they are arguments from silence; I could similarly argue that being in the image of God means that at some point we have an umbilical cord and therefore God has a belly button. Rather, we have to look at what the Bible says the image of God is all about.
By way of my argument, I want to circle away from Genesis for a moment and swoop through the rest of the Old Testament to see how the concept of image is used. In Exodus 20:4, it is written: “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.”
This verse warned the Israelites against making anything in its “image”. Of course they go on to do this, as recounted in Deuteronomy 9:12:
Then the Lord said to me, “Arise, go down quickly from here, for your people whom you have brought from Egypt have acted corruptly. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them; they have made themselves a metal image.”
The other main and related use of “image” is seen in Daniel 3 verses 1 and 7:
King Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits and its breadth six cubits. He set it up on the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon ... Therefore, as soon as all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, bagpipe, and every kind of music, all the peoples, nations, and languages fell down and worshiped the golden image that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.
The common idea here is one of authority, rather than of belly buttons. King Nebuchadnezzar creates a statue which serves as a symbol of his own authority over his people. In the same way, the creation of the golden calf is a symbol of a false god's authority over the people of Israel.
So let us swing our way back around to Genesis. I think the idea of us being set up in the image of God is primarily the same: we are an embodiment of God's authority on earth. That's why Genesis 1:26 reads, “Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.’”
And then immediately after this, as if the idea were intrinsically linked, the next verse says, “And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Of course, this is by no means the end of the story. Being established by God as rulers over the earth has other outworkings of that God-given authority. That is, relationship and companionship with one another (“[I]n the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”
[Genesis 1:27]), procreation (“When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.”
[Genesis 5:3]), and, in some sense, judgement (“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.”
[Genesis 9:6]).
The end of the story comes with Jesus Christ. In Christ we see not an image but the image—“the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.”
(Colossians 1:15) (If Christ is in the image of God, does that mean he has a belly button? I wonder if he had an innie or an outie?) Just like a good image of God should, Jesus has perfect authority. With that authority he will judge and cause “every tongue [to] confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
(Philippians 2:11). He is the one, both perfectly God and in perfect relationship with God, who has reconciled us to relationship with him (Colossians 1:19-20). And he is the one who makes and is making the sons of God into his perfect image: “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.“
(Romans 8:29).
But, in the meantime, we sit in a world where evidence of the distortion of God's image is all too prevalent in every piece of media we see. It is for this reason that we must make every effort to be further renewed in the image of Christ. Let's stop navel gazing and instead look upon the glory of the Lord that we may be transformed into his image (2 Corinthians 3:18). We should strive to look upon him in his glory with greater clarity, meditating upon his works of creation and his works of salvation. And we should study his Word, struggling for greater understanding of the truth and knowledge through which we shall be renewed in clarity, and putting off the lies and untruth that clouded our past ways (Colossians 3:9-10). And finally, we should look forward to the glorious time when, in our perfection, we will shake off the dust and stand in glory: “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.”
(1 Corinthians 15:49).
Guan is proud to accept the award for the most belly button jokes for a single article in Hippocampus Extensions. He is also preparing a follow-up article entitled “Belly Buttons: The Sovereignty and Sense of Humour of God.”
Comments
Nice. I remember our little chat about the image of God.
I’m still waiting for you to explain (not just quote) Genesis 9:6. Lots of people who talk a lot about the image of God like this passage because it seems to says that there is something ‘intrinsic’—language, reason, a soul, etc—in people that makes us ‘like God’ so we’re not to be messed with. This kind of thing is big in the abortion and embryonic stem-cell debates.
Oh, and I reckon Jesus had an ‘outie.’ My evidence for this contention comes from the fact that Isaiah tells us that the suffering servant will have nothing to attract us to him. And, I don’t know about you, but I reckon that there are few things less attractive than an outie.
Chris Swann on 11 July, 2003 1:41 PM
Thanks Chris.
I have been thinking about Genesis 9:6, and the reason I don’t explain it, is because I’m not sure if I have an adequate explanation.
If it’s correct assertion that our primary function as ‘images of God’ is to rule over the creation, then part of that function is to judge over creation; a function that is obviously flawed because our sinfulness, and that is fulfilled in the way that we share with the judgement of Jesus at the end of days.
It’s just a thought, and I’m not sure how far too take it, but I’m not sure how much the Bible itself talks about our ‘intrinsic worth’. I could be wrong, but it speaks of our humanity, and the state of humanity before and after creation, but the argument of the worth of humanity doesn’t seem to be an argument the Bible directly addresses. Note that I’m not saying that there isn’t one; it just doesn’t seem to be the Bible’s main concern within the topic of humanity. I’m happy to be corrected if anyone disagrees.
Guangyao Un on 18 July, 2003 10:35 AM
Hey scholars...the reformers took a different line – they looked at what the New Testament said about God recreating the image. Have a look at Eph 4:24 and Col 3:10. What do you guys reckon?
Andrew McCallum on 16 August, 2003 6:43 PM
Hey Guan, thanks for the article. It helped me think about the topic. But unfortunately, despite your encouragement to stop Naval gazing, and gaze at the glory of Christ, the more you mentioned belly buttons, the harder it was to not think about them!
By the way, is it wrong to imagine God or Jesus while you’re praying?
Clive Buultjens on 27 August, 2003 10:27 AM