The Image of God

INTRODUCTION:

Last week we started a series entitled “The beginning” out of the first few chapters in Genesis.

This series is relevant for us as we begin 2023 because it gives answers to some of life’s most foundational questions.

Why is there something rather than nothing?

Where are we and how did we get here?

Is there God and does it really matter?

What does it mean to be a man? A woman?

What’s wrong with the world and can it be fixed?

These are questions that each of us wrestle with whether we know it or not.

Moreover, the answers we give to these questions - whether we know it or not - are fundamentally shaping the way we live in and look at the world.

That’s why we’re doing the series and why it’s one of the most important things I’ll ever preach.

It’ll also be one of the most relevant series we ever do because the topics we’re going to cover in this series intersect with our day to day life in very practical and profound way.

This morning, we’re going examine a truth that made it’s way into the very first line of America’s “Declaration of Independence.

Namely, that “all men are created equal and they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Context/Review

If you have your Bible lets return to Genesis 1 and continue our journey through this book.

Remember, Genesis 1:1 gives a summary statement of God’s creation of all things. Genesis 1:2 and following tells the rest of the story.

Genesis 1:1–2 (ESV)

1 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

Verse 2 first describes our universe as “formless and void” (tohu wabohu).

The rest of the creation narrative is God giving FORM what is formless and FULLNESS to what is void.

Moses presents this creative activity of God with seven days of a week.

Days 1, 2 and 3 are about form. God took that which was chaotic and put it into order. He gave it structure and form.

Days 4, 5 and 6 are about fullness. God takes the forms and fills them with life. The structure God made in days 1-3 are given significance in days 4-6.

Day One: Separates darkness and light.

Day Four: Fills the heavens with a Sun, Moon & Stars. (time is given meaning and earth given light)

Day Two: Separates sea and space (water above/below expanse in-between)

Day Five: Fills the sea below and the sky above with reproducing life.

Day Three: Separates water and land and enables the earth to produce vegetation and life.

Day Six: Fills the earth with reproducing animals (domestic, wild and reptile) and finally - the creation crown...

On day six - after creating the other living beings - God decides to create man. (adam = humanity). But, unlike anything else in creation, man is made in God’s image.

Read the Text

With that in mind, let’s read our text starting at the beginning of day six in Genesis 1:24.

Genesis 1:24–27

24 And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. 25 And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. 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.”

27 So God created man in his own image,

in the image of God he created him;

male and female he created them.

You can see this in the English but it’s especially visible in the original Hebrew: the word “create” (barah) is used three different times back to back to back with the creation of man in verse 27.

The creation of man is God’s crown for the creation week. And the distinguishing mark of God’s creation of man? He endows mankind with his image and likeness.

Two Hebrew words that mean basically the same thing. One basically reinforces the other.

This truth, the Imago dei, as theologians call it - is one of the most foundational and important concepts in all of Scripture.

Western society, born out of the Enlightenment was built on the foundation of this truth.

It shapes our values and assumptions about right in wrong in profound ways.

This truth, more than most, has influenced our culture for the good.

So with the time we have left I want to answer two basic questions. (1) WHAT is the image of God. (2) WHY does it matter? Or What DIFFERENCE does it make?

WHAT IS GOD’S IMAGE?

First, what is it? At root it’s the ability man has to “image” or “represent” the reality of God in this world.

If our bodies were a mirror then people should be able to to look at that mirror and see a reflection of God.

Does that man that there is no distinction between mankind and God? Of course not.

My driver’s license has my picture on it. Is this me? No! It’s a picture of me. A representation. It can speak for me and show people important things about me. But it’s not me.

Being made in God’s image doesn’t mean we are little gods who can do all the things that God does. It just means we have the ability and responsibility to “image” him. (point others to the truth about his reality and essence)

So, we are “like” God but we are also very “unlike” God.

Or, to say it another way, we are “different” from the rest of creation but a “creature.” nonetheless.

When it comes to understanding the image of God both are important. We need to understand our creatureliness and our god-likeness.

Creature and a Person

You can see this dynamic of similarity and dissimilarity in the creation account itself. There is continuity and discontinuity.

Similarities: Man is very similar to what came before him.

God is the cause behind man’s creation. ‘from the earth’

Man is dependent on God & creation for life.

Man is instructed, like creation, to do what God says.

So, on the one hand, man is a CREATURE. We are "created by, dependent on, and subservient to the Creator.”

Dissimilarities: but man is also very different from what came before.

With Creation: “let there be...” With Man: “Let US create...”

With Creation: “according to their kind,” With Man: “In God’s image”

Creation: Limited responsibility. Man: Broad responsibility / dominion OVER the entire creation, to steward, cultivate and enrich.

As a PERSON mankind is given “rationality, broad responsibilities and a special relationship WITH the Creator.”

So man is both a creature and a person: a created person. This is a mysterious tension and beautiful paradox.

As a creature he is dependent on God and His creation. As a person he is independent to choose and to act upon creation.

Usually, those two work against each another. In God’s creation of man, they’re brought together in a beautiful paradox. They work synergistically.

The greater the dependence the greater the freedom. Align with God’s form and experience God’s fullness. Reliance breed joy. Discipline breeds true freedom

We’re a creature AND a person. Dependent AND independent. Non-Christian anthropologies usually elevate one of these truths over the other.

This results in a deterministic fatalism (creature only) or an detached expressiveism (person only). The Bible avoids the nonsense on either side of the excess. (Family farm illustration.)

We know deep down that mankind is different from other mammals! (murder vs dinner) But we also have a craving for and adoration of the divine. The biblical picture embraces both with careful nuance and grounded realism.

A God-Like Gift (Capacity)

With this tension in mind, how does God’s image make us different from the rest of the created world? (specifically living beings)

These differences can be identified under two headings. Our capacity (what we can do that’s different) and our calling (what we must do that’s different)

Theologians call this the structural and functional aspects to the imago dei.

Different generations emphasize either one but they really need to be held together.

We have a “God-like” capacity” to do certain things and a “God-given” calling live a certain way.

The structural elements (capacity) can be identified under three main headings.

Certainly there are more things that we could say about the image of God in man but I don’t think we could say less than these three things.

Each of these three can be seen explicitly in this narrative of Genesis 1.

Rational Worship

First, mankind has a unique capacity for rationality. We’ve been given a “God-like” ability to reason, reflect, regret and responds.

This doesn’t mean animals don’t have the ability to respond to certain stimuli but their responses are of a different quality than the response of mankind.

It’s the difference between instinct and intuition.

I’ve never seen an animal express shame or regret. I WISH my dog would express some shame and regret but he never does. (I know you’re thinking of that dog face when he knows he did a naughty and then you open the front door. That’s not shame. That’s fear. That’s instinct. Shame is something different. You know he feels no shame because as soon as you let him him back in the house or change your tone of voice it’s all wags all the time again.”

Mankind, on the other hand, is rational. We look at this created world and ask questions that monkeys never ask. (questions of identity, meaning, purpose, and significance)

You never see a monkey down on his knees in prayer. You never see a cat raise it’s arms in worship. Even the most well-trained monkeys have a limit to what their intellect can enable them to do and even the brightest examples of intelligence can be ascribed more to a survival instinct than a mind and intellect.

Relational Love

The second structural element is man’s capacity for relationship.

We have “God-like” ability to love, sacrifice, serve and protect even when it goes against our interests.

This shows up two places in our text.

First, with the use of plural pronouns in God’s creative decree. “Let US create man in OUR image.”

The second is the creation of man as “male and female.”

Some suggest the “us” is a “majestic plural” or that God is speaking to an angelic host/his spirit. But man isn’t made in the “image of the angels!” And even if it is a “majestic plural” it doesn’t negate the Biblical truth about the trinity.

The Bible teaches that God is Triune.

There is a unity and oneness in the Godhead between three individual persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. They are 3 in 1 and inseparable in their operations.

God didn’t “create love” or “relationships” when he made man male and female. He shared it.

The eternal love of the Triune God was given to mankind to enjoy in their relationship with God and one another.

Just as there is an intrinsic “one another” in the Godhead between Father, Son and Spirit so also is there a “one another” intrinsic to being human.

We were made for communion/community. God is relational which means man is relational.

Responsible Stewardship

Finally the image of God gives us a unique capacity for responsibility.

You can see this in our text in verses 26.

Genesis 1:26 (ESV)

26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. 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.”

Five different times the word “over” is used. It means man is a steward of creation, every part of it. Every living thing has been created for us to have “dominion” over it.

That’s a big scary word that just means to dominate, direct, lead control and subdue. It’s using forceful authority to bring something under control.

So God’s image gives us a “God-like” responsibility to rule over, cultivate and steward God’s creation for His glory and our joy.

Think of it like a horse trainer who channels the power of a horse to serve the will of it’s rider. That’s how we are to have “dominion” over the creation. We are to cultivate and channel the greatness of creation to serve the will of it’s maker. (i.e. the glory of God and good of mankind.)

Next week, Taylor is going to develop this theme out of Gen 1:28-31.

For now, just know that it’s central to what it means to be made in the image of God.

Let’s review: We are “created persons” made in God’s image with the ability to represent Him in this world.

Like God we are rational / relational. To God, we are responsible.

A “God-Glorifying” Responsibility (Calling)

The last thing I want us to see is that God’s image doesn’t just have a structural aspect. It also has a functional aspect.

The imago dei isn’t just our capacity to do things “like God” it’s also a calling to do those things for God’s glory. It’s a gift and a responsibility.

We’ve see a little bit of this with God’s command to have dominion. But the functional responsibilities that flow from the image of God extend beyond that.

Structure: Awareness of God. (sensus divinitatis) Function: Worshipping God. (truth)

Structure: Ability to choose/love. Function: Choosing/loving what’s right (goodness).

Structure: Ability to create. Function: Creating what’s good. (beauty)

Another way to understand these functions is in relationship to three main parties.

In Genesis 1 mankind is put into a relationship with (1) God, (2) other humans and (3) the creation.

God’s image expresses itself in different ways in each relationship.

GOD: It’s not just that we can know God. We’re called to LOVE Him. (worship, adore, pray)

OTHERS: It’s not just that we can relate to people. We’re called to SERVE them. (encourage, love, serve and protect.)

CREATION: We’re not just in authority over creation. We’re called by God to CULTIVATE it. (using creativity, art, technology, and industry)

In each relationship the gift of God’s image enables us to live in certain ways, enjoy certain outcomes and display certain things about God.

How we function in relationship to God, other people and the Creation displays the reality of God’s truth, goodness, beauty and love.

Through reason and wisdom we enjoy God’s blessing and display God’s truth.

Through relationships and communion we enjoy one another and display God’s love.

Through art and creativity we enjoy the creation and display God’s beauty.

Through hard work and cultivation we fulfill our purpose and display God’s goodness for God’s glory.

Truth, goodness, beauty and love - these are gifts to our world because of God’s image in us.

Corruption and Cure

You may hear all of this and think, “wow, that’s amazing.” And maybe you even agree that mankind is unique what he contributes to our world.

But if you’ve lived long at all you know that man’s glory is often shadowed by his shame.

Tragically, the glory of God’s image was corrupted by Sin at the Fall. Today, God’s image “present” but “perverted” ; intact but impaired.

The structure is still there but the function has been sabotaged by our sin and brokenness.

Now instead of worshipping God we worship ourselves. (idolatry and unbelief)

Instead of loving and serving one another we mistreat and exploit one another. (indifference and hate)

Instead of cultivating creation we’ve destroyed it. We don’t create for the glory of God but to exalt ourselves over God and in his place. (pride & arrogance)

We have the responsibility of imaging God but our functional capacity to do so has been hindered. This broken mirror is the cause behind so much brokenness in our culture, our families and our very lives.

Christ & The Spirit

That’s why God put a redemption plan in place after Genesis 3 through the Lord Jesus Christ.

Colossians 1:15 says “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.” (cf 2 Cor 4:4; Heb 1:3)

Christ uniquely “imaged” God not only in his divine nature (as co-eternal with the Father & the Spirit) but also in his human nature. He did what Adam and Eve failed to do.

In his relationship with God he lived a life of humble dependance and loving obedience.

In his relationships with others he came not to be served but to serve and give his life as a ransom.

In his relationship over nature he displayed perfect dominion. He ruled over the creation like no human being ever has before.

Christ w as wholly directed towards God, towards neighbor and over creation.

But it gets better than that!

The Spirit Restores

What the Son perfectly embodied (in himself) the Spirit now renews (in us!)

Not only did Jesus Christ perfectly “image” God as we were originally designed to do. Through his person and work the image of God can be restored in us as He makes all things new.

Colossians 3:9–10 (ESV)

9 Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

Romans 8:29 (ESV)

29 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.

This process begins in us when we repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. The Bible describes it as being transformed from one degree of glory to the next.

2 Corinthians 3:18 (ESV)

18 And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

What sin corrupted God’s spirit can cure through repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

This Spirit-empowered work of sanctification finds it’s completion on the day of Christ return when he recreates our world and glorifies us to dwell in that Heavenly City. (1 Cor 15:49; Phil 3:21; 1 John 3:2)

Worldview Pillars

That means that the imago dei can be understood under four headings: creation, fall, redemption and restoration.

CREATION: Every human being is made in God’s image.

FALL: Our ability to “image” God has been marred by the Fall.

REDEMPTION: Jesus is the only human to ever perfectly image God.

RESTORATION: Jesus, through the Spirit, restores what was lost in the Fall.

Why does this matter practically?

WHY THE IMAGE MATTERS

With the time we have left I want to show you how these truths impacts the way we see and relate to one another.

The doctrine of the imago dei undergirds so many of our cultural assumptions and norms for the good.

Sadly, these foundations are being destroyed. Already you can see the destruction all over the headlines.

So what are some of these practical implications?

Treat Others With Dignity

Implication 1: Every human being ought to be treated with dignity and respect.

James 3:8 talks about the hypocrisy of using our mouths to praise God and then curse the people who are made in his image. “This should not be!” (James 3:8)

If you believe human beings are just further evolved apes then there’s no reason to treat humans with dignity or respect.

But we know that humans ARE deserving of dignity. That’s why most people see the Holocaust and shudder.

Yet, the holocaust was made possible because of a view of man that ignored the image of God in every human being. Only ‘certain’ people are worthy of dignity and respect. Only certain races. Others are treated with prejudice and contempt.

On the Christian worldview there are NO grounds for racial prejudice, human mistreatment or ethnic supremacy of ANY KIND.

This is why Christians should be against racism or human enslavement. It’s why Christians were at the forefront of the abolition movement!

This is why Christians ought to oppose pornography or prostitution. (the vast majority of girls in online porn sites have been denigrated, manipulated, abused, trafficked like a mere piece of property. It’s modern day slavery.

This is why we reject euthanasia, eugenics or physician assisted suicide. ALL HUMAN LIFE is precious, not just the ones we deem fit and unfit.

This is why Christians ought to oppose abortion. Human life bears God’s image in every stage of development, born and pre-born.

3D sonograms and modern technology are making this even more apparent. We know now that a unique human DNA sequence is formed at the moment of conception. From the very beginning it’s a human life that bears the image of God.

The absence of the imago dei is what motivated people like Hitler, Mao, Stalin and even cultural icons like Margret Sanger.

Sanger was a brilliant strategist but despicable person. She’s the mother of the abortion industry and pioneered planned parenthood.

Her atheistic darwinism justified her bigotry to just “speed up” the process of evolution by killing black babies through abortion. She described it as “weeding out the defective.” State sponsored sterilization. (8 of every 10 planned parenthoods are in minority communities)

We ought to look at that with absolute disgust! No human being is a weed to be weeded out.

We are made in the image of God. But without this Judeo-Christian conviction our culture will fall further and further into ethnic prejudice and human exploitation.

Our Bodies Are a Gift

The other arena where this truth is particularly relevant is in relationship to how we view the human body and the gift of gender.

Our culture is INCREDIBLY CONFUSED on this topic because we’ve lost the foundations of the imago dei.

Christians no longer have influence in the public square and the foundations of truth are being destroyed.

IMPLICATION 2: If every human is made in God’s image then we ought to see our biological gender as God’s gift and design.

Psalm 139:13–14 (ESV)

13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Our culture has lost this conviction and we are slipping into a kind of pagan Gnosticism where the only thing that matters is what the mind thinks and what the heart wants.

Right now on Facebook when you select your gender there are THIRTEEN different options: male, female, non-binary, agender, androgyne, androgynous, bigender, cis, cis female, cis male, Cis man, Cis Woman, cisgender. (they used to have 75 something) And then the pronoun discussion that stems from that gets equally out of control.

God’s design in creation was creating mankind with TWO biological genders that are DIFFERENT by design and complementary. Working together they beautifully display the fullness of God’s image.

We’ve taken God’s design and turned it on it’s head. Our culture looks at Biblical masculinity and says it’s toxic. Looks at biblical femininity and says its sexist. So we feminized our men, masculinized our women and took the clarity around gender and made it unintelligible.

There are DEEP philosophical roots that explain this change. It’s not a new idea it’s just pagan gnosticism with a new application.

The core lie is that what REALLY matters to God isn’t what’s between your legs… it’s what’s between your ears.” The physical world isn’t what’s really real - it’s what we think and how we feel.

Gender is not a construct. Gender is not a choice. It’s divinely designed and biologically determined.

We reject that design to our own peril. These chickens will come home to root and they will not be kind to the future of Western civilization.

When you take God’s gift and make a burden or a joke you invite all sorts of confusion and brokenness into your life and our world.

We ought to EMBRACE our differences and CELEBRATE them! That diversity is a good thing when aligned with God’s design.

There’s a Chesterton quote I really love (that I heard someone else use when discussing this topic).

“And the more I considered Christianity, the more I found that while it had established a rule and order, the chief aim of of that order was to give room for good things to run wild.”

God gave us a good gift in creating us male and female. But for that good thing to run wild we need to embrace that gift and celebrate according to God’s design.

Christ Is The Cure

The final implication, quickly, is to preach Christ (and His Gospel) as the cure to all of this social brokenness.

Christ alone perfectly displayed the image of God in this world.

Christ alone can save us from the damage our broken image has caused.

Christ alone can cure us from our brokenness and confusion.

The Lord does this as we yield to his Holy Spirit and recover God’s design.

If you’re here this morning and you’ve never entered into a relationship with Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior then today the Holy Spirit may be calling you to repent of your sins and put your faith in Him for salvation.

God’s will for your life is that you might Know him, Love Him and enjoy Him. The problem is, we can never experience that joy in our flesh. We’re broken and sinful and need God’s grace to do what we cannot.

That grace is available in Christ. That’s the Gospel. He lived the life we have lived and died the death we should have died, all so that God’s forgiveness and love could be poured out on us by grace through faith in his Son.

Maybe you’re a Christian but forgot this message. Maybe as a church, we’ve forgotten that Christ is the only cure for our greatest social ills.

Politics are great and they serve a particular purpose. But they’re no substitute for the power of the Gospel. I’ll take Gospel preaching over politics any day because there’s power in the name of Jesus. Power that breaks down walls, demolishes evil institutions like slavery and will eventually heal this entire world when Jesus comes again.

Let us worship Him as our only hope and our greatest cure.