Imago Dei

Introduction:

Today is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday a time set aside for churches across the theological and denominational spectrum to speak to issues facing mankind today. But, it dawned on me this week while preparing that the word “Sanctity” is a word we do not use often in our vocabulary. It might even be a sort of form of “christianeze” (words used often by christians but that new believers or non christians may not understand. I always want to be careful to define words like this whenever we use them with that thought in mind.

Sanctity- The state of being holy or sacred.

Holy- Set apart

Sacred- Entitled to reverence or respect, highly valued.

So, when we of the Sanctity of Human Life we are acknowledging that all human life is entitled to reverence and respect. It is to be highly valued and treated with the utmost dignity possible.

Now, with that in mind, would you say that in our American culture today that we treat all human life with the utmost dignity and respect?

Matthew 24:12 ESV

12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.

Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:1-7

2 Timothy 3:1–7 (ESV)

1 But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good,

4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. 6 For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, 7 always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.

I’d say that this accurately describes the time in which we live. The love of mankind for our fellow human beings has certainly grown cold. As a society we have lost the sanctity of human life altogether, we have sacrificed it on the altar of expediency and selfishness.

Scripture however is clear that all life has value, meaning and purpose. This is a doctrine called “Imago Dei” and it is taught right at the outset of scripture as a part of God’s creative work.

Genesis 1:26–27 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.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

This doctrine teaches us that we are made in God’s image. We are far different than anything else in God’s creative order. Humanity is far superior and far more loved than anything else in God’s creation. This truth is directly related to the value and worth of human beings and is completely related to the infinite value and worth of God.

What does it mean to say that humanity is made in the “Imago Dei” in the image and likeness of God? There are many aspects in which we display God’s image that are revealed to us in scripture and that we solely possess over and above the animal kingdom.

Humans possess the ability to :

Have moral knowledge and responsibility. We have an innate sense of right and wrong.

We posses a soul. That immaterial part of who we are.

We are relational to each other and to God. Just as God is relational to the other parts of the Trinity.

We possess an immortality. There is a part of us (the soul) which is eternal.

We can think and reason at a very high level.

We can express ourselves with complex and abstract thoughts and ideas.

We have an awareness of the distant future. We can deduce where decisions will lead.

Creative (music, arts, invention, cooking etc.)

We have an enormously complex range of emotions which is something we see God has all throughout Scripture.

etc. etc.

All of this puts a great value on human life and compels us to think in certain ways about issues that plague our culture that are directly related to human value and dignity.

Contemporary issues like:

Abortion and post-abortive care. Just when is a person a person?

Euthanasia- what is quality of life?

Adoption/fostering- looking out for the least of these. InIncluding helping orphans and widows.

Caring for those who society devalues- the destitute, physically and mentally disabled, etc.

What about the issue of human trafficking and slavery. How do we get involved in helping rescue the used, oppressed and victimized. Most of which are children.

There are six biblical principles we need to come to terms with this morning as it relates to the sanctity of human life that will help us to think through and respond to all of these issues I’ve just mentioned both as individuals and families but also corporately as a church body.

1.) It is God who established the value of human life.

Genesis 1:26–27 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.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

As I’ve already stated, we were made to reflect his glory. There is no greater creature made to show others what God is like than mankind itself. We are image bearers of God.

That is the danger of the teachings that have developed from evolutionary theory. It reduces the value of man down to the lever of animal to the point we find it to be no big deal to end a life.

2.) Human life begins at conception.

King David affirmed in the Psalms that God’s work in his life began while he was in his mother’s womb.

Psalm 139:13–16 ESV

13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

Jeremiah the prophet was told by God

Jeremiah 1:5 ESV

5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

According to Dr. Hymie Gordon, Professor of Medical Genetics & a Physician at the Mayo Clinic, life begins at conception. “Now we can say unequivocally that the question of when life begins is no longer a question for theological or physiological dispute. It is an established scientific fact. Theologians and philosophers may go on to debate the meaning of life or the purpose of life, but it is an established fact that all life, including human life begins at conception.”

—SBC Life, January 2002, p. 1

3.) People born with abnormalities are still worthy of dignity.

Advances in medical science now enable us to see physical imperfections of a child in the womb, and sometimes even fix them and that is a wonderful gift of God.

But, listen to me, just because some abnormality may be found, doesn't give us the right to take that life!

That child imperfect or not is still an image bearer of God!

Exodus 4:10–11 ESV

10 But Moses said to the Lord, “Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and of tongue.” 11 Then the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?

God fashions each person according to His wisdom, not ours.

Truth be told, we are all born imperfect, but God’s grace and power are sufficient to enable us to be all that God created us to be.

2 Corinthians 12:7–9 ESV

7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Speak of Jamison’s autism, anxiety and ADHD and the hardship that brings to our entire family.

He has asked me more than once, “Dad, why did God make me different and not like everyone else?”

Do you know how heartbreaking it is to hear your child ask that question? To watch people stare at them when they are doing something or acting in a way that other people deem “not normal”? To see other kids distance themselves or make fun of your child because he doesn't act like them? To be told things like “If you’d just spank your child more, he wouldn't have these problems or to be told as I once was “you shouldn't have moved here since your child has these issues.

I also have an Uncle who is in his sixties who all of his life has been called mentally retarded. If he were tested today he would likely be on the ASD spectrum. He has also asked me recently, “How come God didn't make me normal?”

Knowing that he has been mistreated and abused in an institution for the mentally ill because he was a nuisance.

My answer to both my son and my uncle is the same, “you are made in the image of God and display his glory in a way that I can’t and don’t. The world would be a pretty boring place if we were all the same. But we should thank God He’s made us all different from each other.

People who are physically or mentally disabled or neuro-divergent are just as much worthy of dignity as those who are not. Because they still reflect the “Imago Dei.”

4.) What God starts, mankind has no right to end.

Exodus 20:13 ESV

13 “You shall not murder.

God values all life, even in the womb and to take an innocent life is to commit murder.

Exodus 21:22–25 ESV

22 “When men strive together and hit a pregnant woman, so that her children come out, but there is no harm, the one who hit her shall surely be fined, as the woman’s husband shall impose on him, and he shall pay as the judges determine. 23 But if there is harm, then you shall pay life for life, 24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 25 burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.

Abortion is man deciding to end what God started. It is taking a human life which was created to reflect God’s glory.

Please understand if you are here this morning and have had an abortion, God forgives! God hates all sin, not just abortion. He will forgive all of your sins if you turn to him as Savior. Once God forgives your sins, they are gone.

Psalm 103:11–12 ESV

11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; 12 as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

Isaiah 43:25 ESV

25 “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.

Romans 8:1 ESV

1 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

1 John 1:9 ESV

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

The taking of life isnt just an abortion issue, it stretches far beyond that to school shootings, physician assisted suicide, Euthanasia, etc.

We have no right to take a life, to do so is to play God! He alone is the one who has the right both to give life and to take it away.

5.) God loves life in the womb even though it is born sinful.

Psalm 51:1–5 ESV

1 Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin! 3 For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. 4 Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. 5 Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

All of us are born under the curse of sin. Everyone is born a sinner in need of a savior. From that unborn child in the womb to the oldest person living, we cannot reflect the image of God perfectly because we also bear in us the sinful image of Adam.

Romans 5:12 ESV

12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—

Thankfully God has provided a way of forgiveness through the Lord Jesus.

Romans 5:17 ESV

17 For if, because of one man’s trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.

6.) God’s desire is for all mankind to live eternally with him.

Yes, we are all sinners, from the moment we ae born, but we are not without hope.

2 Peter 3:9 ESV

9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

God’s desire is for every person to be saved and live with him for all eternity. His love for man is so strong that He willingly sent his son to pay our sin debt.

John 3:16 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Give the Gospel.

Conclusion:

We have to have a firm grasp on the biblical truth of the “Imago Dei”.

God is the one who established the value of human life.

Human life begins at conception.

Even those born with abnormalities display the image of God and are worthy of dignity.

What God starts man has no right to finish.

God loves life in the womb even though we are born sinful.

God desires for all to be saved and live with him eternally.

God celebrates life from conception to death, and we as his church should do the same.