The Importance of Mothers in Bearing the Image of God
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This morning I want to talk about the significance of mothers in relation to the concept of the image of God. I believe we can make some wonder theological conclusions about mothers and about their role in the church by thinking through the concept of what it meas to bear the image of God.
So before we can launch our way into a theological discussion about mother’s being in God’s image, we first need to establish a basic understanding of what we mean when we talk about bearing the image of God.
(Side note: MTP Midwest Fall class will be on anthropology, or the doctrine of man, and we will go into much more detail on this extremely important topic)
Image of God:
Everything we are is like God. We are the image of God. To say we are “in” God’s image is to say that we are made “to be” the image of God. —John M. Frame
“I would infer that everything we are reflects God in some way, though of course everything we are is also different from God! Our souls, bodies, reason, will, goodness are like God, but also unlike Him, for He is the Creator, paradigm and infinite exemplar of these qualities.” —John M. Frame
Genesis 1:26 (ESV)
Then God said, “Let us make man (humankind) in our image, after our likeness.”
Notice there is no conjunction between the words image and likeness. The text does not say, “in our image and after our likeness.” In other words the words image and likeness mean much the same thing.
The Hebrew word for “image” is derived from a root that means “to cut” or “to carve.” It is the idea of cutting or carving the likeness of someone or something as a statue. Example: The man carved the exact image of his wife into stone.
When the word is applied to man in Genesis 1:26 the idea is that man images God, that is,
Image = humankind is a representation of God
The Hebrew word for likeness comes from the root “to be like.” When the word “likeness” is used here in Genesis 1:26 the idea is that humankind is also like God in some way.
Likeness = humankind is like God in some way
Luther translated it this way,
“Let us make man as an image which is like us.”
Genesis 1:26 tells us that when God made man in His image, after his likeness that means that humankind is a representation of God who is like God in certain respects.
Now in what way do we represent God and in what way are we like God? (Take MTP for a more in-depth answer!) For now just in vv. 26-28 we can deduce several ways that we represent and are like God.
Genesis 1:26 (ESV)
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.”
To represent and be like God in some way includes humanities ability to rule over nature. God rules over all of his creation as its creator. When we exercise wise, God-intended dominion over creation we represent God, we are like God in some ways.
Genesis 1:28 (ESV)
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
God issues Adam and Eve a command here in v. 28. He treats them as persons who have a the ability to freely choose and obey. God created us with a kind of independence. We are able to make decisions, to set goals, and to move or not move towards those goals. God gave us the ability to make choices. In this way we represent God and we are like Him.
This morning as we celebrates mothers, I want to hone in on one very important way that humankind images God. And based on this important truth and others make some applications that hopefully will be a challenge and an encouragement to our moms.
Let’s look at several of these important truths of Mothers bearing the image of God:
Bearing the Image of God requires both men and women
Bearing the Image of God requires both men and women
Or we could say it this way, “Man and women together are the image of God.”
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.”
Genesis 1:27 (ESV)
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Humanity's existence as male and female is not something secondary to the image, but is at the very heart of the image of God.
Why do you think the distinction between man and women is under such violent attack in our culture today? Why is there this explosion of thought that says, “you can be whatever gender you want”? Why do you think people try to get us to believe the lie that there is no function or personal difference between man and woman? In fact there are as many genders as your want there to be? Why is all of this godless ideology on the rise? Satan is always opposed to the plan of God. And the plan of God for our lives is that we would bear His image and bring Him glory. So, Satan seeks to destroy that image wherever possible.
Colossians 1:16 (ESV)
For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
By Him- we were created by means of the power of God. He is the one who spoke us into existence.
Genesis 2:7 (ESV)
then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
Through Him - We were not only created by God’s power, but we continue to exist only through His power.
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
Acts 17:28 (ESV)
for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’
For Him- We were created by God’s power, we are sustained through God’s power, so that we could live for God’s glory. This is why God made you. How do we live for God?
The answer to that question is found in the image of God. God created us to image Him, to represent him and to be like him. And according to Gen 1 26 bearing the image of God properly requires men and women. Man and woman together are the image of God.
Exactly what it means to image God properly is only possible through both men and women.
God created woman with far-reaching differences in personality than man
God created woman with far-reaching differences in personality than man
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
Ronald McCune, in his Systematic Theology, states:
A Systematic Theology of Biblical Christianity, Volume 2: The Doctrines of Man, Sin, Christ, and the Holy Spirit The Woman Became Man’s Helper
this role of “helper” essentially describes one who provides what is lacking and can do what a man cannot do alone. “Or,” as Allen Ross notes, “we may say that human beings cannot fulfill their destiny except in mutual assistance.”
Fulfill our destiny is the ideal that we were made for God- for His glory. We as humans cannot fulfill that destiny except in mutual assistance.
Anthony Hoekema, in his book Created in God’s Image, writes:
The Hebrew word translated as “helper fit for him” means “corresponding to” or “answering to.” Literally, therefore, the expression means “a help answering to him.” The words imply that woman complements man, supplements him, completes him, is strong where he may be weak, supplies his deficiencies and fills his needs. Man is therefore incomplete without woman. This holds for the woman as well as for the man. Woman, too, is incomplete without the man; man supplements woman, complements her, fills her needs, is strong where she is weak.”
Again Hoekema states:
“Man’s existence as male and female means that man as a masculine being has been created for partnership with another being who is essentially like him but yet mysteriously unlike him. It means that woman is the completion of man’s own humanity, and that man is wholly himself only in his relationship with woman.”
Think about the unique differences in personality that God has created within male and female, within masculinity and femininity.
Example:
But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children.
Who is the we? Paul and his ministry team. Who is the you? The Thessalonian unbelievers. Paul said we were gentle among them like a nursing mother taking care of her own children. Think about that statement.
A mother holding her newborn child shows us exactly what it means to be gentle. Dad’s are not inherently gentle. If my child scrapes his knee, or cuts his finger, he does not come crying to dad. Why not? Because mom is the gentle one. And as I dwell with my wife and observe the way she models godly gentleness I learn, in a much better way, what it means to image God.
So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us.
This is Paul’s point- he had learned what gentleness and being affectionate really looked like from observing mothers with their new born child. And learning from that experience he was in a better position to be affectionate towards the Thessalonians. Paul took the the godly characteristics of gentleness and affection and used them in his gospel ministry. And it caused him to love the Thessalonians and share with them not only the gospel, but also his own self, his very life! Why? Because they had become dear to him.
In this way Paul imaged God.
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”
For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!
From these texts we discover what God is like. God is gentle, he is affectionately desirous towards the sinner, God holds his children as dear to Himself. My assertion is that the uniquely created personalities of women and especially mothers represents and is like God in a unique way. And ladies, when you put on display these kinds of godly attributes you help us men better represent and image God.
Bearing the image of God requires man and woman. One of the reasons this is true is that God created woman with far-reaching differences in personality than man.
Refutation: this does not mean that only married people can experience what it means to image God. Jesus perfectly imaged God and he was never married. So also in the eternal state there will be no married people, but we will then perfectly image God. Marriage is a wonderful example of how man and women together image God, but marriage is not the exclusive way for this imaging to occur.
So how do man and woman together image God?
Man and woman can only image God through fellowship with each other
Man and woman can only image God through fellowship with each other
Genesis 1:27 (ESV)
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Notice the interconnectedness between these two words- him and them. God did not create human beings to be in isolation from each other.
Genesis 2:18 (ESV)
Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.”
This is the first time we read that something is “not good” during the creation account in Genesis. It is not good for the man to be alone.
Genesis 2:20 (ESV)
The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him.
Adam needed a helper that would complement and complete him. Adam needed the fellowship of man and woman to truly be human.
Anthony Hoekema says this,
“What is being said in this verse is that the human person is not an isolated being who is complete in himself or herself, but that he or she is a being who needs the fellowship of others, who is not complete apart from others.”
Humanity needs fellowship with one another. Man is incomplete without woman, and woman is incomplete without man. But so too man needs fellowship with other men and women need fellowship with other woman. God created us to be social beings. In our social interaction with one another we enable each other to become more like God in the way we image him. In isolation we are incomplete.
Hoekema argues that humanity cannot be truly human apart from others. He gives the example of a young boy who grew up near the French town of Aveyron near the end of the eighteenth century. Apparently this little boy was abandoned by his parents in a forest. Years later this boy was found. They said this boy resembled more a wild animal than a human. He ate nuts, acorns, and wild fruits. His speech consisted of grunts; he never did learn to talk coherently. Because this young boy was separated from the contact and fellowship with other men and women, boys and girls, he could not develop into a normal man. Fellowship with other people is important.
We need the fellowship of others so that we can know who we really are. Fellowship with other people show me my true strengths and weaknesses. Fellowship with other people causes me to grow and mature in unparalleled ways. Fellowship with other people enables me to fully develop my potential as an image bearer of God.
This doctrine of the image of God has huge ramifications for the necessity and purpose of the church by the way!
It is also another way for us to better mirror and become like God.
Genesis 1:26 (ESV)
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.”
However, in all of this talk about the image of God there is one major problem!
The Image of God in man and woman has been perverted
The Image of God in man and woman has been perverted
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
Because of the sin of Adam, humanity fell into sin with him. When we fell into sin the image of God was not destroyed, but it was perverted. God’s image is still present in man, we can still have the gifts, endowments, and capacities given to us by God that mirror and image Him. However, instead of using those gifts, endowments, and capacities for God, for His glory, now we have begun to use these gifts in ways contrary to God’s will. Functionally, instead of using our humanity for the glory of God we now use it to fulfill the lusts of our flesh.
So, because of the fall, the image of God, though not destroyed, has been seriously corrupted, deformed, violated, mutilated, maimed, and disfigured. In other words the image of God has been devastated by the fall.
This devastation of the image has effected numerous areas of our life- our relationship to God, our relationship to creation, and particularly relevant for today’s sermon, our relationship to each other.
Again Hoekema says this,
“Instead of using his capacity for fellowship to enrich the lives of others, fallen man now uses this gift to manipulate others as tools for his selfish purposes.”
Let me give some examples that pertain to mothers, although the perversion of the image of God affects men just as much as it does women. But today is mother’s day so here we go:
To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.”
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord.
How much does this verse raise the hairs on the backs of people’s necks? Why? Because the image of God in us has been perverted by sin.
The irony is what the wife images and mirrors when she exercises godly submission to her husband! Not only does she picture the relationship between Christ and the church, but also the relationship of God Himself. Jesus submits to the Father. When the wife joyfully and biblically submits to her husband she is bearing the image of God and thus bringing God glory. But the fall has so devastated God’s image in us that instead of using our gifts for His glory we twist them and manipulate them to fulfill our own selfish purposes.
So what is the solution? What do we need to fix this glaring problem?
The Image of God in man and woman needs to be renewed
The Image of God in man and woman needs to be renewed
Because the image of God has been corrupted it needs to be renewed. How do we go about renewing the image of God in humanity? Only by means of the process of redemption. And it is a process.
That process starts with initial salvation or justification.
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Spiritual new birth is the beginning of the process of renewal. Apart from the salvation that God offers to us through His Son, Jesus Christ, there can be no restoration or renewal of the image of God within humanity.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
The beginning of the process of renewal is always regeneration or new birth- you need to become a new creation. And that is only possible through Christ.
The renewal of the image is continued, however, in a process that we call sanctification.
We could define sanctification this way,
“That gracious and continuing operation of the Holy Spirit, involving man’s responsible participation, by which the Spirit progressively delivers the regenerated person from the pollution of sin, and enables him or her to live to the praise of God.”
Or we could say it this way, “Sanctification, is the progressive renewal of humanity in the image of God.” That’s what sanctification really is, progressively restoring the image of God back to its original splendor.
Sanctification, or renewing the image of God means that we become more and more like God, it means that we become Christlike. This process is primarily of work of the Holy Spirit through the Word of God, but it also requires our own responsible participation.
This renewal is both God’s gift and our task!
This renewal is both God’s gift and our task!
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling,
for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
As we end this morning I want to draw an encouraging application for what we have studied thus far.
Bearing the image of God requires both man and woman.
God created woman with far-reaching personalities than man
Man and woman can only image God in fellowship with each other.
The image of God has been perverted
The image of God needs to be renewed
This renewal is both God’s gift and our task!
I would argue that if you put all these together they argue strongly for the need and primacy of the local church. These statements suggest that the process of renewal requires the presence and function of a church body. The process of renewal cannot happen in isolation. It requires the fellowship of renewed men and women working together to renew God’s image.
In fact we could say that the image of God is most clearly and richly seen today in the assembly and proper functioning of the local church. Or the body of Christ is the best representation and likeness of God.
That also implies that the restoration of the image of God in man takes place in the church, through the fellowship of Christians with each other. Or we could say through the ministry of disciple-making of Christians with each other.
Moms let me give you one text as an example.
Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good,
and so train the young women to love their husbands and children,
to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.
Ladies you need the fellowship of one another in the church to help renew the image of God that has been corrupted in you because of sin.
Younger women, less spiritually mature women, you need the fellowship and presence of an older more mature women in your life. You cannot restore the image of God in you in isolation. And there are some things that you just cannot learn from men. You need the godly influence of a older wife and mother to come along side you and help you renew the image of God in your life. You need to learn how to love your husbands and children, you need to learn how to exercise self-control. You need to learn the value of hard work, and specifically working hard at home. You need to learn from godly women what it means to be submissive your your own husbands. In short you need to learn how to represent and be like God in your role as mothers and wives. And one day you need to be able to teach that to someone else.
For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
A proper understanding of the image of God influences everything that we do. If effects all aspects of our lives. If we are really going to live for God, live for the reason he made us, then we must all seek to have His image renewed in us.
What are you doing to renew that image? How are you exercising responsible participation in this process? Let me encourage you once again. If you are not involved in a disciple-making relationship in the local church- you need to be.
This is why we do this- because we are convinced in the importance of the renewal of God’s image in each one of you.