Man: What does it mean to be in the Image of God?

Genesis 1&2 Man (What does it mean to be in the Image of God?) Introduction: As we go through the Genesis account of creation we see that everything is building up to a climax, that climax is man. Here in Chapter two everything described is told in terms of him.The narrative works outward from man to his environment, garden, trees, rivers, beasts, and birds. The writer is showing us the way that we are to see the world around us - a place expressly prepared for our delight and discipline. This is all being done to show and to teach that Man is God’s chief creation. Man (Adam) is made from the same stuff as the rest of creation he is made from the ground (Adamah). He is part of the animal kingdom,yet he is distinguished for God breathed into him the breath of life and He became a living creature. He is the only creation who is said to be in the image of God. Many of us who read the Bible or know the teachings of the Bible understand that man has been made in the image of God, but what does that really mean? This really is the great question of anthropology. What is man? What is his purpose as a human being? What are we made for? The Psalmist asked the same question in Psalm 8. He says, “(W)hat is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?” 1. The Structural view a. The image of God in man must relate to some way or ways in which we humans are like God but unlike the other created animals. After all, since humans and other animals are all created beings, those aspects that we share in common with them cannot constitute what distinguishes us from them. And since we are made in the image of God, this must refer to some resemblance to God in particular that God imparted to humans and is not shared by the animals. So there must be some aspect or aspects of the structure/substance of our human nature that shows we are created in the image of God. i. Irenaeus, Augustine, Aquinas, and Calvin all agree that they way that human beings bear the image of God is through their actual being. They argued that the image of God is our intellectual capacities of memory, intellect or reason and will. 2. The Relational view a. Says, rather than seeing the image of God as referring to some aspect(s) of our human nature, God’s image is reflected in our relation to one another and to God. So while it is true that God has given us reason, soul, volition, and other capacities of our nature, none of these constitutes the image of God. Rather, it is the use of these capacities in relation with God and others that reflects most clearly what it means to be created in God’s image. i. In Genesis 1:26–27 God deliberately speaks of Himself in the plural as creating man who is likewise plural as male and female. The image of God should best be seen as the relational or social nature of human life as God created us. That both male and female together are created in His image signals the relational meaning of the image of God in man” ii. This view also says that the image of God in man is his capacity to relate to God through his knowledge and love of God; the image is manifest through his actually seeking, knowing, and loving God. God made us with the capacity to know and love Him, the heart of the concept of the image of God has to do with our relationship with God, in which we express real longing for God, trust in Him, and a desire to know and love Him. 3. The Functional view a. Here it is not our inner capacities of nature, nor our human or Godward relationality that comprise the image of God, but it is the functioning of man who is responsible to act as God’s representative over creation that shows us as His images i. The image of God is seen in the fact that God places man over the rest of earthly creation in order to rule on His behalf. Creation stewardship as God’s vice-regents, then, is at the heart of what it means to be in the image of God. b. The Ancient Near Eastern View i. Many times inanimate objects such as stones, trees, or crafted idols were considered images of the gods, and when this was the case, they were seen as possessing some divine substance that gave them certain powers. But also often (and more important to the background of Genesis 1:26–28), the image of the god was a king or another royal official. ii. This image bearing was seen in three characteristics. 1. First, the god would put into the king some divine substance (e.g., some fluid or wind or breath) that would give the king extraordinary powers, thus making him like the god, to some degree, and able to represent the god to the people. 2. Second, the king was to function as the representative of the god and rule as the vice-regent of the god, acting as the god would, in his place. 3. Third, it was only the king or another high official who was the image of the god; ordinary people were never the image of the god. iii. This correlates well with Genesis 1-2. 1. First, man was created with such a nature that divine enablement was given to be what he must be in order to do what God required him to do - God breathed into Adam the breath of life. 2. Second, immediately upon creating man in Genesis 2 God puts man to work, stewarding and working in the world that is God’s own creation. The garden is God’s but he gives man the responsibility of stewarding over it. The animals are God’s but God gives man the right and responsibility to name the animals. a. Man shows his his God derived authority over creation as he cultivates the garden and especially 3. Third, the place where Genesis 1:26–28 departs from this pattern is that both male and female are created in God’s image. While the king or royal official only is the image of the god, in the creation of man, all men, both male and female, are fully the image of God. Man and woman, then, both are fully the image of God and together share the responsibility to steward the earthly creation God has made. 4. The Holistic View. a. So we see that Man is a mirror image of God in his physical makeup (his being), his relationships, and his function as ruler or steward. b. “The image of God in the holistic view means that God made human beings, both male and female, to be created and finite representations (images) of God’s own nature, that in relationship with Him and each other they might be His representatives (imaging God) in carrying out the responsibilities He has given to them. In this sense, we are images of God in order to image God and His purposes in the ordering of our lives and the carrying out of our God-given responsibilities.” 5. The Problem. a. Hebrews 2:5-8 “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. i. How are we doing? 1. In terms of properly representing God in our structure? a. God is perfect in holiness. b. Man is full of sin and corroding, he does not properly mirror the image of God but is a perversion of that image. 2. In terms of representing God in our relationships? a. God dwells in perfect unity with himself (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) b. The Bible says that by nature we are enemies with God and separated from him. Not only that but we are separated from one another, jealous and in competition with one another for glory and honor. 3. In terms of functionality as stewards over God’s creation? a. God is a Sovereign ruler over all that he has created, stewarding perfectly over all things. b. Man, has forfeited his responsibility to steward God’s creation. Look at the way that man has destroyed the earth! i. The Chernobyl disaster ii. The Nuclear plants in Japan iii. The Atom Bomb c. Not only that but Mankind seems to be subject to the whims of nature, rather than a ruler over nature. d. Why is this? i. It is because the first man, Adam, rebelled against God, wanting to be his own God. He chose to turn his back on all that God had commanded him and instead do things his way and by doing so man brought corruption (sin) into the world. ii. By doing this mankind forfeited his rights as image bearer of God and now though we still maintains this image in some sense, we are far less than God intended Mankind to be. 6. The Solution a. Because of this, God the Son was sent on a rescue mission to redeem mankind from corruption and to bring us back, to restore, what God originally intended for mankind to be. b. Hebrews 2:8-9 “At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. i. Jesus Ministry..... c. Our Lord Jesus Absolutely exhibited this expression of the image of God in His own human, earthly life. Made fully human and filled with the Holy Spirit, He was totally and completely faithful in representing God through His human and finite nature (Because he was God in human flesh). d. In relationship with God and others, He sought fully and only to carry out the will of the Father who sent Him into the world. More than any other man, Jesus exhibited this as His uniform and constant desire. e. He represented God in word, attitude, thought, and action throughout the whole of His life and ministry. So the responsibilities God gave Him, He executed fully. f. Clearly, a functional holism was at work in Jesus as the image of God. As such, Jesus was in human nature the representation of God so that, in relation to God and others, He might represent God in fulfilling His God-given responsibilities as He functioned, always and only, to do the will of His Father. Conclusion: What is man and what is his purpose? Man is the image of God. Man is created to mirror God in his being, his relationships and his stewardship. The likeness (image) of God was lost in the Fall of Adam but regained in the redemption by Jesus Christ. To be in Christ is to be in the image of God, to be in Christ is to be fully human, and is to be what God has intended us to be: Human beings that are filled with his Spirit, mirroring him in our person, mirroring him in our relationships with Him, and one-another, and mirroring him in our stewardship over his creation. Thanks be to Jesus christ who not only redeemed us as God’s image bearers but also enables us to fulfill this image bearing by His Holy Spirit who dwells in us.