EA Essential - engaging young people with biblical truth

Response

The description of humanity as being made ‘in the image of God’ occurs only twice in Genesis (1:26-27 and 9:6) and nowhere else in the Bible, and yet this description is vitally important to our understanding of what it means to be human. There have been numerous attempts throughout the centuries of church history to try to understand what is meant by this cryptic phrase. Some have seen it as relating to our ability to think and reason. Others have thought that it refers to our in-built desire to reach into the divine realm, whilst still another view has related the concept of the image of God to our capacity to have a conscience and differentiate between right and wrong.

In order to understand this concept clearly, two points about the original Genesis text need to be noticed. The first is that this phrase was not plucked out of thin air by the author and made up by (presumably) him. Its context is to be found in the Babylonian culture that Genesis was probably written in. Here, the kings of Babylon were described as being ‘the image of the gods’, ordained to bring social harmony and fertility to the land. We, therefore, are called to be God’s image: to represent him to the rest of creation. Genesis 1:28 follows logically on from verses 26-27 and, indeed, the original Hebrew carries the sense of, ‘Let us make humankind in our image… so that they might rule over the birds and fish etc’.* In other words, we have been made expressly so that we might look after the rest of what God has made.

The second point to note is that 1:26 doesn’t say, ‘Let me make humankind in my image’, but, ‘Let us make humankind in our image’. The God whom we are to image is not singular, but plural and we reflect him when our emphasis is not on individuality, but on relationships, mirroring the relationships of the Trinity. Classically, these relationships have been seen as covering three areas: our relationship with God, with one another and with the rest of his creation, and it is in these three-fold relationships that we come to an understanding of what it really means to be human.

To be made ‘in the image of God’, therefore, carries important implications for our lives. It points, firstly, to our need for relationship with God. As Augustine famously said, ‘You have made us for yourself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you’. Secondly, it shows us the value of human life on this earth. As Nyere (a former Tanzanian president) said, ‘I believe in a God who made humankind in his own image: I refuse to believe in a God who is blind, starving and illiterate’. Thirdly, it shows us our place in this world: the final species, created by God expressly to look after the rest of what he had made.

The first two chapters of Genesis show us that we were originally created to be in harmony with our creator and with the created world and its people. Chapter three, however, shows us how that relational harmony was destroyed: God’s image was defaced. The New Testament picks up the concept of being in God’s image and relates it directly to Jesus: he is the true ‘image of the invisible God’ (Col. 1:15). Through faith in him we can find our true identity and see our relationships (with God, with other people and with the rest of creation) restored.

*CJH Wright, Old Testament Ethics for the People of God (2004: IVP).

Further Reading

R. Valerio, L is for Lifestyle: Christian living that doesn’t cost the earth (IVP: 2004) – a very practical look at how we can live in ways that reduce the damage we cause to God’s world and the people who live in it.

FAQ Disclaimer:

FAQ responses are designed to promote clear biblical thinking about subjects that are often difficult and confusing. The responses are all considered to be compatible with the Evangelical Alliance’s basis of faith but beyond that should not be assumed to represent the Evangelical Alliance’s ‘official standpoint’ on any particular doctrine or issue.