You Are Made In the Image of God. Think About That in 2016.
I have been thinking a lot lately about being made in God’s image and what that has to do with Jesus and me. The more I read, prayed, and pondered this truth, the more amazed I became. I have written some of my thoughts in this post. See what you think.
When purchasing something I usually check to see where it is made. “Made in China” is the most common label I see these days. “Made in Japan” used to be common, but not so much anymore. “Made in Mexico”, “Made in India”, “Made in Vietnam”, or “Made in Bangladesh” are labels I also see. Much less commonly I see “Made in America”, which is too bad — I prefer to buy American because the quality is usually better. Not always, but with certain products like tools, made in America (or Germany or the UK) is superior.
But there is one label that is much greater than all of these. That label is stamped on each one of us — “Made in the Image of God”; also known as Imago Dei, for those of you stamped in Latin. In other words, we are created in the image and likeness of God.
Made in the image and likeness of God’ is mentioned in three passages in the Old Testament, all in the book of Genesis. These passages are Genesis 1: 26-28; Genesis 5: 1-3; and Genesis 9:6. Here is the most familiar passage from Genesis 1: 26-28, which includes the job description for mankind:
“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground”. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him, male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground”” (NIV).
Here are 5 implications for each of us that ‘made in the image of God’ means:
First, As far as I can tell based on Scripture, God did not say “I have made some people in my image”. He did not say “I have made only Jews or born-again Christians or the educated or the wealthy or Catholic or Mormon or Americans or whatever in my image”. The Imago Dei applies to all humanity — every human being is made in the image of God. This, of course, ascribes to each person a nobility, a dignity, and a value that we must always remember when we look at another person, especially someone who in not culturally, racially, nationally, educationally, or socially similar to us. No one is marginal, all carry within them the image and likeness of God. Every human being, every life, is unique and special. If we would only think, speak, and act this way the world would be a lot closer to the Garden of Eden than to the pit of hell, which the world sometimes seems to be rushing toward.
Second, the image of God imparts to us a function. We are to be God’s image bearers to the world. It is not just about our intimate, worshipful relationship to God; it is not just about our joy and peace, our abundant life. It is also about our showing the world what God looks like. Through us, God intends for the world to know Him. When the world looks at me, the world should see some aspect of God. Of course, I am ‘like God’ or better yet ‘of God’; I am not God and must never get confused about my true identity. When I bear God’s image into the world, I will not do it perfectly. But still that is a great responsibility, which as Christians know, we do not carry alone. We have the Holy Spirit to make us more like Jesus (God) each day. Assuming, that is, we let Him.
The other part of our function, as Genesis 1 makes clear, is to rule. This is a big deal. To be made in the image of God is to be given Kingship or rulership over the earth. God is the supreme ruler, we are His delegate authorities. Jesus points to this reality when He tells us in John 14 – 16 that if we ask for anything in His name, His Father in heaven will do what we ask for. That is the nature of our authority and power — in His name means according to His will and consistent with His purposes. Dallas Willard puts it this way:
“Rather, we were created to govern the earth with all its living things — and to that specific end we were made in the divine likeness . . . I believe men and women were designed by God, in the very constitution of their human personalities, to carry our his rule by meshing the relatively little power resident in their own bodies with the power inherent in the infinite rule of the Kingdom of God” (pg. 48, 54; The Spirit of the Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives. by Dallas Willard).
So, to rule means that we have power and authority. But we do not rule as men rule — with tyranny and subjugation. We are called to rule the way a shepherd cares for his flock; he will lay down his life for his sheep. Our rule is meant to provide for the well-being of everything we rule over, with order, and life-giving love.
Third, the image of God gives us our identity. Notice that God didn’t say “I made them in my image”; He said “I made them in our image”. We are made in the image of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And we are made to be sons and daughters, co-heirs with Christ with all the powers, provision, and protection a Father gives His children. Furthermore, our identity is a royal habitation of God. We are made in his image so that He will find a dwelling place within us. That is part of our identity: the temple of God.
“The visible Cosmos of heaven and earth was one such royal habitation of God. Man was another. Man was a replica of the Glory-Spirit in that, for one thing, he was made to be the temple of the Creator-Spirit” (pg. 43, Kingdom Prologue: Genesis Foundations for a Covenantal Worldview, Meredith G. Kline).
Our identity as children of Father God is critical to our moment-by-moment lives. He is our Father, showering us with the Father’s love and the Father’s gifts. We are deeply loved by the Creator of the entire Cosmos, both seen and unseen. It is, of course, up to us to receive these gifts. That is why the prayer “I receive the Father’s love” is so powerful. But there is another aspect of this part of our identity.
Father God shows His children what love looks like in His many ways, including sending His Son to die for us, so that we might, in turn, learn how to love others with a father’s love. Part of our identity is to be a father or a mother to the world around us. That is how our identity as His image bearers connects with our function of ruler. We are to rule as a father or mother, with all the care, affection, and compassion that the Father models in His relationship with His children. Not to diminish the importance of mothers, but in American culture the role of father has been significantly discounted. Too many children today do not know the love of their fathers or even know their fathers at all. A father’s love is critical for health. For one thing, as a child receives their father’s love their hearts are being prepared to ultimately know their Father’s love as they mature.
Fourth, the image of God gives us the right and the righteousness to live in intimate relationship with Him in His Kingdom. As Augustine said “Thou has’t made us for thyself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in thee.” God is a God of relationships. To be made in the image of God is to desire to live in a right relationship with the people around us.
God has planned from before the beginning of time for us to live with Him in His Kingdom, the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is an ordered, sacred space.
“The Cosmos was prepared as a place for us with a very specific purpose in mind: that we may be where He is. This has always been God’s plan. It is God’s presence in the Cosmos that is worthy of note. By His presence, He has turned the Cosmos into sacred space . . . God had built the Cosmos to be sacred space and then put people in that sacred space as a place where they could be in relationship with them . . . Sadly, people chose their own way and sacred space was lost” (pg. 45, 51; The Lost World of Adam and Eve, John H. Walton).
We fall out of this sacred relationship with God when, instead of living within the perfect God-created order, the Kingdom of God, that as His image bearers we are entitled to, we attempt to bring our own order into our lives. We do this through the efforts of self-reliance and self-sufficiency. This places us outside the Kingdom of God and into the kingdom of self, from whence the world sees the image of John (me) and not the image and likeness of God. Not a good deal. As we choose to reenter into the relationship with God, which means returning to life in His Kingdom, we enter into His process of restoration. To be image bearers of God means that we have access to restoration through the grace that our Father lavishes on His children.
Finally, to be the image bearers of God means that we inherit attributes of God.
We are created to create. Every human life has the urge to create. Not just art, literature, or music, but businesses, science, health, justice, and many other things. But even more: we create life through procreation.
We are made to worship — we are connected to the sacred through the Holy Spirit in whose image we are also made. We corrupt this attribute when we worship the wrong things, but the need to worship is built into our spiritual DNA.
We are made for community. The Father lives in community with the Son and Holy Spirit. We are made to live in intimate connection with other people, as well as our Creator(s). We manifest this community in family, friendships, clubs, churches, and most importantly, the body of Christ.
We are made to love. It is not natural for humans to hate. God is love and we are His children.
We are made to be beautiful and to appreciate beauty. God’s glory is the “outstreaming manifestation of His beauty” as John Piper wrote. God crowned us with glory. His intention is for our glory to radiate beauty into the world also, drawing men to Himself through us. “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of (earthbound man) that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor” (NIV, Amplified Translation in parenthesis).
We are made for order. Our bodies are incredibly ordered and, in that sense, represent God’s ordered creation of the Cosmos. Cancer, for example, is disorder. Disorder in God’s creation is evil. We were made to bring order into the chaos of sin and darkness.
We are made for righteousness and morality — adhering to God’s laws (order again).
We are made to be free — often called ‘free will’.
We are made to have power and authority, but to exercise these as God does.
These are some of the implications of being “made in the image of God”. That we are made in His image is one of the greatest mind-boggling truths in the Universe. It gives mankind status, value, and significance beyond anything the world tries to tell us. “What is man that you are mindful of him?” Man is amazing or, at least, has the potential to be amazing. And it not just some people. It is all mankind.
“For now, it is essential to affirm that all people are in the image of God, regardless of their age, their physical ability or inability, their moral behavior, their ethnic identity, or their gender. The image in not stronger in some than in others, and it is something that gives us all the dignity of being specially gifted creatures of God. As God’s stewards, we are tasked to do His work in the world: we are to be His assistants in the order-bringing process that He has begun” (pg. 43, The Lost World of Adam and Eve: Genesis 2 – 3 and the Human Origins Debate, John H. Walton).
As we enter into this new year, I think it is good for us to reflect on who we really are. Each of us, no matter how we see ourselves and no matter who the world tells us we are, each and every human being, is made in the image of God, with all the implications of this amazing truth. What would it look like for you and for me if we started 2016 really believing this truth about who we are and what we were created to do?
As I was finishing this post I came across another quote that summed up what I am trying to say. So, even though it makes a long post longer, here it is. Speaking of the text this post discusses, Walter Brueggemann writes:
“The creature is seen as the one who is entrusted with power and authority to rule. The text is revolutionary. It presents an inverted view of God, not as the one who reigns by fiat and remoteness, but as the one who governs by gracious self-giving. It also presents an inverted view of humanness. This man and woman are not the chattel and servants of God, but the agents of God to whom much is given and from whom much is expected. The creation will be misunderstood if we hold to old and conventional religious notions of God and humankind. The miracle and celebration is in the disclosure of a quite new understanding of both” (pg. 33, Genesis, Walter Brueggemann).
The miracle and celebration. Both true today, but unfortunately, the celebration in the Garden of Eden was short-lived. The image of God in mankind was marred and defaced by sin. The image of God is still there in each one of us, but Satan has done (and is doing) everything in his power to defeat this reality, to obscure God’s image in us. The power of sin is crouching at our door. The Good News, the Celebration, is that God sent His Son to redeem His creation. ‘In Christ’ each of us is restored back to the image of God resident in us as we enter into and live in the Kingdom of God, where our sin is washed away. There is a reason that the attributes of the man and woman living out of the image of God in each of them looks much like Jesus. It is because when we live in the Kingdom of God with humble, repentant, and obedient hearts we are being restored back to that original person — of whom the archetype is Jesus. Maybe that thought can be the center of a New Year’s Resolution — “‘This year I resolve to become more like Jesus”.