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Genesis 1:26–27
“Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness’” (Gen. 1:26a).
The Word of God is not silent about the origins of the human race. In its very first chapter, the Bible declares that man is a creature made by God in the “image of God.” This crucial assertion goes far toward answering the question “What is man?” First of all, it differentiates man from God, for it tells us that man is a creature—finite, dependent, derived, and accountable. The image of God is not God, but is subordinate to God. Second, it differentiates man from every other created thing. Nothing else is said to be made in the image of God. Being so uniquely made, man is given dominion over the remainder of creation; it is both a support system for him and a trust he is to manage. Thus, man is above all creatures but below God in the order of being. He is created “a little lower than the angels, and … crowned … with glory and honor” (Ps. 8:5).
But what does it mean to be made in the “image of God”? There have been great disagreements on this question throughout church history. Some have answered the question in terms of our bodily shape, asserting that we actually look like God. Mormons go so far as to say that since the Bible tells us human beings are made in the image of God, and since we have bodies, God must have a body, too. But classical Protestantism accepts the Biblical teaching that God is Spirit (John 4:24), meaning that those aspects that distinguish us as being in the image of God must involve resemblance to His non-physical qualities and abilities. For instance, God can think, reflect, and choose, and so can we. He is a moral being, and so are we. He is relational, and we likewise. It is character qualities such as these that are in view when the Bible says that we are made in God’s image. And human beings are designed by God to reflect these qualities, the beauties and perfections of His own character, before all creation.
Above all else, human beings are created to reflect the holiness of God. Our ability to do so was lost when Adam and Eve fell into sin (Gen. 3). But the Bible is clear that the image of God remains present in human beings even after the Fall, for God Himself speaks of post-Fall man in such terms (Gen. 9:6). We remain mirrors of God’s character, but mirrors that are fogged and cracked. We need God’s touch to be the image of God in full once again.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
By affirming that man is created in the image of God, Christianity affirms a universal dignity in man. Philosophical systems that see man as the result of random evolutionary forces actually denigrate human beings. Take time today to thank God that you are wonderfully made, and reflect on your responsibility to mirror His character.
For Further Study
- Psalm 40:4
- Psalm 139:14
- Isaiah 29:16
- Jeremiah 1:5
- Zechariah 12:1
- Romans 9:20