In His Image

August, 2004

by: Brock Bolde

Something that separates the human race from the rest of creation is the fact that we are “made in the image of God” (Genesis 1:26-28, 5:1-2, 9:6-7; 1 Corinthians 11:7; Colossians 3:10; James 3:9). Being made in the image of God (imago Dei) is, in many ways, what it means to be human. Whether someone is rich or poor, black or white, educated or uneducated, male or female, fully grown or just born, they are still said to be “made in the image of God.” As parents, it is important that we help our children to understand just what it means to be made in this way? Does our being made in God's image give us certain rights? Does it afford us certain privileges? Are there certain expectations that go along with being made in this image? Questions like these all help us and our children to understand how God has created us. In his systematic theology book, Wayne Grudem states: “The more we know about God and man the more similarities we will recognize, and the more fully we will understand what Scripture means when it says that man is in the image of God.” He goes on to say that “when we realize that the Hebrew words for 'image' and 'likeness' simply informed the original readers that man was like God, and would in many ways represent God, much of the controversy over the meaning of 'image of God' is seen to be a search for too narrow and too specific a meaning.”

Now some have questioned whether it is possible for man to still be thought of as being “like God” after sin entered the world? All one needs to do to get an answer to this question is look to events after the Fall! In Genesis 9:6, God allows for someone who has murdered another human being to be put to death; and the basis for this reasoning is the fact that “in the image of God He made man.”James 3:9 tells us that all men, not just those who are believers, “have been made in the likeness of God.” According to one Hebrew scholar, “the Status of being in God's image is not reserved for the primal human(s), but is passed on to all their descendants. The image is not lost through sin… to harm or kill humans is to injure the majesty of God.” Even though sin has entered the picture, we are still in God's image. Grudem adds that “we are still like God and we still represent God — but the image of God in us is distorted; we are less fully like God than we were before the entrance of sin.” We need to help our children to understand that while the image of God has been tainted, and will be for as long as we are in these sin cursed bodies, there is a glimmer of hope that is offered to all who place their faith in the person of Jesus Christ.

Our children need to know that “evil men will go from bad to worse” (2 Timothy 3:13). Apart from Christ, he is unable to properly reflect the image of God in the way that he should. And yet, the New Testament offers hope to those who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. It is this redemption that makes it possible for us to progressively grow in the likeness of Christ. As we grow in our knowledge and understanding of God and His Word, we are actually conformed more and more into the image of Christ (Romans 8:29). This redemption will one day lead to our properly reflecting the character and actions of God. Charles Sherlock aptly states that “those in Christ have the promise that having borne the 'image of the dusty one', we will also bear the 'image of the heavenly one'.”

As parents, we must help our children to understand that man is like no other being found in all of creation. Our children need to know that God has created man in His image and likeness and while this image has been tainted, it is able to progress through redemption, until it is fully restored in the day of Christ's return. Until that day, may God help each of us, through Christ, to more clearly reflect the image of the One who has created us!