THE IMAGE OF GOD
Genesis 1:26 says that man is made in the image of God but what is that exactly? Let’s take a look at what the image of God is about and what that means for us.
1) Mankind is unique. Gen 1:26-27.
When you look up the word image you will find words like reflection, likeness, representation. The American Tract Society dictionary defines image as, “An exact and complete copy or counterpart of any thing. The image of God in which man was created was in his spiritual, intellectual, and moral nature, in righteousness and true holiness.”
Man is the climax of God’s creative activity and was put in charge over all the earth. Why was Adam put as the overseer and caretaker of the world? Why was he given that authority and responsibility? Because man is the only one of God’s creation that was made in his image. Since man was made in the image of the divine King, he received authority (kingship) over the King’s creation. Nothing else is made in the image of God. Man was different; unique-special.
Notice that in the creation story you see God speaking things into existence. “Let there be light”, and so on. That is, until he gets to man. He doesn’t say, “Let there be man”, he says, “Let us make man in our image”. “Our image”. This represents the trinity-Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Nothing else is made in the image of the triune God. We are triune people. We are body, soul and Spirit. The beasts of the ground, the fish of the sea and the birds of the air do not have this privilege. We were created, knit together in the womb as David put it in Psalm 139:13.
One of the problems with evolution is that it removes all the glory of who we are. In Evolution we start out as a glob of primordial goo and somewhere along the line we evolve into monkeys and then into humans. As one person poetically put it, “From goo to you by way of the zoo.” But God sees us differently than just a few steps above goo. Being made in the image of God means I am not just another element of the world. Nothing else in all creation is made in the image of God.
Everything God created is good but only man is made in the likeness of God himself. Only man has a soul. Only man has the level of intelligence we do, the animal kingdom doesn’t have as high a capability to problem solve with as much logic and reason as we do. We are superior in many ways. We’re God’s crowning achievement; he saved the best for last.
2) A tarnished image. Gen. 5:1-3.
Does this mean we are no longer made in God’s image but rather in the image of Adam? Adam was created perfect; without sin. He was created to be immortal. Perfect-without sin-immortal; all of what God is. Then the fall happened. Now, all born would be imperfect, sinners, mortal. As God created Adam and Eve in his perfect image so now, after Adam and Eve sinned, they have a son born in their imperfect image.
That doesn’t mean we are totally removed from being made in God’s image. We are still the crowning achievement of creation, we are still body, soul and spirit but now, because we are born with a sinful nature, we are tarnished images of God. And unfortunately, because we are tarnished images we no longer get to look upon God.
Because Adam and Eve were made perfectly in the image of God they had the privilege of seeing God as he is. They had the privilege of literally walking with God. All that changed when sin entered in. The dynamic of their relationship instantly changed. They went from walking with God to hiding from God. They went from being in God’s presence to being banished from his garden. They went from being connected with God to being separated from God.
From then on, since all would be born in the image of man and thus an imperfect image of God there would no longer be the ability to see God in the fullness of his holiness. We are still made in God’s image but because of sin it’s a tarnished image.
3) We see God through Jesus.
Colossians 1:15 says that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. When Jesus came people were allowed to see God. Although it was still not in the fullness of his glory, since Jesus was a man as well as being God, there would be the ability to have a piece of what Adam and Eve experienced. As Adam and Eve walked and had a relationship with God so now people could have a relationship with Jesus-the visible aspect of the invisible God.
John 1:18, “No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.” It’s not that the way Jesus looked was how God looked; it’s not the physical features that caused Jesus to be the image of God it was the spiritual features. Jesus perfectly exemplified God’s love, mercy, grace, compassion, holiness; everything. He came to show us, in a living, tangible way who God was. Through Jesus’ behavior and character he made God known.
Heb. 1:3 says that Jesus is the “radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being”. Jesus is Emmanuel-God with us. When people saw Jesus and how he spoke, taught and acted they were seeing God. God had been silent for nearly 400 years and I’m sure people were wondering if God had forgotten them; if he loved them. Jesus came to show the people that God hadn’t forgotten them and that he indeed loved them.
Jesus wasn’t only here to make God’s character known to us but he was also here to make God’s will known to us. As John 3:16 illustrates that God so loved the world that he sent Jesus that whoever would believe in him would not perish but have eternal life.
4) Remade in God’s image.
Not only is God’s will that we be saved but it’s also his will that those who are saved would be transformed into his likeness. In Gal. 3:27 it says that when we were baptized we clothed ourselves with Christ; we put Christ on. We were made in the image of God, that image was warped through sin but now, through being reborn, we are going through the process of being transformed into the image (likeness) of Christ who is the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15).
Rom. 8:28 says that God works for the good of those that love him and are called according to his purpose. What is his purpose? We see it in vs. 29, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his son.” God’s purpose for his followers is that they would strive to be more like Jesus.
2nd Cor. 3:16-18, “But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
When the veil of blindness is taken away when we come to Christ, we are now able to see and contemplate the Lord’s glory. We are able to understand what that’s about and we are now able, because the spirit of the Lord is in us, to reflect his glory. First we reflect on and then we reflect out. And the more we do so the greater that glory increases because the closer we get to the image of God the brighter we become.
But transformation is a process. And sometimes it’s not a very easy one. We will have to go through times of trial and testing in order to get rid of the darkness inside of us. We need to go through a refining process.
“There was a women’s bible study group that were looking at Malachi 3:3 which says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver." This verse puzzled the women and they wondered how this statement applied to the character and nature of God. One of the women offered to find out more about the process of refining silver, and to get back to the group at their next Bible study.
The following week, the woman called up a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him while at work. She didn’t mention anything about the reason for her interest, beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith work, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire, where the flames were the hottest as to burn away all the impurities.
The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot, and then she thought again about the verse, that "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the entire time the silver was being refined. The man answered yes, that not only did he have to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on it the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left even a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "But how do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that’s easy--when I see my image in it."
The more we are refined the more we will reflect the image of God. Another meaning of image is in the essence of appearance, the way you are seen or viewed. “I have an image to protect”. Now, since we have been born again and are to be refined into the likeness of Christ, “we have an image to project”.
5) The image of love.
Since mankind is made in the image of God we should treat people with love and respect. In the Ten Commandments, the first four have to do with honoring God, the final six have to do with honoring each other. Take for instance the sixth commandment “You shall not murder”.
Genesis 9:6, “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.” God is communicating that people’s lives are important to him because people are made in his image. When we murder we not only attack the person we attack God who made the person in his image. When we hurt people we hurt God. When we look down on people we need to remember that no matter how different they are from me, this person is made by God; God made this person in his image as I have been made in his image and I am no more important, special or loved than he is. He is no less deserving of God’s grace, forgiveness and mercy that I am because the fact is that none of us are deserving because we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (Rom. 3:23).
This is really hard to grasp and live by because it is so easy to measure things by our own standards; it’s so easy to judge the worth and value of people based on certain criteria like wealth, intelligence or looks. We think certain people are expendable-unimportant-unlovable. Black lives matter? No; all lives matter.
But Derrick what about someone like Hitler or Bin Laden? Are you telling me that they were made in the image of God? Are you saying God loved them too? Yes. It’s hard to think that God loved Hitler as much as he loves me but when John 3:16 says that God so loved the world that he gave us Jesus that included Hitler as much as it included me. The greatest level of love God could perform was sacrificing his son. That means God loves everyone with the greatest amount of love because his word says he desires that none would perish-including someone like Osama Bin Laden.
Now, that doesn’t mean he loves what we do. Is God more pleased with me than he is with Bin Laden? I would certainly hope so or else I’m in a lot of trouble. But we’re talking about the fact that God loved John as much as he did Judas. Their outcomes were different but God’s love for them was the same.
So what should we do with that? Matthew 5:43-48. Jesus is telling us to love the unlovable as we have been loved. Why? Because they too, were made in the image of God. They too have a soul that needs saving. We too should care that they don’t die spiritually. Have you ever wanted someone to go to hell? No matter how evil their actions were that is the worst desire we could have. God doesn’t want anyone to go to hell. He knows there will be plenty of people who will, but that’s not his desire.
We need to see people through a different lens. Since people are made in the image of God they are not just flesh and blood they are spirit and soul. Therefore we should see them through a spiritual lens. People exhibit ungodly behavior because they are sinners and are under the control of the sinful nature; some more than others but the point remains the same-we all need Jesus.
You’ve heard the line, “hate the sin; not the sinner.” We need to hate sin but we need to love the sinner; not for what they do but because they need to be saved. Instead of hating them we should be praying for them. Instead of attacking them we should have pity for them for their depravity shows how ensnared by the devil they are.
The worst of sinners is still made in the image of God and should have the same opportunity as we do to hear and respond to the gospel. Since everyone is made in the image of God and loved by God, we who are supposed to be reflecting the image of God need to reflect the image of love onto everyone.
