Created in His Image
The image of God or Imago Dei seems to connote an endless soliloquy of intertwining connectivity and being in relationship with God to man. As God created man in His own image, He has become self-displayed or self-actualized in man, thus displaying His divine attributes in endless ways. Some of the biblical definitions of Imago Dei are worthy of exploration--connecting them to mans divine calling.
Just as God has chosen man to “Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground,” (Genesis 1:28, NIV) He has chosen to impart to man the responsibility of being an image bearer of God. In other words,
since God gave mankind the ability to have dominion over all living things and over his creation, there are requirements and accountability man must have in the interconnectedness of that relationship.
The biblical theologians suggest that man’s special calling with God is to look at what our role is within relationship to creation. When we look at what that means in terms of having a role to play within creation, we begin to look at what our destiny is and how that translates to our relationship with God. Mainly, this is the fact that we are completely and solely dependent upon God and his intent to respond to man in love through obedience which is born out of the love of God.
The image of God in man is his spiritual, moral and personal resemblance to God. Because we have fellowship with God and are in fellowship with God, we have a spiritual resemblance to Him. King Solomon referred to this when he stated, “He has also set eternity in their heart, without which man will not find out the work which God has done
from the beginning even to the end.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11, NIV) God will also judge the secrets of men through Jesus Christ (Romans 2:14-16, NIV). Paul is speaking of those that knew God’s law but never chose to follow God’s law, knowing the difference between right and wrong. Grenz (2000) states, “Each human is potentially a participant in the one destiny God has for us” (p. 178). As each person stands before God, to receive from God they are the recipient of the worth from our creator.
Gerhard von Rad induces that humankinds image of God is represented as a majestic and powerful presence. As kings and queens that erect their own images into the province, which they govern as a sovereign emblem, they represent God's claim to dominion here on
earth. Looking at how the near eastern scholars look at what the term “image” and “likeness” mean, it seems that their thoughts on the image of God relate directly to the “wholeness” from within our inner nature that we are somehow like God. Within the context of the first creation narrative in relationship to the divine image is linked to the plurality of mankind in the sense that man is created in the order of supernatural beings. Stanley Grenz, (2000) quotes Derrick Bailey, “the Creator’s resolve to crown his works by making a creature in whom, subject to the limitations of finitude, his own nature should be mirrored” (p. 175). This aspect of the narrative of creation has guided scholars to determine that being in corporate relationship is a part of the design of the image of God. It is only through interaction in fellowship with believers that God himself is manifested in and through each believer who is a part of the eternal relationship that is enjoyed through the Holy Spirit.
Tertullian looks at the image of God as it relates to his form that it is his eternity that is involved. In this it is indicated that through the Holy Spirit humanity receives back that Spirit of God that goes back to the spirit that was present during the creation, which he believes, is restored through baptism. It is through the fall that this spirit was lost and fell away.
McGrath (2011) says, “This humanity is restored to God into ‘his likeness,’ for he had originally been ‘in his image.’ The state of being in His image relates to his form” (p. 345). Theologian Origen argues that the “image of God” refers to the status of humanity and the term, “likeness” is pertaining to the final perfection of the human race at the resurrection.
Christ, the Image of God
We are created to have the attributes and characteristics of God enveloped in the nature of our being. God’s attributes and characteristics fully reflect him, as if peering in a mirror the divine essence of spiritual and moral attributes. (I say divine) because humanity has been formed to express the very spiritual and moral likeness of God. As the Psalmist says, “You hem me in, behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.” (Psalm 139:5) The words “image” and “likeness” are transposable terms that have a reflection of Hebrew synonyms.
The New Testament Greek word for image eikōn conveys the same meaning as the Hebrew. Both languages are indicative of God who created man to be similar to himself but not identical to himself. Humans were created to surrender instinctively and freely to God. I call this the “built in will of God” because it is natural for man to know the difference between good and evil, right and wrong. However, because sin has marred mans will, it does not always point in the direction of obedience to God. Humanity can only experience a repaired relationship through grace, which is God’s loving benevolence freely offered to man.
Humans have the capacity to choose or to deny or repress their spiritual and moral likeness to God. Because man is consciously aware of his purpose in God’s plan, and has the conscious recognition in the core of his being, humans are co-creators with God. Because each human is an expression of God, then humans must love other humans. The human likeness of God can also be compared and contrasted to a person who has no moral or conscious capacity for spiritual growth. This kind of individual can be looked at as either having an anti-social personality
disorder or what has been referred to as having sociopathic tendencies. This is what happens when the conscious moral fiber has become completely desensitized and is no longer able to have connection to a conscience when committing immoral acts toward others.
Striving to bring about the imago dei in one’s life can be seen as a quest or journey toward “wholeness,” a quest toward one’s true self which is becoming more like Christ. Stanley Grenz in his essay on Jesus as the Imago Dei: Image-of-God Christology and the non-linear linearity of theology expresses how the idea of Christ as the imago dei is set forth in several of the New Testament texts.
In particular, Grenz discusses how Paul connects Christ with the image of God as “Christ’s glory” in 2 Corinthians 4. In Colossians 1:15-20 Christ’s preeminence over all things and his designation as Christ being the second Adam. As Grenz (2004) declares, “This significance spans the ages. It not only culminates in the eschatological new creation, which it inaugurates, it also reflects back to the beginning, to the creation of humankind in the divine image, which now finds its full meaning in Christ, who through his death and resurrection is the true imago Dei” (p. 620). Grenz is looking at how Christ is glorified through Adam as the image of God and as representative to all of humanity as being the first reflection of God. Christ who is the representative of the second Adam goes back to the beginning of all creation. Christ is extoled above all because he is the one who is preeminent in the salvation of mankind from the beginning all the way to the end.
In David Bryant’s (2000) account of the imago dei, he is claiming that “Not every possibility is fulfilling: nor is every possibility responsive to the call to serve as God’s representative within the created order” (p. 37). He purports to discuss how imagination is the key to having ideas about God. In particular, if there are certain images one has about God, and it is proven to be true, this can lead to new ways of thinking and looking at things as they are developing.
In the creation of patterns that either support an authentic belief system or undermine it, Bryant cautions that we must have a balanced sense of understanding in our interactions with the world and God. Imagination is crucial to how one responds to our call to serve as God’s representatives. As Bryant (2000) so well expresses, “Imagination is what enables us to take the world as comprising a whole, of which we are a part and for which we have responsibility, to take God as the reality to which we are ultimately responsible and to take ourselves as agents who can freely respond” (p. 38).
The image of God ultimately is a way of viewing the entire Christian life as Christianity connects one to all aspects of humanity. As we have been created in God’s image, the potential value of this cannot be completely
realized until we become conformed to the image of Christ. To be living in God’s image, we must be in a correct relationship with God. He has generously invited humankind to partake in his kingdom and to be invited to live and work in his creation. Rather than describe himself, God has chosen to introduce himself to creation through the display of humankind.
References
Bryant, D. (2000). Imago dei, imagination, and ecological responsibility. Theology Today:
Volume 57, 1: ProQuest Religion (pp. 35-50).
Gerhard von Rad, “eikon,” in the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, ed.
Gerhard Kittel, Trans. Geoffrey W. Bromiley (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964), 2:392.
Grenz, S. (2000). Theology for the community of God. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdman’s.
Grenz, S. (2004). Jesus as the imago dei: image-of-god Christology and the non-linear
linearity of theology: Journal of Evangelical Theological Society: Dec 2004: 4
ProQuest Religion (pp. 617-628).
McGrath, A. (2007). Christian theology: an introduction(4thed.) Oxford: Blackwell.
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