Made in God's Image (His Mysteries #6)

 

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What does it mean to be made in the image of God?

I'm not sure this is something we grasp all at once. Or grasp in its entirety. Because, like everything with God, it's deeper and grander than we think, and may dawn on us in glimpses and aspects over a lifetime. The word "mean" can also be considered in two ways: What defines us as being made in God's image, and what are the consequences to us of being so made? 

From the start, I recognize that a Trinitarian point of view is basic to my understanding. If God is eternal in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, this means they have been together in a loving, united relationship without a beginning. "Without end" is much easier to imagine than the idea of something having no starting point, no before. If God weren't three persons, I can immediately think of a couple of things that would be tougher to explain. First, our human threefold nature--spirit, soul, and body--wouldn't match God's image as well. Second, the phrase "God is love" would have a less rich meaning. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were in loving communion and agreement for eternity before humans were created. If God were unitarian, we'd have to ask when love got its start. Was it not until humans were made? At any rate, until something was made? Do we think love had a beginning? I say no, because if so there would have been a period--an eternity--when God was not love. But I don't want to get too far into the weeds here. I think perhaps the first way we are made in God's image is that we are triune like He is.

Another way is that we are made for relationship, inwardly and outwardly. Our spirit, soul, and body communicate within us, and we reach out to others. Both God and we are persons, which also means consciousness, identity, reason, and moral agency. Deny it though some will, our sense of right and wrong is built in. No matter how much individuals and cultures may disagree on some of the particulars, for mentally healthy people there are acts too heinous to commit and lengths to which they won't go. Even people who do unconscionable things sometimes think they are doing them for a good reason; thus a sense of right and wrong, even if twisted, is operating. Our personhood, capacity for relationship, and inherent moral code are all ways we are made in God's image.

Being made in the image of God also means we are creators--small c--like He is. Though we think of ourselves as creating from created materials while God created from nothing, there's a further point to consider. Proverbs 18:21 says life and death are in the power of the tongue. James says the tongue is a fire that can cause a destructive blaze. Our prayers, curses, oaths, and vows have power and produce results. Just because we can't say "Let there be a planet!" and poof there's a sphere in the sky doesn't mean our words don't create any number of situations and paths. As beings in God's image, we create, and our speech produces both life and death.

One more, and this idea comes from Francis Schaeffer in his book The God Who is There. Schaeffer contends that the Bible teaches we are "...made in the image of God as a personality who can make a free first choice." The phrase free first choice is important. It would mean we aren't programmed, not by our biology, psychology, nor by God Himself. We are neither machines nor animals. There are those who would claim we are "human animals," but we are not. The image of God in us is an unbridgeable gulf between humans and animals. 

What do we do with the fact that we're created in God's image? First, we regard all other people as fellow image-bearers, and if we can get this truth down in our spirits it should raise our respect for everyone--and ourselves as well. Also, we're to love our brothers and sisters in Christ (yes, our enemies too, but that's beside the point here), not just because it's a good idea but because we're to model the Trinity's love among its three persons. And we can take courage that when even unbelievers see our good deeds and moral excellence, they will (generally) glorify God (Matthew 5:16) because they are made in His image and have that "stamp," "compass," or conscience in and on them. We can also realize that being made in God's image helps make sense of the Incarnation. People sometimes say--and I have thought--that Jesus deigning to become a man must be akin to a human being deciding to become, say, an ant, to die for an anthill. But it isn't the same. Ants are not made in humans' image. Because we are imago dei, there is a tie between God and humans that doesn't exist between any other pair of beings. Because we are imago dei, we are meant to be His family. Because we are imago dei, He purchased salvation for us and only us, whereas we can't, and needn't, for anyone. 

This is surely not exhaustive, but it's what I have. God having made us in His image speaks louder, and quieter, and in many more ways, than we think. It's one of His mysteries.