Every human being is made in the image of God (imago dei), and as such each of us was made to represent God and be like God.
References to the image of God appear at three turning points in the opening chapters of Genesis. At creation, God decrees, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness,” and in the next verse we read that “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen. 1:26–27). After Adam and Eve are kicked out of the garden and the curse takes root on the earth, we are told again that “when God created man, he made him in the likeness of God” (5:1). And finally, after the flood the presence of the imago dei in man is reiterated a third time: “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image” (9:6). By these three references we are meant to see that man was created in the image of God, that the fall did not mean the end of the imago dei, and that the punishment of the flood did not wipe it out.
Although the concept is of paramount importance in Christian theology, the explicit language of the image of God does not occur again until the New Testament. In 1 Corinthians 11:7 man is called “the image and glory of God,” and in James 3:9 we are warned against cursing “people who are made in the likeness of God.” The latter passage reinforces the idea that the imago dei is not something that belongs only to God’s people. We must be mindful that the person we are tempted to curse—whoever that person might be and whatever he has done to us—is someone made in God’s image and likeness.
There are two important (and related) shifts in the way in which the image of God is talked about in the New Testament.
First, in the New Testament the focus is upon Christ as the man who perfectly displays the image of God. The gospel is the message about the glory of Christ, who is the image of God (2 Cor. 4:4–6). By this gospel we can be saved (5:17–21), and by it we can be transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another (3:17–18). Likewise, in Colossians we are told that Christ, in his divine nature, is the unique image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15–20). Later, believers are told to put to death what is earthly and so be renewed in knowledge after the image of their Creator (3:5–10).
Second, in the New Testament the focus is less upon the image of God as our creational possession and more upon the image of God as our eschatological goal. As Paul says in Romans 8:29, “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.” Or, again, in 1 Corinthians 15:49, “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.” The image of God is not only what we have and what we were given; it is what we are growing into and what will one day be realized in all those (and in only those) who belong to Christ. For Christians, the image of God is both our dignity and our destiny.
What Does It Mean to Be Made in the Image of God?
Considering its significance in Christian thought and in Western civilization, the image of God has not always been easy to define.
Older theologians tended to emphasize the structural aspects of the image of God. They viewed man’s capacity for intelligence, rationality, morality, beauty, and worship as that which distinguishes us from the animals. Even in unborn babies and persons with severe impairments, there is still a unique human capacity for these qualities, however limited by physical or psychological constraints.
More recent theologians have focused on the functional aspects of the image of God. That is, they identify God’s image less with our essence than with our ethics. According to passages like Romans 8:29 (“predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son”) and 1 Corinthians 15:49 (“as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven”), the image of God is not just what we have; it is what we are called to do and to be (1 John 3:2–3).
Both aspects teach us something important about the image of God, but the Bible allows us to say more about the functional (what we do) than the structural (what we have). Note, then, three further dimensions of how we live out the image of God.
First, human beings are representatives of God. Just as an ancient king would place a statue of himself throughout his realm, marking his ownership and rule, so our presence as image bearers in the world marks out the earth as belonging to God. Further, as representatives, we are called to be rulers and stewards. We are set apart from the animals in that we are given “dominion over the works of [his] hands” (Ps. 8:6; cf. Gen. 1:28).
Second, human beings are made to be in relationship with God. Unique among his creatures, Adam was created for covenant (Hos. 6:7). The image of God is not only something in us or something true about us; it is something that exists between us and God. Unique among all his creatures, God can see something of himself in us. To be an image bearer is to be the sort of creature who can know, serve, and self-consciously worship the Creator.
Third, human beings are made to reflect the righteousness of God. The New Testament defines the image of God as true knowledge, righteousness, and holiness (Eph. 4:24; WCF 4.2). Although sin has marred the divine image in man, we can still be renewed by God in Christlikeness so as to increasingly reflect his image (Col. 3:9–10).
This last point needs to be underscored. While we can understand something about human nature ontologically apart from Christ, only by virtue of the incarnation can we know what obedient human life looks like. The gospel is the message about the “glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Cor. 4:4). By his Spirit we can be transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another (3:17–18). To be made in the image of God means we ought to be—and can be—remade in the likeness of Christ.
What Are the Implications of Being Made in the Image of God?
The importance of the imago dei cannot be overstated. Its significance ought to touch every area of life. Let me mention six implications of being made in the image of God.
- Being made in the image of God, human beings are unique among all God’s creatures. We are qualitatively and constitutionally different from plants and animals. We have been made a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned with glory and honor (Ps. 8:5). The highpoint of all creation was not a mountain, a river, a badger, a beetle, a volcano, a fish, or a star. We were the climax, because we alone bear the image of God.
- The image of God means that all human beings have inherent worth and dignity. This is one reason abortion is wrong. A person is a person no matter how small, no matter her development, no matter his environment, and no matter her degree of dependence on another human being. Innocent human life must be protected, even when that life is old or sick, even when the person wants to end his own life. Because every human being is made in God’s image, descended from the same human pair, there is no place for racism, partiality, or feelings of ethnic superiority.
- With a proper understanding of the image of God, we can see what it means to be fully human. We live out our deepest identity not in self-expression or sexual fulfillment, but in obedience to and love for the one who made us. When the serpent told Adam and Eve they would be like God on the day that they ate of the forbidden tree, he lied: they were already like God, made in his image.
- The doctrine of the image of God reminds us that the world belongs to God. In the ancient world, a conquering king might put his statue in different locations throughout his realm to make clear that this was his dominion. In the same way, pagan temples in the ancient world always included images of the god who was said to dwell there. Our presence in the world as God’s image bearers testifies that this is God’s world. The God who made everything does not live in temples made by man (Acts 17:24). We are God’s “idols,” spread across the face of the earth (17:26), because the earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof (Ps. 24:1 KJV).
- The image of God in us means that we belong to God. When Jesus asked the Pharisees whose likeness was on the denarius, they said Caesar’s (Matt. 22:20–21). They should have also stopped to consider whose likeness was on them. “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (22:21). Caesar can have his taxes. Human beings belong to God, not to Caesar.
- The image of God teaches us how to truly worship. All throughout the Old Testament, God’s people were warned not to worship graven images (Ex. 20:4–6, 23). The God of Israel could not be seen. Until one day, he was. Worship now must be focused on Jesus Christ, a man like us (except for sin), the Son of God the Father, and the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15).
1Kilner, John. Dignity and Destiny: Humanity in the Image of God. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2015
Content taken from Daily Doctrine by Kevin DeYoung, ©2024. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, crossway.org.