Paper 1 - The Significance in Being Made in the Image of God

“So God created human beings in his image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (NLT). Genesis 1:27 defines the character of all men and women. To be made in God’s image bears great significance, in that it determines our worth, establishes our rank, and instills our responsibility. As we sin, we work to alter the prescribed image and undermine the plan that God set forth for our lives; however, God’s image and plan remain steadfast. Only by fixing our eyes on the image of our maker and repenting of our sins, may we rightfully restore the image of God within us.

First, being made in God’s image determines our worth by setting us apart from all other creation. Humans are not described as being modeled after angels, animals, or any other being in God’s creation. We are specifically made in the image of the triune God for the sole purpose of extending God’s order and carrying out his plans here on earth. “Then, God said, ‘Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. The will reign over…all the wild animals on the earth’” (Genesis 1:26 NLT). Then, just as he planned in verse 26, he carried out, forming the first man, Adam, from the dust on the ground. God himself, “breathed the breath of life into the man’s nostrils, and the man became a living person” (Genesis 2:7 NLT).

There is nothing special about the make-up of our earthly forms. They are simply carbon, “from dust” bodies that are used to carry us about as we walk the earth until we return to the dust from which we came. They’re even used to tout the likelihood of evolution due to the similarities in our biological make-up to those of other creatures in God’s kingdom. However, the worth in humans lies precisely in the fact that we are created in God’s image, brought to life by the breath of God himself. In simplistic terms, this means that we have a soul. This God-shaped hole in each human’s life cries out for love, for good, for justice, for understanding, for peace, for help, for salvation. Animals do not share this trait. Animals simply survive. They do not seek love, goodness, justice, understanding, peace, help, or salvation. We do. Garnett Reid in his book, Old Testament Survey – Part I, refers to this as a “moral center”, which, “displays our Maker’s traits; our design in His likeness means that holiness, love, and wisdom inform our character and shape our conscious choices” (14).

Further, being made in God’s image not only determines our worth, but it establishes our rank. Nothing about God, his creation, or his character is happenstance. There is order present. If one has ever studied science, it is obvious. God’s plans make sense. In creating human beings in his image, God was further establishing order among his creation. The Bible is very clear that we were not created as gods ourselves. We were specifically created as human beings, “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27 NLT).

This does not mean that we are just simply another species of animal either. God makes that point as well, “Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground” (Genesis 1:28 NLT). Reid emphasizes that this was God’s “Cultural Mandate”, in that we are to, “serve under His authority as delegated rulers of the earth” (Reid  14). God’s prescribed order is clear. We are below God, carrying out his plans as we govern the rest of creation on earth.

Finally, being made in God’s image instills our responsibility. As humankind, being made in the image of God is not something that should be taken lightly, as it means we are entrusted with the heavy responsibility of emulating the character of God. This occurs both in our own lives (internally) and among the rest of his creation (externally) to further the fulfillment of God’s plan. Emulating the character of God is not just something that we can superficially copy, as it occurs as the result of emulating the heart of God. This is not optional; this is a requirement of our existence.

Viktor Frankl, a famous Jewish psychiatrist and neurologist, was sent from Vienna to a Nazi concentration camp in September of 1942. Despite his dire circumstances, Frankl continued his work from within the camp, specifically seeking to understand why some prisoners seemed to survive no matter the odds and yet others perished almost immediately. Once free, he documented his findings in his book, Man’s Search for Meaning. Written in just nine days, Frankl outlines the importance of responsibility as the basis for meaning in human existence.

When the impossibility of replacing a person is realized, it allows the responsibility which a man has for his existence and its continuance to appear in all its magnitude. A man who becomes conscious of the responsibility he bears toward a human being who affectionately waits for him, or to an unfinished work, will never be able to throw away his life. He knows the "why" for his existence, and will be able to bear almost any "how."

Quite simply, we were not created in the image of God to fulfill our own humanistic goals and desires, nor were we created to pursue superficial pleasures. Our existence is defined by our responsibility. To God, to fellow humankind, and to the rest of God’s creation, we have a purpose. With this purpose also comes steadfastness. Carrying a torch gives one the strength to weather the storms that would otherwise steer one off course as he/she presses on, bearing just about anything for the sake of keeping the light burning.

                This image may be fully embodied only when we are living as intended and remaining right with God, though. When we sin, we not only alter our image but we remove ourselves from the homeostasis of being right with God. Therefore, sin’s introduction in our lives alters our image (never God’s), in that we deny our worth, refute God’s rank and sovereignty, and shirk our responsibility.

                Sin causes us to deny our worth, because our worth is centered on the care and esteem of our maker for us, in whose image we are made. In our sin, we are declaring ourselves unfit to be made in the image of God, or else why would our actions lie in complete opposition to Him? We are also denying the value or even the very presence of our soul as we ignore Reid’s “moral center” and choose to follow our own will and desires in our lives. James 4:17 is clear, “Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it” (NLT).

                Sin also causes us to refute God’s rank and sovereignty. Since we were created in God’s image, but not as gods ourselves, we know that there is one above us. God’s rank far exceeds our own and our disobedience of him runs in direct insubordination to his will. Sin is simply willful disobedience of God. The Original Sin in the Garden of Eden wasn’t just about Adam and Eve eating some fruit and spoiling their supper; “rather, they committed treason against the infinite God who had made them and cared for them.” (Reid 15).

                Lastly, sin causes us to shirk our responsibility. When we sin, we are acting in the sole interests of our humanistic nature and desires. We are thinking of no one and nothing but ourselves and our wants. As discussed, being created in the image of God means we bear the responsibility of our existence as well as the responsibility to follow God’s commands and will for our life. When we sin, we eschew all God-given responsibility and proceed to do as we please.

We don’t even want the responsibility of facing up to our sins. After Adam and Eve were confronted by God in the Garden, they formed a nice little circle of finger pointing. God is very ordered as he questions them. He asks Adam first, “Have you eaten from the tree whose fruit I commanded you not to eat?” (Genesis 3:11 NLT). Adam doesn’t even answer the question as he redirects, “It was the woman you gave me who gave me the fruit and I ate it” (Genesis 3:12 NLT). Not only was Adam not responsible, but it was also somehow God’s fault for giving him the woman. After God questions the woman, she also lays the blame elsewhere, “The serpent deceived me,“ she replied. “That’s why I ate it” (Genesis 3:13 NLT).

Only when we accept responsibility for our sin, asking for God’s forgiveness, may we be restored to our position of right with God. This restoration also restores our image, in that we are returned to our previous reflection of our creator.  Acknowledging our transgressions accepts our worth. While we are unworthy of salvation in our sin, God’s mercy and grace are extended to humankind as an outpouring of his great love. Titus 3:4-5 states, “When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us…because of his mercy” (NLT).  It is God’s love that reestablishes our worth. When you are loved, you are valued. When you are valued, you find your worth.

In the very act of asking for forgiveness, we are also reverently returning God to his position of authority in our lives. To ask for forgiveness both acknowledges that a wrong was committed and expresses remorse over the act as well as any resultant effects of the act. When we confess our sin, we are admitting that we willfully disobeyed God and denied his position as the rightful ruler in our lives.

When we return God to his position of authority in our lives, we also lighten our own load, because we are no longer trying to be our own gods. In confessing our sins and asking for forgiveness, we resume our own responsibilities in this life and entrust the rest to God. In maintaining our own sense of responsibility, we prove to God that we are capable bearers of his image and good stewards of his creation. The Bible confirms that those who are faithful in small matters will be faithful in larger ones as well (Luke 16:11 NLT). Our attitude toward our responsibilities in this life proves our level of trustworthiness to God. 

In closing, to be made in God’s image bears great significance, determining our worth, establishing our rank, and instilling our responsibility.  When we sin, we are tarnishing the image of our creator within us by denying our worth, refuting God’s rank and sovereignty, and shirking our responsibility. Only by returning our gaze to the image of our maker and repenting of our sins, may we restore the image of God within us.