In the Bible, it is said that mankind was created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27). This is a unique feature of the Judeo-Christian faith that sets it apart from all other religions and worldviews. The meaning of being created in the image of God mainly refers to man’s ability to commune with God by being much like God in his personality, morality, and spirituality. As Adam saw in Eve someone with whom he can be united because she was created from his rib (that is, a part of him that bears some resemblance to him; Genesis 2:23-24) so it has become possible for humans to commune and be united with God because they bear his image and thus resemble him in many ways.
The Meaning of Imago Dei
The term imago dei (or the image of God) refers to “the special status that all human beings have as those made to reflect our Creator’s character and commissioned to carry out his purposes in the world.”1 This principle is essential to Christian theology and distinguishes Christianity from nearly all other religions and worldviews. No other religion or worldview in human history claims that humans are made in the image and likeness of their creator. Biblical support for this special status that humans enjoy is abundant. The opening book of the Bible is where the first instances of such support are found (cf. Genesis 1:26-27; 5:1-2; 9:6). The New Testament also testifies to human nature bearing the image and likeness of God (see James 3:9).
The Manifestation of Imago Die
Although some have understood “image” to refer to a man’s intellectual faculty, whereas “likeness” is a reference to his morality, Hodge asserts that the two terms are simply an explanation of one another. In other words, man was made in an image that is like God.2 Humans resemble God in mainly three aspects of their being, which make them in his image and likeness. The first of those aspects is personality. Humans possess self-awareness and self-determination, which distinguish them from the rest of creation. Second, mankind possess morality that transcends all other created beings and makes it possible for them to rise above all creation morally. Third, and most importantly, humans are by nature spiritual beings in that they are able to know their creator and have a relationship with him.3 This last element is particularly important since some scholars see that the image of God in mankind mainly refers to man’s ability to have a spiritual relationship with him.4
Both male and female have the capacity to commune with their creator—a capacity they would not possess unless they were created in his image.5 This capacity is what distinguishes mankind from the rest of creation. Only humans are said in the Bible to have been created in the image and likeness of God, and thus only they are able to engage in a spiritual communion with God. Furthermore, it is said only of mankind that they were given dominion over all other creatures. No other created being is said to have been given dominion by God to rule over the rest of creation, including the birds of the sky, the fish of the waters, and the creeping animals on the land (cf. Genesis 1:26-28; Psalms 8:5-8).6 Thus, it is important to recognize that all humans bear the image and likeness of God equally. There is no indication in the Bible that some humans bear that image more than others.7
Do Humans Still Bear the Image of God?
There is biblical evidence that sin has not annihilated the image of God bestowed upon mankind. After the fall and the flood, God maintains that man still bore his image and likeness (Genesis 9:6).8 Much later in human history, Scripture still attests to that fact in the New Testament (James 3:9). Many scholars see that as undeniable evidence that even after the fall, man continued to be the bearer of God’s image.9 Since being created in the image of God primarily refers to man’s capacity to have a relationship with God, it is reasonable to say that this image was indeed impacted by the fall. Although it was not destroyed, it did suffer some damage.
It cannot be denied that man’s dominion over the rest of creation, while still present, has been limited to only a part of what it was before the fall. Similarly, man’s ability to commune with God was limited by his fall as well. In Christ that image can be continually renewed and perfected.10 Consequently, since the image of God in mankind was impacted by sin, Jesus—the only sinless human—is the only true and perfect embodiment of that original image. Therefore, to understand what it means for humans to be in the image and likeness of God, one must observe not what humans are like today but rather how Jesus lived and behaved.11 As Hammett puts it, “as God incarnate, Christ is the image of God in a way that humans can never be.”12
The Implications of this Doctrine
The implications of bearing the image and likeness of God are crucial to human identity and purpose. First, being in the image of God means that humans find their sense of purpose and the true meaning of their lives in God, not in themselves or those around them. It also means that humans’ true sense of value must be derived from their value in the eyes of God, not in the eyes of their society, local community, or even family. Moreover, humans must also recognize that being created in the image of God means that they will never find true and enduring comfort except in an everlasting communion with God. As Augustine once put it, addressing God, “for thou madest us for thyself, and our heart is restless, until it repose in thee.”13 Finally, at different stages of their lives, as humans wrestle to find their identity and sense of belonging, they must remember that they were made in God’s image; they originate from him; to him they belong; in him will they find their identity; and finally, to him they will return.
Footnotes:
1. Gerald Bray, “The Image of God,” in Lexham Survey of Theology, ed. Mark Ward, Jessica Parks, Brannon Ellis, and Todd Hains (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018), chap. The Doctrine of Humanity, sec. The Image of God. Logos Software. ↩
2. Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997), 2:96. Logos Software. ↩
3. Paul Enns, The Moody Handbook of Theology, Rev. ed. (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2014), chap. 23, sec. Nonmaterial Part of Man. Apple Books. ↩
4. Michael Rydelnik, and Michael Vanlaningham, eds., “Genesis,” in The Moody Bible Commentary (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2014), 39. ↩
5. Enns, The Moody Handbook, chap. 23, sec. Nonmaterial Part of Man. ↩
6. Rydelnik and Vanlaningham, “Genesis,” 39. ↩
7. Millard J. Erickson, Christian Theology, 3rd ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2013), chap. 22, sec. Conclusions regarding the Nature of the Image. Apple Books. ↩
8. It is noteworthy however, to point out that the Scripture attests to man losing—at least some—of that image and likeness. The opening verses of Genesis 5 describe how God had made man in his (God’s) image and likeness (cf. Gen 5:1-2). By contrast, it seems that the author of Genesis is almost deliberately pointing out that that is no longer the case after the fall by juxtaposing v. 1 and v. 3 in which the author describes how Adam became a father to his son Seth who was born in the “likeness” and “image” of Adam himself. The nearly identical language used and the absence of any mention of the image and likeness of God in v. 3 seem deliberate, as if intended to draw a contrast between the image and likeness Adam had been created after and the image and likeness his son was born with. Furthermore, it is not unreasonable to understand post-fall Scriptural mention of man bearing the image of God as descriptions not of man’s current status, but of his original status. Linguistically, there is nothing in those verses that necessitates interpreting them as describing mankind’s present image and likeness. ↩
9. John S. Hammett, “A Whole Bible Approach to Interpreting Creation in God’s Image,” Southwestern Journal of Theology 63, no. 2 (September 2021): 33. ↩
10. Hammett, “A Whole Bible Approach,” 34-5. ↩
11. Erickson, Christian Theology, chap. 22, sec. The Relational View. ↩
12. Hammett, “A Whole Bible Approach,” 33. ↩
13. Augustine, The Confessions of Saint Augustine, trans. E. B. Pusey (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, 2001), chap. Book I, sec. Chapter I. Logos Software. ↩
