In the Image of God

“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:27)

To say that man is made in the image of God is not to say that man is like God in every way. The image of something is not that thing itself. When I look at a photograph of one of my children, I see something that looks an awful lot like one of my kids, and it may tell me an awful lot about him. But it does not speak to me, cannot hug me, is not going to think about me, and is not going to get its feelings hurt when I stick it in a drawer. My child, on the other hand, can speak, hug, think, and get his feelings hurt (especially if I try sticking him in a drawer!). There is a definite contrast between the image and the real thing.

In a similar way, it is important for us to remember we are made in the image of God but certainly are not God nor are we like God in every way. God is the Creator; we are the created. God is eternal; we have a beginning. God is indestructible; we are only held together by His will. God is infinite; we have definite boundaries (we cannot even understand infinity). God is all-powerful; we can hardly make ourselves get out of bed.

God is perfect; we are knot.

All that said, however, we are a lot more like God than the photograph is of my child. God thinks; so does man. God, a Trinity, lives in community; man was created as a family. God desires and wills and creates; man does the same, although we don’t create ex nihilo but only with the stuff God has made. God loves; man is given the capacity to do so, even if we do a sorry job at it most of the time. God the Trinity is diverse yet one; man was created male and female—lots of differences—yet they are “one flesh.”

Jesus, the perfect Man, is said by Scripture to be “the express image of [God’s] person.” He, of course, is God as well. But if we want to know what man was created to be, we must look to Him. Jesus is holy, loving, humble, joyful, courageous, faithful, patient, wise, thoughtful, self-denying, purposeful, and entirely devoted at all times and in every way to do God’s will. He loves all things good and hates all things evil. He speaks the truth and lives truly. He is filled with God’s Spirit, is led by God’s Spirit, and is moved by God’s Spirit to do all God the Father desires of Him.

When man sinned, it is true the image of God in him was marred. But it was not erased. And through the re-creation made possible by our Lord Jesus Christ the image of God in man is being restored. We will always be the creature worshiping and following and serving the Creator, and we will always be but an image. But through Jesus Christ our Lord, the Man who is God, we are becoming all that He created us to be, a true and glorious reflection of Glory and Truth Himself.

“Lord God, we give You thanks this day for the creation of man, for Your creating us, giving us existence and life. We give You thanks for creating us in Your image. God forgive us for our blurring that image through our sin and rebellion against Your holy will. Have mercy on us through our Lord Jesus Christ, re-create us after His image, that we might be all You intended man to be in the first place. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.”