Life is not absurd and meaningless. People are not disposable things to be used and then discarded when no longer useful. Neither is humanity another link in the chain of evolutionary progress, destined to be replaced by a more advanced creature. God created man in his image. The human race, therefore, is the pinnacle of God’s earthly creation. Man has purpose, and that purpose is inseparably intertwined with the God who created him.
It would take many volumes to unpack the implications of God’s image in man, but we cannot leave this theological study without briefly considering some of them.
1. Sanctity
Over all human life, from the womb to senile old age, flies this glorious banner: “Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man” (Gen. 9:6). Man is sacred, and to take away his life without just cause is to assault the glory of God. People are not animals. Christ taught his disciples that their heavenly Father cares for the plants and animals, but regards people as far more valuable (Matt. 6:26; 10:29–31; 12:12). We must do likewise, and cherish human life. We must strive to bring to repentance and forgiveness of sins those involved in murder, abortion, unjust war, violent oppression, euthanasia, and all other crimes that wrongfully take human lives.
2. Spirituality
God is a spirit (John 4:24). Man, created in his image, reflects that spirituality as a being made to worship and seek transcendent glory. Man has a spiritual and religious aspect to his life that cannot be reduced to the interactions of mere matter and energy. As divine images, we are either glorifying God or engaged in idolatry. Each human being is inescapably religious, either in worshiping the true God or in rebelling against him in order to worship his creatures (Rom. 1:20–23). In a manner of speaking, we are all priests, whether to the Lord or to a false god.
3. Rationality
Man is a thinking, personal being, just like the God of Genesis 1. Created in the image of one who acts with power, wisdom, and goodness, he has mental faculties by which he thinks, reasons, chooses, speaks, and acts in the presence of the Lord. Just as God acted in creation according to an orderly plan for the sake of certain goals, so man acts not by mere instinct but out of motives, using means to attain rational goals. Therefore, we must address human beings, even in their fallen state, in a manner that exposes foolish means and wrong goals, and offers reasons and motives to embrace better ones. We must treat people as thinkers.
4. Dignity
Despite human wickedness, the image of God remains in some sense in fallen man. Therefore, we may not treat people with contempt and curses (James 3:17). Instead, Peter commands us, “Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king” (1 Pet. 2:17). By using the same word “honour” (timaō) for our duty to “all men” and “the king,” Peter subtly reminds us that all mankind, even the poorest peasant, has the same basic warrant to receive honor. All bear the image of God. Proverbs 14:31 says, “He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoureth him hath mercy on the poor.” It is a mark of Babylon, the city of destruction, to count the “bodies and souls of men” among the commodities in which it traffics (Rev. 18:13 KJV mg.). People are not commodities for us to use, but images by which we honor God.
5. Integrity
By this term, we do not refer to moral integrity, but to the integrated oneness of human nature. We can speak of man’s parts and distinguish aspects of God’s image from others, but we must remember that God created man as a whole being in his image. This world tries to drive wedges between our bodies and morality, our intellectual lives and faith, and our emotions and obedience. The result is fragmentation. We must seek to understand and help people in the full complexity of their physical, mental, moral, vocational, and relational lives. Above all, we must teach people to direct every aspect of their lives toward glorifying God.
6. Equality
Since the dignity of the divine image was lodged in our first parents (Gen. 1:27), it belongs to both genders, every ethnic group, and all classes within society. The statements that “all men are created equal” and “are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights” are not merely political sentiments, but truths rooted deeply in the soil of the Scriptures.1Preamble to the Declaration of Independence, https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript. Though some of the founding fathers were deists, others were Christians, and all drew to some extent upon the Christian heritage that shaped British culture. Racism (wrongly so named, for there is only one human race), sexism, classism, and all forms of prejudice are attacks against the honor of the living God, who is the Maker of all (Job 31:13–15). We must stand against bigotry and oppression, and help the oppressed to learn their fundamental equality with all mankind.
7. Benevolence. The image of God is a potent motive to do good to all men. Calvin said, “The Lord commands all men without exception ‘to do good’ [Heb. 13:16]. Yet the great part of them are most unworthy if they be judged by their own merit. But here Scripture helps in the best way when it teaches that we are not to consider that men merit of themselves but to look upon the image of God in all men, to which we owe all honor and love.”2Calvin, Institutes, 3.7.6. The most arrogant supervisor, rebellious child, and wicked neighbor have this in common—as we love them, we are loving the God who made them in his image.
8. Authority
The right to engage in agriculture and industry arises directly from the dominion of God’s image bearers over the world. When human beings breed animals, care for them in controlled environments, put them to work in service to humanity, and kill them to harvest their bodies for food, medicine, and other products, they are not transgressing against the oneness of all life. They are exercising God-given authority over God’s earth (Gen. 1:26, 28). Furthermore, when one man exercises proper authority over others, it is not tyranny but an office that bears God’s image. Though we owe all men honor, we particularly owe honor and obedience to human authority (Rom. 13:1–7), except when its demand for honor would displace God (Dan. 3:18, 28) or its commands conflict with God’s Word (Acts 5:29).
9. Stewardship
The image of God is not God. Man rules as God’s servant-king, and therefore is a royal steward of God’s possessions. His calling is not to be a destroyer of the earth (Rev. 11:18), but to represent the Lord, who “is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works” (Ps. 145:9). The ox should work for man, but the ox should also enjoy the fruit of its work (Deut. 25:4; 1 Cor. 9:9; 1 Tim. 5:18). Therefore, “a righteous man regardeth the life of his beast” (Prov. 12:10). God commanded the Israelites to show compassion for the livestock of their enemies (Ex. 23:4–5), for the merciful Lord has compassion even on the cattle who suffer because of divine judgment on man’s sin (Jonah 4:11). Therefore, though we do not idolize animals or treat them like people, we must exercise wise stewardship over them. In the same way, we are to steward the natural environment and avoid polluting it or unnecessarily harming it. Even in times of war, with all the devastation that it requires, God calls us to avoid needless destruction of trees, and so, by implication, other living things (Deut. 20:19–20). Men are God’s servants, and the Master will call them to account for what he has entrusted to them (Matt. 25:19).
10. Morality
At the heart of the image of God stand knowledge, righteousness, and holiness (Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10). Though these qualities were destroyed in man’s fall, mankind remains a moral agent. As servant-kings, we rule the world either according to God’s will for his glory or in rebellion against our Lord and Master (Ps. 2:1–3). The human conscience bears witness in all men that we cannot escape God’s sight or accountability (Rom. 2:14–15). Humanistic attempts to deny absolute moral standards and replace them with an amoral, utilitarian approach to life fail to account not only for the reality of God but also for the testimony of man’s own conscience. Whatever field of human endeavor we may consider, whether it be politics, medicine, business, family, or any other, moral principles matter. Man cannot escape morality, and therefore his only hope is to be renewed in the moral image of God through the Spirit of Christ.
11. Atrocity
The great value of man in God’s image clarifies why human wickedness is such an atrocity. We are not offended by the savagery of the tiger or the shark with its prey, although we may grieve because they were not originally creatures of violence. However, when we see men treating men like beasts, something within us says, “These things ought not so to be” (James 3:10). When a human being gives himself over to idolatry, immorality, or greed, it is an abomination. Filth in a latrine is no offense, but in a temple it is blasphemous. Man’s corruption and evil deeds are obscene precisely because he was created to be a portrait of God; it is that holy image that he has shattered and defiled with his sin.
12. Destiny
Created in God’s image, man exists for God’s glory. The meaning of this is manifold, but we have seen that a golden thread running through the whole is the idea of sonship. God made us to know him, fellowship with him, obey him, and honor him as his created sons. Amazing condescension! God formed man for the highest of callings. How tragic is the fall that displaced us from God’s fatherly favor and placed us under his wrath! God’s only begotten Son became a man in order to restore sinners to this high privilege. That is amazing grace. However, whether God glorifies himself by saving us from our sins or by damning us for our sins, mankind will glorify God in the end. It is our inescapable destiny.
As fallen human beings, we are not in a position to understand the image of God completely. We do not fully know what it means to be human. But we will know. The full glory of God’s image is a mystery that will be revealed with the coming of God’s incarnate Image, Jesus Christ. John says, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). One day the image will be revealed to those who belong to Jesus Christ and—beyond all dreams and expectations—we will share in it.
Excerpt from
Reformed Systematic Theology, Volume 2: Man and Christ
By Joel Beeke and Paul Smalley
