The Nature of Man - Phil Gons

I delivered this message at Spring Creek Bible Church on December 3, 2017, as part 12 of the Essentials series.

Introduction

Review

Last week we talked about the creation of man and covered

the importance of starting with and prioritizing the Bible for everything we believe about the creation of man,
that we were created by God,
that he created us in six days thousands of years ago, not millions,
that Adam and Eve were real historical people, the parents of the human race,
that God created us freely for his glory and not out of need or loneliness, and
that being creatures of God is a very practical doctrine that should influence the way we think and live every day.

Questions

Q: Did anyone have a chance to think about any of the study questions? Does anyone have anything they’d like to share or ask?

Today we’re going to focus on what the Bible teaches about the nature of man, who and what we are as creatures of God.

Q: What does it mean to talk about the nature of something?

What makes us different from God’s other creatures?

Let’s start by talking about what makes us different from God’s other creatures.

Different from Other Physical Creatures¹

Q: What are some ways that we’re different from animals?

We’re made in God’s image. We’re made like God; that can’t be said of other creatures.
We have a conscience. We have a moral compass, knowledge of right and wrong, and the ability to sin; other creatures can’t sin
We have an eternal soul. When animals die, their bodies turn back to dust and they cease to exist. That’s not true of people.

Other ideas could include superior intelligence, emotion, and communication, not just of degree, but of kind.

How many fundamental parts do we have?

There are basically three views:

One (aka Monism): the idea that you can’t differentiate between our bodies and our souls; we’re indivisibly one.
Two (aka Dichtomism): the idea that we’re made up of two parts: physical and spiritual, material and immaterial, body and soul.
Three (aka Trichtomism): the idea that we’re made up of three parts: body, soul, and spirit.

Let’s briefly walk through the three view and see which one is more biblical.

Monism

Monism maintains that man is indivisibly one. He has no soul distinct from his whole person and has no life or existence apart from the body. This is the view of naturalists. But some Christians affirm a version of this as well, particularly those who teach the doctrine of soul sleep.

Q: Does anyone know what soul sleep is?

It’s the idea that a person enters an unconscious holding state at death until the resurrection. A soul cannot have a conscious existence apart from the body. This is the view of Seventh-Day Adventists and several other groups.

They establish this from passages that talk about the dead sleeping:

Luke 8:52: And all were weeping and mourning for her, but he said, “Do not weep, for she is not dead but sleeping.”

John 11:11: After saying these things, he said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awaken him.”

1 Corinthians 15:6: Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.

Q: What do you think these passages mean when they talk about people sleeping?

It’s a metaphor that refers to death.

Q: What’s a metaphor?

It’s a figure of speech that compares one thing to another to make a point of similarity. There’s something about death that is like sleep.

Q: Can anyone think of a problem with the idea that we’re one, not two or more parts?

While there’s a very close relationship that exists between our material and immaterial parts, the Bible does teach that we can exist and live consciously apart from our bodies.

Q: What’s a Bible passage that teaches that a person can exist apart from his body?

2 Corinthians 5:6–8: So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

Philippians 1:23–24: I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. 24 But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.

Luke 16:22–23: The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.

Luke 23:43: And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Acts 7:59: And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”

Revelation 6:9–10: When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. 10 They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

Revelation 20:4: Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

James 2:26: For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

The Bible affirms the conscious existence of people apart from their bodies, which doesn’t work with monism.

Trichotomism

Q: How many parts does trichotomism think we are?

Three. Tri means three (e.g., triangle, tricycle, trinity).

Q: What are those three parts?

This view affirms that we are made up of body, soul, and spirit.

Q: Where do you think they get this idea? Can you think of any Bible passage that seems to support this?

Genesis 2:7: then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

1 Thessalonians 5:23: Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 4:12: For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

Dichotomism

Q: How many parts does dichotomism think we are?

Two.

Q: What are those two parts?

The final view argues that we are fundamentally two parts: body (the material part) and soul/spirit (the immaterial part). This view is supported by the fact that soul and spirit seem to be used interchangeably or in parallelism in the Bible.

Job 7:11: “Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

Isaiah 26:9: My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

This is Hebrew parallelism, where the same idea is repeated in different words for emphasis.

I think dichotomism is the most consistent view with the teaching of the Bible. Here are some reasons:

We can exist consciously apart from our bodies, as we already saw. But there’s no indication that our soul can exist apart from our spirit or vice versa.
The Bible uses soul and spirit interchangeably more often than it seems to differentiate them.
The Bible doesn’t develop a precise and neat and tidy view of our immaterial being. The biblical words for soul often refer to the whole person.
When God created Adam, he made him of two parts: dust for his body and breath for his soul/spirit. Those two things together made him a living being (Gen 2:7).
If you follow the logic of the trichotomist, it’s hard to see how you avoid tetrachotomism or pentachotomism, where the heart and mind are differentiated from the soul and spirit.

Trichotomism and dichotomism are both valid positions, but the latter seems to me more consistent with Scripture and creates fewer problems.

How did God create those two parts?

Body

Let’s talk first about our bodies, the physical or material part. This is review from last week.

Q: How did God make Adam’s body?

Adam’s body was made from the dust of the ground.

Q: How did God make Eve’s body?

Eve’s body was made from Adam’s rib.

Q: How did God make our bodies?

All other bodies are made through procreation. This is still a form of creation, but it’s indirect. God uses means and processes he created for new life to come into existence.

Soul

But what about our other part? Our soul?

Q: How did God make Adam’s soul?

It seems to have been created through the act of breathing into his body.

Q: What about Eve’s soul?

The Bible doesn’t say, but presumably it was the same as Adam’s.

Q: But what about our souls?

This is where there is some disagreement.

There are three main views for how our soul, our immaterial part, comes into existence.

Preexistence: God made all the souls of all people during the six days of creation, and they’re waiting somewhere for when their body will come into existence.
Traducianism: The soul comes into being through the natural process of procreation along with the body.
Creationism: God directly creates each new soul at conception and unites it with the physical life born in its mother’s womb.

Let’s quickly survey these three views.

Preexistence

Origen (184/185–253/254), a theologian from the 2nd and 3rd centuries affirmed preexistence, as have a few others. This is also the view of Greek philosophers like Plato, Islam, Hinduism, the Mormon cult, and others.

Origen argued from Romans 9:11–14 and Jeremiah 1:5, but neither text is clearly supports this view. Biblical evidence is scant to nonexistent.

Traducianism

This view argues that the whole person, both material and immaterial parts, are passed down through procreation to children. There are several arguments made for this view:

God completed his work of creation and rested. He no longer creates.
This explains original sin, how sin is transmitted from parents to their children. If children received only their physical part from their parents and received their soul directly from God, how would they be born sinful? Traducianists affirm a seminal headship or realists view of Adam’s passing sin on to his descendants.
If God creates the soul at conception and the soul is sinful, how do we avoid the conclusion that God created something sinful. Isn’t everything that God creates good?
It explains the virgin birth. God bypassed the normal human procreation process to ensure that Jesus was born without sin.
It explains how children are like their parents, not only in physical characteristics, but in characteristics of personality.

While traducianism seems to have some pretty compelling arguments, it’s not without its problems.

It prioritizes the body over the soul and makes the soul derivative of the body.
It doesn’t explain when and how the new soul comes into being. Does the soul come with the sperm, the egg, both?
It doesn’t sufficiently account for children that differ from their parents.

Creationism

The most common view is creationism, that God directly creates the soul at the point conception.

Arguments in favor of this view are

The Bible suggests that God plays a similar role in the origin of all human souls as he did with Adam:
1. Ecclesiastes 12:7: and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
2. Isaiah 42:5: Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people on it and spirit to those who walk in it:
3. Zechariah 12:1: The oracle of the word of the Lord concerning Israel: Thus declares the Lord, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him:
4. Hebrews 12:9: Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?
Creationism better preserves the bipartite nature of man as having a distinct soul and gives the soul a place of equality alongside the body.
There is nothing in Scripture that teaches that all creation happened within the six days. We know God created angels before the six days of creation. Regeneration, the creation of spiritual life, happens every day. Nothing in the Bible would make it problematic for God to create every human soul at conception.

These are complex matters that don’t directly affect the core of our faith. It’s not essential that we understand them fully and take a dogmatic stand. Both creationism and traducianism offer possible explanations for how our souls come into existence, but neither is without its problems and weaknesses. I lean toward creationism, but am content to ultimately say I don’t know. Either way we affirm that God is the creator of our souls.

What does it mean to be in God’s image?

Last week we talked about how being creatures highlights how we differ from God.

He’s creator; we’re creature.
He’s owner; we’re owned.
He’s giver; we’re receiver.
He possesses authority; we owe him obedience and allegiance.
He’s infinite; we’re finite.

This week I want us to see how being his imagers highlights how we’re like God.

It’s important that we fully affirm both the differences and similarities between us and God. We do ourselves and God’s glory a disservice by minimizing one or the other.

Verses on the Image of God

Let’s start with what the Bible teaches about our being in the image of God.

Q: Can anyone think of a passage that talks about this?

Genesis 1:26–27: Then God said, “Let us make man in our image [בְּצַלְמֵ֖נוּ / κατʼ εἰκόνα], after our likeness [כִּדְמוּתֵ֑נוּ / καθʼ ὁμοίωσιν]. And let them have dominion [רדה] over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image [בְּצַלְמ֔וֹ / -], in the image [בְּצֶ֥לֶם / κατʼ εἰκόνα] of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Genesis 5:1–3: This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness [בִּדְמ֥וּת / κατʼ εἰκόνα] of God. 2 Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created. 3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness [בִּדְמוּת֖וֹ / κατὰ τὴν εἰδέαν], after his image [כְּצַלְמ֑וֹ / κατὰ τὴν εἰκόνα], and named him Seth.

Genesis 9:6: “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image [בְּצֶ֣לֶם / ἐν εἰκόνι].

James 3:9: With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness.

2 Corinthians 4:4: In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Colossians 1:15: The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

2 Corinthians 3:18: And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Romans 8:29: For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.

The key passages fall into seven groups:

Man in God’s image
Man in Adam’s image
Fallen man still in God’s image
Jesus as the perfect image
Jesus in the image of Adam (incarnation)
Man being restored to God’s image (sanctification)
Man perfectly restored to God’s image (glorification)

Summary Statements on Image of God

Man was made in the image of God (Ge 1:26–27; 5:1–2; 9:6; Ps 8:3–8; 1 Co 11:7; Jas 3:9).
Man is also in the image of Adam (Ge 5:3; 1 Co 15:49).
Man after sin still images God, though imperfectly (Ge 9:6; 1 Co 11:7; Jas 3:9).
Jesus, the second Adam, was the perfect image of God (2 Cor 4:4; Col 1:15; Heb 1:3; Jn 14:9).
Jesus, the image of God, became the image of man (Jn 1:14; Ro 8:3; 2 Co 3:18; Php 2:7; Heb 2:17).
We are being restored into the image of God (2 Co 3:18; Eph 4:24; Col 3:10).
We will again perfectly image God (Ro 8:29; 1 Co 15:49; Phi 3:21; 1 Jn 3:2).

Words for the Image of God

Image (15x)

Image of God: 4x (Ge 1:26, 27 [2x]; 9:6)
Image of Adam: 1x (Ge 5:3)
Idol: 6x (Nu 33:52; 2 Ki 11:18; 2 Ch 23:17; Eze 7:20; 16:17; Am 5:26)
Statue: 3x (1 Sa 6:5 [2x]; 11)
Picture: 1x (Eze 23:14)

In each case it’s a visual representation of something else.

Likeness (24x)

Likeness of God: 2x (1:26; 5:1)
Likeness of Adam: 1x (5:3)
Model: 1x (2 Ki 16:10)
Statue: 1x (2 Ch 4:3)
Characteristic: 3x (Ps 58:4; Is 13:4; 40:18)
Appearance: 15x (Eze 1:5 [2x], 10, 13, 16, 22, 26 [3x], 28; 10:1, 10, 21, 22; 23:15)
Form: 1x (Eze 8:2)

In each case it refers to one thing that is like another thing, in appearance or attributes. The emphasis is more on the similarity and less on the visual form.

Views on the Image of God

There are a lot of different views on what it means to be in God’s image, and I think they all get it partially right. What they got wrong, in my opinion, is what they exclude.

Substantive/Structural: The image of God has to do with who we are.
Relational: The image of God has to do with how we relate to God and others.
Functional: The image of God has to do with how we function and exercise dominion.
Representative: The image of God has to do with man’s status as a representative of God.

I think we make the image of God more complex than it needs to be. The image of God is all the ways we’re like God.

Each of these views captures an important aspect of what it means to be in and function as God’s image. But no one view captures the whole story. The image of God includes our fundamental nature, our status or appointment as his representatives, how we relate to God and others, and our responsibility to rule over the earth. If you take away any of these things, you’d lose part of what it means to be in and function as the image of God.

I believe it’s important that we embrace a comprehensive view of the image of God and not define it too narrowly. We should distinguish, however, between being the image of God and manifesting the image.

Most fundamentally being God’s image involves (1) our nature that is like God’s and (2) our status as his representatives. We manifest being the image of God by (3) the way we relate to him and others and (4) how we subdue and exercise dominion over the earth.

There aren’t degrees of being God’s image. We’re all fundamentally God’s image to the same degree: (1) we all possess a nature like God’s, and (2) we all have the status as God’s imaging representatives. However, we don’t all manifest that image to the same degree. Whether due to sin or its effects, we manifest his image to different degrees at different times—until we’re fully restored to image him perfectly.

Illustrations of the Image of God

To understand what the Bible means by the image of God, it may be helpful to use some illustrations. I can think of several ways to illustrate the concept.

Q: What do you think is a good illustration to help us better understand the idea of the image of God?

Best Analogies

A child. The most helpful illustration is that of a father and his children. Scripture itself makes this comparison for us in Gen 5:3. Whatever it means for us to be in the image of God, it must mean something similar to Seth being in the image of his father, Adam. A child is both like his parents and different from his parents—in body and soul. A child represents his parents. A child is given responsibility by his parents.
A picture. Whether a photograph or a painting or a drawing, a picture illustrates what it means to be in the image of God. The picture is like the person. The picture represents the person. Lovers value pictures of their lover. Parents value pictures of their children. Those pictures aren’t the people themselves, but they represent them and are a likeness of them.
A mirror.

Less Helpful Analogies

A logo or icon. A logo is a symbol that stands for something else. It represents it in a short-form sort of way—usually a product or a company. The likeness here is more abstract and not as helpful for thinking about how we image God.
A flag. Similarly, a flag often represents a country or other group of people. But there’s very little likeness between the flag and the people it represents. It’s far more symbolic, and not a good comparison for how we image God.

Being and Displaying the Image

What the Image Is

To know what it means to be the image of God, we must start with what the image of God is:

Our entire nature is God’s image. We are like God.
Our status as humans is God’s image. We represent God.

This is true of all people, male and female, of all ages and races—saved or unsaved.

How the Image Is Displayed

We express this image in three fundamental relationships:

In our relationship under God. We must live in dependence on God and for God. We relate to God in worship and obedience.
In our relationship alongside man. We must live in fellowship and community with our fellow man. We relate to others in love and service.
In our relationship over creation. We must subdue and steward all that God created. We relate to creation by creating and controlling.

We do this to varying degrees and at varying times.

The Pattern of the Image

At it most basic level, the image of God by definition looks like God. If we want to know how we should manifest God in our lives, we simply need to understand the ways the Bible tells us we are to be like God. We’re not to be like him in his incommunicable attributes: his eternality, omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, etc. We are to be like him in his communicable attributes: his truthfulness, his kindness, his love, his mercy, his graciousness, etc. We should look at God in his Word and imitate him.

We could spend a whole series talking about the ways we’re supposed to be like God. Let’s just look briefly as the passages that explicitly call us to be like God without outlining all the ways.

Be Like God

Like the Father

Matthew 5:48: You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Luke 6:36: Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

Ephesians 4:24: and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

Ephesians 4:32: Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Ephesians 5:1: Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.

Like Christ

We get even greater clarity on how we are to be like God by looking at Jesus in his incarnation.

John 13:14–15: If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.

Ephesians 5:2: And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Colossians 3:12–14: Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

1 Thessalonians 1:6: And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit,

1 Peter 2:21–23: For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.

1 John 2:6: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

By studying the life of Christ in the incarnation we’re given a perfect pattern we should seek to follow. We should spend much time gazing at the beauty of Christ in the Scriptures.

Hoekema puts it helpfully:

Christ is called the image of God par excellence; he is the “image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15). If, therefore, we wish to know what the image of God in man is really like, we must first look at Christ. This means, among other things, that what is central in the image of God is not such matters as reason or intelligence but rather love, since what stands out more than anything else in the life of Christ is his amazing love.²

Be Like Other Imagers

But secondarily we can imitate other imagers.

If we want to see what imaging looks like, there are three primary places we can look:

Adam and Eve in the garden—before sin entered the picture
Man being restored and being like God
Man in the new heavens and earth—after sin has been destroyed

Like the Original Imagers

We can look at Adam and Eve before the Fall and see what the image looks like.

Imaging God includes exercising dominion over the earth just has God exercises dominion over the spiritual realm (Ge 1:26, 28; 2:15, 19, 20; 9:2–3; Ps 8:6–8). God is a sovereign being, and we exercise authority under him. As we rule over creation, we image God.
Imaging God is relational and includes male and female together, which is needed for procreating (Ge 1:27; 2:18, 20; 5:2). There was an incompleteness to man without a women. This doesn’t mean single people aren’t fully in God’s image. Marriage is one way we express our relational nature, but not the only way. God is a relational being, and he made us to be relational. As we live relationally, we image God.
Imaging God is closely tied to procreating (Ge 1:28; Gen 9:1, 7). God invited man into the work of creating in a derivative way. When we bring another human life into existence or use our Godlike creativity in other ways, we image God. God is a creative being, and he endowed within us the ability and desire to create.

Imaging God includes dependence on God and responsibility to obey God. God didn’t issue prohibitions to any other creatures. He gave special responsibilities to man and set him up as ruler of the earth.

Like the Renewed Imagers

The Bible gives us each other as examples of the image to follow and imitate. We’re all in pursuit of imaging God better.

1 Corinthians 11:1: Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

Not only can we look at other imagers who are being renewed, but we can look at the commands giving to imagers to obey. All of sanctification and obedience to Christ has as its aim our restoration to perfectly imaging God.

Like the Restored Imagers

What the Bible describes about glorified man may also tell us something about what the image of God looks like. We won’t take time to look at this today. I’ll leave that for you and your further study.

Like the First Imagers

We’re never called to be like angels, but we are told that we were made like them and will be like them when we’re fully restored in the recreation of all things.

Conclusion

Again, since we study doctrine to learn how to glorify God better with our lives, let’s conclude by talking about a few key applications of being made in God’s image.

Here are 8 ways the image of God should impact the way we live:

We belong to God. In Mark 12:13–17 Jesus teaches that just as the coins bearing Caesar’s image belonged to Caesar, so the things that bear God’s image belong to God. While everything belongs to God as creator, anything that bears God’s image is especially his. We should remember daily whose image we are: that we belong to God, that our spouses belong to God, and our children belong to God, that our friends belong to God, that our neighbors belong to God, and that even our enemies belong to God.
We exist for God. As God’s image, we were designed to display God in a way the rest of creation can’t. Our very purpose for existence is to be like God, to point to God, to mirror him and reflect his glory. When you get up in the morning, when you work, when you go about life, God’s design for you is that you’d image him. It’s not just something you do at church or when you’re reading your Bible. All of life is meant to image God. A proper view of the image provides clear purpose for our lives.
We mustn’t mistreat God’s image. Not only should we take care of the image that God given us personally, but we should care for and honor and respect and love the billions of images of God all around us: the ones we live with, the ones we go to church with, the ones we work with, the ones we shop with, the ones we ride the bus with; the young ones, the old ones, the black ones, the white ones, the male ones, the female ones, the strong ones, the weak ones, the healthy ones, the sick ones. They’re all God’s images; they all exist to magnify his glory. All human life is precious and sacred. It’s all like God. A proper view of the image of God eradicates discrimination and prejudice based on race or gender or age or intelligence or ability.
We must follow our model. Jesus is the perfect image of God. God is restoring us to perfectly image him after the pattern of his Son. Our destiny is to be a little copies of him. The entire aim of sanctification is to become more like him and better image God. We must keep our eyes fixed on him. We should not only soak ourselves in the gospel, but we should study and delight in his life of modeling perfect humanity for us. We mustn’t go far from his life.
We must rule over all creation. As God’s representatives on the earth, we were meant to rule over creation in his place. We should steward and use the world’s resources responsibly and in service of others. We should improve the world, we should create, we should innovate, we should live out the fullness of being God’s image in all domains of life. A full view of God’s image results in a high view of work, business, culture, art, science, technology, sports, music, and so much more. These are all good ways we subdue the earth and exercise dominion over it. They are ways we model God’s creative glory. Living as the image of God isn’t just about doing “spiritual” things. All of creation, all of life, is God’s domain. We should embrace and redeem it and rule over it for him. All vocations used for him are sacred. We need Christians in all areas of live displaying what it means to be the image of God.

Anthony Hoekema puts this well:

“The renewal of the image of God . . . involves a broad, comprehensive vision of the Christian view of man. The process of sanctification affects every aspect of life: man’s relationship to God, to others, and to the entire creation. The restoration of the image does not concern only religious piety in the narrow sense, or witnessing to people about Christ, or ‘soul-saving’ activities; in its fullest sense it involves the redirection of all of life.”

We should recognize and delight in God’s image in others. There is an appropriate delight in man that recognizes what is good in man as likeness to God and turns it into praise of God. Even in fallen man there are opportunities to get glimpses of God’s glory. Listening to a masterfully composed orchestral arrangement that’s masterfully played and masterfully streamed over the internet at the click of a button through some metal wires and into my ears is an opportunity to marvel in God’s creative genius. Let us look for and delight in God through the images he’s created of himself.
We must live in community. God didn’t just create Adam. He created Adam and Eve. He created them as complementary relational beings and gave them the responsibility of extending that community through procreation. He told them to fill the earth and multiply. God is a relational being, and we image him when we live as relational beings. Christ, the image of God, is also the head of the body. We live out the fullness of the image of God as we’re united together with him in the one new man (Eph 2:15).
We must live in hope. None of us images God as we were designed to. Whether through sin or its affects, we’re all merely a flicker of the light God designed us to be shining forth. But his purpose will success, and will will one day be complete free from sin and from its effects on our minds and our bodies, on our relationships and on our ruling. Whether you have a debilitating disease or chronic pain that keeps you from fully imaging God as you were designed to, one day God will set all things right. From the little one whose life was cut short, to the one who died of dementia, we will all be made perfectly new to image God for all eternity.

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This is a broad and sweeping and pervasive doctrine. It reaches from eternity past to eternity future. It’s an essential thread that runs through the whole of Scripture and God’s work of redemption.
It’s intimately tied to the theme of God’s glory, which is at the heart of the whole Bible. God’s pursuit of his own glory has as its primary aim his own image.
It’s thoroughly trinitarian. All three persons of the Trinity are involved in man as God’s image.

I tried to capture that in these 13 statements:

God existed from all eternity in perfect community as Father, Son, and Spirit, delighting in and enjoying his own glory.
God planned from all eternity to create us and conform us to the image of his Son.
God created the heavenly host in his image for his glory as his first created sons.
God created us in his image for his glory, to be like him, to live in communion with him and community with others, to fill the earth, to subdue and rule over the rest of creation, and to display his creative glory.
We sinned and rebelled against God, we stopped functioning as his image fully, and we stopped displaying God’s glory fully.
Sin is fundamentally the veiling of the image of God, the veiling of God’s glory.
Jesus is the perfect image and glory of God. Unlike Adam and his children, Jesus perfectly images God.
Jesus became the image of man in order to restore man to the image of God.
His cross work was all about restoring us to fully image God.
Through regeneration by the Spirit, God began his work of restoring us as God’s image.
Through sanctification by the Spirit, God continues to restore us to his image as our minds are renewed as we behold the glory of Jesus’ image in the Word.
In glorification and resurrection, God will perfectly restore his image in us and make us copies of his Son, making Christ as the preeminent one among all his brothers and sisters.
For all eternity we will radiate God’s glory as we perfectly image him and mirror his perfections in the new heavens and new earth.

Marriage, parenting, missions, discipleship, teaching, preaching, working, playing, loving—indeed, all of life—they all have as their aim helping people see and realize and delight in their purpose in this grand plan of the triune God to magnify his glory through his imagers for all eternity.

Notes

1. https://www.livescience.com/33376-humans-other-animals-distinguishing-mental-abilities.html ↩

2. Anthony A. Hoekema, Created in God’s Image (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1994), 73. ↩