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The Image of God


What does it mean to be the image of God? This question has been debated and still is in various quarters. Scripture doesn't give us a clear statement as to what this means for us. Some ideas that have been suggested include that we are spiritual beings, that we are persons, that we are creative, that we are a triune being, and that we have free will, among others.

Some have suggested that Adam was created in the image of God, but that after the Fall, he produced offspring in his own, presumably fallen and corrupted image. To be honest, Scripture does say that Adam produced children after his image, but it doesn't add that that image was corrupt or fallen. What are we to do with this; are people today the image of God or not? Do we even need to spend time on this question if Adam has so messed us up that any image we might bear is unrecognizable?
God Creating Man As His Image (Sistine Chapel)

I don't know that Adam caused such a change in the image we bear and he likely didn't change it at all. It is interesting that Man is called the image of God three times in Scripture - and two of those are after the Fall. One of those two times is by God and the other is by an inspired writer. We are made in the image of God and we continue to be the image of God, whatever that is.

It is true that there is no plain statement in Scripture as to what it means that we are the image of God, but there are clues. The most important clue: Jesus is the icon of God.

If Jesus is the icon of God, what does that mean? How would you describe the man, Jesus of Nazareth? Jesus came to save us, yes, but that saving is richer and deeper than simply freedom from sin and a home in Heaven. Jesus didn't come just to die. Most importantly, he came to live - to live right in front of us as God would if God were us. Jesus, the icon of God took on flesh so that flesh could see itself as the image of God it is. Jesus didn't show us a new way to live; he showed us the only way to live as images of God - how we are designed and intended to live from the very beginning.

So how would you describe the man Jesus of Nazareth, his life, and his teaching? What is it about Jesus that we are to follow as his disciples?

Could we not sum it up as to live in the Spirit, as faithful lovers of others? Could it be that this is why the Fruit of the Spirit is described as it is? What does Jesus tell us are the guiding principles of all the Law and the prophets? Love. Love God, love your neighbor. Who is your neighbor? Anyone who needs you to be their neighbor.

Jesus will talk about love with his disciples almost ad nauseam. This is so important to him that he gives his disciples a new command - that they love one another. Jesus didn't mention love because it's so foreign to people or to make us feel bad. No, as the icon of God he revealed the image of God that is flesh - the image of God as it is intended.

Having love as your constituent essence, you are made to be a lover in the same sense God is. The image of God is love enfleshed.

Modern psychology, especially depth and positive psychology, confirm that the most well-adjusted and contented humans are those who embody the fruit of the Spirit, whether they are "Christians" or not. Every major religion, furthermore, points in the same directions - compassion, peace, giving to and for others, self-seconding.

Why are these true and apparent in the world? Because you - and every human - are the image of God, your creator. This drive to love and be loved is your core essence and without it, we become psychologically ill and destructive of others and ourselves.

The Eastern Orthodox call this becoming, "deification" or "theosis." It means to become like God, so embued with the likeness of God that you can say, as Paul urges, that you are becoming transformed into the likeness of Christ. Merton will call this transformation, "a journey back to where we have never been," which succinctly describes the reality of becoming who you are.

Of importance here is that in this process, we don't just mimic God in caring for others, we actually become love - it becomes most fully our nature, our full being as we already are. The Christian call is nothing more than to become most fully who you are made to be - who you are already. We are, and we become, the likeness of God, fully. This is what it means to be the image of God and this is the invitation of God for you and all people.

It is true that Scripture does not give us a plain, "thus sayeth the Lord" definition of what it means to be the image of God, but to those with discerning eyes, who can see God incarnated in Jesus of Nazareth, the import of our making becomes clear.

Go be the image you are.

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