The image of God

Yelsew · Dec 31, 2002

What specifically is the image of God?

Yelsew · Dec 31, 2002

It appears no one has an opinion, or that no one is convinced enough to be able to declare their understanding of what Image of God means.

So, let me state this: I am a male human being, therefore God must be a male!

I am 6 ft tall, therefore God must be 6 ft tall.

I am white Anglo-Saxon, therefore God must be white Anglo-saxon.

I am a flesh and blood being, therefore God must be a flesh and blood being.

What do you think? Do I have the right idea?

russell55 · Dec 31, 2002

The scripture doesn't tell us exactly what being made in God's image means. What things I would come up with to explain it would simply be speculation on my part.

Note as well that it is A&E pre-fall that were made in God's image. I'm sure we post-fall beings retain some form of this image, but it has most certainly been defaced by the fall. Things don't work the same for us as they once did.

Aaron · Dec 31, 2002

From my personal notes on Genesis:

God is love.

"Love requires a Lover, a Beloved, and the Spirit of Love." (St. Augustin)

To be made in God’s image requires a lover, a beloved, and the Spirit of Love. So God did not create man as a singular being. Male and female created he them, Gen i.27. As a covenant relationship exists between the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and as that relationship is ratified by an oath, so male stands in a covenant relationship with female ratified by marriage vows, and joined together by the Holy Spirit.
Man was made male and female for the cause of marriage, Matt xix.4-5.
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Ray Berrian · Jan 1, 2003

The Bible tells us that we were made in His image and after His likeness. [James 3:9] I believe that being created in His image means that each of the attributes of God can be found in any human being but in a much, much, lesser degree. For example, God is love, justice, mercy peace, and the One who is longsuffering. What complicates the the problem is that every human being has inherited the Adamic nature which produces our human depravity. Although we have a conscience and have an inner sense that there is a God, we also have the other nature that pulls us away from the living God. In the Garden Adam and Eve enjoyed perfection as God's created being; since the Fall we have a proclivity toward sinning.

Yelsew · Jan 1, 2003

Thanks Dr. Berrian, you are accurate. However, I think we need a little broader perspective.

Jesus said,

John 4:23.24] But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

So, if God is Spirit, then we must be spirit. And when we do worship him we need not be concerned with the flesh, because we worship in spirit. And we are capable of knowing the truth, for we must worship in truth.

Our religion believes that when the flesh dies, the spirit departs to be with the Lord. Our graves remain occupied, even those from before Christ, else there would be no mummified remains. There would be little evidence that 2000 years ago even existed.

Since indentical duplicates among human's is quite rare, it is safe to say that Physical appearance and attributes have no part in the image of God. God became as we are, not the other way around, so Jesus 'in the flesh' cannot be considered in determining the Image of God, except that he was like he created us, in his image. But again we have no pictures of Jesus to determine those among us that are in His image, except our spirit!

That leaves only spirit. We are spirit in the image of God who is spirit. Our attributes are the creation version of the divine attributes. That is we are not omniscient, omnipotent, transendent, omnipresent, and any other omni's. We do have grace, mercy, justice, Love, and we are capable of peace, joy, longsuffering, and the other fruits of the spirit, but only in so far as the boundaries of our creation. From outside those boundaries, we are mere created beings, Mortals in the eyes of the Imortal. As a species or Race, we sinned from the outset, so we also have another non-divine attribute...sinner! But it too is constrained to the boundaries of the Creation. For sin and holiness cannot cohabitate the same space.

Our shining Countenance is badly tarnished, but we still retain the ability to hear and communicate with God our Creator. We have the ability to think, but all too few of us desire to think on heavenly things. We have the ability to believe, though our inate desire is to sin and not holiness.

We are one/ten-thousandths of an ounce too weak to save ourselves because we all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God. But we are within God's reach and His strength is sufficient for our salvation. Even so, if we are not willing to be saved, God has no responsibility to save us against our will. And, in fact, he does not, because he wants us to want and need him by our own free will. So he provides the incentive for us to come to him so that he can save us.
We are not disabled as the doctrine of total depravity says we are. We do have all that is necessary for us to be saved by God. We can choose to be willing unto salvation, but cannot save our selves.

So, Since we have Grace, and our grace is in the image of God, can we dispense our grace or does it remain part of us? It remains part of us and we behave in accordance with it. Why then do so many believe that God dispenses His Grace? Wouldn't it hold true that God's other attributes are restrained by his grace that he keeps? Wouldn't his grace be tempered by his Love, Mercy, Justice, and Faithfulness?

We have love, but we cannot give away our love, we are finite creations with finite love. We say we give our love to others, but in reality it is our love for that other person that forms our behavior toward them. We give gifts to convey to the other how we feel toward them, and their response to our gifts determines whether or not we continue to love or pursue that person. When rejected by the other, our love wains rather rapidly. But if the love between us simply grows cold, it is usually over time, but either way it may be a long arduous task to get over it.
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Ray Berrian · Jan 2, 2003

Yelsew,

I agree with your expanded version about the 'image of God' in human beings.

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