[TruthTalk] Humankind in the Image of God

[Jonathan Hughes]

Hi Judy,   I would like to think that this email will solve the ‘image of God for all of humankind’ discussion once and for all.� I am being na�ve if I think this.� I would ask that you search the scriptures and allow some credence for my argument below.� I used to think that having orthodoxy on my side would be a boon but with you it doesn’t seem to matter much at all.� What follows is taken from On Being Human: Essays in Theological Anthropology by Ray Anderson (pg. 215-216). �Anderson’s book is a discussion of what it means to be human.� The image of God (imago Dei) is an important concept to understand when attempting to define what it means to be human.   “The doctrine of the imago Dei is explicitly stated in the Old Testament in three texts:� Genesis 1:26f, 5:1, 9:6.� To these texts, we might add references in the apocrypha: Wisdom ii.23 and Ecclesiasticus xvii.3.� In all of these passages, a special quality of life is attributed to the human creature as against the nonhuman, described either as being created in the image of God (tselem) or after the likeness of God (demuth) – or both, as in Genesis 1:26.� The imago is also mentioned in the New Testament in a similar sense in two passages: 1 Corinthians 11:7 and James 3:9.� The ‘man’ representing the human person, whether believe or not, is a bearer of the ‘image and glory of God” (I Cor. 11:7) and for that reason should never be ‘cursed’ (James 3:9).� Paul, in his message to the Athenians, even summons the Gentiles as witnesses to this relation with God which characterizes all human beings – ‘in him we live and move and have our being’ (Acts 17:28). ����������� In addition to these explicit references to the human person created in the image of God, there are other important New Testament references which add significantly to the concept of the imago.� Among them are the following: Romans 8:29, 2 Corinthians 3:18, Ephesians 4:24, Colossians 3:10.� In an even more general sense, one might say that Christ reflects this imago in his own divine sonship, which becomes the basis for becoming ‘children of God’ and being ‘like him’ (1 John 3:2).� In the New Testament, the imago Dei as the formative concept of the Old Testament for an understanding of human being is ‘torn out’ of its structural or morphological rigidity and molded to a more dynamic understanding of the imago as being-in-the-Word-of-God (see Brunner’s Man in Revolt, pg. 501).� The basis for this is the ‘loss’ of the imago Dei as a positive orientation of life toward God through the Fall, and the renewal of the imago Dei through the whole work of Jesus Christ as the incarnate and thus the original imago.� “He is the image of the invisible God,” says Paul, “the firstborn of all creation…” (Col. 1:15).”   When we talk about the image of God we are speaking of that quality that distinctly identifies us as human, that separates us from the animals.� This image that God stamps upon us cannot be thrown away, even through sin.� It is who we are.� To remove the image of God from us is to remove our humanness which, of course, is impossible.� I believe the biblical texts above (the 3 from Genesis and the two from the NT) are sufficient evidence for us to proclaim that the image of God did not disappear from humankind as a result of the Fall.� I hope you will concur.   Jonathan     --- Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.818 / Virus Database: 556 - Release Date: 12/17/2004 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.818 / Virus Database: 556 - Release Date: 12/17/2004