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On Sun, 2 Jan 2005 19:44:58 -0500 "Jonathan Hughes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: Hi
Judy,
judyt:
Hi Jonathan, You write: 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, And God said "let us make man in our image, after
our likeness and let them have dominion.
Genesis
5:1, This is the book of the generations of Adam
In the day that God created man, in the likeness of God made he him
Genesis
9:6. Whoso sheddeth man's blood by man shall his
blood be shed "for in the image of God made he
man" m.To these
texts, we might add references in the apocrypha: Wisdom
ii.23 "For God formed man to be imperishable; the
image of his own nature he made him "
Ecclesiasticus
xvii.3. I don't have a Bible with Ecclesiasticus in
it.
judyt:
So how do the above scriptures change anything Jonathan? The likeness and image
of God have to be spiritual since God is a Spirit.
I would note that
Wisdom 2:23 says that man was formed to be imperishable and it was the image of
God's nature he was made in; the image of God's nature must be spiritual also and
the following verse goes on to say "But by the envy of the devil, death
entered the world and they who are in his possession experience it." [since
everyone born into this fallen world experiences death - selah] The fall is
outlined in the Apocrypha also.
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.
judyt:
the "image and likeness" must of necessity be spiritual because God is a
Spirit.
The imago is also mentioned in the New
Testament in a similar sense in two passages:
1
Corinthians 11:7 "For a man indeed ought not to cover
his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the
glory of the man" ***This NT scripture conflicts with Genesis 5:2
"Male and female created he them; and blessed them, and called their name Adam,
in the day they were created... which means you are using it out of balance and
context, this has to do with social custom in Corinth because both men and women
are created in God's image.
James
3:9. "Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and
therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God" -
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�.
judyt:
God has already cursed both the man and the woman along with the serpent [see
Genesis 3:14-19] - I understand, James to be referring to the tongue
and we can't be cursing people and walking after the Spirit in love toward them
at the same time can we?
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).
judyt:
Paul is being all things to all people in Acts 17:28 - quoting one of their own
poets. True His blessings rain on both the just and the unjust - for a
season. He gives us all a measure of time to get it together. In Acts 17
the apostle is not teaching that these superstitious Athenians at Mars Hill are
bearers of God's image.
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, "whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his son that he might be the
firstborn..."
2
Corinthians 3:18, "but we all with open face
beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same
image...
Ephesians
4:24, "and that ye put on the new man, which after God is
created in righteousness and true holiness..."
Colossians
3:10. "and have put on the new man, which is renewed in
knowledge after the image of him that created him"
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. "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. And every man that has this hope in
him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. Whosoever commits sin transgresses
also the law for sin is the transgression of the law.
judyt:
Yes Christ does reflect the above image - how do you figure unwashed humanity
does?
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).
judyt:
I don't have Brunner's book Jonathan but Jesus is "the same yesterday, today,
and forever" He was the Word, He is the Word, and in the future [see Revelation
19:6] remains the Word. So the "imago" hasn't gone and isn't about to go
anywhere.
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. �Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of
every creature..."
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
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