Reflection

What does it mean to be made in the image of God? The words of Genesis: “Then God said,
‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion 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.’ So God created man in his own image, in the
image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”-Genesis 1:26-27. The
likeness with God shows that the essence and existence of man are constitutively related to
God in the most profound manner.

The writer of Genesis describes God’s act of creation as one of the speaking the world into
existence. In this view, our ability to speak sets us apart from the animals and other forms of
creation, making us like the Creator who speaks. An interpretation of what it means to be
created imago Dei involves human dominion over the earth. In a manner akin to God’s rule over
the entire cosmos, humanity has regency over the earth, to control, care for, and bring it to
fruition. Being in the image of God the human individual possesses the dignity of a person, who
is not just something, but someone. He is capable of self-knowledge, of self-possession and of
freely giving himself and entering into communion with other persons. And he is called by grace
to a covenant with his Creator, to offer him a response of faith and love that no other creature
can give in his stead. The relationship between God and man is reflected in the relational and
social dimension of human nature.

All lives have value, from the unborn baby to the aged person suffering with advanced
dementia, because human beings uniquely bear the image of their Creator and even sin cannot
erode that sacred likeness.