Retrieved: http://www sbelife.net/articles/2009/10/sla6 SBCLIFE Journal of the Southern Baptist Convention ‘Man- Made in the image of God by Don Dunavant | Winter 2017 ‘The Meaning of the Image of God Several characteristics in the uniqueness of humanity help us understand the meaning of the image of God in man. While this is not an exhaustive list, the following seven characteristics reflect imago Dei. + We are spiritual beings. We are created to represent and worship our God who is Spirit. Human beings are not merely material beings. When God created the first man, He breathed imo his nostrils, the breath of tife (Genesis 2:7), making man a living soul end giving to him spiritual life. Only humans are able to relete to God in worship and communication, A vital component of this spiritual nature is immortality — human beings that will never cease to exist but will live forever 5 + We are personal beings. We are created by a personal God, and our personhood reflects thet aspect of God. He created humans with personality, as unique individuals with self-consciousness and * purpose. While every man and woman share common characteristics, no two people are alike. Since each individual is stamped with the image of God, each human life has sig lificance before God. + We are moral beings. God is holy. He created humanity with a moral compass, a conscience that gives each of us an inner sense of the difference between tight and wrong. The conscience may be deadened or seared by sin, but it remains hardwired in man. The hardest question for both atheists and evolutionists is how to explain the moral nature in the human race, in every culture, in every people ‘group, and even in every religion. Moreover, man's moral capacity makes him accountable to God for his actions. + We are relational beings. God reveals the relational nature of the Trinity in this phrase: Let Us ‘make maa in Our image, according to Our likeness (Genesis 1:26). God created us with the capacity to relate both fo God and to others. Humans were not made to live in isolated individualism. Thus, the image of God is involved in how we relate in marriage and in the Fellowship of the church, and how awe relate to others in the Great Commandment and the Great Commission (see Genesis 2:18. Matthew 19: 1-12; Galatians 3:26-29), + We are rational beings. God is a God of knowledge. While our knowledge is limited, God ereated us with the capacity to think, to know, and to lear, Christianity is not a mindless faith. Just the ‘opposite. The intellectual aspect of intago Dei means that our minds area vital part of how we ate to love God (Matthew 22:37), that we are to cultivate our minds (Ephesians 4:23), and that we are to renew our minds for transformation (Romans 12: »* We are emotional beings. We are made in the likeness of God who Himself is love. It is the emotive facet of our makeup that allows us to experience intimacy with those close to us, to feel compassion for others, and to know the deep awe of God that causes us to delight and find soul satisfaction in Him, + We are creative beings. God is the Creator. His glory is displayed in His creation. We have an insotiable desive to create, whether producing a piece of att, stavting a business, writing a book, or landscaping the yard. While our creativity is different from God's, who made everything trom nothing, the linkage of the image of God in man in ereation to the cultural mandate in Genesis 1:26: speaks to our creative responsibility. Nancy Pearcey observes that the first phrase, be fruitful and multiply, may mean: "to develop the social world: build families, churches, schools, cities, goverament, laws.” She suggests the second phrase, subdue the earth, means: "to hamess the natural world: plant crops, build bridges, design computers, compose music. This passage ... tells us that our original purpose was to create culture and build civilizations — nothing less."6What 'Made in the Image of God’ Really Means Taking a second look at a very misunderstood part of our faith. By Dick Staub All our lives we've heard that we're "made in the image of God." It's a nice thought, and probably one we've clung to when we need a reminder of our own value. But have you ever stopped to think about what it really means? "Made in the image of God" is an audacious claim—and one that probably carries some responsibility with it. We all know we are not gods—though if we're honest, we know we often think we are the god of our own lives, even if we'd never admit it. The truth is, you are not God. But you are godlike. Our confusion about whether or not we are God arises from our godlikeness. It's described in the first: chapter of the Bible. Genesis 1:26-27 reveals, "Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, in our likeness’ ... So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." To be fully human is to fully reflect God's creative, spiritual, intelligent, communicative, relational, moral and purposeful capacities. So, what does it mean to be created in God's image? The Hebrew root of the Latin phrase for image of God—imago Dei—means image, shadow or likeness of God You are a snapshot or facsimile of God. At the very least this means humans occupy a higher place in the created order because we alone are imprinted with godlike characteristics. Your godlikeness is the path to your greatest fulfillment. You will feel the greatest pleasure and wholeness when who God made you to be is fully developed and expressed Your godlikeness can also be a pitfall, because in our hubris we often confuse being like God with being God. Mystery writer Nevada Barr learned this after returning to faith from her long sojourn on the wild side, and concluded: "It was a number of years of crashing and burning before | made the discovery that | was not God. Finally | realized that though I was not God, | was of God." But in what way are you an image of God? How are you godlike? Theologians have long debated this question, but the answer becomes clear when we read thedescription of God in Genesis 1 and then ask: If we could take a snapshot of God, what would we see and what would it reveal about humans created in God's image? First, the truth about you is that you are creative because God is creative: "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Genesis 1:1). We know that God is creative. Every human makes things. Artists make things with paint. Poets, writers, philosophers and lawyers make things with ideas and the compelling use of words. Doctors make people healthier; consultants make organizations better. Manufacturers make things with raw materials; chefs make things with fruits, vegetables, meats and spices. Every human has the capacity to make things, to create, because we are all made in the image of a creative God. The second truth about you is that you are spiritual because God is Spirit: "The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters" (Genesis 1:2). Every human possesses spiritual aptitudes and capacities. We are more than the sum of our physical parts. ‘Our spiritual nature, though unseen, is as real as our physical nature. Nurturing our spirit is as important as eating, drinking and exercising are to our physical body. The very essence of God is relational, and that essential quality has been imprinted ‘on humans. A third truth about you is that you communicate because God communicates: "God said, ‘Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3). Anthropologists agree that the emergence of symbolic language—first spoken, then written—represents the sharpest break between animals and humans. The human ability to think and reason, to use language, symbols and art, far surpasses the abilities of any animals. This gift was bestowed when the communicative God's image was imprinted on us. A fourth truth about you is that you are intelligent because God is intelligent: "In the beginning was the Word [/ogos, a Greek word meaning reason, or logic] and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1). Logical sequential thought flows from the orderliness of God's mind. As a result, though we are not all intellectuals, we each possess a mind and a way of thinking and leaming, so Jesus commanded us to love God with our minds (as well as our hearts and all our strength). Because of God's intelligent image imprinted on our lives, though we possess different kinds of intelligence, each of us is to develop our mental capacities to their fullest.A fifth truth about you is that you are relational because God is relational: “Let us make man in our image, in out likeness. ... It is not good for man to be alone” (Genesis 1:26, Genesis 2:18). The phrase, "Let us make man in our image" reveals an “us-ness" in the very nature of God. The very essence of God is relational, and that essential quality has been imprinted on humans. This capacity for a relationship with God extends to humans, which is why the Genesis story declares that God created Eve for Adam because "it is not good for man to be alone.” Assixth truth about you is that you are morally responsible because God is a moral being. “And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die" (Genesis 2:16-17). Just as there are natural laws that govern the universe, universal moral laws govern human behavior. The Bible teaches that these laws are written on human hearts and are universal. When we fully grasp what it means to bear God's image, we are at once struck with the grandeur of our possibilities and the tragedy of our unrealized potential. To be fully human is to fully reflect God's creative, spiritual, intelligent, communicative, relational, moral and purposeful capacities, and to do so holistically and synergistically. Furthermore, though all humans possess these godlike capacities, each of us has the potential to express them distinctively, because God's image has been imprinted uniquely on each of us. In God's infinite creativity there are no duplicates; you are the only you there has ever been or ever will be. Reprinted by permission of the publisher, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., from About You, by Dick Staub. This article was adapted from pages 29-37. Copyright © 2010 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Staub, D. (2010). About you: Fully human, fully alive. Jossey Bass. Dunavant, D. (2017). Man-made in the image of God. Journal of the Southern Baptist Convention. http://www.sbelife.net/articles/2009/10/sla6