Created “as” the image of God
Genesis 1:26-27 reads:
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.
The phrase “Let us…” is significant in that it is the first time a plural personal pronoun is used in reference to God’s creative acts. The other instances are more impersonal decrees prefixed by the phrases, “Let there be…” and “Let the…”
Various interpretations have been proposed regarding the meaning of “Let us…” Some have said “Let us…” is a reference to a polytheistic myth, while others have said “Let us…” is God’s address to the “heavens and the earth.” Others have gone on to say “Let us…” is a divine address to a heavenly court of angels. I believe “Let us…” is divine dialogue within the Godhead. This was the view of the Church Fathers and Reformers. It is the first allusion to the doctrine of the Trinity. When used in Genesis 1:26, it refers to the mysterious triune God.
This is not the only instance of us hearing him speak to himself in the plural; Isaiah 6:8a is another. It reads:
8 And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?”
Images in the Ancient World
Often we hear that humankind is created “in” the image of God. Although this is a common statement, a better translation is that humankind is created “as” the image of God.
Why is this so? Listen to what one author had to say:
In the ancient world, people were always making images; they were always trying to put their gods in physical form… But what were images in the ancient world? They were ways of representing the gods of the nations and giving a picture of their god to the surrounding world. You especially had images in temples. You went inside a temple, and there you would find an image in the temple representing the god of the temple… When you would consider the universe—the holy temple of God who created it—the one who is there is humankind itself. They are a kind of shadow that gives you a glimpse of the God who is the God of this universe of ours.
So, what does it mean to be created in the image of God? It means:
Relationship: We have the distinct privilege to be in a relationship with God because only humankind can be in such a relationship.
The Whole Person: Our physical bodies, our minds, and our personalities are endowed with righteousness. Eaton says, “...the whole person is the image of God standing here in this world physically and with mind (as God has mind), with personality (as God has personality), with righteousness (as God created the world in righteousness). God created the world in righteousness, and we are here as his image in this world.”
Commission: Joseph Lam says, “...the Hebrew phraseology (Gen 1:26-27)… denotes not so much the manner of the creation of the human being (i.e., the ‘mould’ out of which humans are created), but rather the intended function of the human being in the world. It is best to understand the statement in Genesis 1:26 as meaning that human beings are fashioned to function as God’s image in the world. Humans aren’t just made in God’s image; they are called to be his image in the world.”
Whether one is Christian or not, if one is a human being, then one is created in the image of God. The question, however, is this: Are you functioning as intended? Or to put it another way, are you imagining Yahweh in a way that glorifies him? Or are you self-glorifying?
Implications of “the Image of God”: The Implication of Worship
Our job is not to receive worship but to give worship to the one and true Creator-King.
Deuteronomy 5:8-9a says:
8“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 9 You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God…”
Images don’t receive worship, but they give worship to what they image. Imagine the absurdity of photos of you demanding worship from all they come into contact with. Such is the absurdity when “image bearers” of God do not worship God truly.
The Implication on Human Dignity
Human life is precious and has eternal worth and dignity before God because humankind is created as the image of God. Listen to what Michael Eaton says on this:
“If there is any crime that is worthy of the death penalty, it is murder. What makes murder so serious a crime is that it is attacking the image of God. You can kill an animal, maybe, when you have to. You can perhaps bring to an end the life of a cat that is getting old and sick—but do not do the same to a human being when they are getting old.”
The Implications of Ethnic, Cultural, and Socio-economic Diversity
Being created as the image of God implies that racial, tribal, or national diversity are points that should cause us to celebrate our God who made us so, and not motives for bigotry and abuse. In fact, far be it from any Christians to be associated with attitudes such as racism, tribalism, xenophobia, and socio-economic snobbery, because we fundamentally believe that all of humankind is created equal with dignity, as the image of God. These are not ideals we assent to theoretically, but these are truths that should be massaged into our DNA at every opportunity we get.
Article by Eric Mtimkhulu