HOBBY LOBBY and Chick-fil-A have more in common besides being closed on Sundays. These two companies are for-profit businesses. They are not Christian organizations like churches. Nor are they non-profit corporations. They are for-profit organizations run by Christians. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of permitting Hobby Lobby to not obey the mandate in Obama Care that requires employers to provide health care coverage for contraceptives that end the life of conceived babies. Hobby Lobby has no problem providing health care that covers 16 out of 20 FDA-approved contraceptives. But Hobby Lobby refused to pay for contraceptives, such as the morning-after pill, that destroyed fertilized eggs. The owners of Hobby Lobby (the David Green family) believe life in the image of God begins at fertilization or conception and that the Bible forbids wrongly taking the life of a person. I agree with Hobby Lobby and the Supreme Court ruling.
God creating man in His image is what sets man apart from animals
Before the creation of man and woman, God had prefaced His acts of creation with, “Let there be” (Genesis 1:3; 6; 9; 11; 14; 20; 24). Seven times, God said, “Let there be.” But with man, God dramatically broke this pattern and said, “Let us make man in our image,” indicating the divine counsel took place before the creation of man.
The Bible teaches that man was formed in God’s image at creation. That image of God was deformed at the Fall of man into sin. Since salvation, the believer now is being transformed into the image of God. The believer will eventually be perfectly conformed to the image of Christ once in heaven.
In Genesis 9:6, God commanded that no life should be taken in murder because murder is a direct assault on “the image of God” in which God made man. It is like burning God in effigy.
The image of God not only has to do with the beginning of each person in his/her mother's womb but with the beginning of all life.
Robert Reymond starts his discussion on the Biblical view of man with these questions, “What is man? Simply the ‘outcome of accidental collocations of atoms’? The highest evolutionary stage to date of the primate? Is he among world species primarily homo sapiens? According to the Bible, none of these popular current ideas captures what man is essentially. Rather, man is a creature of God, indeed, the crowning work of God’s creative activity; uniquely the ‘image of God’ with whom God has entered into covenant, and as a covenant creature man is accordingly homo religious before he is homo sapiens” (A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith, 416).
When I took high school biology, my biology teacher whom I considered very intelligent, started teaching us the theory of evolution as fact. This view contradicted what my pastor had preached and taught from God’s Word. My biology teacher was very convincing, and I began to doubt if God was who my pastor declared him to be. I was very confused.
What I was struggling with was a huge worldview question: Where did I come from? Some of the big questions of life are
1) Am I the result of a materialistic process of evolution?
Am I an advanced animal with no soul and when I die, I die like an animal?
Or did I come from God who supernaturally made me in his image so I can fellowship with him?
2) Why am I here? What is the purpose of my life?
If I am the product of atheistic evolution, then I have no eternal purpose with eternal consequences.
If I came from God, then I have the greatest purpose in the world: to please my Creator and Redeemer.
3) Where am I going? What is my future? What is my future not just for the next ten years but what is my eternal destiny?
If I am the product of evolution, then the grave is my future.
But if God is my Creator, and I accomplish my purpose of living for him and not myself, then my future is eternity with God, worshipping and glorifying him forever and ever. These questions are important and life-changing.
Where did we come from?
There are three major options to choose from
The first option is a biblical creation by God
The second option is evolution by chance.
There is a third option that tries to conflate the two options of creation by God or evolution by chance. This is called theistic evolution which attempts to fold the millions of years of evolution into the biblical account of creation. In other words, God used evolution to bring his creation into being.
Here is how BioLogos tries to explain how during the process of evolution, God imparted the image of God into highly developed man:
We should be cautious, though, in defining the image of God as our unique human cognitive abilities. It is possible that the gap could have been filled by other species that are now extinct [lost]. We now know of many extinct hominin species [any member of the zoological “tribe” Hominini of which only one species exists today—Homo sapiens, or human beings], some of which even interbred with anatomically modern humans. Would the cognitive abilities of these species reveal only a difference only in degree? Some scientists think that is the case, and if so, that would raise a challenge to understanding the image of God as our unique cognitive abilities.
These cautions notwithstanding, the idea that God may have bestowed his image on humanity in the fullness of time—at some point during evolutionary history when humans had sufficient cognitive capacities—is consistent with the traditional theological view of the image of God as relating in some way to our cognitive capacities (How could humans have evolved and still be in the "Image of God"? Click to open).
Charles Ryrie noted, “that the theistic evolutionist tries to ride two horses (evolution and Creation), which are going in opposite directions.”[Charles C. Ryrie, Basic Theology, Chicago: Moody Press, 1999, 196]. Of course, this is impossible with horses and theistic evolution.
The first option for answering the question, where did I come from Is the biblical answer. We came from God according to Genesis 1:1.
Moses first recorded God’s creation of the universe in Genesis 1:1-2:4.
Then Moses recorded God’s creation of mankind in Genesis 2:5-25 (see 2:7). Moses declared that “God created” and used the word for creating which means to create [בָּרָ֣א bara] something special in 1:1 (the universe), 21 (marine life), and 27 (man). God is always the subject of this word for creation.
The other option is atheistic evolution which advocates that we came into existence without God. It is very possible that Moses presented the creation account positively and negatively.
Positively, God created the universe in six twenty-four days and as the crown of his creation, God created man.
Negatively, Moses refuted the false beliefs of nations that believed that they had created their gods in their image and, consequentially, their gods were immoral. Kenneth Mathews writes:
1) “For instance, procreation among the family, herd, and crop depended on sexual relations among the deities.”[Kenneth A. Mathews, “Genesis 1-11:26” in The New American Commentary, Nashville: Broadman & Homan Publisher, 1996, 118).
2) The pagans invented gods who procreate as we do.
3) Also, some of their gods had come from murky waters and, therefore, were not eternal. Mathews provides another example of what Moses is combating: “In Enuma Elish [The Babylonian creation myth], e.g., the gods are the offspring of the primeval waters Apsu and Tiamat.”[Ibid., 117]. Moses corrects these views by stating God created humans in his image (not vice versa). Also, He did not evolve from materials on earth; he is eternal and preceded the material universe he created.
Evolution teaches that the material universe happened by chance when a big bang resulted in rotating protons and neutrons, which have ever since been expanding. Where did the material originate that exploded in the Big Bang? We have two choices: either God is eternal and created matter, or evolution is true, and the matter is eternal. Believers have the historical record of Genesis 1:1 that God is eternal and created the first matter. The other view has no such support.
What is the image of God?
“Image” and “likeness” are used interchangeably. They “are practically synonymous. Exegetically, it would be hard to prove a difference between ‘image’ and ‘likeness.’ In Genesis 1:26, 27, the two words look like they are synonyms. In verse 26, both words are used, whereas, in verse 27, only the one word ‘image’ (used twice) is used. Apparently, in verse 27 ‘image’ is used for both words, being used twice in the verse. In Genesis 5:1, 3 the prepositions of Genesis 1:26 are reversed. Genesis 1:26 indicates ‘in image and after likeness’ but in Genesis 5:3 it is ‘in likeness, after image’” (An Outline of Anthropology, Dr. Bowman, 22).
So what do “image” and “likeness” mean? Here is Wayne Grudem’s definition: “The fact that man is in the image of God means that man is like God and represents God …. The expression refers to every way in which man is like God” (Systematic Theology, 442-443).
In Jehoiada’s revival in Judah, he broke the statues or idols of Baal in the house of Baal. These statues or idols were called Baal’s “images” (2 Kings 11:18). The images looked like and represented Baal.
In Matthew 22:20-21, Jesus asked the Herodians about the Roman coin, “Whose is this image and superscription? They said unto him, Caesar’s.” The image on the coin looked like and represented Caesar.
In Genesis 5:3 “image” and “likeness” are used to describe Adam’s son Seth: “Adam lived a hundred and thirty years and begat a son in his own likeness after his image.” While Seth was not identical to Adam, apparently, Seth was similar to Adam in many ways. In every way, Seth is similar to his father, and he is in the image of Adam.
In every way we resemble and represent God, we are in His image. How are we like God?
How can we bear the image of God?
I. Man and woman were FORMED in God’s Image at Creation
A. The image of God is not physical because John 4:24 says that “God is spirit.” Yet God has chosen man’s physical being, not animals, to be His representative. The theophanies or the appearances of God in the OT, such as the Angel of the Lord, were as man and not as animals. The anthropomorphisms in the OT, where God revealed Himself in terms of a man so man could better understand Him, were expressed as “The hand of the God” (Psa. 139:5, 10) and not the paw or hoof of God.
B. The image of God is seen in leadership. God commanded man or mankind, including women, in Genesis 1:26-27 to exercise “dominion over” creation. God is the Leader or Ruler of the universe (Psalm 103:19). We reflect His image when we lead and influence others. In 1 Corinthians 11, there was a leadership crisis. So Paul used the leadership of God the Father as an example: “The head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is the man, and the head of Christ is God.” At Corinth, the women were usurping authority over the men. Paul wrote that the man “is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man" (1 Cor 11:8). In this specific case, the man was to reflect the image or leadership of God the Father in the local church.
C. The image of God is moral. God declared all of His creations “very good” (Gen 1:31), including man. After the Fall of Adam into sin, man has to be exhorted to do and be what he was before man became a sinner. In Luke 6:36, Jesus exhorts, “Be you therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful.” The verses surrounding this exhortation show how we can reflect the image of God to others: “Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and you shall be the children of the Highest; for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. Be you, therefore, merciful as your Father also is merciful.” When we are compassionate to the undeserving, as God is to us, we mirror God’s image. Even sinners, according to Luke 6:32-34 can reflect the image of God in loving, doing good, and lending money to others.
D. The image of God is social. In the Genesis 1:26-27 passage, God said, “Let us make man (mankind or humanity) in our image." The Trinity, who has eternal interpersonal relationships, created man as a social being. That is why in the next chapter, God told Adam, “It is not good that the man should be alone, I will make him an help meet for him” (Genesis 2:18). This is not denigrating the woman to be called the helper for man. It means we men need help. What about singles? They are to have social networks such as is provided at church. The local church is a family, according to Ephesians 3:14-15. When we build strong relationships with our mates, children, and friends, we become image-bearers of God.
E. The image of God is mental. Man’s ability to think in abstract reasoning separates him from animals. “No group of chimpanzees will ever sit around the table arguing about the doctrine of the Trinity or the relative merits of Calvinism and Arminianism! In fact, even in developing physical and technical skills, we are far different from animals: beavers still build the same kind of dams they built for a thousand generations, birds still build the same kind of nests, and bees still build the same kinds of hives. But we continue to develop greater skill and complexity in technology, in agriculture, in science, and in nearly every field of endeavor” (Grudem, page 446).
In Genesis 2:19-20, Adam reflected the mental image of God when he named every animal. Notice that just as God had formed man out of the dust of the ground in Genesis 2:7, so God formed animals out of the ground in Genesis 2:19, and when Adam was only one day old, he named all the animals. Just as man did not evolve, neither did animals.
Because we are made in the image of God, we can read and understand the Bible. Animals cannot.
F. The image of God is spiritual. Because God is Spirit, we also have an immaterial and spiritual capacity to worship God in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). Animals do not sing God’s praises nor pray one for another. Only man can fellowship and worship God as Adam did in the garden until he sinned (Genesis 3:8). Only man is said to be “God’s offspring” (Acts 17:28). When we come into church and lift our voices to God in song and praise we are bearing the image of God.
II. The Image of God was DEFORMED at the Fall of Man into Sin
As Ryrie states, the image of God “was defaced though not erased” (Basic Theology, first edition, 192). The image of God was not totally erased, or the following exhortations relevant to the image of God would be meaningless.
A. The image of God is the basis for the exhortation not to murder (Gen 9:6).
B. The image of God is the basis for the exhortation for men to be heads of home (1 Cor 11:3-16).
C. The image of God is the basis for proper speech (James 3:7).
D. The result of the Fall was total depravity. Every dimension of man was tainted by sin. All of the above areas of the image of God were also corrupted so that we are not as much like God as we were before the Fall. “His moral purity has been lost, and his sinful character certainly does not reflect God’s holiness. His intellect is corrupted by falsehood and misunderstanding; his speech no longer continually glorifies God; his relationships are often governed by selfishness rather than love, and so forth” (Grudem, 444).
III. The Believer is being TRANSFORMED into the Image of God since Salvation.
Though the sinner is totally depraved and the original image or likeness of God in us has been greatly distorted, there is the hope that salvation can start restoring that likeness. This is the assurance of 2 Corinthians 3:18.
Since our conversion, we are closer to the original image of God. Two parallel passages make this point. The first is Colossians 3:10, in which the image is mentioned. The next is the parallel in Ephesians 4:24, which alludes to creation. “Charles Hodge contends that ‘knowledge’ refers to (true) knowledge of God, since the word has this sense in Colossians 1:6, 9, 27-28; 2:2-3, that ‘righteousness’ refers to moral rectitude toward one’s neighbor, that is, justice, and that ‘holiness’ refers to the God-ward relation known as piety toward God …. this means that these three’ renewed image virtues are indicative of right relationships with God and neighbor” (Reymond, 429).
The key is in Colossians 3:10, which says that this restoration of the image of God takes place as we are “renewed in knowledge.” According to Romans 12:1-2, this renewal and transformation are taking place by the renewing of our minds in the Word of God.
IV. The Believer will be Perfectly CONFORMED to God’s Image in Heaven.
The perfect image of God in Christ. In 2 Corinthians 3:18, Paul promised that we are being changed more and more into the image of the Lord. A few verses later, in 4:4, Paul says that Christ “is the image of God.”
A. This Image Includes a physical likeness to Christ
In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul describes the future resurrection body of the believer. In 15:49, Paul says, “We have borne the image of the earthy,” that is, Adam. Because Adam sinned, God said, “This day you will surely die.” Because we bear the image of Adam, we are physically dying. Paul described how that physical likeness to Adam causes us to die in verses 42-45: Our physical body, which is like Adam’s, dies in corruption, dishonor, and weakness, as a natural body.
But Paul also promises the believer that “we shall also bear the image of the heavenly” (15:49b). Because we know Christ, though buried in the image of Adam, we will be raised in the physical image of Christ’s resurrection body or “in incorruption, in glory, and power” (15:42-45).
Every person now has the physical image of Adam stamped on his person.
B. This Image Includes a moral and spiritual likeness to Christ
One day, we will be like Christ morally and spiritually (1 John 3:2). According to Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:44, we will enjoy a “spiritual body” that is a physical body with spiritual significance, just like the children of Israel consumed real “spiritual meat” and “spiritual drink” or real water that had a spiritual significance in the wilderness (1 Cor 10:3-4).
Paul in Romans 8:28-29 says we are being conformed to the image of Christ, who, according to Hebrews 1:3, is the “express image of God.” In 2 Corinthians. 3:18, Paul writes that believers are being changed or transformed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. The end of this process of “glory to glory” is gloryfication (intended to misspell) or glorification or perfect likeness to Christ. Paul declared in Romans 8:28-30 that God has predestined that each believer will conform to the image of Christ (8:29), which is the same as future glorification (8:30).
What are some important implications of the Image of God?
1. Abortion is wrong because pre-born babies are in the image of God.
2. Euthanasia is also wrong. The elderly do not lose any of the image of God with age. We should have programs and ministries for not only the children and youth but also the elderly.
3. Racism is a sin because all people are made in the image of God. The color of skin does not improve the image of God or detract from the image of God.
4. The deformed are important to God because they bear His image.
5. The comatose is still a person in the image of God. The sanctity of life is not reduced when the quality of life is reduced.