The Image Of God,The Dignity of Man (102e)

Genesis 1:26-31

James R. Davis

"Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.' So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.' Then God said, 'I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground-- everything that has the breath of life in it-- I give every green plant for food.' And it was so. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning-- the sixth day." (Genesis 1:26-31)

I read a news story this past week where a woman was visiting Disney World, and while there she went into labor. She went into a toilet stall in a bathroom, had the baby and left the baby girl in a toilet. Someone found the baby and its life was saved. The truly sad part about this is that we are hearing accounts such as this constantly. A couple of weeks ago a baby was left under a doorstep.

Just this week I read where some are advocating issuing a Life Certificate which would pronounce an infant legally alive. It is like a Death Certificate, which pronounces someone legally dead. The Life Certificate would not be used until after the birth of the child, when a complete battery of tests could be administered. Any "inferior" or potentially non-productive infant would simply be rejected and not pronounced "alive" and thus terminated. Almost sounds humane.

I was talking to my wife who works with nursing home patients. She is involved in keeping them mentally active. She plans mental orientations, things that will stimulate their cognitive processes and responses. Just this week a lady, who had been working in another facet of the nursing home aiding the patients with their physical needs,  volunteered to help Mary with these patients a couple of hours after her normal work hours. She was surprised that these people could communicate with her intelligently. She responded in amazement when one lady spoke to her. She responded by saying, "I didn't even know she knew that she was in the world." The lady didn't even know that many of these patients could talk. She was astounded that these people could joke, respond intelligently to questions and carry on a conversation with her. It just takes them longer to do it, and others have never had time to bother with them. My wife told me this in tears. The sad part about this is that this lady has been working with these elderly people in this nursing home for four years and she didn't know they could talk. In taking care of these patients physical needs for four years she never took time, until now, to respond to these patients as fellow human beings. This is a poignant reminder of our willingness to relegate a person to a position in our minds of almost non-human status.

We relegate people into some corner of our minds and dismiss their very existence. It is amazing how our society has cheapened our humanness. A terrible effort has been to make us less than what we are. "Bureaucrats repeatedly try to turn us into nothing more than statistics. For advertisers we can be only targeted consumers. The military reckons our humanity in the grisly figures of 'body counts' and 'acceptable losses.' Medicine can view us as collections of cells, with DNA to be manipulated. We define our relatives and friends by what they do in their jobs - as engineers, housewives, salespersons, lawyers - and when they no longer work, we relegate them to the status of 'useless.'"

The amazing thing about most television shows today is that singleness is portrayed as the way to go. Most stars are single or divorced and don't want the baggage that comes with a relationship. If the star opts for a relationship, the relationship is usually very short lived. Believe it or not, this is indicative of the way our society is going. This is a society that wants to enjoy the momentary thrills of a one-night stand or of a relationship where there is no commitment (if there really be such a thing), where the results can be flushed down the toilet. The only commitment that people make today is to themselves. After all survival of the fittest is how we got here in the first place. We witness marriage partners in their fifties and sixties getting divorced after thirty or forty years of being married to the same person. We certainly are free to make those decisions, but it will be God that makes the final decision.

It is amazing how we are gradually moving toward being disconnected from God and one another. Such incidents as these indicate that we have lost our dignity. We are losing our dignity because we have lost our identity with God. Our dignity will never be regained until we understand that God created us in his own image.

It is not up to us to appraise the value of one's life. Our worth and dignity are intrinsic as a person who has been created in the image of God. Our dignity and worth are directly related to our origin. We are the products of divine design and purpose, and until we understand this, we will never attribute ourselves the worth which God has given each of us. In the most unique way we are children of God from creation. Therefore our evaluation of self and others is directly proportionate to our estimation of God. If we leave it up to man, may God help us all? Our dignity and worth are not determined by our appraisal of ourselves or by someone's appraisal of us.

We are losing our dignity because we have lost our identity with God. Our dignity will never be regained until we understand that God created us in his own image.

God's Estimation of Us

Genesis 1:26-30 challenges the diminished notions we have about human value. You are created in the image of God. This tells us that our very existence is of great value apart from anything that we do. Each of us is created in the image of God, which is a high calling. This is an incredible claim that God places on each of us. This is our birthright, not something that we must work to acquire or something that one acquires when becoming a Christian.

We live in a society that desperately needs to understand that each person is uniquely valued and blessed by God. This is our birthright because we are made in the image of God. How wonderful it would be if each child started life knowing how incredibly precious they are. There would be nothing to prove, no need to earn love. It would be a birthright, because we are children of God.

The following teaching is directly from the Bible. It is not an effort to deify man, as some religions endeavor to do, but rather it is an effort to teach us God's estimation of each of us. Until we esteem ourselves as God esteems us, relationships will continue to fail, and the moral and ethical dilemmas we face in regards for respect of human dignity will only continue to increase.

The Psalmist asks. "What is man . . .? " This is a question that we must ask ourselves because it is in the answer that we find our dignity.

Psalm 8:1-9

O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field; The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

The Psalmist realized the honor that God has bestowed upon us. God has crowned us with glory and honor and his given us dominion over the earth.

The religious people came to Jesus taking issue with him saying: "We are not stoning you for any of these," replied the Jews, "but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God." (John 10:33) Then Jesus gave them God's estimation of man. "Jesus answered them, "Is it not written in your Law, 'I have said you are gods'? If he called them 'gods,' to whom the word of God came-- and the Scripture cannot be broken--what about the one whom the Father set apart as his very own and sent into the world? Why then do you accuse me of blasphemy because I said, 'I am God's Son'?" (John 10:34-36)

The Psalmist refers to the assembly of the saints in the Old Testament as "gods".

"God presides in the great assembly; he gives judgment among the "gods":  (Psalm 82:1) Then the Psalmist says again "I said, 'You are "gods"; you are all sons of the Most High.' But you will die like mere men; you will fall like every other ruler." (Psalmist 82:6-7)

If we are sons of God then I guess we are Gods! I am afraid to say that because I don't quite understand it, and also because we are arrogant enough as it is. But that is what the Bible plainly teaches. I know that God said it and it is true, and I know that proper reflection doesn't diminish God's power, authority or glory.

We are God's Counterpart

When we speak of being made in the image of God it is not our looks or our physical make up that are like God. It is more like being God's counterpart. When God took a rib from Adam's side and made a woman, Adam proclaimed, "She is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh" it was indicative of the fact that Eve was his counterpart. The experiences that God had led Adam through before the creation of Eve taught Adam from his own experience that he was not complete without Eve. Adam had named the animals and no doubt saw them have mates. Eve was created to make him complete.

The little girl reported at home what she had learned at Sunday school concerning the creation of Adam and Eve: "The teacher told us how God made the first man and the first woman. He made the man first. But the man was very lonely with nobody to talk to him. So God put the man to sleep. And while the man was asleep, God took out his brains and made a woman of them."

Eve was an essential counterpart. So it is with God. God has chosen not to run this world without giving us dominion. God has chosen to save others through our preaching the gospel. We see humans as God's counterpart in that God gave humanity total dominion over the earth. God created humans with a freedom of choice to make the decisions necessary to have this dominion. Even in the command to be fruitful and multiply on the earth, God was giving man a part in his creative powers.

We are made in God's image. Personal communion with God is what being made in the image of God is all about. This is a relationship that God places himself into in regards to human beings. It is a relationship in which we become God's counterpart, his representative and his glory on the earth. We are given important and distinctive roles to fill in our world . . . to act like God would act if He were in our place. It is our duty as friends, children, parents, grandparents, volunteers, bus drivers, teachers, custodians, grocers, ecologists, farmers, nurses, financial planners, psychologists, lawyers, or doctors to figure out how God would act in our place.

What would God value in our world? How would God value others? How would God treat co-workers? How would God deal with conflict or hurt or anger? How would God resolve injustice? The creation story tells us that God didn't create the world once and for all, it is being created right now in you and I and our children and our grandchildren yet to be born, all have a role to play in it. We are co-creators with God, and that is both an incredible gift and an awesome responsibility.

When God gave humans dominion over the world, he gave us the earthshaking power and freedom to shape our world. We have been charged with the care of creation. We have been charged with the opportunity and responsibility to act like God acts in creation . . . to use our gifts, our energy, our wisdom, our strength, and our creativity . . . to benefit the creation.

I was almost afraid to quote John 10:34 where Jesus said, "You are gods" because we already act like gods in our own right by exploiting, manipulating God's physical world and others for our own ends, without any regard to the results. A woman flushes a baby down the toilet, doctors wanting to issue Life Certificates after they determine the value of a human being. All this is indicative of the fact that we have made ourselves God in the true sense of the conception, and we have disassociated ourselves from God our creator. The decisions that are being made are not for the benefit or welfare of the baby placed in the toilet but the decision is based on the needs of those who took part in conceiving it and especially the one that placed it there. The decision is not for the baby when a Life Certificate would or would not be issued, the decision is ultimately for those who would have to render care for it if it were to live an abnormal life. We are not making these decisions to better humanity but rather to protect our own self-interest.

Don't think for a moment that God is not going to judge this nation for its inhumanity to those made in his image.

Restoring Our Dignity

The amazing thing about sin is that it drives us to hide from God's presence. In essence sin drives us from God's presence. Sin causes us to lose sight of God, and when we lose sight of God, we cannot see the image of God and we cannot understand how we are to respond in our world. Not only does sin drive us from God's presence but it also separates us from one another. The moment sin entered into the world it became a great separator. It separated Adam and Eve from the Tree of Life, it separated them from each other, they were ashamed and sewed fig leaves together to cover their shame and it separated them from God. Sin cursed the ground, curse their lives by introducing toiling labor and death. Sin robbed them of their dignity.

Initially Moses was writing Genesis to those who were wandering in the wilderness and had just spent 430 years in slavery. They had lost their dignity in Egypt. They were commanded by the Pharaoh to kill the male children and certainly that must have depreciated their lives in their own estimation. As slaves their masters in Egypt wouldn't so much as sit at a table to eat with them. They had been treated inhumanely. They had seen the impersonal gods of Egypt that required human sacrifice. Moses as he writes endeavors to portray God as a personal God who desires a relationship with these "outcasts". To a people who had lost their dignity in Egypt it was necessary to restore their dignity through a correct understanding of the God who was leading them in a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

Moses emphasizes in the book of Genesis that God is "with" man because of a personal choice God had made. It was essential for these fugitives to see that God is the creator and sustainer of the universe although He is not limited in any way by it. Yet, He is always present in each person's life and near everything and everyone He has made. Moses emphasizes that God is with them.

The Israelites needed to see God as a living God. They needed to see him as living and personally active in their lives or else it would be futile to pray for him to do anything for them or to praise him and thank him for having done something for them. They need to see themselves as his counterpart.

Moses said, "What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him? And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?" (Deut 4:7-8)

God isn't just present but He is presently concerned with our needs. Genesis 1-2 emphasizes that in creation God provided for the needs of all his creatures. He made water for fish, air for birds, dry land for land animals and man, vegetation for food, and woman for man. As I think of all the delicious food that we eat and how we enjoy it (sometimes too much), I realize that these foods were created for man's taste buds before man was created. This is indicative of God's concern and personal care for us. He wasn't concerned that we have bread and water but that we would have a relationship with this food through seeing, feeling, smelling tasting and enjoying it. Through the basic nature of creation God reveals his basic nature. He is the God who enjoys a relationship with all his creatures and this is manifested by providing the world and all it contains before man is created. It is like providing a prince or princess a palace before he/she is born.

God Is Searching For Us

God is not far off, distant, elusive, and hidden. Rather what the story of Scripture reveals is that God is the One who is always searching for us. This is true from the very beginning. In the Garden of Eden it is not Adam who is searching for God. In fact, Adam is hiding. "I was afraid," Adam says, "so I hid". (Genesis 3:10)

When we speak of being in the image of God we might want to ask, "Just what is the image of God? What does God look like?" The Hebrew writer says, "The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation (exact image of his person KJV) of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven." (Hebrews 1:3) Jesus told Philip that if " . . . you have seen me you have seen the Father." (John 14:9)

In the Bible we see God's power poured out on behalf of humanity. God really has put himself in the position of a servant to human beings. Jesus is the exact representation of God serving lost humanity. (Hebrews 1:3; Matthew 20:28.) It was God in the upper room on his knees washing the disciple's feet. It was God serving up salvation for the sinful and downtrodden. God came as a Shepherd laying down his life for the sheep.

The Lord took on our flesh, came not only to feed us, but also to share our hunger and thirst. His incarnate life also depended on bread, daily bread.

This resurrected Lord came into a closed and locked room in order to be known to the disciples in the breaking of the bread, it was He who stopped at the well for something to drink -- shared a ladle and good news with a Samaritan woman, adulterer and enemy to the Jews. He, our bread of Heaven, invited himself into a tax collector's home for dinner, then dined with Pharisees. This one who fed the 5,000,who turned water into wine at the wedding, was the one who cried from the cross, "I am thirsty", and got vinegar to drink at the hands of a Roman soldier. This Jesus who broke the bread for the Last Supper with those who would betray and abandon Him, He is the one who would fix breakfast for these same men on the shores of the Lake a week later. Now imagine, a resurrected Jesus still hungry, frying fish over a charcoal fire for the disciples who had returned to the Galilee following the resurrection.

This Lord of Lords was the one who reminded us of who we are and he came to this earth to make us his new creation in Jesus Christ. This Lord of Lords was the one who reminded us that when we see the least of these hungry and give them something to eat, we feed Him. When we look in the face of a beggar, Christ wants us to see God. (Matthew 25:41-46) When we look into the face of an unwanted child, Christ wants us to see God. When we look into the face of someone who has been relegated to a non-human existence in the back of our minds, Christ wants us to see God. And giving that person proper place is giving God his proper place in this world.

Christ came to raise us up to our rightful place. "And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-- and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." (Ephesians 2:6-10)

Christ came to create us anew. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Cor 5:17-21)

As long as we hide from God we will never see that he nailed himself to the cross for our sins. God came to this earth living and dying like man to make a statement about our dignity. It makes a statement about the relationship He desires to have with each of us.

Christ came that we might be born anew. (John 3:3-5) This will restore us to our rightful place at Christ side. Christ came that we might repent of our sins and walk in the new life that he offers as we follow his steps. The steps of the one whom is the express image or representation of God.

Christ came that we might be changed into that same image as we behold his reflection.

"And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."

(2 Cor 3:18)

But to do this you must bury your past, that old sinful person in the water grave of baptism and be resurrected to the new life in Christ. (Romans 6:3-4)