Made in God

August 16, 2009

Made in God’s Image
a sermon on Genesis 1.24-31
by David C. Mauldin
Westminster Presbyterian Church, Mobile, Alabama

You are made in God’s own image. I’m sure you’ve heard that before if you’ve spent any time in church, but what exactly does it mean? What does this tell us about God? About you? What does it mean to be made in God’s image?

Life is funny, and not in a ha-ha way, but in a crazy sort of way. Here’s one more bit of evidence. That one little phrase in today’s scripture reading, “in the image of God,” forms the basis for everything Christianity teaches about human beings. How we understand what it mean to be human starts with those five little words. Furthermore, their meaning holds a fascination for people. After all, this is about you and me. It does not get more personal than this. So you would think that something so basic, so important, and so interesting would have been figured out by now. But that’s what’s funny. If you go to the books and the theologians and the preachers, and you ask, “What does ‘the image of God’ mean?” You’ll get a dozen different answers.

If I were teaching a class instead of preaching a sermon, I would ask all of you to write down what you think scripture is talking about when it says we are made in God’s image. Then I would take those answers and collate them, and we could discuss them. I think that would be interesting and insightful. I suspect we would get lot of different answers, ranging from the profound to the bizarre. Since this is a sermon, I’ll have to come at this another way. I’m going to share just a few of the answers that have commanded the most respect through the ages, then we’ll look at what scripture says and try to figure it out. At the end you will be amazed how much difference this truth makes in everyday life.

People have given a lot of different answers to the question, “What is the image of God?” Here are the most popular and persuasive: (1) Some have said the image of God is our reason. We can think and solve problems. We are rational. This is what separates us from the animals and makes us like God. This answer doesn’t come from scripture. It is speculation done by people too impressed by their own intellect. People always seem to fall into one error or its opposite when it comes to the human mind. They either idolize it, as if nothing mattered but our thoughts and reasoning, or they sneer at it and say, “The heart matters more than the head.” Why do we get mixed up like this? Our minds are wonderful gifts from God. We honor him when we think rightly and clearly. This sermon is going to make you think. Some people love that, and some prefer stories that make them feel good. We ought to love God with our minds, but remember that our minds are not the whole of us. We love God with our heart and soul and strength too. That’s why I don’t think the image of God is our ability to reason. That is one part of us. It is something we do. I think the true answer has to include all of a person and be more about who we are than what we do. Also, if the image of God is our ability to reason, then some of us are more like God than others. Think of a mentally handicapped person. That person is no less the image of God than the most brilliant theologian.

(2) Some have suggested the image of God is our free will, our ability to make moral distinctions, to choose to do what is right. Again, this ability separates us from the animals. Animals act according to their instincts, but they do not make moral decisions. People do. This answer fails for the same reasons as the first one. It only touches one part of us, and it is more about what we do than who we are. Yes, each of us has a will, the ability to choose one action or another; God has a will. I don’t think, however, that’s what scripture means when it says we are made in God’s image.

(3) An intriguing answer has become popular in modern times. God is love. God is triune—one God in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. If God’s own inner life is characterized by community and love, then perhaps God’s image in us is our need for community and our capacity to love. We are made for relationships. We are made for love. That’s God’s image. You probably think I am going to go with this option, but I’m not. We are made for community and for love. That’s all true. I’m not convinced that’s what scripture means by the image of God. I think it is something else.

(4) The three answers so far all achieve a partial grasp of the truth, but not a full grasp. I think, whatever the image of God means, it involves the whole person, not just one part or ability. I want an answer that includes these first three but goes beyond them. I find it significant that scripture never defines what it means by the image of God. Either we are expected to know, which obviously we don’t, or it means something simpler than what we’ve been looking for. Therefore, I believe that when scripture says we are made in God’s image, it means simply that we are persons because we have been made in the image of God, who is a person. God is personal. God is a person. God is not a thing or a force or a power or whatever. God is a person. God has personality. He thinks, wills, acts, loves—all those things we think of a person doing. Because you are made in his image, you are a person. You are not a thing. A human being is never an object, a thing. A human being is always a person, even a human being who cannot think well or do much of anything. The image of God is about who we are, not what we do. It is a gift of grace.

Francis Schaeffer drew a diagram that helps me understand what this passage is saying. He listed a kind of hierarchy of creation, with God at the top, human beings below God, then animals, plants, and machines, in that order. On one side, a wide chasm separates God from everything else, because God is infinite and everything else is created. On the other side a chasm separates God and human beings from everything else, because God is personal and so are we, but nothing else in creation is.

In the Genesis account, human beings are created on the sixth day, the same day the land animals are created. We are creatures and animals. We fit into the natural order of things. Some people want to take the word day literally, as if the world were really created in one week. Others interpret day poetically, so it could refer to a much longer period of time, even millions of years. I interpret it poetically. That is not a new option invented to accommodate science. John Calvin interpreted the word day in Genesis 1 figuratively. How long the “day” might have been makes no difference in the point I am making about human beings belonging to creation. We are more than animals, but we are not less. Humans share between 95 to 98 percent of our gene sequence with chimpanzees. We share more than 80 percent of our gene sequence with mice. This according to National Geographic magazine [April 2008, “Almost Human”]. They also report we share about 40 percent of our gene sequence with lettuce. One reader wrote a letter to the editor and said, That explains a lot!

We are part of creation. At the same time, we are unique in creation because we are made in the image of God. According to the Bible, God deliberately made us special. We may share much in common with animals, something with plants, and a little with dust and rocks and all that. But we are radically different from all of them, because like God we are persons. We are made in his image.

OK, that’s what the image of God means. Next question: Did anything happen to God’s image in us? When the human race fell into sin, did something happen to God’s image? Was it lost? Obliterated? Damaged? Or what?

Traditionally the church has taught that the image of God is us was not lost completely, but it was damaged. But … this all depends on what you think the image of God is in the first place. If it is our reason or our will, or even our ability to love, then obviously it was damaged. We did not lose our ability to reason, but our thinking is tainted by selfishness. We can rationalize even our worst behavior. We did not lose our ability to act freely and make moral choices, but we do tend to choose evil instead of good, at least sometimes. Our moral compass is broken. Obviously we do not love God or others as we ought to. If the image of God refers to some ability we have that makes us like God, then when we fell into sin, the image was broken, and it needs to be restored.

If, on the other hand, being made in God’s image means simply that we are persons, not animals or machines or things, then it is a simple fact and a gift of grace, and even our sin cannot change it.

Scripture seems to support this understanding. Scripture never says the image of God in us was damaged. After Genesis 1 makes the startling claim that we are made in God’s image, the Old Testament never mentions it again. In the New Testament, only two verses deal with this theme directly. One is a difficult verse in 1 Corinthians [11.7] in which Paul says a man should not cover his head in worship because he is the image of God. The other is James 3.9: “With [our tongue] we bless the Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the likeness of God.” Neither of these verses suggests the image has been defaced. In fact, both presuppose it is still there. For Paul, the image of God has something to say about how men and women treat one another. For James, the image of God has everything to say about how human beings treat one another.

So is the image of God in us broken or not? I prefer to say it is tarnished. It is still there, intact, but it’s covered over by the gunk of our sin. Think of a beautiful antique silver platter. It is still a platter, still silver, but it’s tarnished. Polish it, and it will shine like new. Our church was name after the Westminster Confession of Faith, and the Westminster catechisms that go with it are really helpful to me on this point. They say salvation is a three step process: (1) You come to Christ, and your guilt is taken away. (2) All your life you grow in holiness. (3) At the resurrection God will raise you in glory. OK, so if the image of God in us is tarnished, when does it get cleaned up? When we come to faith? After we die? No. The Westminster catechisms say we are renewed in the image of God throughout life as we grow in holiness. In other words, the Christian life is God’s way of polishing us.

This way of thinking about it helps me to honor scripture’s teaching that the image is still there and cannot be removed. Whether you are a Christian or not, you bear God’s image. Every human being bears God’s image. And this way of thinking honors the reality that because of our sin we do not shine with God’s glory. In this view, all human beings remain in God’s image and all need grace. When we fell into sin, we did not cease to be human. Rather we became enemies of God even though we are persons made in God’s image. And that’s tragic. No wonder God sent a Savior. We need Jesus, not to make us human again, but to remove our guilt and reconcile us to God.

If you are still with me, you’re doing great. If I’ve lost you somewhere along the way, here’s a good point to jump back in. Not every sermon makes you think as much as this one does, but I’m not going to apologize. I decided to preach on the image of God because one of our more thoughtful members said she would love to hear me preach on it. I began to study what scripture says, and I got excited. I hope you are too. I always like to end a sermon with practical things, so I want to do that now.

It is difficult to think of any teaching of Christianity about human beings that has more practical consequences than this one. If every human being is made in God’s image, that affects how we can treat one another. To put it in a nutshell, you must always treat every human being as a person, not a thing. The image of God protects the worth and dignity of every human being. Here’s how:
1. Taking innocent life is wrong. When you kill, you destroy God’s image, and that is a grievous sin. Abortion and euthanasia are controversial topics in America today. But they are not controversial for Christians—at least they should not be. When unbelievers face a decision about abortion or euthanasia, they must make complicated value judgments. They have to factor in cost, quality of life, and such things, then weigh it all out on a scale and decide if this other person’s life is worth living. For a Christian the math is a lot simpler. This person is made in God’s image, and it is not my place to say it should or should not be. A tiny embryo or an elderly patient who has lost her mind (literally to Alzheimer’s) or a severely handicapped person, they all bear the image of God. I am not saying life is easy or fair. It is painful to see your mother or father in a hospital bed, unable to do anything. It is hard to raise a handicapped child. As for an unwanted child, well, any child changes your life forever. Life isn’t easy or fair. Sometimes it would be simpler—and it feels like it would be better—to end a life that doesn’t seem to be worth living. We do not have that option, however, because every person is made in God’s image. When we take innocent life, we are claiming God’s authority for ourselves. (Notice I specify innocent life. A police officer or a soldier in the line of duty may be morally justified in taking life, even though the person killed also bears the image of God. Scripture prohibits taking innocent life, but it does not say all killing is wrong.)

2. Exploiting people is wrong. This is about economics. You cannot treat people as if they are merely resources. You cannot consider people as one more variable like raw materials. Workers, employees, employers, customers, service personnel—they all bear God’s image. I know a Christian leader who meets regularly with a group of CEOs for Bible study and accountability. In the past couple of years, they have had to lay off workers, and it has been hard emotionally. One man who owns a large business had seen revenues fall. He takes his income from what is left after expenses are met. In the past, he’s done very well. Last year his business was $20,000 in the hole. He could have laid off a some workers and pocketed a hefty profit. Instead he ate the loss himself. That’s a Christian attitude. I am not suggesting every business owner has to go in the hole. He could afford to and he valued his people that much. Sometimes a business owner doesn’t have that kind of option. I merely wanted to share that to illustrate the difference it makes when people are treated as human beings made in the image of God rather than as expendable things. The opposite would be a crook like Bernie Madoff who scammed people out of their life savings and didn’t care a thing about them.

3. The image of God is also the basis for sexual morality. In sex, as in all other areas of life, you must treat the other as a person made in God’s image, not as an object that exists for your pleasure and convenience. Marriage honors the image of God in both persons by joining their two lives together in a relationship of mutual obligation. Your life is tied to the life of your spouse, so you are not just using him or her. Otherwise you are … or you are being used … or both. The image of God also means porn is wrong, because it turns a human being made in God’s image into an object.

4. The image of God ought to affect how you treat every person in every encounter every day. That’s what the verse in James was saying. How can you honor God and dishonor your neighbor who bears God’s image?

In conclusion, you are made in the image of God. That’s a fact. God made you that way as an act of sheer grace. Therefore, you are a person, not a thing. Sin does not destroy God’s image in you, but you do need grace. You need the Savior … because although you bear God’s image, without Christ you are God’s enemy—not because God turned against you, but because you have turned against God. When you return to God, through Christ, he begins the long, slow work of polishing his image in you. He won’t finish in your lifetime, but when he does, you will be beautiful. Meanwhile, God’s image affects every interaction we have with other people. You must treat every human being as a person, not a thing. Five little words “in the image of God,” but they are the beginning of everything we know about who we are. Amen.

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