So, God created us in His image, which points to how we are like God, but as the Bible makes clear, man sinned against God in the garden (Genesis 3).  The question that logically follows is:  how did the Fall affect the image of God?  As we begin to consider this question, three positions on this subject can be maintained—either the image was completely lost, the image was unaffected, or the image was thoroughly corrupted but not lost.

Some have taught that the image of God was completely lost.  Let us follow their teaching for a moment.  First, they begin with the presupposition that the only quality that Adam possessed which was in God’s image was the spirit of God.  Adam received this in Genesis 2:7 when God breathed into man’s nostrils and made him a living being.  They reason that this breathing was actually filling the man with God’s spirit, making him in the image of God.  However, some time thereafter man sinned, and they reason that God’s spirit (image) departed, leaving man no longer in the image of God but in the image of man.

The second position is that the fall had no affect whatsoever on the image of God.  I will not spend any time on this position because very few hold this position, primarily because Scripture is so overwhelmingly opposed to it.

The third position is that the image of God was thoroughly corrupted but not lost.  This position takes seriously the effects that sin had on humanity but also takes into account Scripture passages that explicitly teach that man was still in the image of God after the Fall.  The first verse is found in Genesis 9.  It is in this chapter that God institutes capital punishment as He gives instructions to Noah after the flood.  He says:

Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast I will require it. And from every man, from every man’s brother I will require the life of man.  Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man his blood shall be shed, for in the image of God He made man.

Keep in mind that this command is after the Fall in the garden, but God says that the reason a person should be put to death if they murder another human is because man bears the image of God.  Therefore, to attack another human is to attack God.  The second verse is James 3:9.  As James teaches on the tongue, he says, “With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God.”  Although James is not directly addressing the image of God in man, he makes it clear that the tongue can be used to curse those who bear God’s image.  Therefore, the image of God has not been entirely lost.

We should have no problem excepting this mediating position when we accept the full teaching on what the image of God is—what we are, what we do, and how we relate.  Although sin has corrupted every aspect, we nevertheless still bear these shared traits with God.

However, God in His love and grace is not satisfied to leave us in that position.  He has been and is working out a plan to fully restore God’s image in man.  It’s helpful to look at God’s restoration of His image in man as four stages:

1. Pre-Fall.  At this stage, man (only Adam and Eve at this point) perfectly bore the image of God yet they were able to die if they disobeyed God.  They were perfectly able to choose not to sin.
2. Post-Fall.  At this stage, man (Adam, Eve, and all of humanity) bears a perverted image of God due to sin, and death ensues.  Those who are in the fallen state are slaves to sin, making them unable to not sin.
3. Redemption.  At this stage, God—by grace through faith in Jesus Christ—breaks the power of sin over all of mankind who believe and begins restoring the image of God in them, but the image is still somewhat perverted due to the fact that we continue to sin.  At this stage, we also still die.  Nevertheless, man is restored back to the status that he enjoyed in the garden, and man is again perfectly able to choose not to sin.
4. Glorification.  At this stage, God brings man to the culmination of his existence—to be perfectly conformed to the image of Christ.  When we reach this final stage of God’s redemptive plan, we will be made unable to sin and unable to die and will perfectly bear God’s image again.

So, do we still bear the image of God?  Absolutely!  Every man, woman, boy, and girl regardless of their faith in Christ bear the image of God.  Yes, it’s thoroughly corrupted, but every person still bears the image of God.  Furthermore, by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, the perfect image of God is being restored in all who will believe on Jesus.

In our next post, I address why the fact that all man bears the image of God matters.

Do you think much about the fact that every human being is made in the image of God?  Today begins a series on the image of God in mankind.

The Bible is clear that this truth is so:

²⁶Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” ²⁷God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. ²⁸God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” ²⁹Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you; ³⁰and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so. ³¹God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day (Genesis 1:26-31).

We, as humans, are the only creature that God made in such a way.  While dogs, trees, rocks, frogs, and the rest of creation bear the marks of their Creator, they were not made in the image of God.  We humans are certainly a special creation according to Scripture.

But what does it mean to be made “in the image of God”?

We see in this passage that the image of God simply means that humans were created like God and to represent God.  To come up with a list of all the ways that man is like God would fill a book itself.  Although He is other than us with certain characteristics unique only to Himself, God has shared many of His attributes with us.  The Bible seems to reveal three ways in which we have been made in the image of God.  The image of God in us is seen in:

1. what we are
2. what we do
3. how we relate

The first aspect of the image of God in us is in what we are.  It is all the attributes that make us human—in essence, body and soul/spirit.  So, yes, part of the image of God in us is that we have an immaterial soul/spirit, but this is not the only way in which we are like God.  The image of God in us is so much greater.  We are also like God in that we have a body.  Please do not misunderstand me.  I am not saying that God has a body because the Scripture is clear that He does not.  John 4:24 makes it clear that God is spirit.  Nevertheless, our body is used to do things that God does without a body.  For instance, God sees but does not have eyes.  God hears but does not have ears.  God touches but does not have hands.  God speaks but does not have a mouth.  Do see where I am going with this?  Our body itself is made in the image of God in that it is useful for us to do the things that God does.  Therefore, the image of God is in what we are.

Second, the image of God is in what we do.  As we see in the second part of verse 26, the image of God entails that we have been given the capacity to rule over God’s creation.  We are to be representatives of God on earth.  In order to do this, He has endowed us with a multitude of characteristics including reason, wisdom, love, knowledge, and many others.  So, as we go about overseeing the creation, we are manifesting the image of God.

Finally, the image of God is in how we relate.  Notice in verse 27 that the Bible says that God made man as male and female in His own image.  Isn’t that interesting?  What does maleness and femaleness have to do with God’s image?  I believe that it points to the fact that God is relational.  We notice here that God says let Us make man in Our own image.  “Us” and “Our” are plural pronouns pointing to the plurality in the Godhead.  As we see from later Scripture, God eternally exists as three persons (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) with each person being fully God, yet there is one God.  That, of course, is the doctrine of the Trinity.  Therefore, God is in His very essence a relational being as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit exist together.  For this reason, God created man with plurality—male and female.  He has created us to be relational creatures, even giving us complimentary bodies that must come together to procreate.  What’s more, we are inherently relational beings.  We desire relationships with other living creatures.  All of this points to the image of God in us.  Therefore, when we interact with others, we are manifesting the image of God.

For me, this truth leads me to amazement and thankfulness.  As for amazement, I’m blown away by the fact that the Almighty, Holy God of the universe made me like Him and as a representative of Him.  As for thankfulness, I fully realize that He didn’t have to create me the way He did, yet He chose to for the purpose of His glory.  All of this amazement and thankfulness leads to me to rejoice with the psalmist, “I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well (Psalm 139:14).

May you rejoice as well!