Man: Created in the Image of God

I am often asked what the phrase, "man was created in the image of God"¹ means. Some have equated the image of God as being the physical characteristics that make up the way we look. In fact, the Mormons have taken this interpretation to extreme by saying that God is just a glorified man, who has both flesh and blood. However, the Bible says that both males and females are created in the image of God.¹ Unless God were a hermaphrodite (having both male and female sexual organs), this phrase could not refer to just physical characteristics. In addition, there are various verses in the Bible that describe God as having non-human physical characteristics, such as feathers and wings.² Should we think of God as being an overgrown chicken? Certainly not! God is so unlike humans physically, that the Bible often paints word pictures to give us a glimpse of what God is like.

So if the "image of God" does not refer to physical characteristics, what does it refer to? Part of what is meant by the term can be found in chapters immediately following its first usage (Genesis 1) in the Bible. Both Adam and Eve had a personal relationship with God in the Garden of Eden. Such a personal relationship is not described for any other animal species. It is the presence of a spirit that was instilled into humans³ that separates us from the animals. There are three kinds of life that God has created in this universe:

The soul is best described as the characteristics that make up the advanced brain, including mind, will and emotion. Only birds and mammals exhibit these characteristics, which is why humans can form mutual relationships with birds and mammals. The spirit is that part of humans that is able to love and experience God directly.⁵ It is found in no other animal species, since no other species can experience God or form a relationship with Him.⁶

After Adam and Eve had sinned, they became like God in that they could distinguish good from evil.⁷ The ability to make moral judgments is also a characteristics that is found only in humans. Even the higher apes cannot make moral judgments about the behavior of other animals. As Dr. Jerome Kagan points out, "Not even the cleverest ape could be conditioned to be angry upon seeing one animal steal food from another."⁸ In addition, there are no non-human animal models for human pride, shame, and guilt.⁹

In conclusion, it seems likely that "in the image of God" refers to the characteristics of the humans spirit and the ability to make moral judgments - things that are not found in any animal species, even those to whom we are said to be closely related. It is the ability to make moral judgments that convinces us of our inability to "measure up" to the intended moral standards laid down by God.¹⁰ However, it is the spirit of man that allows us to communicate with God's Spirit through Jesus Christ¹¹ so that we can once again be in fellowship with a Holy God.¹²

References

1. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27)
2. Have mercy on me, O God, have mercy on me, for in you my soul takes refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed. (Psalms 57:1)
   I will say of the LORD, "He is my refuge... He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart. (Psalms 91:2-4)
3. And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7)
4. Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Thessalonians 5:23)
5. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, (Romans 8:16)
6. Who knows that the breath of man ascends upward and the breath of the beast descends downward to the earth? (Ecclesiastes 3:21)
   and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. (Ecclesiastes 12:7)
7. Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"-- (Genesis 3:22)
8. Kagan, J. 1998. Three Seductive Ideas. Harvard University Press. ISBN: 0674890337.
9. Shweder, R.A. 1999. Humans Really Are Different. Science 283: 798.
10. For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish. (Romans 7:19)
11. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind, and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:22-25)
12. What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, that you also may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. (1 John 1:3)

Last updated 11/28/00