Made in the Image of God: Truly Human

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In contrast to modern uncertainty about human identity, the Christian Scriptures provide a simple definition of humanity within its opening sentences, which gives both meaning and dignity. "So God created man in His image – male and female He created them”. This means, using the alternative description within the same verse, that all human beings are made "like God", reflecting God, both in what they are and in what they do. They are images of God ontologically (by their very nature as human beings) and they are images of God functionally (given special status within the created order as His representatives on earth – made to "rule over all the creatures that move along the ground".... and "over all the earth"). We are thus differentiated both upward and downward: upwardly we are not confused with God, downwardly we are not confused with non-human creation. In our creatureliness we belong with the latter; in our imageness with the former. Since we are like God, the characteristics of God's personhood are found in us, though finitely and distorted since the Fall. God creates, we create; God loves, we love; He is moral, rational, aesthetic, social, and so are we; He communicates in language, so do we. Hence, the image includes, though is not limited to, such characteristics as selfawareness, moral awareness, significant choice and rationality. In fact it comprises all aspects of human experience – mental, emotional, volitional and physical - every aspect being part of an essential whole. So precious, indeed, is the image of God to God Himself, that His purpose is revealed in Christ in terms of its complete restoration, culminating eventually in the resurrection of the body.