A Guide to Christian Theology - Lesson 29

One of the key passage I've talked about here is humans are uniquely image of God. I think that's true of humans only. I don't think angels are image of God. I don't think animals are image of God. They're moral beings, that sort of stuff, but they're not image. And the question that I want to take just a few minutes here to think through is what... When you say humans are image of God, Genesis one and a number of other passages, what is that saying? What's the heart of image of God? I think that's important. So Genesis 1:26, "Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness that they may rule over the fish of the sea." So God created mankind in his own image, image of God. He created a male and female, created them, bless him, and should be fruit and multiply and that sort of thing.

So when I think of image of God, the heart of what I'm seeing happening here is coming out of this passage. It's a relationship to God. There's an US component and it has to do with ruling and being fruitful and multiplying. Now that's way fast. Let me unpack that a little bit. The normal definition of image of God is what characteristics do we have that God also has? That's where image of God is normally defined and you can tell already I don't agree with it. The normal definition of image of God are characteristics that humans have that God also has. Or sometimes it's image of God is things that humans have that animals don't have or things that animals have that humans don't have. So it's defined in terms of shared attributes with God and distinctive attributes with animals. The place where this becomes significant, and I do a whole seminary course on image of God, the place where it becomes significant is what's the role of the body?

Because if we think shared attributes between me and God, does God have a body? No, we'd say he doesn't. Jesus had a body, but see, that's God, man, that's not God. So that would say the body is not image of God. The immaterial soul or spirit as we say in English would be image of God. So what that means is image of God would be our rationality or our morality, our relatability if you will, responsibility, some of those things. Creativity. But the body is not the image of God, only the immaterial part of the person, and particularly rationality, morality, creative, those kinds of things are what make you image of God. And that's very, very, very common.

As you can tell already, I've already emphasized strongly interacting duality as the definition of person, one person, two aspects, material immaterial, interacting, duality, and then many aspects of the person. But I'm asking where in scripture does it define image in terms of shared attributes? It doesn't in Genesis chapter one, because there it's talking about a function that we do along with God that is ruling and making other image bearing creatures. What I want to do is look at the word itself, the word selem, which is the Hebrew word, it's translated image. And I want to look at what that is. If I go to Daniel chapter three, is we are now looking, this section is actually an Aramaic not in Hebrew. So it's not exactly the same but the concept the same. Daniel chapter three.

In Daniel chapter two, you have this whole he has a dream of a statute, a selem, and it's four parts and the rock comes down and crush it and all that kind of stuff. So actually, the dream of the selem that gets crushed. What is Nebuchadnezzar do? It's ultimate ironic. He makes a selem, and sticks it out in the plains [inaudible] and it's of gold. And again, remember that was what in the selem, of chapter two. And he summons all the people to come to the dedication of the selem and all these people assemble. And he says this, he said, "Peoples, here's the deal. You're commanded, when you hear the sound of the instruments, you must fall down and worship the selem of gold Nebuchadnezzar set up."

So here it is. What is the selem here? What is it? It's a statue, immaterial or material? Material. Material. So, the word selem is often translated idol. It's a physical thing. And this one particularly, it's a big statue. And what's the function of that statue? The function of that statue is to represent Nebuchadnezzar or maybe Nebuchadnezzar's God. The function of the statue is to represent Nebuchadnezzar. So Nebuchadnezzar can go play on his harem or whatever he does while the people are worshiping the statue. Kings in those days would put a statue in a square of a conquered country to remind them who is in charge around here. And you see it today. We saw those older people, remember in Iraq when they brought down the statue of Saddam Hussein, and bring down the statue was saying... Well, the US troops didn't do it, it was Iraq folk, and bring down the statue.

The statues remind them that Saddam is the dictator here. And when they brought it down, and so you're not anymore. And they started kicking it and such to insult it and humiliate it. So that selem is representing Nebuchadnezzar and Nebuchadnezzar as God. And I think when I look at selem and look at the meaning of the word, it's something concrete that represents something else. And so when I look at selem, what I'm going to say that an image is a thing that it's a making visible thing. When you fill in the blank here, selem, in Daniel chapter three. An image makes visible and represents the original.

So in Daniel three, it's really clear, and I think that's true all the way through, that selem is a thing that makes visible and represents the original. Now do you think that statue in the square looked like Nebuchadnezzar? I mean you don't know. It's obviously not gold, so it's not like in every way. But do you think you could look at that and see, oh yeah, that looks like Nebuchadnezzar? Just probably. There's a resemblance between the two. Is exact resemblance? Probably not. I'm guessing that statue probably had six-pack abs. Did Nebuchadnezzar have six-pack abs? Probably not, but could be. I'm being a little funny. But there's a resemblance between the two. A likeness, a similarity but not exact. Because this is dead and gold. This is living and human.

And I think the same thing's true with us as humans. I think as a human, whole person human, is we make visible the invisible characteristics of our creator and redeemer. So when I define image of God, it's the amazing ability, the definition here, the definition image of God that I take is the amazing ability and awesome responsibility. It's the amazing ability and awesome responsibility to make visible the invisible characteristics of our creator and redeemer. And I think that's there from the beginning and still true. The image of God is an amazing ability that has to do with our personhood and capabilities. It's amazing ability and awesome responsibility.

Because we're under God's covenant command, do this, and sin is not keeping that responsibility. And our response is to make visible by our attitudes and actions the invisible characteristics of our creator and redeemer. I think that's a good definition of the image of God. So I see image of God more a making visible or acting for, but you have to have an ability and a character behind that for it to work. So I think there is a shared attribute. So where the difference comes out is in the body. I think the body is a very much image of God in the way the word selem is used. So it's my whole person acting for and making visible the characteristics of God. So I'm a whole person image of God. Not the immaterial only. And humans of course are interacting duality, and I think we're responsible to that with a whole person.

Another question that comes up, do male and female bear the image equally? And we all say, "Well, duh, of course." That's Genesis 1:27, line three, "Male and female, he made them in the image of God." But for a long time, and still some parts of the church today, they go to 1 Corinthians 11 and talk about there that the man is the glory of God and the woman is the image and glory of the man. And say, well, man is the image and woman's the image only derivatively, and put women in a second class place as I look at it anyway. And I don't think he's talking there about Genesis one, he's talking about the origin of woman who comes out of the man and therefore they're bone of my bone and flesh in my flesh. We'll talk about that a little more in a bit.

And I think that's talking about the full equality of male and female, though there may be different roles in what we do. So male and female bear the image equally? Yeah, I think so. And 1 Corinthians 11:7, is talking about how woman is created in Genesis's story, but it's created as a shared humanity, not a derivative humanity.

Another significant question is, is image something that fallen humans have? Because for many parts of the church, the image is something that's lost in the fall. And so I look at [inaudible] pastor, you look at. If I look at James 3:9, James, in his very blunt way, he's talking about misusing our tongue and our words, "With the tongue, we praise our Lord and Father and with it we curse human beings who have been made in God's likeness." That's James 3:9. Similar thing in Genesis nine, where it says you can't kill another human because of image of God. But I think at this point, if we curse humans who've been made in God's likeness, we're committing sin. And I think what he's talking here is it's not talking about us cursing other Christians as sin. I think it's us cursing other humans as sin.

I think this is a place where it's talking about common to all humanity is God's image and likeness. And I think this saying that we absolutely have God's image and likeness, and therefore the basis of human dignity, respect, rights, those kinds of things. And frankly, the idea of human rights, to use that phrase, is a uniquely Christian concept. It's not in any other worldview. There's always the privilege have rights and the rest of them are slaves to serve the privilege. It comes out in different ways. And we're moving toward that even here in the United States. Christians are the one who say that the poor, the widow, the orphan, the stranger have rights and need to be protected. Equality. And that's a uniquely and very important command to God. So James 3:9. It's not just believers, we can't curse. It's all humans that we can't curse without committing sin.

Now another question. Are some humans more image of God than others? And you guys are all looking like, okay, what are you up to, Gary? I sense a trick coming. I would never trick you. What are you talking about? Yeah, yeah. If you go to Romans 8, and you look at any translation, Romans 8:29, "For those God for knew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be firstborn among many brothers and sisters." Those whom God for knew he predestined to be conformed. Are we all conformed to the image of Christ? It says no. It's a work in progress. So in this sense, some humans are more Christ-like than other humans. One of my favorite passages when I want to play with people and mess them up, which I never do to you, but I do it to some people.

2 Corinthians 3:18. And if you're doing New American Standards, it's a little more literal, it's even better. 2 Corinthians 3:18. "But we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory just as from the Lord the spirit." What does that say? We're being transformed into what? We're being transformed an ongoing process into the image of the Lord. This is talking about transformation. Now, if I were messing with you before I read the verse, I would look at you and say, are you glorious? And you'd all say, no. And I'd say, okay, your Bible, turn this and what does it say, you're being transformed from glory to glory. If you look in NIV, it will say, NIV says, "In ever-increasing glory." And I'd say again, are you glorious? And you would say, "Gulp, I guess I am."

But God never gives his glory to another. He never gives it to another spiritual being, which is what I was talking about. He absolutely gives his glory to us. He wants us to be glorious. And what does that mean? Making visible the character of God. We have an ever-increasing ability to make the character of God visible and to do his works more faithfully. It's called spiritual growth. Are some human beings more image of God than others? Yes. Especially when you talk at the image of Christ. What does that mean? We're more wise, more capable of making God's character visible and more faithful in doing the work that he's called us to do.

But there's a baseline. Everybody's image of God deserving rights and dignity, everybody including the very worst sinner, image of God, deserving of character, who respect and dignity as humans. But then there's an increasing image, the gloriousness, the ability to make visible god's invisible characteristics. So I'd say yes is image of God, individual or corporate. It's both. As an individual I make God's character visible. But as a community, we make God's character visible. We cannot illustrate love as a single person. There's got to be an object of our love to make it visible, and a mutuality to make trinity. So, image of us, trinity, therefore us, community, whether that's a husband and wife or deep friends or a church community or a larger family. We make God's character visible as a community and how we relate to each other.

So quick, look through of image of God. I think fundamentally it's a making visible thing. I think fundamentally it's a whole person thing. And what we're making visible is a character of God. We're acting for him ruling the rest of the world. It's a whole person thing. Like I say, it's male and female, both fully share equally image of God and the responsibility associated with that. And we do it together. I think fallen persons have a baseline image of God, but save persons have a higher level of sons and daughters of the Lord most high. And I think as you mature in Christ's likeness, you're even more image of God in terms of making his character visible and more glorious as you grow up. And so that's where I'd come up with this image of God, the amazing ability and awesome responsibility to make visible the invisible characteristics of our creator and redeemer.

So an attendant question is what is the Lord's work? I left industry and went into the Lord's work, or I left industry and went into ministry. What does that mean? I used to work for Nike. Now I'm a pastor in my church. And let's see, I wanted just with every fiber of being reject that definition. What I want to say is work. And I've got a whole course on, theology work. And I'll just give you the definitions here in your handout. Eden was built as a garden sanctuary and we were called to work with God from day one. Work is not a post-fall problem. Work is a blessing that God gives us. And if we play in English, we say my work has become laborious, because of sin or something like that. But work is a pre-fall blessing as we work with the Lord our creator. So in the garden sanctuary, humans worshipfully, serve and keep along with God.

So look in Genesis 2:15, "The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and take care of it." So the word work there is to abbad. And the word, care for, is the word shamar, which has a guard kind of thing. And you see those two words together everywhere in scripture. It's what the Levites do in the temple. It's worshipful work. It's more than just cultivating roses, it's working there. So what I'm going to say here is that we're worshipfully working, and our work should be worshiped no matter where we do it. And you do it along with God. So my definition of work that I've got from Tim Keller, who got it from, who got it from, who got it from. Of course, I mess with everything because I didn't quite get it right. As I say it, work is the gracious expression of God's creative energy in service to others to create shalom. So this is on your handout, guts and fill in the blanks.

Work is the gracious expression of the Lord's creative energy in service of others to create shalom. Work, no matter where you do it, whether you're working as a pastor of a church, whether you work as a missionary, no matter whether you're working as a HR person in your local corporation, no matter if you're working as a guy operating a backhoe, building a house, put whatever you have, work as the gracious expression of the Lord's creative energy in service of others to create shalom. It's directly related to image of God. And it doesn't matter where you are or what you're doing, you're doing the Lord's work. If you're a servant of the Lord most high. And if you're not doing the Lord's work, think about changing things, changing your attitude. Maybe not change where you're doing it.

My favorite work story, we have a thing here in Oregon called The Hood to Coast Relay. It's an exercise in stupidity. First rank, stupidity. You begin, Timberline Lodge appear on Mount Hood and teams of 12 in two vans with six runners in each van. Do a relay race to seaside, 196 miles over on the Oregon coast, and you do it in three legs. So you start out and you run the first leg, you run six miles, which kind of ruins your body. And then you get in a cramped van with six or seven other people and sit and get everything tightened up really tight. You go eat a little bit and then you go out and do a second leg over. And you kind of ruin your body again. And you get back in that tight little van, maybe sleep for a couple of hours, maybe not. And you get out and you're in a third leg. By this time your body is really complaining.

And what is the most popular thing anywhere on that third leg over in the Oregon coast range as you're going up and down hills running stupid. That third leg is killer. I have never run the hood to coast rail relay, will never, but I love driving it. I love being a part of the team. It's amazing. I know some popular person got to wake him up from that little bit of sleep after the second leg. "Hey, it's time to go." "No." They all say. And get up and run a third leg.

The most popular thing anywhere on leg three is the porta-potty. Because your body is now complaining in very, very concrete ways, and the line to the porta potties are epic. Well, I've not been running, so I'm doing okay. And we were at this one leg in one of the hood to coast relays and here is a guy and he's got a truck and he's a porta potty sucker outer. He's got a big hose and he goes, when a port-a-potty, runs everybody out, stops the line, opens the doors, and [inaudible] he's a porta potty sucker outer. Now the good thing he's got another hose, which a porta potty, filler upper.

Well, this guy's doing this stuff and I have this thing. I just want to bless people. And so I went over to him as he's doing his porta potty sucker outer thing, and I said, "Thank you for what you're doing. You're a real blessing to these people." Said it with a bit of sarcasm. And I guess he picked up on the blessing word, he looked at me and says, "I do it in the ministry of God." And I said, "Bingo. Exactly." Because with that attitude... I doubt that anybody's goal in life is to be a porta potty sucker router. I'm just guessing that's not the epic job ever. But he was doing that job that most us would not want to do, and he's doing as a ministry of the Lord to bless the people doing hood to coast relay. That's the way it should be. That's a theology of work. No matter where you're out, you do as a ministry to the Lord most high. It's a gracious expression of the Lord's creative energy and service of others to create shalom. That's work.