CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD: FORGOTTEN ASPECTS

 

Then God said, "Let us make humankind in our image, after our likeness, so they may rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move on the earth." (Gen 1:26 NET)

 Theologians have long debated what it means to be created in God’s image.  However, there is an aspect from the ancient Near East that they have often ignored, one that is important to me.  In that world, a king would claim to be in the image of a god, the state god.  Their images would be displayed to remind the public who was in charge.  The claim to represent that god to the people and the people to that god was a political power move.  [Note: Israel “separated church and state,” when kings were forbidden to take on priestly roles.]

When the Israelites, inspired by God, adopted and adapted ancient creation accounts, they presented a new, radical view of humanity:

God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them. (Gen 1:26 NET)

All of humanity, not just kings -- and equally including male and female! -- were created in the image of God.  This understanding obliterates hierarchical social structures in which we find ways to degrade others as beneath us.  (Not that the people of Israel lived up to this divine designation, but it is foundational to biblical creation theology.)  All of humanity, each one of us, is created to represent God.

A second aspect is that, as God has sovereign rule over the cosmos, we have been granted sovereignty over the earth and all life upon it.  What is the model of that sovereignty?  In Genesis 1:1-2:3, God brings order into chaos and light and life come forth – what God sees as “good” (tov).  Our role, then, is to address chaos and all that is contrary to life; that is, to work for order and life, to work for what God calls good.

Application: No matter how minutely theologians want to parse what it means to be created in the image of God, two matters are clear to me.  1) All humans without discrimination are to be honored as created in that image.  2) Taking up that honor, we are to serve our Creator by working for order and life.  There is and cannot be a greater calling than this!

Thank you, God, that I and all those around me have been made to represent you.  Forgive my failures and enable me in the name of Jesus and by the power of the Spirit to honor you by bringing order and life to the world of your creation.  Amen.