The phrase “Imago Dei” is a Latin term meaning "Image of God." It is a core doctrinal concept in Judaism and Christianity and is rooted in the biblical passage of Genesis 1:26-28, which states that human beings are created in God's image and likeness.
Genesis 1:26-28 (NIV)
Then God said, "Let us make mankind in Our image, in Our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." 27 So God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them. 28 God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground."
Imago Dei does not mean that humans are identical to God, or are divine, but are reflections of God Himself and are to live as an “analogy” of God – a living embodiment of what God is like as a person. There has been a variety of interpretations of Imago Dei throughout Church history and so I am seeking here to keep things simple and orthodox.
Creation as a whole gives visibility to God as the apostle Paul observed …
Romans 1:19-20 (NIV)
“… since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”
In traditional, orthodox Christian theology human beings reflect more than the creation itself. We were created to reflect what God is like morally, ethically, spiritually and relationally. As such, humans were placed on the earth as God’s vice regent representatives with authority to rule over the rest of the creation and continue the work of God to bring order out of the remaining chaos – to subdue it and bring it under control. In other words, humans are the pinnacle of God’s creation, endowed with the ability to think. The image of God consists of holiness, righteousness and the knowledge of the truth, and humans were created to function with these same qualities. The image of God in human beings also expressed the presence on earth of a visibly ‘absent’ God. The life of humanity was intended to reflect in microcosm the macrocosm of divine life. We were meant to be on earth for earth what God is to the entire universe. As such, human beings are the sons and daughters of God. Following this, humans were created for intimate relationship with the divine and to express amongst themselves the “family likeness” in righteousness in all their relationships.
And so, we can see, just from this brief description (whole books have been written on all this!) that the doctrine of the image of God - on us and in us - is the foundation for human dignity and the inherent sanctity of human life. This foundational doctrinal understanding forms the theological framework for the Christian understanding of, and response to, a loving Creator God who is King of the Universe and our heavenly Father.
Of course, sin marred our relationship with God. Humanity “fell” from vice regent responsibility with its associated authority, and became subject to working and functioning without it – a lot of sweat and blood, which was never God’s plan. But in all that, the image of God was not lost. God, nor His image, can be broken or lost, but the function of His image in human beings was corrupted and broken and could not represent Him faithfully in holiness. Hence the expulsion from Eden. The first effect of humanity’s fall into sin was the loss of holy connection and relationship with God and all its beautiful blessing. The next effect was the rupture of human relationship. There was a huge loss of integrity, harmony, equality and intimacy between men and women. The corruption of sin destroyed the beauty of that co-equal harmonious functioning together, and God prophesied to Adam and Eve the effect of that loss …
Genesis 3:16 (NLT) [God] “… And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.”
Competition, not cooperation. Hierarchy and control, instead of equality and mutuality - a far cry from the holy function of the image of God in both women and men. The great overarching salvation narrative of the scriptures details God’s loving determination to restore the function of His image in human beings. First, the restoration of relationship with God was restored between Him and His sons and daughters …
Romans 5:10-11 (NLT)
“For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of His Son while we were still His enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of His Son. 11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.”
Next, relationships between humans, and particularly between men and women, were restored. Again, the apostle Paul …
Galatians 3:26-29 (NIV)
“So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
Two key things here: when Paul states that in our baptism we have clothed ourselves with Christ, he is directly confirming that, just as the image of God in Jesus was fully functional, so the image of God in us is being restored to full functionality again – as we are continually sanctified. The second issue here is the restoration of relationships to their Edenic ideal where race, social status and gender are completely irrelevant to the holy functioning of the image of God in every human being He has redeemed through Christ’s atoning, restoring work. The image of God in human beings knows no hierarchy or superiority over another person. All that has gone! We are all ONE again in Christ – and this is about far more than equality, it is about the restoration of the function of the image of God in us, which does not vary in quality or richness from person to person. But wait, there’s more. Christ is the first born from among the dead, and is now the portal into a new created order.
2 Corinthians 5:17-18 (NIV)
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 18 All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: …”
The old creation order marred by sin which destroyed the proper function of the image of God is now gone. The new created order has arrived in Christ, and the work of the cross and the new life we have in the One who is the resurrection and the life, restores the glorious function of the image of God in each of us. This is so that in us, and by how we live, the beauty and glory of God and what He is like is made manifest to the whole world so that God might draw men and women back to Himself and fully restore them.
This is the end result God intends with the death and resurrection of Christ.
No male or female demarcation, no slave or free, nor ethnicity, or anything else trumps the restored function of the image of God in anyone saved by grace. This is the Gospel of Christ.
Ps Milton