imago dei

The image of God should be looked at in regards to the personhood of God. By this, I mean to focus on the spiritual qualities that rise above nature and physicality. We are limited and enlightened by the human-situation, and so we have difficulty describing the specific identifying features of the image of God. We can only speak of God as He relates to our experience and comprehension. This is a good reason why we were, in fact, created in God’s image; namely, so that we could have some understanding of who/what/how He is. I refer to the human-situation that limits our understanding, based on our dualistic nature. We had a perfect beginning, and a sinful fall; but we can have a perfect ending. This requires us to include in the image of God, the image of Christ. In a sense, Jesus was the first among men, in that He was finite (created physical being) and infinite (limitless resource, power, holiness). We are in Jesus’ image as our actual meets our potential. By this, creation in the image of God is tied to redemption. This puts us in a place situated transcendence. What I mean by this is that by being simultaneously on-earth, and intimately connected to God in heaven, Christians find themselves with the capacity for self –transcendence that allows us some experience and understanding of God’s structure, or character makeup, and His relationality. If humans were created in God’s image, then, the image of God is, becoming more human. Okay, that seems confusing…but we are not talking about what is God? –we did this in the revelation and doctrine of God sections…we are now talking about what is the image of God? In the Genesis 1 account, God said "Let 'Us' make man in 'Our' image...male and female...". If anything, this looks like God emphasizing unity...oneness...as Adam and Eve are created in the image of the Trinity. This means that “human” would refer to the image of God, rather than what seems more natural for us (to think of “human” as bad). And so, on a horizontal line, beginning with creation of mankind in the image of God, and continuing through the fall, and on to redemption by Christ, we have the ability to return to “original human” that God had created before the fall. Does that make any sense? Sin and evil draw us away from our original selves (the image of God). And the image of God is found in us becoming more-human…more-original-human (and it only comes through the grace of Christ). And that image looks like the unity of the Trinity (for a start).