What Is the Image of God?

Our society of recent, has been obsessed with definitions and identity. Many people are questioning who they are and putting their identity in singular aspects of their being such as politics, gender, job, sexuality, and race, etc. This leads to a terrible misunderstanding of our own nature along with painful collisions with reality. Throughout history various ideas on the nature of man have pervaded throughout civilization. Some believe that man is nothing more than the physical body, that the mind is merely neurons firing and nothing more. Some see man as being his own god. There is nothing higher than us, we answer to no one but ourselves. A multitude of ideas exist besides the two mentioned, and all of them make the same mistake. They remove God and how we relate to Him. They ignore that we are created in imago dei -- the image of God.

Substantive View

But what is the image of God? Today, the church is mostly divided into three main views: the functional view, the substantive view, and the relational view. For various reasons I disagree with the functional and relational view, and hold to the substantive view. The substantive view is that the image of God is an integral part of human nature, something in our nature that mirrors God’s nature. Though others may define the view differently and disagree on that in which the imago dei is referring, I argue that the image of God is our personhood. We can clearly see that we are persons, and the Bible is clear that God is three persons.

What is Personhood?

But the question now is, what is a person? Any answer that is given must be true for both God and man, as man’s nature reflects God’s to some extent. I contend that a person is an individual soul -- a mind -- with the potential for reason, the potential for morality, and the potential to exercise the power of libertarian freedom. A person must be an individual, because though a multitude of humans may have all of these qualities, the individual human being does as well, making them persons. We also see examples of God being three distinct persons several times in the New Testament (Mat 28:19; John 10:25-30, 14:26; Rom 1:7; Acts 5:3-4).

The Soul

Being a soulish substance is a fairly obvious trait of God as He is spirit (John 4:24; 2 Cor 3:17), you could say that God is a soul (with three sets of cognitive faculties). Is this a trait that humanity shares? Though materialists may argue that there is nothing outside physical reality, surprisingly, according to Pew Research, 83% of US adults believe that we have -- or are -- a soul. The Bible confirms this truth. Much of Christian doctrine and scriptures are about the soul, or things that affect the soul (Psalms 3:2, 6:3; Jam 5:20; 3 John 1:2). For example, in Matthew 22:37 Jesus calls us to love God with our heart, SOUL, and mind. Though this is likely to mean that we are to love God with our entire being, it is important that Jesus noted the soul, as it shows His belief in this immaterial aspect of humanity.

The next trait of personhood is the potential for reason and intellect. This could also be understood as having a mind. I believe that the potential for the ability to actively reason and infer theological and metaphysical truth is extremely important and unique to mankind. Though animals seem to possess a sort of basic (means to ends) reasoning, it is based purely on their instincts. Unlike humans, animals do not have the potential to move beyond instinct to abstract thought processes inferring truths about metaphysical reality. On the mind, there are several allusions and specific references to it, as it pertains to both God and man. Romans 11:34 talks about knowing the mind of God, and in Isaiah 1:18 God tells Israel to reason with Him.

Morality and Free Will

The last two traits are tied closely together, the potential for morality and the potential to exercise libertarian freedom (a.k.a., free will). Libertarian freedom is integral for the potential of morality. The ability to be a moral agent can only occur if one has the ability -- the power -- to make choices between alternative options. Once again, we can look at animals and see that they are not moral agents, because they have no possibility of exercising free will. These are obviously two traits that God has and must have. God must have free will, for creation was not a necessary act. Moreover, if God cannot choose between alternative options, then He is not omnipotent -- God could only do one thing as opposed to all things logically possible. The simplest verse to express the moral character of God is found in Revelation: “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come” (Revelation 4:8). God must be holy if He is our standard of morality. The Bible is also explicit in teaching that man is a morally responsible agent. This can only be the case if we are free to choose to sin, or alternatively, take the way of escape God promises to provide (1 Cor 10:13). Paul implores the readers of Colossians to “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you” (Col 3:5). Then in 2 Timothy, Paul commands the readers to “flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace” (2 Tim 2:22). Both of these passages, and many more, tell the reader to actively take action to avoid sin and to live a holy life. The ability to be moral is only possible if we can take action. This is the epitome of libertarian freedom.

Conclusion

Defining personhood with these traits is important, because they reflect God's attributes and separate us from the rest of creation. These traits also support the universality of the image of God across humanity. Personhood transcends sex, race, age, disabilities, and everything else that needlessly divides humanity. This is of extreme importance when considering abortion. If a fetus is not a person, then what does it matter if you abort it? But if a person is an individual soul in the image of God with the potential for reason, the potential for morality, and the potential to exercise libertarian freedom, then a fetus is a person. This also applies to a person in a coma or a person with dementia. This applies to persons with any sort of mental disorder. They are still persons who bear the image of God. This means that the fetus, the elderly, and the disabled are all created in the image of God as are the rest of humanity. This should push us to treat all persons with the respect and care that the

imago dei

demands. Indeed, this is what grounds the objective and unalienable rights all humans possess (see the Declaration of Independence).