By Dr. David Naugle|Published Date: February 14, 2010

Lesson 3: “Who on Earth Are We?”

Dr. Naugle continues his series and examines the most important questions human beings can consider: Who are we, and why are we here?

A cast of characters

If we are to understand any story, we must know something about its cast of characters and the roles they play as the drama unfolds. How, for example, could we ever make sense of a Tom Clancy novel without a working knowledge of Jack Ryan as the main character? Similarly, if we are to comprehend God’s story in Scripture, we must know who its main characters are and what roles He intends for them to play. In addition to God Himself (and perhaps the angels), the main characters are, of course, well, you and me! People are, indeed, center stage! Grasping our part in the divine drama is a giant step forward in understanding the grand narrative of the Bible. It also helps us to get to know ourselves better from God’s point of view!

Now if we put this in worldview terms, we want to know not only where are we? (the question we investigated in our last lesson), but also who are we? and why are we here? These are some of the deepest questions we can ever hope to ask and answer. We are seeking biblical insight regarding our very nature as persons and the purposes we are to fulfill on this earth. To understand these important issues, divine revelation comes to our aid. The truth about our essential nature and goals as human beings is found in a passage describing the pinnacle of God’s creative handiwork on the sixth day of creation in Genesis 1:26-28.

The theme of the Bible

Now every great piece of literature is organized around a key idea that runs through it and ties it all together. The Bible is no exception. The question is: what big idea permeates the Scriptures and unifies its overall story? I would like to suggest for your serious consideration that the central theme of the Bible is found in Genesis 1:26-28. What a topic sentence is to a paragraph, this passage is to the whole canon of Scripture! It sets forth God’s “mission statement” for creation; it is His “original commission” for humanity and the earth! The whole human project is contained in it from God’s point of view. It is a project from which He will never turn back!

Genesis 1:26-28 can, however, become what I call a “Sunday School” passage. We learn about it early on in our Christian experience, but never really grasp its true significance. Perhaps because we are so familiar with its content, somehow it just loses its punch. Whatever the case, we just seem to file it away in the back of our Sunday School minds. There it remains until somebody comes along and points out just how important it really is!

That was certainly the case with me. However, when a teacher of mine underscored its true significance, the Holy Spirit opened up my mind (like a whack up side the head with a 2 x 4!) to grasp its crucial role in God’s plan. I began to think through Scripture afresh from the vantage of this text. And voilá, everything changed! A whole new perspective and way of life opened up to me as never before. Slowly but surely, I began to see and live in the world differently. By God’s grace, I recognized that this text was the foundation, not only of the Bible, but also for life itself! It reads as follows.

Gen. 1:26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth." Gen. 1:27 And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Gen. 1:28 And God blessed them; and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

Theologians have given these three verses important titles as well. Some have called it the “creation decree” because it presents God’s decree (His intentions) for His creation. Others have labeled it the “cultural mandate” because it contains God’s mandate (or charge) to establish human culture and civilization. Both are helpful designations. I use them both all the time! Specifically, we want to know how this “creation decree” or “cultural mandate” answers the big questions about our identity and purpose as human beings. These are large topics. So in our lesson today, we will only deal with the first of these two. We will focus on the question of our essential identity: “who are we?

“What is man?”

Scripture confronts us at least four times with the probing question “What is man?” It prompts us to ask what it means to be a human being. It challenges us to wonder why we puny, weak, finite creatures are so important to the infinite Creator God (Job 7:17; Psa. 8:4; 144:3; Heb. 2:6).[1] Writers outside the Bible also call upon us to contemplate the mystery of our humanity, as Alexander Pope does, in these famous lines from his celebrated work Essay on Man.

Created half to rise, and half to fall,

Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;

Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurled;

The glory, jest and riddle of the world![2]

We humans are, indeed, a paradox, an enigma, a living contradiction of antithetical qualities, both beauty and beast! But what are we essentially? How are we correctly defined? What is a human being —a living, breathing, walking, talking person — whether male or female? Here we are not so much concerned about our personal identity or history as a unique individual. Rather, we are concerned with what everybody is at the core of his her being in something of a theological or philosophical sense.

The clear scriptural answer to these concerns is found in Genesis 1:26-27. It teaches us that human beings are the very image and likeness of God (see also Gen. 5:1-3; 9:1-7; James 3:9; Romans 8:29; 2 Cor. 3;18; Eph. 4:20-24; Col. 3:9-11)! Theologians like to use the shorthand expression imago Dei as a way of indicating this. Because we are God’s image, this fact alone distinguishes us from every other aspect of God’s creation. This identity confers upon us a great dignity. So we must understand as clearly as we can what it means to be the image and likeness of God.

The entire world is a revelation of God, a mirror of his virtues and perfections; every creature is in his own way and according to his own measurement an embodiment of a divine thought. But among all creatures only man is the image of God, the highest and richest revelation of God, and therefore head and crown of the entire creation!

Herman Bavinck, Dogmatiek,

quoted by Anthony Hoekema, Created in God’s Image

The imago Dei

Whole books have been written in an attempt to interpret this rather complex biblical concept.[3] Some have suggested that the imago Dei resides in our personality, rationality, emotionality, spirituality, sexuality, will, imagination, intuition, and so on. A good case can be made for each of these as a structural or functional component of God’s image.

I would like to propose, however, that the whole person is the image and likeness of God. According to an acceptable rendering of the Hebrew grammar in Genesis 1:26-27, we are not made in the image and likeness of God, as if it were just a part of us. Rather, we are made as the image and likeness of God, or to be the image and likeness of God. This means that the expression applies to the total man or woman. But even if we retain the more familiar rendering, to be made in the image and likeness of God would certainly extend to the entire person.[4]

Therefore, I can state my point like this. As a union of body, soul, and spirit with all of their respective capacities, human beings as God’s image and likeness are the visible, bodily representatives of the transcendent, invisible, bodiless God on the earth. This does not mean that we look like God or that God looks like us, for we are His representatives rather than His resemblances. This does mean, however, that we human beings are embodied creatures (Gen. 2: 7), and our bodies, as well as our souls and spirits are essential to being God’s image. We must take this inescapable physical aspect of our nature seriously — uniting the body to all of our spiritual and mental powers — when defining the concept of imago Dei. I am God’s image in the totality of my being. And so are you. Here is how theologian Herman Bavinck explains this viewpoint.

Nothing in man is excluded from the image of God. All creatures reveal traces of God, but only man is the image of God. And he is that image totally, in soul and body, in all faculties and powers, in all conditions and relationships. Man is the image of God because and insofar as he is true man, and he is man, true and real man, because and insofar as he is the image of God.[5]

This position is based, in part, on the fact that the Hebrew word for “image” (tselem) typically refers to visible, tangible, three-dimensional objects made of wood, stone, or metal, often in the form of idols or statues. (Deut. 4:16; Judg. 17:4; Psa. 106:20; Isa. 44:17; Dan. 3:1; Acts 17:29; Rom. 1:23; Rev. 13:14-15). As archaeologists have pointed out, in the ancient near east, gods and goddesses who lived far away on mountain tops were represented by tangible images in temples where they were worshipped. Also, kings returning home to their palaces after warfare set up visible images of themselves in newly conquered lands to represent their presence and authority there.

So, just as gods and kings are represented by physical, concrete images, so the God of heaven is represented upon the earth by His images as well. People as total beings are God’s symbols in creation, representing Him in all they do as they have dominion over the earth.

This point of view squares well with several New Testament teachings as well. First is doctrine of the incarnation. Jesus as the God-Man is described as the image of God (Col. 1:15). Second is the doctrine of salvation. Jesus was concerned for the whole person, for He not only saved souls, but also healed bodies (e.g., Matt. 9:18-22). Third is the doctrine of resurrection. Believers will not spend eternity as disembodied souls with halos floating around on cloud somewhere in the heavenlies. Rather, they will be resurrected from the dead as complete persons and receive new bodies suited for the eternal state on the very real and tangible new heavens and new earth (Phil. 3:20-21; 1 Cor. 15:35-58; Rev. 21-22).

Who are we, then? We are the image and likeness of God . . . completely!

Psalm 8 and the dignity of man

Now did you know that Psalm 8 is a poetic commentary on the creation decree found in Genesis 1:26-28? Indeed it is! David is the author of this psalm, and as he gazes upon the immensity of the universe, he marvels at God’s concern for puny man who seems to be dwarfed by it all. But when the King of Israel thinks about it, he realizes why God thinks about and cares so deeply for people. He has made them as His own image and likeness, just a little bit lower than Himself. He is the model after which they are patterned. God has conferred upon all men and women everywhere an exalted status as royal figures. They are the kings and queens of creation. He has crowned them with glory and majesty, as David explains in these wonderful words.

When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers,

The moon and the stars, which Thou hast ordained;

What is man, that Thou dost take thought of him?

And the son of man, that Thou dost care for him?

Yet Thou hast made him a little lower than God,

And dost crown him with glory and majesty! (Psalm 8:3-5)

What a lofty view God has of people! What great value the Scriptures place on human lives! God is God to be sure. But people are His image and likeness. What an immense dignity this confers on us all! It ought to change the way we see ourselves. It ought to transform our attitudes toward others. It ought to renovate how we treat people everywhere, all the time. There are many false humanisms running about. But Christianity is the true humanism. It provides the only legitimate basis for properly understanding who we really and truly are! For to be truly human and to be the image of God are inseparable! This is our definition, our identity, our nature, and our glory!

Human nature combines physical and spiritual, natural and supra-natural characteristics. To the physical, sexual, and social aspects of normal human life, in which we rejoice, must be added the understanding that human beings alone of all creation are made in God’s image. We can, therefore, create, love, assert, reflect upon our past and future, communicate with words, and distinguish good and evil. Even more fundamentally we can worship the One whose image we bear. This gives man an intrinsic dignity beyond mere animals. Human beings can never be understood only as animals, however complex, for at heart they are religious beings.

—J. I. Packer and Thomas Howard, Christianity: The True Humanism

“No ordinary people”

No one has understood the significance of the biblical view of humanity more deeply than C. S. Lewis. In a famous sermon titled “The Weight of Glory,” Lewis concluded his remarks with one of the most important statements ever uttered about the importance of people and the influence our conduct has upon them. As he pointed out, it is a very serious thing to live in society with other people whose eternal destiny hangs in the balance. Everybody one day will be either glorified or damned by God. We are encouraging them to one of these two destinations by the way we treat them. Lewis calls upon us to ponder this sobering spiritual truth in these words:

It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilization — these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit — immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. ... Next to the blessed Sacrament itself [communion], your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses.[6]

Let us consider, therefore, what changes we might need to make in attitude, speech, and conduct toward others who are nothing less than the image of God. These are people whose very life and final destiny may be altered positively or negatively by you and me (James 3:8-10).

Conclusion

We have met the cast of characters in God’s story and they are us! As a result, we should have a better understanding of who we are from God’s point of view. We are the image and likeness of God — body, soul, and spirit! We have remarkable value and extraordinary capacities as persons made by Him. Sadly, sin has defaced, but not erased, God’s image in us. We no longer mirror Him in our lives and activities as we should. We are all damaged goods. But the glory of our redemption is that God in Christ is restoring us as His image and likeness by conforming us to the image of His Son, to the character and conduct of Christ Himself (Rom. 8:28-29; Eph. 4:20-24; Col. 3:9-11). Through this process we are again becoming what it is we really are. By this renewal we will be able to fulfill the very purposes God established for us in the beginning that His will might be done and that He might be glorified. So we need to know not only who we are, but also why God created us in the first place.

Coming up next week: Why are we here?

For more insight to the topic of this week’s study, get the book, Conformed to His Image, by Ken Boa from our online store. Or read the article, “That Thudding Image,” by Catherine Claire Larson.

For Study or Discussion

1. Why is the question addressed in this lesson so important? What are some other ways that people, outside the Christian faith, answer this question? What difference does it make?

2. How should knowing that all people are made in the image of God affect our attitudes toward others? What hope should we hold out for them?

3. How should viewing ourselves as the image-bearers of God affect our desire to grow in the Lord Jesus Christ? Explain:

4. Since there are “no ordinary people”, what does this suggest about our calling to be agents of grace to those we meet each day in our life spheres? How are you preparing to take up and expand this calling?

5. Complete this sentence: I’m made in the image of God, and so is my neighbor; therefore…

[1] James M. Houston, I Believe in the Creator (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980), p. 74.

[2] Alexander Pope, Essay on Man, in The Norton Anthology of English Literature, general editor M. H. Abrams, vol. 1

(New York: W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., 1968), 1727.

[3] For example, see Anthony Hoekema, Created in God’s Image (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986).

[4] Herman Bavinck, Dogmatiek, 2: 595-96, quoted in Hoekema, Created in God’s Image, p. 65.

[5] Ibid.

[6] C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory and Other Addresses (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965), 14-15.