The creation account in the Old Testament can be read literally or not, but the message of an active God who created humanity is communicated clearly. We are his idea, not the result of random chemistry in the universe a few billion years ago. This understanding is the starting point of the rest of this post.
In Genesis chapter 1 we read that humans were created in the image of God. Not that we are as God. We are rather an image of his nature, a shadow of his character, bearers of his DNA. Chapter 2 describes how God gave us a physical body (formed by dust from the ground), and he breathed his breath of life into it. The breath of life, neshâmâh in Hebrew, can be translated soul and spirit. Thus we are both spirit, soul and body. We are placed in this world, which is an important part of God’s creation. The New Testament describes that all things were made by Christ (John 1:3), “for by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, the things visible and things invisible” (Col. 1:16a), both the earth and our body (the visible), and our soul and our spirit (the invisible). We are therefore whole human beings, created in the image of God.
When sin entered the world by one person’s disobedience, Adam, all of creation were condemned to bear the consequences, through pain, striving and death (something we can read about in Gen 3:17-19 and Rom 5:12). Chapters 3-11 in Genesis describe a spiral of broken relationships. All of creation suffered because of humanity’s broken relationship with God and with one another. The grace of God prevented him from destroying us completely, and the temporary solution was banishment from his presence (Gen 3:23).
An important (and perhaps ingenious) question to ask, is this: Did humanity lose the image of God after Adam’s fall? Was it completely lost? Those who believe in predestination will argue that God’s image in people was completely lost after the fall, ergo only those God have chosen can recognize the call to repentance – and consequently receive eternal life. However, God revealed himself and spoke to people also after the fall. He anointed priests, prophets and kings with his Spirit, so that they could represent him and be his messengers to the people. This means that something in a person was still able to connect with God and relate to him. Instead of thinking that the image of God in us was lost when sin came, it is more appropriate to see it as broken.
The eternal solution to our broken relationship with God came with Jesus Christ, who is the visible image of the invisible God (Col 1:15). God became human so that humanity can once again have close communion with its Creator. It is a miracle, just like creation itself! An example in the Bible which explains what happens in this miracle, is when Jesus talked with Nicodemus the Pharisee about the need to be born again. Jesus said that “the Spirit gives birth to spirit” (John 3:6). That is, the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of God) breathes new life into our spirit. The prophet Ezekiel foresaw this several hundred years in advance: “I will give you a new heart and let you have a new spirit within you. I will take the heart of stone out of your body and give you a heart of flesh instead” (Ez 36:26). Paul calls it the new creation, and he states that the purpose of this restoration is that people can be reconciled with God (2 Cor 5:17-18).
Paul also speaks about Christians “being transformed into his [God’s] image” (2 Cor 3:18). The Greek word for image is eikon, meaning icon, and it comes from a root that means similarity or likeness. When we follow Jesus and let His Spirit transform us, the image of Jesus in us becomes more and more visible. Being transformed into His image thus involves a process: The image is restored through the Atonement (faith in Christ), it is transformed through sanctification (by the Word of God and the work of the Holy Spirit), and it will be made perfect through the glorification (when Christ return).
The theologian Emil Brunner claimed that there is no secular world, only a created world that has been secularized. When we believe that every human being is a bearer of the image of God, whether it is broken or about to be restored, it does not matter whether a person is a believer or not. The image of God is planted in everyone. Each individual can therefore look through eyes that God created, think with creativity that God put in them, and work with skills that God gave them. A person may not recognize or acknowledge it, but the consequence is that each person reflects something of God. The fact that no one looks exactly alike, and that everyone has different talents and personalities, speaks about God’s constant breath of life in every person born into this world. Jesus Christ died and rose again, so that his image could be restored to all people.
The restored image of God in a believer is only the result of grace, and no one can ever do anything to deserve it (Rom 3:23-24). When we recognize that each individual is created in the image of God, it tells us how we should relate to other people in a practical way: with mutual respect we allow each other to be who God created us to be. It precludes any attempt to control and oppress another person, whether in a relationship or through a regime. And since life is a gift from God, our understanding will make us want to protect and preserve the life we have been given.
When our self-understanding is based on the fact that we have a God-given nature that is broken and in need of restoration, it should make us humble. When we look at every individual as created in the image of God, and thus are equally valuable, it should fill us with love. When we look at Christ as the perfect image of God, dwelling in everyone who believes in him, by his Spirit, it should give us hope.