What is a person?

by Heather Perrin

This week’s blog is an excerpt from our most recent New City Women Discipleship Class, Core Beliefs! Read more about upcoming classes and events here!

Who are we? Where did we come from? Why are we here? Humans have been asking and answering these questions for as long as we’ve existed. They are some of the biggest and deepest questions a person can ask, and some of the things that can rock a person’s world when they don’t find an answer. They are the questions that are at the forefront of our identity, and the questions that our culture is answering in a distinctly un-Christian way.

The Bible’s answers to these questions begin with the first pages of Scripture. In Genesis 1-2, we read a beautiful story about a good and powerful God who speaks all of creation into existence by the power of His Word. He takes chaos and brings order. He takes darkness and brings light. He takes wilderness and creates flourishing life.

And at the climax of that creation story, we read about a special part of God’s creation.

26 Then God said, “Let us make man (humanity) in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

27 So God created man in his own image,
    in the image of God he created him;
    male and female he created them.

28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” (Genesis 1:26-28)

So how does the Bible answer what does it mean to be human? To be made in the image of God. This is a phrase church people use a lot, and I think it can lose its meaning. What does it mean to be the image and likeness of God? 

Ancient Statues

One of the most helpful things for me when thinking about this idea is learning what the word “image” means in Hebrew. The word translated as image is the word “tselem.” This word is most often used to describe idol statues. 

So now we have to put on our Bible study hats and put ourselves in the world of the original audience of this text. How would they have heard this word? 

Imagine you are an ancient Canaanite. Your whole nation worships (among others) the god Ba’al. And in your local temple, there is a giant statue of Ba’al that you bring sacrifices to and worship regularly. Now, what is that statue to you? Remember, you’re not 21st-century Americans, you are ancient Canaanites. What is that statue? It is the embodiment of Ba’al. You know that he isn’t only located there, he’s also out and about doing god-things, but this is an extremely important representation of his identity. It establishes that this is his domain, that he is in control, and that he is present in this community.

So what does it mean that God makes humans to be tselem? We are walking, talking, breathing representatives of the God who made us. When you look at a statue of Ba’al, you think of Ba’al. When you look at a human, you think of Yahweh. We reflect Him. We represent Him. In all of our various shapes, sizes, colors, and personalities, we, collectively, are His image.

Ancient kings would do a similar thing and build a tselem in their territories. When they conquered a city, they would often set up a statue of themselves in that city to represent their rule. It said, “this is Nebuchadnezzar’s place. He has authority here.” So you and I, all of humanity, are intended to operate in the world as His representatives. Yahweh rules here. Yahweh is king here, and I am his deputy. I am his ambassador.

That is what follows in the passage we read - God tells the humans, “Fill the earth! Subdue it! Have dominion over it! Be my partners in ruling this good, abundant, beautiful world!”

Human beings are God’s image, His likeness, His representatives, and agents in creation. We are like Him in a way nothing else in creation is. The Bible uses all kinds of imagery to describe God. His voice is like thunder, His power is like fire, the skies proclaim His handiwork. All of creation teaches us about God. But nothing else in creation is His own image. It means something to be a person. It is deeply and profoundly important. 

No Exceptions

This is the key doctrine that underlies all of what we believe about people. We are all made in His image. Every gender, race, capacity, ability, status, worldview, political opinion, age - images of God. Christians should have the highest honor and respect for our fellow humans, even those who might fundamentally disagree with this very point. We believe that all humans bear the image of God and are intrinsically valuable. Period.

How does this change the way we talk to people? How does it change the way we see people in need? How does it change the way we think about the people in our lives that we just don’t like? Why are we committed to being a church that not only welcomes but seeks out brothers and sisters who don’t look like us? Why are we working to make every area of our church accessible to families with physical and mental disabilities? Because they are images of the God of the universe. Worthy of dignity, honor, and respect because of who made them. We treat paintings by famous artists with extreme care, why? Because of who painted them. 

This is a truth that is easily lost and distorted in our world. Since the fall, humans have mistreated, abused, hurt, and killed one another. If you were a devoted worshipper of Ba’al, would you ever consider defacing his image in the temple? So why do we see image-bearers of God doing these things to one another?

Broken Images Restored

Because of the rest of the story we read in Genesis 3. The first humans chose to rebel against God and so sin entered the world. From that day on, all of God’s good world, including His image-bearers, has been marred by sin.

While you and I do bear God’s image, we do so imperfectly. In the fall, we do not lose the image of God, but it is distorted. We fail to be God’s ambassadors. We rule and subdue with motives mixed up in sin.

But there is One who bears the image of God perfectly. 

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. (Colossians 1:15)

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.  (Hebrews 1:3)

Jesus is the perfect image of God. Fully reflecting in his humanity what a person was always intended to be. And because we fail, He took the penalty for our sin on himself so we can again be restored to that image.

God created us to be His image. We chose to rebel against Him and so that image became fractured. But Jesus came as a human to redeem and restore us, to one day fully make us the glorious image we were intended to be. 

As you go about your days, remember that you are the image of God, worthy of dignity and honor because of the one who made you, and that your (annoying, cantankerous, mean, etc.) neighbor is too. And above all, when you feel so far from that image because of your sin, turn to Jesus - the One who perfectly reflects our God and makes us His image again.