And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever."
implying that man and woman became even more like God with the knowledge of good and evil. The banishment from the garden was to keep them from eating of the tree of life. If that wasn't enough to show we are still in the image of God, see that Genesis 9:6 speaks of murder being wrong on the basis of us being in the image of God.
But that's not my point today. Rather, think of the ramifications that we are made in the image of God. First of all, there is nothing in the scriptures to make a claim that this is true only for those who are in Christ. This is true for all. How should such knowledge impact evangelism and discipleship? Does the knowledge that something of what God is is written on everyone, from the honored to the lowest of us all, impact how we treat one another? Does it impact how we "do church"?
If we come with the mindset that the image of God is on everyone, shouldn't an emphasis then be on seeing that image revealed? Doesn't it increase the honor we give one another, the respect?
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This is something I've been thinking a lot about lately and am still forming an opinion about, so thanks for giving me more to mull over.
Paul talks about our being transformed into God's likeness (2 Cor. 3:18). The implication of that is that we HAVE lost the image of God somewhere along the way and that our walking with Him is all about trying to regain it. Trying to - what Peter calls - "participate in the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4).
My recent thinking has been that the image of God has mostly to do with absence of sin, but the Genesis passages you mention are making me question that. Obviously knowledge of right and wrong play an important role as well. And according to Genesis 9:6, there's still a sense - even in sin - in which we're like God.
But yet, I'm stuck on 2 Corinthians. If we never lost the image of God, how are we being transformed back into it? There's got to be a way to reconcile Genesis with Paul's statement, but I'm still trying to figure out how to put them together. Curious about your thoughts on that.
Sorry to comment so tardy, but I just found this blog in March 2010. I don't post a lot, but I
needs-be respond to this one.
My husband's explanation really helped me a lot. My husband says the answer lies in restoration. Say you have a 1954 classic pick-up truck that you want to restore. It's original image is still there, but damaged by the trauma's of life. The original image is still evident, otherwise you would not have a desire to restore it in the first place...you could not comprehend what it was, and what it was meant to be and most importantly, what it COULD be. If we are being transformed from glory to glory, then there had to be an original glory, right?
Last week I saw a photo of our little 2-year-old grandson walking into a play construction zone at the local children's museum. An "older" boy about two-and-a-half years old, reached over to hold his hand, and they walked hand-in-hand through the entrance to the "little bit scary zone." Now THAT is the image of G-d, still very present and evident in these two little boys. I read somewhare that the term "total depravity" has been misunderstood, and has done much damage. After World War II the great cathedrals of Europe still bore their original glory. Although bombed out, restoration was still the goal. Now this is really important...my husband points out that sometimes, restoration surpasses the original image of glory, and I believe that is what Christ does for us, because we now bear His righteousness...amazing!
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