Made in God’s Image
by Jack Cottrell (Notes) on Monday, August 17, 2009 at 7:17pm

Someone pointed out that the Bible says we are made in God’s image, and asked me, “What significance does that have for the Christian life today?” Here are a couple of things that immediately came to mind:

One of the main differences this makes in today’s world is that it shows us that we are NOT in the same category or class of beings as animals. The theory of naturalistic evolution has all but erased the distinction between humans and animals. If we buy this (and many do, of course), then we can justify almost any behavior by showing that it has a parallel somewhere in the animal world. This is especially true in the area of sexual ethics. Only human beings are made in God’s image, and are therefore UNIQUE. We have to work hard to preserve this sense of uniqueness in a world where evolutionary theory reigns.
Another thought is that our being made in God’s image is the basis for the Bible’s teaching that we must have genuine respect for every other human being. This is God’s rationale for forbidding murder in Gen. 9:6, and by inference would be the rationale for not hating a fellow human being, since this is a form of murder (1 John 3:15). It is also the rationale for not speaking evil of another human being (James 3:9). It would thus be a major reason to oppose abortion, and also to oppose racism, and also to be passionate about evangelism. So you can see this teaching is extremely significant.