Image of God

What does it mean to be made in the image of God? What is our role as image-bearers? If a man chooses to serve other images, what happens? Since Christ became a man, was He an imager bearer as well?

In our continuing study of our identity in Christ, we are looking at how God sees us as being like Him. He made us in the image of God – or His image. You can read any of the other topics about identity in Christ here: chosen, loved, sealed, blessed, and children of God.

Meaning of Image of God

God said that all of us were made in His image. This comes from Genesis 1:27

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

God created us to bear His image while we are here on earth and to obey His commands. When someone represents another person, we belong to them and take on their qualities. This is a topic that I discussed in the meaning of identity in Christ.

We reflect God and Jesus here on earth.

Our Role as an Image of God

As God’s image bearer, our role, as defined in Genesis 1:28, is to

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.”

To subdue the earth means to rule over it. We are to fill the earth with families and children and then care for animals and other living things on the earth.

The “ruling” becomes how we do our work on this earth. But are we doing our work for Him or selfishly for ourselves? This is sometimes hard to hear, even for me. I will talk about this in the next section below.

Our work is to be done to give God honor and Glory. He is our image-maker and God Most High, who is over all of the earth. We should give Him all of our worship.

Choosing Other Images?

What happens if a man chooses other images to worship besides God?

God wants us to worship Him as He is one whose image we bear. One of the ten commandments is that we should not have other gods before Him (Exodus 20:3 ESV).

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God.”
Exodus 20:4-5a ESV

When God finds that we have other Gods, He removes them. In Deuteronomy 7:25 ESV, they were told to burn down the images. And in Deuteronomy 12:3 ESV, their images were to be chopped down.

These were images in the Old Testament but today, we have images that are things, people, or jobs that we adore more than God.

My job change story relates to this in that my job and desire for promotion was becoming an idol. And God removed me from that situation.

Jesus Christ as God’s Image

Jesus is the image of God before all of creation. Yet He came to earth as a man.

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

His role on earth was to be a servant and gave us an example to follow.

“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Mark 10:45 ESV

When we accept Jesus as our Savior, we have the help of the Holy Spirit to be image-bearers that worship God and Jesus.

We do this by living lives of holiness and righteousness to those around us. It seems like a tall order to fill but the Holy Spirit is there to rely on and help us along the way!

Reflection Thoughts on the Image of God

What does it mean to you to be made in God’s image?
What idols are there in your life that you need to burn or chop down? Name one thing you could do to remove these idols from your life today.
How are you reflecting Jesus in your life today? Challenge yourself with one thing that you could do better in reflecting Jesus to others today.

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