The word image is commonly defined as follows: likeness, resemblance; representation; sculpture, portrait, sketch, etc. These words convey the idea that something that is an image stands as representative of that which it reflects. This is a good definition, and it comes close to what the Bible means when it says in Genesis 1:26, "... 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness...."
What makes the use of the term in this verse different from the commonly held meaning is the word used to reinforce it, "likeness." While the term image conveys the sobering thought that God created man to be a physical representation of Himself on earth, the use of the word likeness extends this meaning beyond comprehension. Man, not only pictures God as a physical representation, but man is also endowed with faculties that are God-like. That is, man, unlike the animals created, is rational and morally responsible, able to make logical and reasoned choices. This is what it means to image God: to be able to make choices that reflect what He would choose and actions that would mirror His. This capacity, however, was distorted due to the fall.
We must understand that sin did not destroy the likeness of God in man. It did, however, distort it. While a trick mirror may distort a face, it does not destroy it. That is what sin did to the image of God within us. Man can still think, reason, and make choices but, after the fall, that thinking, reasoning, and choosing is captive to sin. Mankind was not able to do anything that would honor the Lord (See Psalm 51:5). The only way this is changed is by faith in the Christ who has reversed the penalty and destroyed the power of sin by His life, death, and resurrection. Paul, reflecting on the nature of this reversing power of Christ, wrote in 2nd Corinthians 5:17: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."
To be like God, now, is only possible when God and man are in reconciled fellowship through Christ alone. Salvation, therefore, is more than a rebirth; it is reversed imaging. The fall distorted the image of God within us but our redemption in Christ re-creates and perfects it. Those who trust Christ as Savior are those who have been made new (re-created) by the transforming power of Christ. This means that Christians, though still hampered by the nagging effects of sin, can think, reason, and choose in ways that honor God through Christ Jesus. Not only, then, has the curse of sin been reversed but the ability to image God is now a reality.
This ability to image the Lord is a powerful stewardship. It is not simply that we are to image God in our physical and internal composition but the weightiness of it all is found in what that ultimately means: the exercising of His dominion. The latter part of Genesis 1:26 reads, "... '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.”
Dominion means the exercise of authority. It also means to subdue and to dominate. In other words, God made man in His image to control all of creation in His place. This is what it meant to image God. All of creation was under the care and control of Adam and it was his honor and joy to subdue it by sustaining its God designed order. Yet, we know that Adam failed in this assignment in chapter 3. The serpent, whom Adam had authority over, was allowed access and permitted to creep in ways that God never intended. Sin came into the world because Adam failed to image God in the exercise of dominion.
Christ is our Warrior God. He came to destroy that which distorted our relationship with the Lord: sin. The temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4 and Luke 4 are narratives that show how Christ began to reverse the disobedience of Adam in the Garden by being obedience when tempted by the same devil! This He ultimately accomplished by His death. Paul puts it this way:
And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made
alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt
that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. He
disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.
(Colossians 2:13–15).
By this work for us on the cross Christians, armed with the recreated ability to rightly image God can now exercise dominion over sin in and through Christ's victory over it. This is a primary way in which we show that the image of God has truly been restored in us. Our dominion is demonstrated in ruling over sin because sin no longer has dominion over us. Therefore, Paul says, "Let not sin reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passion" (Romans 6:12). In other words, do not let sin creep into your life by making you do what you no longer have to do since its power has been canceled!
In Christ, the last Adam, we can overcome the consequences of the actions of the first Adam. After the sin of Adam man could not make any choice that honored God, being enslaved to sin. Salvation has effected an infinite change. Having the image of God restored in us does not mean we cannot or will not sin. What it does mean, however, is that now, by enabling grace of God, we can say no to sin and choose obedience in the face of temptation.
Reflect His restored image in you today!