The Image of God, Sin, and Depravity
Introduction
Of all of God’s creation, none comes close in grandeur and splendor to the creation of humanity. Human beings alone were created with an image and a task, i.e., the image of God and the task to rule over God’s creation. One scholar makes the distinction between God as suzerain-king, and humanity as vassal-king. Yet, despite this wondrous blessing, humanity turned away from God’s provisions, and rebelled against this King, in an attempt to usurp the kingly rule of God. God was not overthrown; instead, it would be humanity that is ejected from the Garden of Paradise. The study of the image of God, sin, and depravity is necessary in understanding humanity’s place in God’s redemptive plan. That God would continue to show mercy and grace to a people who would continually rebel against Him (cf. Rom. 3; 5:10), is indeed amazing grace. So to understand the work of Christ, one must comprehend the fallen work of humanity to capture the full power and glory of the cross. May you worship Him as you learn of our fallenness and God’s incredible grace!
The Image of God
The term image of God is from Genesis 1:26-27:
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
Humanity’s distinctiveness is marked by the very fact that human beings are the only creatures which are labeled as beings created “in the image of God.” But what exactly does it mean to be created in the image of God? Anthony Hoekema writes: “But we should note at the outset that the concept of man as the image or likeness of God tells us that man as he was created was to mirror God and to represent God.” This too is a quandary, as what it exactly means to “represent” God or “mirror” God, remains ambiguous. The Hebrew word for image is tselem which primarily means “something similar.” “Likeness” or demut in Hebrew conveys a similar meaning. But how is the human image, “similar” or in the “likeness” of God?
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