Doctrines of The Christian Faith 7: Day of Reflection: The Nature of the Image of God

Today is the seventh post of the Christian Doctrines series, and that means it is time to conclude our series by looking at what we have accomplished and rest, just as the Lord did after his 6 days of creation. Although these works can never even be a fourth as good as that which the Lord created, the model will continually be echoed throughout these series for as long as I write them.

So what have we accomplished in this series? Honestly, not as much as I wanted. A lot of the posts were either too simple or made too many points to be coherent. I even left out a few points because I discovered as I wrote the sixth post, I had left too much for it. As such, next week, an "Addendum" will be posted that will detail these few points in detail.

Nevertheless, I was still able to express the most important event in all of history bit-by-bit throughout this series - the story of man's sinfulness, God's holiness and mercy, and the sacrificial atonement for our sins. Today, I will tell this story once more, in a different way than I originally shared it. Today, we discuss the nature of the image of God.

Man Created In God's Image

In Genesis 1:26-27, we learn, 

"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them."

Here we see the first time man is mentioned in the Bible. The Lord says that we should make man in our image. (Remember that the Lord is three persons in the outer "crust," but one all the same.) But what exactly is the "Image of God?"

In Systematic Theology, Wayne Grudem defines the image of God as,

"The nature of man such that he is like God and represents God."

Although Grudem correctly identifies that the image of God transcends beyond any one attribute, I would like to highlight in this post the specific part of the image of God that refers to moral purity. Thus, throughout the rest of this post, I will be using the image of God synonymously with perfection or holiness.

Sin had to "enter into the world" through Adam because when Adam was first created he was as God, without sin.

Let us remember that God is so holy he cannot fellowship with those unholy. A substitutionary sacrifice was needed to allow sinful Israelites to commune with the Father. (I say to you today, one is still needed, but I am getting ahead of myself.) As Habakkuk 1:13 states,

"Thou are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity." 

This makes man's fall from the image of God all the more troublesome as it also means falling from God's presence.

Man's Fall from God's Image

Prior to the fall, when man was still fully in the image of God, Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden, where God walked with them. Here, the Lord talked with Adam and Eve and told them they may eat of every tree of the field, except the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. 

We all know what happens next. The Serpent comes, and Adam and Eve eat of the forbidden fruit. With sin now in man's nature, he has distorted the initial image of God. He no longer can claim perfection. In fact, no man would ever be able to again. Romans 5:12 explains, 

"Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:"

We are now all corrupt vessels. We now all, as Romans 3:23 proclaims, "Fall short of the glory of God."

But the impact as mentioned above is greater than that. Eating of the fruit makes them unholy, and God's holiness prevents him from fellowshipping with anything unholy. This sin could forever separate Adam from God's presence. But the Lord is merciful. He provided a way for Adam and his descendants to atone for their sin by continually sacrificing perfect lambs without blemish.

The atonement was always temporary though until a different Lamb took the substitutionary sacrifice for the sins of the world.

Jesus' Gift Allows Restoration of the Image

The image of God in shambles! But have no fear, the Lord will establish a permanent way of restoring fellowship with his creation. 

It all happened when the Lord supernaturally was born on this earth to a virgin. There was nothing special about this girl, except that which was in her was of the Holy Ghost. A man, who was "Tempted like as we are, yet without sin." This man was Jesus Christ. 

Jesus was God, and thus had the entire image of God. He was without blemish and was prepared to be the perfect sacrifice for the world. And he did sacrifice; He died on the cross and took away the sins of the world. As I Peter 2:24 tells us, 

"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed."

This action is enough to restore the image of God to man, but it doesn't just go to everyone. The lambs of the Old Testament had to be brought in by the person who wished to atone for his sin. It couldn't atone for his neighbour's sin, or his family's sin, but for his alone.

While Jesus' death is sufficient to take away all the sin of the world, one must accept it as payment. One must ask for this sacrifice be applied to their sin and for them to be forgiven. Then the image of God is restored, and we can fellowship with God eternally. As Romans 8:29 states,

"For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." 

Continue to Doctrines Addendum 

Doctrines of the Christian Faith 2: Nature of God

We shall begin our discussion of the Doctrines of the Christian Faith with the most important being in the universe, God. Much has been mentioned about the fact that God exists in our Apologetics Series; however, little has thus far been discussed about God's nature. All we really have is some mystical creature who is eternal, immutable, and entirely perfect. This post wishes to discuss three attributes of God. Obviously, there are several attributes of God and each is as important as the next, but we only have so much time to discuss the nature of the Lord, and some (several) omissions had to be made.

Trinity

Math tells us that 1 and 1 and 1 is 3, not 1. Our ability to understand how a being can be three different persons at the same time is difficult to understand or even envision. 

We always like to view analogies to help us understand the Trinity. The most common analogies I hear is that of water and its three stages (gas, liquid, solid)  and the egg and its three parts (the shell, white, yoke). However, I find the former analogy insufficient to describe the fact that the Lord is three people in one at the same time, and the latter analogy fails to convey to me the unity of the Lord as I can differentiate the shell from the yoke quite easily in my mind. 

Thus, I prefer a third analogy given by Christian comedian Mike Warnke about a cherry pie. It could just as easy be apple or blueberry pie, but apparently Mr. Warnke liked cherry pie. When you cut a cherry pie into three pieces and leave it on a plate, the pie filling is going to go back together and remain united with the other two pieces. Similarly, the Lord's outward appearance (or his "Crust") is cut into three pieces, but He is still all united as one person underneath. That is the Trinity of God.

Now that we have our analogy to better understand how the Trinity could even work, let us examine the proof and persons of the trinity. Matthew 28:19 explains,

"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:"

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Bible says of this phrase,

"This was intended as the summary of the first principles of the Christian religion, and of the new covenant, and according to it the ancient creeds were drawn up. By our being baptized, we solemnly profess, (1.) Our assent to the scripture-revelation concerning God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. We confess our belief that there is a God, that there is but one God, that in the Godhead there is a Father that begets, a Son that is begotten, and a Holy Spirit of both. We are baptized, not into the names, but into the name, of Father, Son, and Spirit, which plainly intimates that these three are one, and their name one. The distinct mentioning of the three persons in the Trinity, both in the Christian baptism here, and in the Christian blessing (2 Cor. 13:14), as it is a full proof of the doctrine of the Trinity, so it has done much towards preserving it pure and entire through all ages of the church."

But we have not begun to discuss the attributes and purpose of each person within the Trinity. To keep it simple, the theologian Boardman writes,

"The Father is all the fullness of the Godhead invisible. The Son is then the fullness of the Godhead manifested, and the Holy Spirit is the fullness of the Godhead making manifest"

Although this summary is nice, it fails to provide us with an acknowledgement of what each person in the Trinity does. Thus, we will remind ourselves of each's purpose and function in God's plan of salvation. First, God the Father is the invisible standard of glory and perfection. God the Son was manifested into a man to take the punishment for our sins. Finally, God the Holy Spirit makes manifest to us the need we have for salvation through Christ by showing how we fail to live up to the standard of the Father.

Sovereignty

What great power is shown through the Lord's every action! One cannot truly question his sovereignty (unlimited or infinite power) when examining his ability to control nature, man, and all spiritual beings, like angels. 

The sovereignty of God is best seen in relation to Creation. As Genesis 1: 3 exclaims, 

"And God said, Let there be light: and there was light."

Wow! The world we see around us was created in many verses just like this one, where the Lord speaks, and what he requested immediately take form.

I Chronicles 29:11-12 explains the sovereignty of God in greater detail.

"Thine, O Lord is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Lord, and thou art exalted as head above all. Both riches and honour come of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand is power and might; and in thine hand it is to make great, and to give strength unto all."

It would be amiss to discuss the sovereignty of God without discussing the concept of predestination. At the time of the Reformation, John Calvin came to the conclusion that the Lord chooses an "elect" few people to come to him and accept salvation.

Obviously, the Lord would have this ability within his sovereign power to dictate who will accept his words. But does he choose to exercise that ability? From what we know about the love of God from the Bible, however, we can conclude that if the Lord was to choose who was to be saved, he would choose everyone. II Peter 3:9 says,

"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."

Calvinists may ask why the Lord would grant free will and allow these people to die, but they must explain why Lord would willfully choose to let some individuals perish eternally in hell.

But they have their belief system. We know that they didn't just think this out of thin air. Thus, it would be beneficial to discuss the verse most commonly used to support predestination - Romans 8:29,

"For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren."

This verse does use the word "predestinate," but one must look at the context. After much debate, one of my Calvinist friends and I found we could agree on the following synthesis between the camps of predestination and free will. The Lord knows everything, and knows every decision that has been made, or ever will. He has known these things forever. Everything he foreknew will happen; thus, God's foreknowledge predestines us to be a member of the "Elect." In other words, "For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." God didn't pick and choose; his foreknowledge of our choices allowed him to predestinate and call the elect.

Holiness

The sovereignty of the Lord would be a little troublesome if he weren't a good and perfect being as well. Thankfully for humanity, he is holy. The Bible proclaims over and over again that he is holy. Perfect and just and righteous. Completely without sin. But what we truly need to realize about the holiness of God is that God is so holy that He cannot look upon sin. Habakkuk 1:13 states, 

"Thou are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity." 

That is the nature of God, holy to the point where He can't look upon anything unholy. He had to separate all sin from his presence. It's hard to imagine anyone that holy, but the Lord is often beyond man's imagination.

Continue to Doctrines 3: Nature of Man