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The Image of God as Function

One of my favorite scholars to read and listen to is Dr. John Walton up at Wheaton College. He is a professor of Old Testament studies and the author of several books that I find very interesting. In his works "The Lost World of Genesis One" and "The Lost World of Adam and Eve" he lays out his view on Genesis chapters 1 and 2. For our purposes today it is his view on what "The Image of God" means that is our focus.

Dr. Walton is a text guy. This means that he is immersed in the ancient culture and context of the biblical authors. He argues that what Genesis 1 means, and what Genesis 2 shows, is that humans being made in the Image of God is a functional picture. It's not about what we are made of but rather what God has called us to do.

In the ancient near east gods and goddesses lived in temples. Every temple had a special feature in them that was the focal point of worship and blessing. That thing was the image. The image of the deity was not simply a ceremonial or decorative object but was rather a significant and central aspect of temple life. It was through the image that worshippers encountered their gods and the gods blessed the people.

With this cultural context in mind, Genesis 1 begins to look a lot like a temple building text (Dr. Walton's book goes into much greater detail on this). It even culminates with an image being placed in the temple, human beings. As the image bearers it was human beings in all the earth that would direct the worship of the world up to God and be the conduits through whom God would rule the world and share his blessings.

On this view what it means to be made in the Image of God is to have the vocation of worship and blessing. We are called to worship God and be conduits of his blessing and love to the world. It is this calling that makes us unique. Sin, ultimately, is a failure to live out our vocation of being the image bearers of God.

So when the New Testament declares that Jesus is the "image of the invisible God" in Colossians 1, then what is being said is that Jesus is the only one to perfectly live out this vocation. Jesus alone has worshipped perfectly and shown the blessings, holiness, and love of God perfectly. He is the fulfillment of what we were called to be.

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