The Rambling Disciple

Over the as several weeks we have been examining different views on what it means to be made in God's Image. Each of them, I think, is valid and speaks to the truth of the situation. Ultimately I think a more robust view is one that incorporates all of them into one. Here is a brief summary of each to refresh our memory. Functional View - This view holds that being made in the Image of God refers to our calling or vocation here on the earth. We are called to be God's image in his cosmic temple, which means being conduits of praise up to God and conduits of blessing down from God. This primarily focuses on our function or purpose in creation. Structural View - This view holds that being made in the Image of God is about our design, or structure, of being both physical and spiritual beings. Every human being is both physical and spiritual. This uniqueness makes us made in God's Image in this world as we alone of all the creatures of the world are truly spiritual and in touch ...

The last few weeks we have been examining different views on what it means to be made in the Image of God. The first was the functional view, that being made in God's Image is a calling and vocation we live out. The second was the structural view, that what it is is how we were designed by God as both physical and spiritual beings. Last week we discussed the communal view, that being made in God's Image has to do with us being made for community, much as God is community in the Trinity. This week we are going to talk about the last view, that we are made in God's Image by virtue of our use of language. Language is something unique to human beings in this world. While other animals communicate with one another none do so with the sophistication as human beings. It is this ability to communicate that some believe is, at least in part, of what makes us made in God's Image. When God created the heavens and the earth the Bible specifies that he spoke everything into being. I...

The last two weeks we have examined two different views on what it means that we are made in the Image of God. The first was the functional view, that it means our vocation and calling in the world. The second is the structural view, that it means our very design as both physical and spiritual beings. This week we will look at the communal view, which holds that what it means to be made in God's Image is the fact that we were made for community. First we must remember that God is Trinity. God is an eternal community of self-giving love between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There was never a time when this was not true, nor will there ever be one. The fundamental truth about God is the Trinity. This view takes this into consideration and views the Image of God as meaning communal. After all, God himself declared that it "was not good for man to be alone" in Genesis 2:18. Since God is community and we are made in his Image, then we too must be made for community. We see...

Last week we examined the view that what it means to be the Image of God is a function. It is the vocation that we are called to live out on the earth as God's regents. While I think this view has a lot to offer and holds true to the witness to scripture it is not the only view on the table. Today we will be discussing the structural view, which is probably the most traditional view. What I mean by structure is the way we as human beings are designed. This does not refer to our physical bodies so much as it does our whole person. Human beings are created by God as both physical and spiritual beings. We are both physical and spiritual. Some would say we are body and soul while others (with which I tend to agree) would say we are body, soul, and spirit. Regardless of the specific view one holds some believe that this combination of being both physical and spiritual is what makes us the Image of God in the world. The view holds that it is the fact that we are physical beings, like ani...

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...