The Five-Minute Philosopher by Gerald Benedict

Author:Gerald Benedict
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: The Five-Minute Philosopher
ISBN: 9781780281292
Publisher: Duncan Baird Publishers Limited
Published: 2011-01-05T00:00:00+00:00

Are we “made” in the image of God?

For biblical religions, the idea that we are fashioned in the image of God has its origin in the Genesis myth of creation, but is reaffirmed by the myth of Jesus’ birth, described as an incarnation. According to the first, we are told that we bore God’s likeness; in the second, that God assumed human form. Genesis, however, gives a dual account of the creation of man. In chapter two (2:7) we learn that “the Lord God formed man from the dust of the earth. He blew into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.” Then in chapter five (5:1) we are given man’s genealogy: “This is the record of Adam’s line. When God created man, He made him in the likeness of God.” This account suggests that we resemble God in much the same way that a child resembles its parents.

The Genesis myth is not suggesting that our resemblance to God is physical: since Jesus tells us in John 4:24 that “God is spirit,” being made in the image of God clearly carries another interpretation. Those who hold a fundamentalist view of creation will address this question positively and literally; while others have taken the view that in resembling God spiritually we partake of his essential nature. Potentially, like any growing child, we are therefore able to aspire to the state of a higher spiritual being. However, we are not mere reflections or clones of the Divine: each of us is unique and, according to biblical theology, the image we each carry is a distortion of God’s imprint.

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