The Image of God 2 Corinthians 3:17-18 July 20, 2008 When
we have the church picnic I usually preach a sermon that connects the gospel
to this outdoor setting of God’s revelation in the natural world. I
will start this sermon in this same manner. In Psalm 8:3-4 King David looks
at the wonder of God’s creation and he says this: 3 When I
consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, David ponders the question: “What is
man?” The Biblical answer is that man is a creature made in the image
of God. Today I want to explore this biblical concept of the image of God.
There are three points. I.
First, man is made in the image of God. In the first chapter of the Bible on
the sixth day of creation, “God
said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let
them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and
over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps
on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own
image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created
them.” The big question then becomes: “What does this
mean?” Christian philosophers and theologians have given all kinds of
answers to the question: what is the image of God? Some say it is the soul of
man that distinguishes him from the animals. Others say that it is the mind
of man – the rational and intellectual part of him. Some say it has to
do with his dominion over the other creatures on the earth. Others have said that
the image of God is the creativity of man or language or man’s
self-awareness. I think that is too much thinking. I believe
the answer is much simpler than that. When you look in the mirror you see
your image. When people look at a photograph of you, they see your image. When
people look at us they see the image of God. We are in a sense a reflection
of God, a representation of God. The word “image” is used
hundreds of times in the OT to refer to idols. Idols were the images of pagan
gods, physical representations of those deities. The Hebrew God had no idol, no
image, no physical representation of God. In fact
the second of the Ten Commandments prohibited making any image of God. That
is because God made one himself; we are made in the image of God. We are a
physical representation of God. Simply put, we look like God. Not physically
of course. God is Spirit. So it does not mean that God in heaven looks like a
middle-aged balding white man with a beard. Heaven forbid! That is making God
in our image! Neither is God is a black woman, like
in Young’s book “The Shack.” We are made in the image of
God in a nonmaterial sense. There is something about a human being that is
the image and likeness of God unlike any other creature on earth. The Bible
doesn’t say that the animals are made in the image of God or that the
mountains or oceans or the heavens are made in the image of God. It says that
human beings – male and female – are made in the image of God.
Again, what does it mean? 1.
For one thing it refers to the sacredness of human life. This is made clear
in Genesis 9:6 where God establishes capital punishment for the crime of
murder. It says, “Whoever sheds
man’s blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He
made man.” The OT, even before the Law of Moses, understands that
when a person kills a person, he is attacking the image of God. When our nation’s
enemies burn American flags, we understand what it means. It is not an attack
on a piece of cloth or on the colors red, white and blue, but on our nation
and what it stands for. When people burn books, we understand it is not an
attack against paper and glue but against the ideas on those pages. When a
person kills a person they are attacking not just flesh and blood, but the
image of God crafted in flesh and blood. To say that man is made in the image
of God means that human life is sacred – from womb to tomb, in sickness
or health, of whatever race or ethnic origin or culture. Human life is
sacred. 2.
The image of God also means is that we belong to God. On one occasion some
Pharisees joined with some Herodians to trap Jesus.
They came to him and asked, 17
Tell us, therefore, what do You think? Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar,
or not?” 18 But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said,
“Why do you test Me, you hypocrites? [which is an interesting
choice of words in this context because hypocrite literally means one who
wears a mask, an image which hides one’s true likeness] 19
Show Me the tax money.” So they brought Him a denarius.
20 And He said to them, “Whose image and inscription is
this?” 21 They said to Him, “Caesar’s.”
And He said to them, “Render therefore to Caesar the things that are
Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” (Matthew
22:17-21) The image of Caesar was on Roman money, and therefore it belonged
to Caesar and should be rendered to Caesar. Gold or silver coins were stamped
with the image of Caesar. We are stamped with the image of God. Therefore we
are God’s! We belong to God. Therefore render to Caesar what is
Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s. That is what the image of God
means. II.
Second, Christ is the image of God. The Bible says that we are made in
the image of God, but it says that Christ is the image of God. The
Letter to the Hebrews begins with these words: “1 God, who at various times and in various ways
spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these
last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all
things, through whom also He made the worlds; 3 who being the
brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and
upholding all things by the word of His power….” Colossians
1:15 “He is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn over all creation.” 2 Corinthians 4:3-4 says, “3 But even if our
gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, 4 whose
minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of
the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on
them.” Christ
is unique in the history of the universe and the history of religions because
he was both man and God. He was both made in the image of God and he is the uncreated
image of God. He is truly human and truly divine. These are both essential
elements in Christian theology. If a person holds to only one of these
beliefs about Christ without the other, then he is not a Christian in the
traditional and historical sense of the term. Because of his dual nature Christ
did what no other man could ever do. He led a sinless life. No other man has
ever done that. Also he could offer himself as a sacrifice for sins of
others. No one else could do that. In the Bible the only means of salvation
is by sacrifice. That is one of the reasons why we have the OT in our Bible.
If you read the Bible from cover to cover it is not long before you get
immersed in lengthy descriptions of sacrifice. It is there for a reason. It
is the only way man can approach God. Those Old Covenant sacrifices were
preparations for the perfect New Covenant sacrifice which alone could take
away sin: the sacrifice of Jesus Christ upon the Cross. He was the only
person who could do that because he was both man and God. Therefore his sacrifice
was all sufficient, perfect and eternal. The
other important point about the dual nature of Christ is that Christ can be
the perfect model for us as human beings. As the express and perfect image of
God, he showed us what a human life should look like. When you take a
photograph you have to focus the camera to get a clear image. Even with autofocus cameras you still see the image move from
blurry to clear with a press of a button. We are all made in the image of
God, but it is a very fuzzy image. We are out of focus. We do not represent
God very well on earth. But Christ did it perfectly. People look at you and me
and they see sinners. Man is made in the image of God, but that image is
dirtied and scratched and blurry and distorted by sin. People look at Jesus
and they see a perfectly clear representation of God on earth. He is the
perfect Man, authentic Man, the perfect image of God. Therefore he is one we
can look at in order to see what we should look like. III.
This brings me to my third point: the Christian life is the process of being
conformed to the image of Christ. There are three things the Bible says about
this. 1.
First, we are predestined to be conformed to the image of Christ. Romans 8:29
says, “For whom He foreknew, He
also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He
might be the firstborn among many brethren.” We are predestined to
be like Jesus. We are meant to look like Jesus – not physically but
spiritually. That was the plan from the very beginning of creation and from
before our birth. The Letter to the Ephesians starts off: “Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every
spiritual blessing in the heavenly places
in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of
the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.…
” People sometimes wonder what their destiny and purpose in life
is. This is it – to be conformed to the image of Christ. That is why we
are here. That is why were made. That was our purpose before we were
conceived in our mother’s womb. God said to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were
born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” We
might not be ordained to be a prophet, but we are all sanctified, set apart
as holy to be conformed to the image of his Son. 2.
Second, we will be conformed to the image of Christ in heaven. This was our
destiny from the beginning of time and it will be our reality in heaven. In
heaven we will be conformed to the image of this Son. John says, “Beloved, now we are children of
God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when
He is revealed, we shall be like Him,
for we shall see Him as He is.” (I John 3:2) We are called saints,
and are called to be saints, and we will be saints in heaven. I was at a
Chinese restaurant a couple of weeks ago and my fortune in the fortune cookie
was this: “You will soon achieve perfection.” I am not sure what
the Chinese cookie makers had in mind, and I am not so sure that I am going
to soon achieve perfection. But I know in heaven I shall be perfect. We shall
be perfect - perfection achieved not by my own efforts or by hundreds of
years spent in purgatory atoning for our sins or by hundreds of rebirths on
earth, but by the grace of God accomplished by the completed work of Jesus on
the cross. As children of God we shall be conformed to the image of
God’s Son Jesus Christ. Every
once in a while someone will ask me if they will recognize their loved ones
in heaven. I tell them yes, but they will look different because they shall
be perfect. We do not look perfect now and we do not act perfect. But then we
shall be perfect. I Corinthians 13 says, “10but
when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears…. 12Now we see but a poor
reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in
part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” I
Corinthians 15 47 “The
first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is
the Lord from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so
also are those who are made of dust; and as is the
heavenly Man, so also are those who
are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the man
of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly 3.
This leads to my last point, which is that we are now being transformed into
his image. This process is happening now. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, “And we, who with unveiled faces all
reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with
ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”
Colossians 3:9 says, “9Do
not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its
practices 10and have put on the new self, which
is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” The
Christian life is one of transformation from what we are to what we will
become. Romans 12:2 “And do not
be conformed to this world,
but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is
that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” We
sing the song “They’ll know we are Christians by our love.”
It is true; the greatest of Christian characteristics is love, for God is
love. But it is also true of all the other fruit of the Spirit and all the
other Christian virtues. We are not perfect now but we should be headed toward
that direction. Social research
repeatedly shows that when it comes to ethical behavior Christians do not act
very differently than those who do not profess to believe in Christ. In some
areas Christians are even worse than the general population! If that is true,
then something is seriously wrong. For the Bible says that Christians “are being transformed into his likeness
with ever-increasing glory.” It says Christians “have taken off your old self with its
practices 10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed
in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” May we practice what we preach. May people look at us and see something different
than what they see in the world. May they look at us and see the image of God
and one who is being transformed into the image of the one we call our Lord
and Savior - Jesus Christ.
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