I can be fickle. I started studying Romans one-on-one with my Nazarene pastor some time ago, and I also thought it would be good to record my own thoughts in addition to our expository conversations. So, I started gnawing through it, verse by verse, phrase by phrase, word by word...and I got bored. It was slightly boring to read, think, and write about the same things day after day, especially on days when I'd barely get through one or two verses. So, I put that on hold (just like my 1 John commentary is on hold), and started to read through whole books of the New Testament. This I greatly enjoyed - I was able to see context, insight, and logic to arguments that I couldn't see going section by section or chapter by chapter. However, as Matt so geniously commented to me one time, something got lost in reading so much. It was hard to focus on any one part of it.
So, this prompted me to go back, once again, to my Reflections on the Bible (Matt, I think you know about these). Basically, I read a chapter of the bible a day, find something that sticks out, reflect and write on it. I used to email them to a bunch of different people, partly for our mutual nourishment and partially for accountability. Now, I decided to do this again (at least until my fickle self decides to do something else for a bit), but not with the New Testament. I'm disheartened by my lack of insight and understanding of the Old Testament, so I'm going to start there this time. I'm encouraged by the fact that when Paul referred to the benefit of Scripture, he was referring to the Old Testament. So, here begins my attack on the OT, one chapter at a time. Enjoy...and beware, I plan to flood this place with them.
“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 birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
Genesis 1:26-27
These verses are shrouded in mystery. These verses require us to simply accept them, not unpack them. I don’t even think it’s possible to unpack these. These are like mathematical axioms: they are set forth as true, with all else moving forward under that assumption. An axiom is not questioned or debated, it simply states, “this is true; now go on with it.”
Perhaps I’m a bit biased. I have seen these verses used for great harm, I believe. For example, I can point to the notion about being made in God’s image. I don’t know about you, but I can only guess as to what this might be. It could simply be behaviorally, in that we have a will and are not driven by instinct like animals. It could be that we can think, create, love, etc. It could be that we have emotions. It could be that we have an ability to reign over creation and each other, and due to the content of verse 26, I would presume that this is the case. However, people have used this verse as proof of goodness in man (how can we be entirely evil if we are made in God’s image?), despite the Bible’s many many repeated statements that we are not good (no, not one!). But once again, preconceived ideas abound in this interpretation. We are taking this verse beyond where we can go with it.
Once again, I began reading a book on prayer by Dr. Myles Munroe that had, as its foundation, the thought that when God said, “let them have dominion…,” that it meant that “any influence or interference from the supernatural realm on earth is only legal through mankind” ! In fact, the subtitle for the book is “Earthly license for heavenly interference.” Now, of all that I know about the bible, I will say that prayer is still mysterious to me. I’ve read this book and that book on it, but I’m still so skeptical about the prayers I see among believers, and am only beginning to study biblical prayers. That being said, I am 100% certain that God cannot do nothing on earth unless we pray. To limit God’s ability to reign by fickle and imperfect man’s desires and attempts to “correct the world” is plain silly. This theology of prayer falls apart. But I digress: do you see how attempts to unpack the mystery of this verse leads only to packing this verse full of a preconceived idea?
What does it mean to be made in the image of God? It is worth pondering, yes. Certainly it is. However, the Bible (at least to my limited knowledge) doesn’t elaborate on the depth of the meaning of this phrase. We can speculate all we want, but we cannot unpack the full substance of this. For such a grand statement, that we are modeled after God, has to be beyond our reign. But “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12).
So here we are: at the pinnacle of creation, God’s thoughts in the creation of human beings are revealed. We are told that we are similar to the Trinity (for we are made in “our” image), and that we are the “kings” of the earth, if you’ll allow that language. What can this all mean? I would think that it’s deeper than we could guess, and maybe beyond our comprehension. But what I will not do is claim to unpack the mystery, especially when I know that all I will be unpacking is just an extension of everything I already believe.
It seems best to me to marvel at this, and not use this as a verse as support for this or that doctrine. It seems best to me that these verses be held up in our minds to motivate worship for the glory of it all. O the glory of it all!
Lord, it is amazing to think that I am of the highest order of created beings, and that You thought of Yourself in the creation of us. It is humbling to think of such things, Lord. May it not make me proud or conceited. May I instead live worthy of such a title, which can only be done through dependence on my Father, My Savior, and My Helper. Transform this life into something that may be worthy of Your calling.
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2 comments:
Kevin,
I'm eating this up! I love it. We do truly have some tangible answer to how we are in the image of our creator in the attributes that we share with him. What, to me, is amazing is that even with as much as we know about God and this connection that we have to him in image bearing we still only see as through a shaded mirror, clouded by the fall. There must be so much more to the glory of the gospel that we simply cannot grasp. How juicy is that?!?
Here's some food for though regarding what it means to be "in the image of God." I do not claim that this is the whole meaning of the phrase. I believe, like you Kevin, that the full weight of our image bearing is beyond human grasp. However, I think there is something important to be gleaned from the linguistics of this verse.
The phrase, "made in the image of God." could have been translated, "made as the image of God." This translation is just as viable and accurate as the previous and the possibility of the double translation arises because of the imperfect move from Hebrew to English.
One of my favorite professors, Dr. Eugene Merrill, argued that, "made as the image of God" was in fact the correct translation in the context. He said this because the idea from the culture that Moses would have had in mind while writing this was that of an ancient king placing a statue, or image, of himself in a land that he controlled. This was common practice in Moses' day. The image of the kind represented the kings presence in the land. It meant, in essence, that he ruled through his image.
If we apply this insight to the Genesis account of the creation of man we can see that the primary purpose of man in creation was to glorify God by ruling over the birds and the fish and the creatures, all of the created order. Thus, man is God's vice-regent. We represent God in our primary task to rule over the created order. Just as ancient kings put stone images of themselves in far off lands to represent their rule their, God put flesh images on this earth that he might rule through us.
Again, I don't propose that this captures the entirety of what it means to be made "in (or as) the image of God" , but I think it is helpful when contemplating the amazing purposes of God in his creation.
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