The Image of God

The Image of God is a vocation to rule as God’s ambassadors
through His wisdom. Gen 1:26-29, Psalm 8:4-8


We are cracked images and have tried to rule to world and live by
our own wisdom (idolatry). Romans 3:23


Jesus is truly human one who faithfully and correctly images God.
2 Cor 3:18, 2 Cor 4:4, Rom 8:29


The Holy Spirit is at work within us to conform us to the image
of Christ


To image God in community (with God and others) on this earth in
resurrected bodies for eternity


The Bible begins with Eden and ends with Eden


God’s plan has not changed from beginning to end


The image of God is the royal office or calling of human beings
as God’s representatives and agents in the world. Image of God
means that humans have been given power to share in God’s rule or
administration of the earth’s resources and creatures.


- J Richard Middleton (The Liberating Image)


The notion of the “image” doesn’t refer to a particular spiritual
endowment, a secret “property” that humans possess somewhere in
their genetic makeup, something that might be found by a
scientific observation of humans as opposed to chimps. The image
is a vocation, a calling. It is the call to be an angled mirror,
reflecting God’s wise order into the world and reflecting the
praises of all creation back to the Creator. That is what it
means to be the royal priesthood: looking after God’s world is
the royal bit, summing up creation’s praise is the priestly bit.


– NT Wright (The Lost World of Adam and Eve)