Made in the Image of God

Can the Bible help us understand where we came from? Many say ‘no’, but there is much about us that makes sense in light of what the Bible says.  For example, consider what the Bible teaches about our beginnings.  In the first chapter it says:


“In the Image of God”

What does it mean that mankind was created ‘in the image of God’?  It does not mean that God has two arms and a head.  Rather it is saying that our basic characteristics come from God.  In the Bible, God can be sad, hurt, angry or joyful – the same emotions that we have.   We make choices and decisions every day.  God also makes choices and decisions.  We can think and God also thinks.  Being ‘made in the image of God’ means that we have mind, emotions and will because God has mind, emotions and will and He created us to be like him in these ways.  He is the source of what we are.


Why do we like beauty?

We also value art, drama and beauty. We need beauty in our surroundings.  Music enriches our lives and makes us dance.  We love good stories because stories have heroes, villains, and drama. Great stories put these heroes, villains and drama into our imaginations.  We use art in its many forms to entertain, relax and refresh ourselves because God is an artist and we are in his image.  It is a question worth asking:  Why do we look for beauty in art, drama, music, dance, nature or literature?  Daniel Dennett, an outspoken atheist and an expert on understanding the brain, answers from a non-Bible perspective:



Why we are Moral

Being ‘made in God’s image’ explains our morals.  We understand what ‘wrong’ behaviour is and what ‘good’ behaviour is – even though our languages and cultures are very different.  Moral reasoning is ‘in’ us.  As the famous atheist Richard Dawkins puts it:


Dawkins explains that right and wrong is built into us like our ability to have language, but it is difficult for him to explain why we are like this.  Misunderstandings happen when we do not acknowledge God as giving us our moral compass.  Take for example this objection from another famous atheist, Sam Harris.



Why are we so Relational


On the other hand, loneliness and broken family relationships or friendships stress us.  If we are in God’s image, then we would expect to find this same emphasis with God – and we do.  The Bible says that “God is Love…” (1 John 4:8).  The Bible writes much about the importance that God places on our love for him and for others. Jesus taught that the two most important commands in the Bible are about love.

So we should think of God as a lover.  If we only think of Him as the ‘Benevolent Being’ we are not thinking of the Biblical God – rather we have made up a god in our imagination.  Though He is that, He is also passionate in relationship.  He does not ‘have’ love.  He ‘is’ love.  The two most prominent Biblical pictures of God are that of a father to his children and a husband to his wife.  Those are not distant relationships but are the deepest and most intimate of human relationships.  The Bible says that God is like that.

So let us summarize.  People are made in God’s image, meaning mind, emotions and will.  We are aware of self and others. We know the difference between right and wrong.  We need beauty, drama, art and story in all its forms. We naturally seek out relationships and friendships with others. All people have these traits because God is like this and we are made in God’s image.  We continue next to see the Bible’s explanation of why our relationships almost always disappoint us and why God seems so distant. Why our deepest longings never seem to work out.