By David Closson | ERLC.com
Published in May of 2016
SUMMARY: There are three basic understandings of what it means to be made in the image of God. One is a structural view that believes humans’ ability to reason and have a conscience reflects the image of God. Another theory is relational where being made in God’s image means living in a relationship with God and other people. The third view is functional where humans are representatives of God on earth. Whichever theory that one ascribes to it dictates how we are to interact with the world and our fellow human beings — we are to treat people with “dignity and respect irrespective of gender, race, age, nationality or economic status because we remember our King’s words that as we did for ‘the least of these my brothers, you did also to me'” (Matt. 25:40).
KEY QUOTE: “The fact that human beings are created in God’s image shapes the Christian worldview and affects how we see God, the world and one another. It informs how we understand the rest of the Bible’s story and provides a theological foundation for ethics and engagement. In short, a proper understanding of the image of God should animate everything we do, and as a result, we should endeavor to define it biblically; this will enable us to then survey what issues Christians should care about.”
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