How Imago Dei Changes Everything

Every culture has a value system that is shaped by core beliefs, and western civilization is no exception. Whether you believe in biblical Christianity or not, you have been fundamentally shaped by its ideas. In this lesson we’ll investigate one of those ideas and how it has impacted the freedoms we take for granted. 

Very Good

Of all God’s creation in Genesis 1, human beings seem to stand out the most. Read it for yourself: first God created day and night, land and sea. Later he created plants and trees, followed by fish and birds and animals. After all of this creative work, God declared that “it is good”. But he wasn’t done. On the final day of creation, after everything was in place and the whole world was prepared, God created human beings. That’s when he updated his assessment of his handiwork:

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1:31‬ Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! And evening passed and morning came, marking the sixth day.

What is it about human beings that got a “very good” from the Creator when everything else was merely called “good”? The answer is found in the latin words Imago Dei, a concept first seen a few verses earlier:

Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us….”

In God’s image. Imago Dei. From the first chapter in the Bible, humanity is dignified, not debased. People are different from trees and toads and tadpoles because only human beings are made “in the image of God.” This means we are like God in certain ways, such as mentally (we have the capacity to think and create), relationally (we were designed to be in relationship with others) and spiritually (there’s a part of us that lives forever). Imago Dei is also a reference to humanity’s responsibility to “reign” and represent God to the rest of creation. 

So human beings are the crowning achievement of God’s creation, the masterpiece of his creativity. This gives every human being inherent value and dignity, and it’s the key to understanding God’s attitude toward the world. More than anything else in all of creation, people matter to God. 

Life, Liberty, Happiness

Imago Dei is the basis for blessing all of mankind in the most practical way: it opens the door to the freedoms we have come to expect. The greatest political experiment in history started in 1776 when 56 brave men signed their names to the Declaration of Independence. The inspiration for that moment can be traced to the biblical concept of Imago Dei. Consider those famous words: 

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

The Founding Fathers recognized that there was an authority higher than an English monarch, a human government, or even a group of revolutionaries. God himself was seen as the source of all human rights, and it’s because of Imago Dei that those courageous men made their claim to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

Consider the right to life. Where does this come from in the Bible? God makes it clear in his instructions to Noah, and the message should sound familiar:

Genesis 9:6 If anyone takes a human life, that person’s life will also be taken by human hands. For God made human beings in his own image.

Human life is sacred, according to the Bible, because man is made in the image of God. This concept is built into every one of us, which is why we are moved to compassion and righteous anger when we hear stories of the holocaust or see the senseless murder of innocent victims in our day.

And what about the right to “liberty?” This concept is remarkably new to human history, as the vast majority of civilizations failed to offer individual personal freedoms. Even some modern regimes have overlooked this basic right on their way to brutalizing their own citizens. Yet God himself modeled an open-handed style of leadership toward Adam:

Genesis 2:16-17 But the LORD God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden — except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”

From the very beginning, God blessed Adam and Eve with every good thing, and then he gave them the liberty to make their own choices, for better or for worse. The self-evident right to individual liberty comes from the God of the Bible.

And then there’s the “pursuit of happiness” – a concept that is uniquely rooted in the Christian ethic. Many people today view God as a cosmic killjoy, a grumpy old man determined to make our lives miserable. Indeed, misery has been the reality for most of humanity, and many religions are built around explaining its existence. But Christianity is a faith filled with optimism, captured best in Paul’s commandment to the church at Philippi:

Philippians 4:4 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice!

Long before the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence, God invited all people to experience life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And remarkably his invitation extends to all of humanity, not just his followers – because he has made all of us in his image. 

A Purpose in Life

Imago Dei also helps us to answer a timeless question: what is the meaning of life? God’s nature provides a clue. Because God is love (1 John 4:16) – and we are made in his image – our purpose is to love. Jesus himself made this clear one day to a group of spiritual leaders. They asked him to identify the most important of the Ten Commandments, and his answer caught them off guard:

Matthew 22:37-40 Jesus replied, “‘You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

In answering their question, Jesus intentionally avoided naming any of the Ten Commandments. Instead, he cited the “Shema” – the framing idea behind all of the commandments. He was making a point: humans are built for relationships, not for rules. The religious leaders were focused on laws; Jesus was focused on love.

Consider the order Jesus prescribes in the verses above: love God, love others, love yourself. This was a radically new religious idea in Jesus’ day, and it flows from Imago Dei. Being created in the image of God means you have the capacity for a real relationship with the God who created you. This relationship transforms your whole way of relating to others, and so you are able to practically love your neighbor. And ultimately you are given permission to love yourself – because your value comes from who you are, not from what you’ve done.  

Imago Dei, then, gives every human dignity. It provides the basis for all human rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. And it inspires us with a purpose: to love God, others, and even ourselves.