************ Sermon on Heidelberg Catechism Q & A 6 ************
Doctrine: The Image of God in Man
By: Rev. Adrian Dieleman
This sermon was preached on February 20, 2000
Q & A 6
Gen 1:26-31; Eph 4:24; Col 3:10
"Good and in His Image"
Introduction
As we all know, the first human beings originally lived a perfect life in a perfect place. Theirs was life with and in God. Theirs was an entire paradise to do with what they wanted. The only thing God did not permit them to do was eat fruit from a mysterious tree called "the tree of the knowledge of good and evil."
One day the Great Deceiver came up to Eve and centered his sales pitch on that tree. "When you eat of it," he said, "your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Gen 3:5).
Eve fell for this line. We all know the misery and suffering that resulted.
The tragedy here is that it was so unnecessary. Adam and Eve already were like God. They both were made in God's image and likeness.
According to a song we sing we are "worms" or "worthless." One of our baptism forms advise us to "loathe ourselves" (Baptism of Infants, Form Number 1). Sermons, according to some, miss the mark unless you leave the service feeling guilty and rotten about yourself.
This sort of outlook is wrong for two reasons. First, while we cannot underestimate sin in the life of God's people, the Bible's emphasis is not on their sin but on their redemption, their renewal, their being born again. There are too many Christians who tend to look only at depravity and not the new life. Second, we are made in the image of God. This means Christ Jesus did not die for junk or worms; rather, He redeems image bearers.
If you remember, the Law of God requires man to love God above all and to love his neighbor as he loves himself. But man is unable to do this. Rather, the natural, sinful tendency of man is to hate God and neighbor. That is the awful truth about man's existence. To say this is to admit there is something wrong or defective about man.
Who is to be blamed for this defect? Who has to take responsibility for our flawed nature? Is this defect something that is built into us?
I Can We Blame God?
A Quite naturally man attempts to blame God before anyone else. After all, He is the Maker. Listen to the accusation leveled against God in Question 6: "Did God create man so wicked and perverse?"
The charge here is that man is flawed in nature and character, that man is so hateful and miserable, because God made him that way. God is being accused here of shoddy workmanship. There is a manufacturer's defect in man. Or, perhaps God should have used better materials.
In the past two months many manufacturers have recalled defective products.
For instance, five batches of Vanceril, an inhaled prescription medication for asthma, are being recalled by the manufacturer because some canisters may not contain the active drug.
Two bicycle companies recalled more than 22,000 men's mountain bikes because their frames can break apart and cause falls and serious injury to riders.
Model year 2000 Chevrolet Luminas manufactured last October have been recalled because the passenger side air bag may explode.
Question 6 asks whether there is a bug or defect in the way God has made man. Should God attempt to fix or improve His product? Should God have a manufacturer's recall?
B At first glance, the charge of Question 6 strikes us as scandalous or even blasphemous. Yet, when we think about it, it is not all that unique a charge. God is often blamed for man's miserable condition.
Scientists and doctors now realize that chromosomes and genetic structure lean a person towards alcoholism, drug abuse, homosexuality, or certain kinds of personality defects.
"Did God create man so wicked and perverse?" Did God create certain people with this predisposition towards alcoholism or homosexuality?
Many would say "Yes." These people blame alcoholism, drug abuse, and homosexuality on this genetic predisposition. These people forget that a person with tendencies towards alcoholism or homosexuality does not necessarily have to become a practicing alcoholic or homosexual – rather, he or she, by the power of Christ, is to control this tendency.
"Did God create man so wicked and perverse?"
II God Created Man Good and in His Image
A The Bible's and the Catechism's answer is "No." God did not "create man so wicked and perverse."
The trouble did not start with God. "God is light; in him there is no darkness at all" (1 Jn 1:5). Anyone who, in reckless anger or in theological argument, would want to make God responsible for our mess has transgressed the limits and has become a fool.
B We have two reasons for saying we can't blame God. First, our origin lies with God. It is God who made us. But God is good. And, He created man good. Genesis 1:31 says it all: "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good." The light and darkness, the sun and moon, the sky and earth, the water and land, the birds and fish, the animals and man – it was all very good. No mistakes in this creation; no shoddy workmanship; it was good and perfect and without a single flaw. God did not build in any evil; filth; sin; pollution; predisposition towards alcoholism, drug abuse, homosexuality; nor any kinds of personality defects. All that God made was "very good." All that God made was without defect.
Second, says Scripture, we can't blame God for man's sin and misery because God created man "in his own image." In the beginning God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness" (Gen 1:26). "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him" (Gen 1:27).
C What does it mean to be created in the image of God? The Catechism specifies two areas: first, the image of God in man says something about what we are; second, it says something about what we do.
First of all, the image of God in man says something about what we are. According to the Catechism to be in the image of God means God has created us in "true righteousness and holiness." To be righteous means to be without sin or the taint of sin. To be holy means to be "perfect, transcendent, or spiritually pure." In other words, when we were first created we did not have a natural tendency to hate God and our neighbor.
We find this aspect of the image of God in man taught in Ephesians 4:24 and Colossians 3:10. According to these two passages the renewed image of God in the church and her members consists of righteousness, holiness, and knowledge. These qualities reveal themselves through love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (what is more commonly known as the fruit of the Spirit).
D Secondly, the image of God in man also says something about what we do.
The Catechism explains what this means. God created man good and in His own image
so that he might
truly know God his creator,
love him with all his heart,
and live with him in eternal happiness
for his praise and glory.
Being made in the image God means it is our calling to serve and worship and love the Lord.
When we look at Genesis 1:26 we can only conclude that dominion, or ruling, or earth-keeping is also part of what we do as image-bearers of God. Listen to this verse:
(Gen 1:26) Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.
God has made man responsible for taking good care of the earth, making sure that water and air are clean, for instance, and that forests and other natural gifts are protected. God wants us to use soil intelligently and to handle animals well. God is, of course, the ultimate ruler over all these things, but He has seen fit to share His ruling by giving us a part to play in it. We are earth-rulers or earth-keepers. Whenever we do this, whenever we exercise dominion, we image God.
When we look at Genesis 1:27 we see something else we do as image-bearers of God. Listen to this verse:
(Genesis 1:27) So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
What is it that we can say about being made male and female? God has created us to fellowship, to commune, with one another; He has created us to love one another and find companionship in one another. Whenever we know and love other human beings, we image God. Whenever we act rightly – showing kindness, for example, or helping someone who isn't attractive, or telling only the truth about others – we are imaging God. To act like God is to show God's likeness to the world.
Scripture makes a point of telling us that Christ Jesus is the image of God (2 Cor 4:4; Col 1:15). And we are to imitate Christ and be conformed to Him and have His attitude (Eph 5:1,2; Rom 8:29; Phil 2:5). Which means that any Christlike virtue, any imitation of Him, any conformity to Him, is part of the image of God in man.
E God, then, created man good and in His own image.
Do you realize what this means? It means we are special in God's sight. There is no need for any of us to have a negative self image. There is no need for any of us to be insecure about self. Of everything in creation we alone are made in God's image. We are holy and special.
Topic: Man
Subtopic: Created in God's Image
Index: 2239
Date: 7/1994.29
Title:
Why is it, then, that men go abroad to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars; and yet they pass by themselves without wondering.
III Goodness and Image Distorted
A God created man good and in His own image. Yet, can there be any doubt that there is something seriously wrong with man? Sin and evil, the absence of love and the presence of hate, are part of everyday life on our planet. We all experience this daily in our own lives.
Does this mean that only Adam and Eve were created good? No. But when they sinned, man's natural goodness was destroyed.
Does this mean that man is no longer in God's image? No. When man sinned he distorted the image of God he was created in. Look at it this way. Have you ever looked in a steamed-up mirror after a shower? You can barely see your image. And what you can see is dim and distorted. It's the same way with the image of God in man. Before the Fall into sin it was like looking in a clear mirror. After the Fall it is like looking into a steamed up mirror. The image is still there, but you have to look hard to see it and it is badly distorted.
As I explained to the boys and girls (HOLD UP CRUMPLED, DIRTY $50 BILL), many times in our lives we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the sins we do and the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, we will never lose our value in God's eyes. To Him, dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, we are still priceless because we are made in His image.
B 2 Corinthians 5:17 has some good news for us: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come." In Christ the mirror is wiped clean. Our sins are washed away by the blood of Jesus and once again it can be seen we are created good and in God's image.
In Christ, it is possible for us "to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness" (Eph 4:24). And, in Christ, it is possible for us to "put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator" (Col 3:10). In Christ, in other words, we are recreated in the perfection we once had.
Topic: Christ
Subtopic: Power of
Index: 3807
Date: 7/1994.5
Title:
Gutson Borglum was the sculptor who carved the massive figures of four American presidents -- Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt -- on Mt. Rushmore in South Dakota. When asked how he produced the amazing work, he replied, "Those figures were there for forty million years. All I had to do was dynamite 400,000 tons of granite to bring them into view."
In the same way, Christ shapes our lives, chipping away those things that must go. And when He is done, the image of God in man that has always been there comes into view. In this life, however, only the smallest beginning is made in attaining our previous perfection. We have to wait for our future life before the goodness and image we were first created with is fully recovered and becomes fully evident.