man the image of God
What does it mean that God created man in his own image? Lesslie Newbigin (1909--1998), British theologian and missionary to India, wrote in answer to this question,
"All will agree that this is one of the fundamental texts of the Bible. Let us consider it somewhat closely. What is meant by 'The Image of God'? It is obvious that we do not mean that man's outward appearance is the same as God's. God has no outward appearance. God is Spirit; man is spirit and body. But it is noteworthy that the Scripture does not say that God created man's spirit in the image of His own Spirit, but simply that God created man in His own image. 'Male and female created he them.' But what is meant by 'in his image'?
"The image of a king's head on a coin is part of the coin and cannot be separated from it. Even if the king dies, the image remains on the coin. But there is another kind of image. On a still and cloudless night we may see the image of the moon in the water of a lake. So long as the water is unruffled by wind, and the moon not covered by cloud, the image will shine out clear and beautiful. But if a cloud comes between the moon and the earth, the image will disappear or if the water is ruffled by wind, the image will be scattered and distorted. Thus the image of the moon in the water does not belong to the water in the same way that the image of the king on the coin belongs to the coin. The image depends upon a certain relation between the moon and the water. If this relation is broken, the image is distorted or lost.
"This parable will give us some help in understanding the image of God in man. It is more like the image in the water than the image on the coin. It depends for its existence upon a relation between God and man. The difference between man and every other creature is that man's manhood consists in his relation with God. A dog's dogginess is in itself. But man's humanity is not in himself; it is in the relation between himself and God. If that is destroyed, he ceases to be human and becomes a brute. Man's humanity consists in living in a relation of loving trust and obedience towards God, and in God's love of him. When man turns away from God, the image is distorted and spoiled; if God were to turn away from man, the image of God would be completely lost and man would no longer be human.
"Thus the nature of man is that he was made in love, by love, for love. Love is the source and end of his being. Therefore man cannot live alone. For this reason, in the very same verse in which the Scripture tells us that God created man in His own image, it goes on to say 'male and female created he them'. When God created man He did not create an individual; He created man-and-woman. For God is not an individual; God is personal but He is not a person. He is a Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, one God; one personal being in whom love is perfect and complete because love is both given and received. The Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father, in the unity of the Holy Spirit. When we say 'God is Love', we mean that the fulness of love exists in God. But fulness of love only exists where love is both given and received. Fulness of love cannot exist in an individual. Therefore also when God created man in His own image, He created him male and female. The image of God is not seen in an individual man, but in man-and-woman bound together in love. Thus God has placed in the very constitution of man the need for and the possibility of love.
"We are now able to see clearly what it means that God created man in His own image. It means that man's essential nature is to be found in a reflecting of God's love.
"Man's existence is in the relationship of love to God and love to other human beings. We shall see later how this image has become distorted because man has used the possibility of love for the purpose of self-love."
-- From Sin and Salvation, by Lesslie Newbigin (Westminster Press, 1956), pp 16-18.
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