Read and Think: Being God's Image
Book Review No. 1
What does it mean to be the imago dei? If you spend a short amount of time within Christian evangelical spaces, you are bound to hear this phrase used in a lecture, sermon, or small group discussion. Typically, it is used in such a way to denote an identity - literally, image of God - that is deeply-rooted in all of us, which gives dignity, worth, and purpose to every human life. But what does that mean? In what ways are we hardwired to have divinely-given purpose and worth in our day-to-day lives?
Carmen Joy Imes explains in her new book Being God’s Image that every person born into this world is created to act as a representative of God’s rule and reign over all aspects of life. We were created to display the character, power, and beauty of God in everything that we do. Of course, the impact of sin in the world has deeply marred that vision of human purpose towards self-ruling and self-glorifying ends, but it has not irreversibly done so.
The flow of the book is written in a biblical theology, or narrative theology, approach, so it overviews the purpose of humanity from selective passages in Genesis up to Revelation. With a well-articulated and easy-to-read perspective, the author bridges the academic world for lay readers in an accessible and intriguing way. She breaks her argument down into three sections: the nature of human identity and purpose in God’s created world, the human search for meaning and purpose in a fallen world, and Jesus as the way of being human in God’s new world. Let’s take a look into each of those sections.
In the beginning, Imes covers the importance of understanding why, not necessarily how, creation occurred as read in Genesis 1 and its implications for human identity as imago dei. The image of God given to humanity as a special, privileged status of ruling over all of God’s created order. As the first three days display the form of God’s creative work, the latter three show the filling of those spaces with wisely attuned creatures, with humanity as the governing centerpiece of God’s design. Both men and women were created with the divine task of stewarding the world as partners in harmony together. Being the image of God does not only define humanity’s relation with itself horizontal, but also with the created world and with God vertically as well. Our rulership, as representatives of God in reflecting his beauty, power, and wisdom, has a unique connection and access to God as creator who lovingly allows us to be gardeners within His temple-garden.
A quick glance into Genesis 3-11 will show that things did not continue in harmony. When Adam and Eve sinned under the deception of the serpent, they lost something. Was it the image of God? Imes argues that humanity did not lose the image of God - our dignity, purpose, and meaning - in the Fall but our innocence, trust, access and connection towards the Creator and his glory. Their disobedience led to sin disrupting the world and causing enmity, rather than peace and joy, between God and his earthbound representatives. Our mission was to rule over creation with the presence of God’s glory revealed, but now, with sin in the world, humans rule over creation for ourselves and for our own renown.
“To be human is to participate in creation care on God’s behalf. Our task is to care for the earth the way the Creator would. We continue God’s creative work.”
The next section focuses on how wisdom literature of the Old Testament directs humanity back into its original purpose and relationship with God and ruling well over creation in a broken world. Psalms, Proverbs, and other wisdom texts seek to orient our heart, mind, and desires into God’s good and providential will, and living alongside the Creator allows us to function in our original role under His kingship.
Imes notes the importance of godly community and intimate relationships, such as marriage in the Song of Solomon, in expanding the knowledge of God’s glory and fulfilling the role of human flourishing as image-bearing rulers. Our intrinsically woven desire to understand our place in the world comes from our God-given role as bearers of God’s image and the scriptures guide us into good and righteous living.
Books like Ecclesiastes and Job speak to the brevity of life and suffering that arises from experiences within a sin-marred world. Being a human that represents God’s rule and character is not easy in places that want nothing to do with the Creator’s design and order. Whether it’s suffering from other bad humans, terrible life choices and their consequences, or persecution for your faith, the wisdom in life’s harsh experiences teach us to make the most of our divine calling in the here-and-now. Having a humble grip on our own mortality should cause us to take seriously our identity as imago dei and fulfill our vocation and calling in a godly and holistic way.
I felt that this section of the book lacking in one particular way. Imes’ knowledge and understanding of biblical wisdom literature is insightful, and I wish she had written more on it. This part of the book is the shortest out of the three, but I think spending more time here could have brought more practical information into her work. Nonetheless, it is very valuable and well worth the read.
“Being God’s image does not exempt you from suffering and death. You are going to die. You are not indispensable. God’s purposes for creation are much larger than one person. This is a group project.”
Finally, the reality of God’s new world comes through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, who displays the imago dei in its truest and fullest form. Imes notes that Jesus is not the image of God because of his full divinity but precisely because he is fully human. Jesus upheld what it meant to be a true human living as a ruler over creation and carrying out the divine prerogative of displaying God’s dominion and glory. He not only fulfilled the calling we have failed to carry out in our own lives, but he struggled, suffered, and died without sinning or betraying his role as an image-bearing human. In fact, throughout his earthly ministry Jesus reversed the effects of sin by establishing God’s kingdom on earth through his miraculous and teaching ministry, dying sacrificially for the sins of the world, and closing the divide that separated humanity from experiencing God’s presence and glory.
Because of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, sin-marred image-bearers find themselves enabled and empowered to live for God in their new, resurrection-established bodies. The author shows that the resurrection of Jesus, the first fruits of all redeemed believers, included the redemption of his physical body. God’s plan for his image-bearers has always been to live and rule physically over creation. The disharmony created by sin between humanity has also been restored as the church stewards their gifts in establishing God’s dominion together. Rather than seeing escaping the material world as the universal church’s goal, Imes encourages believers today to embrace the renewing of the God’s physical creation in their daily lives, and prepare for His final work in making all earthly things new.
“We were born to commune with the God who made us and to express his rule in life-giving ways.”
In summary, Being God’s Image is a wonderful reminder of what it means to be a human commissioned as an agent of God’s creative design. The story of Jesus’ inauguration of new creation through his life, death, and resurrection gives hope for all humans who believe and trust in the gospel of redemption. Imes captures the essence of our nature and purpose as Christians in the way we are meant to be strategic, grounded, and active in how we live our lives and take responsibility for the world where God has placed us.
Carmen Joy Imes. Being God’s Image: Why Creation Still Matters. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2023.