The Divine Image

Genesis 1:26 (NRSV) ​Then God said, “Let us make humans in our image, according to our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the wild animals of the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.”​ Picture I often find myself lost in wonder thinking about what it means to be created in or “as” God’s image. I’m certainly not alone in that question as Christian theologians as early as Irenaeus have found it worth asking with each coming century. As I’ve gotten older though, it’s felt less and less like a noun, like a quality I continually possess. It may be more of a verb, as I ask myself, “Am I image-bearing today?” One of my Old Testament professors, Dr. Ellen Davis, reminds me that the divine image is not a widespread biblical characterization of human status. In fact, it’s rarely mentioned in our Holy Scriptures, which may denote more of “a possibility, unique but unspecified, rather than the established and permanent condition of human existence.” I find this notion constructive in our desire to understand God’s creative intention, particularly because the Christian fascination with image bearing has misappropriately endorsed unlimited human power over and against nature. Too often we have used this biblical language for exploitation rather than loving service to the created order. The Genesis narrative does not depict an anthropocentric, but a cosmocentric view of creation, in which humans are blessed with the high responsibility to bring flourishing to every living thing. Dominion is better understood as an exercise of skilled mastery in order to bless and nurture. We fail to mirror God if our power does not bring life, if harmony is not its ultimate function. Dominion is better understood as an exercise of skilled mastery in order to bless and nurture. We fail to mirror God if our power does not bring life, if harmony is not its ultimate function. Picture Andrei Rublev's Trinity Icon (c. 1400) Creation is not a one time event, but an ongoing function of the Trinity. We participate in the nature of the divine by accepting the invitation to image-bear and care for the world around us. As June commences Ocean Month, I am reminded that 98% of waters around the continental U.S. lack any type of marine protected area. I am reminded that humans are not serving, but damaging and polluting the oceans we are dependent on and which bring God glory. Our ocean crisis is a moral problem which requires our creative intervention, the courage to step into that role which God has already called us to. How will we respond and honor the dignity bestowed upon us, the risk God has taken in making us “little less than divinity” (Ps 8:6)? How will we renew our commitment to bear the image of God and restore the integrity due to God’s oceans and marine life? How will we respond and honor the dignity bestowed upon us, the risk God has taken in making us “little less than divinity” (Ps 8:6)? How will we renew our commitment to bear the image of God and restore the integrity due to God’s oceans and marine life? Resources Books: Davis, Ellen F. Opening Israel's Scriptures. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019.