What the Image is Not (Imago Dei part 1)

"So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." (Gen 1:27)

The doctrine of the imago Dei has influenced people all over the world. Preachers, theologians, government leaders, civil rights activists, and the like, have all shouted it from the rooftops. Actions such as abortion, slavery, racism, and murder have all come face to face with the beautiful doctrine of the imago Dei. Yet, for all of the voices speaking on this subject there is still confusion about what it really means to made in the image of God. Ask anyone remotely religious what it means, and you will get ten different answers. The portrait is muddled by the numerous voices speaking around this subject without many providing clarity on what it really means to be made in God's image.

For a moment, I want to write a series of articles and peer into the ancient world to gain insight into the divinely inspired voices that give life to this doctrine. What does it really mean to be made in God's image? At the risk of adding another color to an already muddled portrait, this series will seek to bring out some definition and clarity from the ambiguity.

In order to really provide clarity, we need to start by addressing what the imago Dei is not. There has been much speculation about what it means to be made in God's image -- speculation that often does more harm than good. There have been authoritative voices in the ancient world who have attempted to define this doctrine, only to provide a one sided worldview that is far from rooted in the ancient world of the Bible. So, for starters, let's begin with what the image of God cannot mean.

The Image of God is Not a Quality We Possess.

Augustine said the image of God is "a soul endowed with reason and intelligence, so that he might excel all creatures of the earth, air, and sea, which are not so gifted." (Augustine, City of God, 12.23.1). Augustine adds to this that the functions of memory and comprehension are endowed upon us through the image of God (Augustine, On the Trinity, 10.12). Athanasius poses a similar definition for the image of God by referring to the human capacity to reason as central to what it means to be made in the image of God (Athanasius, On the Incarnation, 6.11.19). This seems to have been the view of many educated theologians of the early Church. Furthermore, the modern religious world seems to have adopted a very Augustinian view of the imago Dei.

There is, however, a fundamental problem with this kind of definition. What this point of view fails to account for is that there are some humans incapable of intelligence, reason, memory, and comprehension. If cognitive ability makes us the image of God, what about those with no cognitive ability? If intelligence and ability to reason constitute the image of God in each person, then there are certain classes of people who lack the image of God. I don't say this as a slight towards the uneducated, but rather as a way for us to consider who is excluded in such a definition. The unborn child, the mentally handicapped, and the elderly suffering from dementia or Alzheimer's are all excluded from such a definition, thus making their lives less valuable than those who can reason soundly.

If the ability to reason is equated to the image of God, anti-abortion arguments crumble. For, the unborn cannot reason. If intelligence is what makes up the image of God, the mentally handicapped must not have been made in God's image. If memory, understanding, and cognitive capability compose the image of God, as Augustine argues, those elderly suffering from dementia must have lost their image, making euthanasia much less of a moral atrocity. When we define the image of God as some kind of quality that humans possess, we paint ourselves into a bad corner. If it is about a quality, what happens when someone has more of that quality than others? What do we do when people seemingly don't possess that quality? What about those in the womb who have yet to develop the quality? Are they now less of God's image than others? Christian's would never make such a claim! However, this definition of the imago Dei forces that conclusion.

What I want to suggest to you is that defining the image of God is not going to be done by looking inside of us to see what qualities we have. Every person, uniquely made in the image of God, will still bear the image of God regardless of how well they function. Every person, whether in the womb or in a mental facility still bears the image of God. So instead of looking inside of us to see how we differ from the other elements of creation, what I want to suggest is that we look to the God whose image we bear. What we must do instead of looking inward is look outward to God and see His glory and fullness for what it really is. And when we see more of who He is, we will then see how His glory is born out in creation through humanity. Then, we will begin to understand more fully what it means to be made in God's image.

-Kolton Ballance