The Imago Dei in

Humanity:
What does it mean that we are in the
image of God?
Lesson 3
 Questions:
1. Do humans carry dignity as God’s image bearers?
2. Do humans alone carry the image of God? What
about animals? Do they have the image of God?
3. What affect did the fall have on the image of
God? Did humanity lose this image after the Fall?
• Imago Dei: (Lat. “image of God”).
Refers to the fact that humanity
carries a unique resemblance to God.
 Genesis 1:26-28
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image,
according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish
of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle
and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that
creeps on the earth.” 27 God created man in His own
image, in the image of God He created him; male and
female He created them.
 Psalm 8:3-8
When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon
and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is man that you are
mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? 5 You made
him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with
glory and honor. 6 You made him ruler over the works of your
hands; you put everything under his feet: 7 all flocks and herds, and
the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,
all that swim the paths of the seas.
 1. Definition of the
Image of God
a. The Image of God is in the very nature and
make up of man. It is something that he is,
rather than what he has or does.
b. Relational and Functional are only
applications of the image, not the image itself.
C.The image is that which enables man to be
like God, being able to interact with other
beings, of thinking and reflecting, and freely
acting.
d. One part of the image of God in man (e.g.,
his natural image) is obscured, but not
destroyed by sin.
E. This is man’s spiritual, moral, and immortal
being, which has been defaced but not
destroyed (See Gen. 8:15-9:7; Ps. 8:4-9; 1
Cor. 11:7; 15:49; James 3:9; Heb. 2:5-8).
f. Another part of the image of God in man
(i.e., moral image) is lost to man as the
result of sin, but it is restored by Christ
• Man’s knowledge of righteousness and holiness is
lost because of sin but restored by Christ (See Eph.
4:22-25; Col. 3:9-10)
 2. The Dimensions of the
Image of God
A. Rational Dimension
1. Man was given responsibility to exercise
dominion over the earth (Gen. 1:26-28; Ps. 4-9)
2. Adam was commanded to take care of the
garden.
3. Adam named the animals (Gen. 2:19-20)
4. Adam recognized that the woman was a
helper suitable for him (Gen. 2:22-24; cf.
2:20
B. Spiritual Dimension

1. Adam and Eve had fellowship with

God (Gen. 3:8)
2. Adam and Eve feared God after their
sin (Gen. 3:10)
C. Social Dimension
1. Adam and Eve conversed with each
other [presumably]
2. See Gen. 2:18, 23; 3:6-8; 4:1
D. Moral Dimension
1. God gave Adam and Eve a moral command
(Gen. 2:17)
2. Adam and Eve had a sense of moral rectitude
(Gen. 2:25)
3. Adam and Eve experienced guilt following
their transgression (Gen. 3:7)
4. This seems to indicate that the image included
original righteousness (Gen. 1:31; Eccl. 7:29)
• Righteousness is part of the original human nature
• It was the intrinsic quality of the nature of man
• That nature responded to the claims of a good life by a sense of
a spontaneous inclination or disposition toward fulfilling those
claims.
How did the fall affect the
Imago Dei?
 Options:
1. Man fully retains the imago Dei and only
misrepresents it through personal sin.
2. Man fully lost the imago Dei. It is restored only in
Christ.
3. The imago Dei has been retained in all men, but
marred by sin. It is restored in Christ.
• Scripture clearly states that the imago
Dei has been retained to some degree
in all people:
 Genesis 5:1-3
“This is the book of the generations of Adam. In the day
when God created man, He made him in the likeness of
God. He created them male and female, and He blessed
them and named them Man in the day when they were
created. When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty
years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness,
according to his image, and named him Seth.”
 Genesis 9:6
“Whoever sheds man’s blood, by man
his blood shall be shed, because in the
image of God He made man.”
 James 3:8-9
“But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless
evil and full of deadly poison. With it we bless
our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men,
who have been made in the likeness of God.”