Page 53 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 13

pact on Christian theology and perhaps even stian thought was that humans retain the image
human culture through a precipitating role it of God (tselem) after sin entered the world but
served in the growth of the human rights tra- not the likeness of God (demuth) (McGrath,
dition, social justice movements and philan- 2017). Some ancient and medieval writers saw
thropic service, there is theological controversy the restoration of the likeness of God in huma-
about what is meant by the phrase (Kilner, 2015, nity as the end or telos of the redemptive work
Pryor, 2011). Crouch notes “the text‘s suggesti- of Christ.
on of a close connection between human beings The imago Dei resurfaces as an explicit notion
and the divine has inspired more exegesis than in a number of Biblical passages. The prohibi-
perhaps any other single passage in the Hebrew tion against murder in Genesis 9:6 is explained
Bible” (p. 2). because humans are made in the image of God.
The key words that are used in Genesis 1:26 James 3:9 forbid cursing others because they are
to convey humanity’s relation to the divi- made in the “likeness of God”. The redemption
ne is that man (Hebrew: adam-הָֽאָדָם֙ / story involves humanity being made into the
Greek: ἄνθρωπον-anthropon) is made in the “image of the son” and humans must put on the
image (Hebrew: tselem-בְּצַלְמֵ֖נוּ/ Greek: new self to represent the image of God as Jesus
εἰκόνα- eikón) and likeness (Hebrew: d’muth- does (Erikson, 2013). Blomberg (2016) reviews
כִּדְמוּתֵ֑נוּ/ Greek: ὁμοίωσιν- homoiōsis) of the New Testament usage of the Greek words
God. Bray (1991) notes that “The semantic ran- for image (eikon) and likeness of God (homo-
ge of the main terms…. is now broadly agreed. ioma). He notes a particularly close connection
The former refers primarily to a concrete image, in Paul’s view of believers reflecting the glory
a definite shape; the latter is more abstract—a of God through moral righteousness and being
resemblance, or a likeness” (p. 197). Yet even conformed to the image of God., Kilner (2015)
with the literal denotation of tselem referring to comments that Paul’s message in Colossians
a carved out physical shape or form, the weight (Col 1:15, 3:10) and 2 Corinthians (2 Cor 3:18,
of scholarship and tradition understands this 4:4) “…consistently distinguish between Christ,
term in a metaphorical sense. Jewish interpre- who is God’s image, and people who need
tation often denied any anthropomorphic un- transformative growth according to the stan-
derstanding of the image that would identify dard of the image….people are not God’s image
humanity with the divine (McGrath, 2017). now in the way that Christ is; however, they are
Early Christian understandings frequently saw intimately connected with God because God’s
the image of God in terms of some shared or image is the very blueprint for humanity” (p.
analogous characteristic between humanity and 91-92).
God (Cortez, 2010). Attempts to grapple with Before discussing the three main types of imago
the precise meaning of the Hebrew ascription Dei theologies before let us first note areas of
of the “image” and “likeness” of God to huma- broad agreement in Christian thought about it.
nity continues. For instance, Crouch (2011) has Cortez (2010) notes a number of areas of “ge-
recently argued that the phrasing is meant to neral consensus””: imaging God has to do with
convey a parentage analogy: God is the “parent” “reflecting God in creation”, all persons do this
of humanity metaphorically just as Adam is the in some way, scholars now widely think “image”
parent of Seth. He provides various support for and “likeness” in Genesis 1 are synonymous, sin
this assertion including citing the statement in has impacted the image in some way, the image
Genesis 5:3 that Seth was in the image and like- in the New Testament is Christological with Je-
ness of Adam and pointing out the presence of sus being its perfect exemplar, and the image of
God as parent motif throughout the Bible. God is teleological, not static.
Early Patristic writers, such as Tertullian or Theologies of the Imago Dei
Origen, often made much of the two different Table 1 presents the three major families of
words in Genesis 1:26 translated as “image” and views about the imago Dei. Some key lines of
“likeness” in English: A common type of theolo- support and criticism are also presented. We
gical distinction in ancient and medieval Chri- will now briefly summarize each of these views

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