Who Am I?Sýnishorn

In our era of rapid technological advancement, with issues of artificial intelligence, the metaverse, gene editing, abortion, and gender expression debated daily in the public square, a question confronts us: Are we, as followers of Jesus, going to be part of these conversations, not just in medical labs but around the dinner table? At the office? At school?

If so, what are we going to say? What does God say?

The Bible, after all, doesn’t explicitly mention these complex issues. So how do we know God’s position? Well, we drill down to the critical question at the heart of these ethical debates: Who am I? Or to put it collectively, who are we as human beings in this world?

How Do We Define and Understand Our Humanity?

Fortunately, the Bible has a lot to say about that question, starting with today’s passage from Genesis. It shows us that we are men and women personally made by God in the Image of God to enjoy and exalt the Glory of God.

Let’s unpack that statement.

God is the Creator. We are creatures. Psalm 139 paints a picture of God personally forming and making each one of us. And throughout the Bible we see God rejoicing over us as His Creation. He describes each piece of Creation as good yet describes Man and Woman as very good. The imagery in Zephaniah 3:17 is almost like a mother or father rejoicing over their baby, quieting them with love, singing over them. How beautiful!

It's no surprise, then, that God’s instruction to the pinnacle of His Creation is to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the Earth with more people to rejoice in Him. More people made in His Image.

That phrase is repeated three times in the Creation account in Genesis, so we know it’s important. But what does it mean? I think of it in terms of three Rs:

• Resemble
• Relate
• Represent

Being made in the Image of God means that Humanity resembles God, and this is true in a variety of ways. For example, we, like Him, are spiritual beings. Nothing else in Creation is talked about in the same way. Trees are not made in God’s Image. Planets are not. Animals are not. We alone have a spirit (or soul) that resembles God.

This sets us apart as uniquely able to relate to God. That’s the second R. We are made for a relationship with God. And we are made to represent God. From the very beginning—as we read in Genesis—Humanity is responsible for stewarding all of God’s Creation. We are in charge of spreading God’s Glory to the ends of the Earth.

These truths about our Humanity—evident in the first words of the Bible—have profound implications for the issues of our current day. No matter what can be made or manufactured with advanced technologies, and no matter what culture calls into question, we know who we are: Men and Women personally made by God in the Image of God to enjoy and exalt the Glory of God. No artificial intelligence or virtual reality can compare to that.

And yet . . . most of us would agree that our human experience doesn’t quite live up to that glorious description. So what went wrong? And how can it be made right? We’ll consider those questions next time.