Systematic Theology: A 7-Day Crash CourseSample

Mankind: The Image of God

As God prepares to make mankind, he declares he will make creatures like himself and give them rule over his creation (v. 26). He then executes his plan: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (v. 27). The text does not define the image of God in mankind, but it does offer several hints.

Adam and Eve are God’s image. God created them holy (Eph. 4:24) and with the ability to obey him in knowledge (Col. 3:9–10), to use language, and to be creative. Bearing God’s image means possessing personhood, which involves unique souls and relationships with God and others. Moses hints at this by showing that two genders were a part of God’s plan from the beginning (Gen. 1:27). God gives significance to both men and women by creating them in his image, and both image him in his world.

Image-bearing also includes fulfilling the roles God assigns. Adam and Eve are to represent God by exercising dominion over his creation (vv. 26, 28). In addition, because Adam and Eve are the first parents of all humans, only one race of image-bearers exists, as Paul underscores: God “made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth” (Acts 17:26). Consequently, mankind’s various ethnic groups come from one family, ruling out any racism.

Theology for Life—May God help us to treat people of both genders and all races with the respect and dignity that accords with their creation in God’s image.