Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

IMAGE OF GOD

A phrase employed twice by the Priestly writer to describe the unique relationship between humans and God. In the opening account of creation, the Priestly writer states that humankind, male and female, is created in the image of God (Gen. 1:27). Later, in the aftermath of the Flood, the Priestly writer notes that the execution of divine justice is assigned to humans because they are created in the image of God (Gen. 9:6). However, the biblical text does not explicitly explain in what ways humans are created in that image, leading to numerous scholarly interpretations.

The basic thrust of the expression is that humans are like God. It is possible that the Priestly writer intends to suggest that humans are like God in appearance or form. In Gen. 5:3 the Priestly writer states that Adam begat Seth according to his image. This appears to be Paul’s meaning of the expression when applied to Jesus (2 Cor. 4:4; cf. Phil. 2:6). It is also possible that the Priestly writer is deliberately ambiguous in designating humans as the image of God. In other words, the Priestly writer simply wanted to state that humans are like God without specifying in what ways. The context of Gen. 1:26-28 suggests that the image of God is closely connected to human dominion and rule over the earth. But even so, the exact connection between humans being in the image of God and having dominion over the earth is not specified. Humans might be functionally like God, ruling on the earth as God would rule, or humans might have dominion because they are like God in some unstated way. Perhaps interpreters can be no more specific. The result appears to be the same in either case: Humans are distinct from all other creatures in that they are like God and have dominion over the earth.

The Priestly writer’s use of “image of God” in the context of human creation is comparable to the Yahwist’s use of “knowledge of good and evil.” According to the Yahwist, the human couple become like God when they eat the fruit of knowledge (Gen. 3:5, 22). With knowledge, the human couple can like God create life and produce agriculture (compare Gen. 3:16-19 with 2:7-9). Similarly, by connecting the image of God with dominion, the Priestly writer emphasizes the human ability to exercise its will over creation. Humans are not simply objects of creation, subjected to the fixed orders of creation. Like God, humans have some measure of control over the created world.

As the image of God, humans are distinct from all other creatures. Yet the Priestly writer describes only humans as male and female. The Priestly creation myth is concerned not only with the order of creation but also with the distribution and perpetuation of the created orders (Gen. 1:11, 22). The sexuality of the birds, the fish, and the animals is assumed by the Priestly writer, but such an assumption cannot be made for humans because they are in the image of God. For the Priestly writer God had no form of sexuality, no sexual differentiation. The Priestly writer thus states explicitly that humans were created male and female (Gen. 1:27). This differentiation of humans into male and female distinguishes them from God; “male and female” describes how humans are not in the image of God.

Human dominion has limits. The first humans’ abuse of dominion resulted in God’s cleansing of the earth by flood. Thus in the aftermath of the Flood, the Priestly writer sets out the limits of human dominion. Blood, which is life, belongs to God. And although humans may kill animals for food, humans themselves may not be killed. Whoever kills a human shall be killed by a human, “for in the image of God humans were made” (Gen. 9:6). The interpretation of the explanatory clause in this injunction is ambiguous. The clause could ascribe special sanctity to human life: Human life is more precious than all other life because humans are in the image of God. Such an interpretation, however, does not adequately account for the context of the Flood and the central focus of human dominion. Because humans are made in the image of God, they are given dominion over the earth. But humans abused their dominion and corrupted the earth, bringing about the catastrophic Flood (Gen. 6:11-13). So that creation will not again be destroyed by human corruption, God regulates human dominion: Humans may not kill other humans. But because humans are made in God’s image, humans rather than God will impose the death penalty. Human execution of divine justice will restore the order of creation.

Bibliography. J. Barr, “The Image of God in the Book of Genesis — A Study of Terminology,” BJRL 51 (1968/69): 11-26; P. Bird, “Genesis I-III as a Source for a Contemporary Theology of Sexuality,” Ex Auditu 3 (1987): 31-44; J. M. Miller, “In the ‘Image’ and ‘Likeness’ of God,” JBL 91 (1972): 289-304; J. H. Tigay, “The Image of God and the Flood,” in Studies in Jewish Education and Judaica in Honor of Louis Newman, ed. A. M. Shapiro and B. I. Cohen (New York, 1984), 169-82; P. Trible, God and the Rhetoric of Sexuality. OBT 2 (Philadelphia, 1978), 12-23.

Ronald A. Simkins

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

IMAGE OF GOD

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)