The meaning of Imago Dei

A disclaimer: In a time when a crackdown on plagiarism is thrust forward and copyright violations are increasingly seen as serious offences, it becomes difficult for a guy like to me to say anything at all. What I learn is mostly from others and original thoughts are minuscule. So here I stand and give credit to the One who is the giver of all knowledge to mankind, and a big thanks to all those people who passed it on to me. Hehehe...Now don't accuse me of plagiary or copyrights violation. What does it mean that humankind (ah, very gender sensitive word) is created in the image of God? I have come across answers from different preachers and books but this one by Stanley Grenz in ‘Theology for the Community of God’ is my favorite. There are three positions concerning this matter that he cites: 1. The Structural View. This view says that we bear the image of God, all human beings: it is something that we “possess”. It is inherent in us being human beings and it characterized by our ability to have rational, moral minds. So even if we sin, we still have the image. But what after the fall of man? This view resolves this by bringing forth the concept of “likeness of God” as a distinct from “image of God”; of which the former can be lost because of the fall but never the latter. In redemption, the “likeness of God” is restored. 2. The Relational View. This view says that differentiating ‘likeness’ from ‘image’ is not right. According to this view, we bear the image of God, but after the fall, the image got marred. We are a broken masterpiece which still retains something of the original. They see bearing image of God as our standing before God than primarily as a formal structure of the essential human nature. ‘The divine image is essentially a special relation with the Creator which Adam lost, but Christ restores’. 3. The Dynamic View. The image of God which got distorted in The Fall is being restored (in the process of) through Christ, but the final restoration is in the future. Only at the end of times, we will fully bear the image of God. There are only a few references in both the testaments to the concept of the image of God (Genesis, James, Pauline writings). What I find the most interesting about this concept is the two ideas given below. i. To bear the image of God means that human beings bear a special status over the rest of the creation. Over the creation, we are given the choice to either honor God’s intention for us or disobey him. Therefore we have a special accountability to God. ii. To bear His image also means we are given a special role in the creation. “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it” (Gen. 2:15). Bible scholars have looked into the neighbors of ancient Israel to understand the concept border. The king erects his statue throughout his kingdom. Even in places where he has not been, his statue represents him and reminds the people there who they serve. Similarly human beings are called to represent God on earth. Vinoth Ramachandra points out from this that when we make anything out of the created things and worship them, we dehumanize ourselves. Also how we treat our fellow human beings reflect our attitude to our Creator. In the Near Eastern Traditions, the King represents God on earth and the other human beings are created simply to serve the gods and relieve them of manual labor. But the Bible says all human beings are God’s representatives. In the New Testament, Paul puts the idea explicitly upon Christ. In Christ, we have what God is really like! Into his image we are being transformed (2 Cor. 4:4; Col 1:15; 2 Cor. 4:16; 2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 8:29; Eph 4:24; Col. 3:9-10; 1 Jn. 3:2; 1 Cor. 15: 49-53).