We’re continuing our series on the fundamentals of the faith. Today we turn to humanity, being made in the image of God.

God created humanity in His image. Adam and Eve were literal people who fell from their position of innocence into sin because of disobedience. Because of that, the whole creation has been contaminated by sin, and every human born since then, save Christ, has inherited a sinful nature, desiring to live independently of God and being hostile to the ways of God. Without Christ, humans are dead in sin, without hope, and in danger of spending eternity apart from God. However, anyone who places faith in the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved, regenerated and changed.

Genesis 1:26-27 tells us, Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Like many subjects of the Bible, the subject of humanity (men and women) sparks debate—both within and outside the church. Besides the whole evolution debate, there are questions in the church regarding the place of women in ministry. But…. we will not attempt to answer those questions. Instead, we will discuss the foundational truth that the Bible teaches concerning humanity, and draw out some implications.

First, we must realize that humankind is a special creation of God. Contrary to the evolutionary view (still trying to find the missing link), men and woman were created by God and especially for God (not that God has needs, but He created humanity for His specific purpose). We consider humanity a special creation of God because, being created on the sixth day, they are the crowning act of His creation. It was only after He created Adam and Eve that God declared creation “very” good. In addition, of all His creation, humanity is the only part of creation said to have been created in Him image and given the breath of life (thus giving humans a soul).

Speaking of His image…..

Second, Adam and Eve were created in His image. No, they weren’t divine (and neither are we, for that matter). Created in the image of God means that firstly they were created with the ability to connect with God spiritually and live in community. Secondly it means that they were created with the ability to reason and choose; they were free moral agents (meaning they were not compelled or coerced into making a choice).

Third, Adam and Eve were created in innocence. At the time of creation, they were neither sinful nor righteous. The text of Genesis makes it clear that they did not know what evil was, or that such a thing even existed. The declaration of Genesis 2:25 (the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed) speaks of that innocence. Another indication is Satan’s declaration to Eve that she would “be like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:5). What he spoke was the truth, as God confirmed: Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil (Genesis 3:22). Adam and Eve had no need to know what good or evil was. They simply lived in dependence on God in a state of innocence.

Fourth, Adam and Eve fell into sin when they disobeyed God. Even though they were created in innocence, God had still given them the command not to eat of the tree of good and evil. When they broke that command, they fell into sin—and died. Not physically at that moment, but spiritually, in that they were cut off from God. Their first reaction was to hide, their second was to try to fix it on their own (the fig leaf incident), and the third reaction was to blame everyone else. That is the nature of the sinful heart: Do it myself. Make life work for me apart from God. Enlist others to cooperate with me, and blame them if it doesn’t work. The key point here, however, is that they were dead in sin from the moment they sinned, and their sin affected all of creation—including their descendants. And, incidentally, they (and their descendants) lost the ability to choose to do right. They became slaves to their sinful heart.

But God…..  He had a plan to redeem His creation. He sent Jesus who died on the cross and rose again. His death and resurrection made it possible to reverse the effects of the fall:

We now have full access to God through the Holy Spirit. Jesus has removed the barrier, torn the veil.

We have a new heart and a new spirit that are inclined toward God instead of turned away from Him.

We are being restored to His image fully (mankind never truly lost the image of God; it was, however, marred by sin).

Here are a few implications of the these thoughts:

First, men and woman have always been and will always be on equal footing. The order of authority that God established has nothing to do with superiority or inferiority. And it also has nothing to do with the Fall. To teach otherwise misrepresents to truth of the Bible.

Second, all are still image-bearers of God and have value in His sight. In fact, God thinks you are so valuable that He paid the ultimate price to have you! (In case you didn’t know, value is what someone else would pay for something or someone). As such, all are due the same dignity and honor. To ridicule, insult or otherwise defame one who carries the image of God (even a distorted one) is a slap in the face of their Creator. The saying is true: Love the sinner, hate the sin.

Third, contrary opinions aside, all without Christ are lost in sin. There will be no second chance. Once you take that last breath, it’s over. No spending 40 million years in purgatory. It’s either heaven or hell. Only the grace of Christ can save mankind. Trying to be good enough just won’t cut the mustard.  Why? Because even if you scored 99% on God’s test, you still fail! His passing mark is 100%. You’d have to be perfect! And there’s only been One to achieve that mark. Fortunately, though, He did achieve that mark. Because He did, He invites all to come to Him. Discover new life. Discover eternal life.