An unfortunate trend in Evangelical biblical interpretation has been to fasten on some theme that is compatible with current social trends and marshal biblical evidence on behalf of that social trend. The notion of image bearers is an example of this.
The Bible tells us that God made man in his own image:
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. -- Genesis 1:26-27
On this basis God entrusts humanity with dominion over the earth. Adam and Eve are charged to “be fruitful and multiply,” to “fill the earth,” to “subdue it” and to “have dominion” over every living thing on the earth.
The question of what constitutes this “image of God” has been long debated; it seems reasonable to assume that the relational union between the man and the woman is in view here. It is immediately obvious in the above passage, and it is reiterated in Genesis 5:
This is the book of the generations of Adam. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created. -- Genesis 5:1-2
An indirect argument in this direction can be found in Romans 1:22-27. Here we see the exchange of the “glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.” The consequence of this loss of the true vision of God’s glory is the loss of human nature as described in v. 26-27.
There are one or two other discussions of “image” in the New Testament; these will be considered later. Other than this, there is only one major passage about man as in the image of God:
Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image. --Genesis 9:6:
In other words, from the perspective of the Old Testament, the fact that God made man in his own image requires that murderers be put to death. I see no other mention of “image bearers” in the Old Testament.
Note that as a New Testament Christian I have no intention of justifying capital punishment. Paul argues that the Civil Authority rightly bears the sword, but in the same breath says that Christians should not be overcome with evil but overcome evil with good—including loving enemies and the like.
The Christian notion of God’s image can be seem here:
In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. --2 Corinthians 4:4
That is, Christ is the fulfillment of what God intended in making man in his own image.
The problem I see with the way the idea of image bearers is used by some evangelicals is that it serves as motivation for our love—and that becomes motivation for social action. (E.g. we are to take care of the needy because they are image bearers. They have dignity and value because of that.)
I see nothing in the New Testament that accords with this idea. In fact, as I’ve already indicated, the true image bearer is Christ. We as Christians are being re-created into God’s image:
Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. --Colossians 3:9-10
Our motivation for the lost is Christ’s love:
For the love of Christ controls [possibly a better translation is "obsesses"] us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. --2 Corinthians 5:14-19
From this passage we see several things:
- Our motivation for engaging the world is Christ, the one who came to “seek and save the lost”.
- Christ is not motivated by an innate value or dignity in the lost, but by compassion for their lostness.
- The value that the lost gain is a product of the creative action of God’s love, mediated through the Holy Spirit, in their lives.
- We don’t view anyone, not even Christ, “according to the flesh,” that is, in human or natural terms. That means that our perspective on people is based on their spiritual status.
- Being in Christ, that is, being a believer, means that one is a new creation. Whatever was formerly true about one is now gone, replaced by God’s re-creative act known as redemption.
- We have one job as Christians: give people this message of reconciliation.
The notion of image bearers as implying an innate value to humanity, and thus a motivation for both God’s action and our own, seems to undermine the idea of grace. There are numerous passages in the Bible that say that there is nothing good in us: “All our righteousness is as filthy rags,” for example, and “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwells no good thing.”
God’s action toward us is motivated by his own innate relationality—the love that is inherent in his very nature. In our fallen state we are unable to have a relationship with God. It is only as we become the new creation that we are in Christ that such a relationship becomes possible. This is what salvation is—not affirming some inherent dignity in humanity, but a redemption—a complete recreation—of our fallen selves.
There is a strange idea floating around that when we look at the needy person we see Christ. I have heard this notion expressed in multiple different contexts. From the above passage, however, we see how backward that view is. We do not see Christ; rather, we bring Christ when we bring the message of reconciliation.
Whether or not we see some kind of physical service as furthering the message of the good news—a view that has little support in the New Testament, and at no point is there any hint that such physical service is deserved, it is clear that such a service can only be at best an adjunct to the message itself, and at worst a distraction. Jesus himself experienced that phenomenon: “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves” (John 6:26). They had descended below the point of seeking signs and wonders and were now simply wanting to eat.
To reiterate, our job is to do what Christ told us to do: to preach the good news and make disciples. Christ came to seek and save the lost; it is his compassion for our lostness that gives us value in his eyes.