Man the Image of God

Man the Image of God: Broken and Being Renewed

 

The biblical concept is not that the image is in man, but that man is the image of God.

 

Sin did not wreck God, but sin severely damaged man who is the image of God.

 

We need to examine that fact, and be encouraged that Jesus is repairing us. 

 

God set a baseline of norms that the rebellious dark kingdom opposes and imitates with “counter” norms that appear to be and are presented as norms but in fact are death sentences.  

 

The Kingdom of Light.

Genesis 1-2

Man as male and female. Good

Male and female as husband and wife. Good

Male and female as complementary. Good

Male and female as the basis of social order. Good.

Male and female multiplying other little image bearers. Good.

Male and female as stewards of created order. Good.

Male and female are restricted from one and only one thing or they would introduce death into created order. Good. 

 

How the Dark Kingdom Broke God’s Image.

Genesis 3:1b “Did God actually say?…”, 

Genesis 3:4 “You will not surely die…”

 

King Jesus Responds with Prophets.

Noah/Abraham/Moses/Joshua/Samuel/David/Isaiah etc. 

 

How the Dark Kingdom Responds to God’s Word.

Isaiah 30:8-11 (ESV) And now, go, write it before them on a tablet and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come as a witness forever.9 For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the Lord; 10 who say to the seers, “Do not see,” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things,

prophesy illusions, 11 leave the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”

 

The Broken Image of God in Man

 

Upon rebelling against God, all things broke (died). 

Genesis 2:15-17 (ESV) 15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. 16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

 

1. We have spiritual strife with the serpent and his followers. 
   1. Genesis 3:15 (ESV) I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

 

1. There is Increased pain and marital strife. 
   1. Genesis 3:16 (ESV) To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.”

 

1. We have a difficult time subduing created order and death awaits all mankind. 
   1. Genesis 3:17-19 (ESV) And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

 

1. We can and often do make God in our image. 
   1. Romans 1:18-25 (cf v. 21-25)

 

1. We use our speaking/communicating (part of being in the image of God) to harm other image bearers.
   1. James 3:9 (ESV) With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God.\

 

1. We can be deceived into a false sense of identity. 
   1. Genesis 1:26-28
      1. Created by God for God.
      2. Created male and female for each other. 
      3. False understanding of masculinity.
      4. False understanding of femininity. 
      5. False understanding of marriage and marriage relationships and order. 
      6. False understanding of children, their role and order. 

 

How is Jesus repairing his image in man?

 

Colossians 1:13-14 (ESV) He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

1. If you are in Christ, God has delivered you from darkness. Jesus begins the repair work by rescuing us from the dark kingdom’s rule. 
   1. This is a reality. 
   2. If you doubt this or it does not feel like it, question the doubt. Question the feeling. 
      1. Far too often we get sat down with good answers to terrible questions. 

 

Colossians 3:9-10 (ESV) Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

 

Ephesians 4:20-24 (ESV) But that is not the way you learned Christ!— 21 assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.

 

1. We actively participate in shedding things of darkness and putting on things of light.
   1. Don’t assume knowledge of God. Get to know God more. 
      1. Learn to stare into the face of God’s glory by losing yourself in the majesty of God. 
   2. Put off the former manner of life that is corrupted with deceitful desires. 
      1. Are there any bad habits internally or externally that feed desires contrary to the kingdom of light?
   3. Put on the new self.
      1. Intentionally try to do what is written in Scripture. 
      2. Be renewed in our minds by letting Scripture conflict with how you think and feel about things. Don’t explain away clear truth and implications in God’s word. 
   4. Fight for righteousness and holiness.