Dr Paul Allen

Scripture teaches (Gen. 1:26, 27, echoed in 5:1; 9:6; 1 Cor. 11:7; James 3:9) that God made man and woman in His own image so that human beings are like God as no other earthly creatures are. The special dignity of being human is that as men and women we may reflect and reproduce at our own creaturely level the holy ways of God. Human beings were made for this purpose, and in one sense we are truly human to the extent that we fulfil it. The scope of God’s image in humanity is not specified in Gen. 1:26, 27, but the context of the passage helps to define it. Genesis 1:1–25 sets forth God as personal, rational (having intelligence and will), creative, ruling over the world He has made, and morally admirable (in that all He creates is good). Plainly, God’s image will reflect these qualities. Verses 28–30 show God blessing the newly created humans and setting them to rule creation as His representatives and deputies. The human capacity for communication and relationship with both G...

“There could be no greater contrast to the beautiful image of a mother holding her infant child than the chilling displays our nation saw in recent days. Lawmakers in New York cheered with delight upon the passage of legislation that would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother’s womb moments from birth. These are living, feeling, beautiful babies who will never get the chance to share their love and dreams with the world. And then, we had the case of the governor of Virginia where he stated that he would ‘execute a baby after birth.’ To defend the dignity of every person, I am asking the Congress to pass legislation to prohibit the late-term abortion of children who can feel pain in the mother’s womb.” The President struck a contentious, volatile, and crucial chord with these words that not only condemned late-term abortion but called on Congress to completely ban the atrocity now legal in New York and championed in Virginia. Abortion reigns as the only sacrament that remains am...

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27). What does it mean to be made in the image of God? Mormonism maintains that human beings are the literal offspring of “God” and that “God” exists in a body. Because Christianity believes in creation ex nihilo , such unsubstantiated Mormon -like beliefs have no place in our faith. God created the physical universe and thus cannot Himself be physical. The traditional Christian view of the image of God distinguishes between His image in the broader and narrower senses. In the broader sense, man is the image of God in all that he is, with the result that he governs the creation. In the narrower sense, man is to image God’s holiness and righteousness. Thus, it is held that when man sinned, he lost the image in the narrow sense, but retained it in the broad sense. This position’s strong point emphasizes the spiritual and moral characteristics at the core of hum...

“Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” (Gen. 1:26). The prevailing philosophy of our generation is on a collision course with Christianity . Humanism asserts that man evolved, that he is a cosmic accident with no purpose, destined for annihilation. Christianity teaches that man was purposely created in the image of God , with a meaning and purpose rooted in that eternal God , with a human soul that will live forever either in heaven or in hell. Humanism maintains that death is the only certainty in life. Christianity teaches that God is the only certainty in life. Humanism leads to despair, Christianity to hope. The conclusion of Ecclesiastes 1 is inevitable for the consistent humanist: “ ‘Meaningless! Meaningless!’ says the Teacher . ‘Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless!’ ” ( NIV ). If everything is meaningless, as the humanists say, then what value can be put on human life since humanity would have to be meaningless too? If each of us has no meani...

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. [Gen. 1:27] What does it mean to be made in the image of God? Mormonism maintains that human beings are literal offspring of “God” and that “God” exists in a body. Because Christianity believes in creation ex nihilo, such unsubstantiated beliefs have no place in our faith. God created the physical universe and cannot himself be physical. The traditional Christian view of the image of God distinguishes between his image in two senses. In a broad sense, human beings are spiritual image-bearers of God in all that they are, with the result that they govern creation. In a narrower sense, each person is to live in God’s image in holiness and righteousness. Thus, when Adam sinned he lost the image in the narrow sense but retained it in the broad sense. This conception emphasizes the spiritual and moral core of humanity. However, we must be careful not to go too far to separate the s...

THE CHRISTIAN ’S ASSURANCE “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God , to them who are the called according to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28) HOW many of God’s children through the centuries have drawn strength and comfort from this blessed verse. In the midst of trials, perplexities, and persecutions, this has been a rock beneath their feet. Though to outward sight things seemed to work against their good, though to carnal reason things appeared to be working for their ill, nevertheless, faith knew it was far otherwise. And how great the loss to those who failed to rest in this inspired declaration: what unnecessary fears and doubtings were the consequence. “All things work together.” The first thought occurring to us is this: What a glorious Being is our God, who is able to make all things so work! What a frightful amount of evil is in constant motion. What an almost infinite number of creatures there are in the world. What an incalculable quantity of...

But we all … are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Cor. 3:18). It is interesting that the Holy Spirit is the only member of the Trinity whose name includes the adjective “holy.” We know that the Father and the Son are holy as well, but we do not refer to the three as the Holy Father , the Holy Son , and the Holy Spirit. The Bible gives no definitive reason for this, but we can surmise that a major factor is the fact that holiness is at the heart of the Spirit’s ministry.  Not only does He deliver us from spiritual death, He saves us unto holiness. The Spirit not only gives us new life in Christ , He works in us to make us like Christ. The goal of His work in believers, from start to finish, is righteousness, and the process by which He gets us there is sanctification . God created human beings to mirror and reflect His holy nature, but that image was corrupted when Adam sinned. Through sanctification, however...

“And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.” ( Colossians 3:10 ) Man’s body is made of the same “earth” material ( Genesis 2:7 ) as the animals (v. 19) and as the earth itself ( Genesis 1:10 ). Furthermore, he shares the created “soul” ( Hebrew nephesh) and “spirit” (Hebrew ruach, same as “breath”) with the animals (compare 1:21; 7:15, where nepheshand ruach respectively are used of the animals). However, he shares the created “ image of God ” (1:27) only with God Himself. Ever since Adam and Eve first sinned, all people have been born in innate rebellion against Him. The image of God in man has been grievously marred, and we are “dead in trespasses and sins” ( Ephesians 2:1 ). However, as our text reminds us, the image of God in man can be “renewed” through the great miracle of the new creation ( 2 Corinthians5:17 ). And this includes more than just our soul/spirit nature, for we have His gracious promise that our own resu...

Karl Marx 1882 (edited) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Writing in a very different revolutionary era, Karl Marx declared that the modern age would sweep all conventional morality and political structures aside in a complete transformation of values. In his memorable words, “all that is solid melts into air.” We are in the age of the advanced meltdown of those values. What Marx promised is now happening before our eyes. What can explain it? A witness to the collapse of Marx’s revolution, that great Russian prophet Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn , explained it with four simple words: “Men have forgotten God .” And so they have. Nothing else can explain the great shift in worldview we are witnessing. The word for the process that is driving this shift of worldview in the West is secularization. In the context of the late modern age, secularization is fully evident even where we thought it was absent — in the United States of America . For decades, the conventional wisdom held that Europe was b...

Tim Challies Author. Pornography is ubiquitous today; addiction to pornography , especially among men, is equally widespread. Young men are often introduced to pornography long before they are able to understand what it is and what it means. Many a young man's first awakening to sex and sexuality is by exposure to pornographic sex and nudity. This is sadly, increasingly, the case with women as well. Some Christians can take a kind of refuge in the fact that so many others share in the struggle. "We are all in this together" can minimize the weight of it. Yet the ubiquity of porn and porn addiction does nothing to lessen the horror of it. I want to ask you a question. But not quite yet. Read on… Desecration and Titillation There is an inescapable consequence to the fact that human beings bear the image of God : there is nothing God values more than human beings. Bearing God's image is an extraordinary privilege and brings with it extraordinary worth. Jesus asked, ...

" Behold , all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. But if a man be just . . . he shall surely live, saith the Lord GOD." ( Ezekiel 18:4-5 , 9 ) What an awesome statement! The eternal Creator of all mankind asserting His ownership over each man's soul to do with it what He deems proper. What is the worth of one eternal soul created in the image of God ? The Creator is the owner of the cattle on a thousand hills. Indeed, the earth and all the galaxies are His, but there is something about a soul that is of far greater worth. A soul can choose, can worship its Maker, and can reflect the very nature of God.  Nothing else in all creation has these powers. Yet He owns all souls. He has an unquestionable right to them, and they will never be taken away, for He has created them. Furthermore, their numbers are growing, for He has given His subjects the command and power to reproduce. At ea...

Michelangelo's painting of the sin of Adam and Eve (the Fall of Man) (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) Illuminated parchment, Spain, circa AD 950-955, depicting the Fall of Man, cause of original sin. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) No. If it did change the essence of our created humanity, then it would be improper to call ourselves human anymore. There are vast differences of opinion among denominations and religious groups and theologians as to the extent of damage that original sin inflicted upon the human race . The debates rage over the extent of it. Most denominations, in spite of their differences regarding the degree of fallenness, make some kind of distinction between what we would call the image of God in which we were originally created in the wider sense and the image of God in the narrower sense. We were created in our humanness in the wider sense in that certain traits make us human beings: our ability to think, the fact that we have souls, etc. Even after the Fall we stil...