TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 6
1 Corinthians 11:7
Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10

“He is the image…of God.”

THE IMAGE OF GOD IN MAN

Since God is a Spirit (John 4:24), it follows that the likeness of God in man is a spiritual likeness. The image of God in man is not physical but spiritual. The fact that this likeness is spiritual immediately makes idolatry wrong, for idols are physical images. Therefore, God commanded in Exodus 20:4: “Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.” “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24).

The doctrine of the image of God is also seen in the Sixth Commandment. When we kill, we are destroying the image of God in man. Thus, James rebuked those who were careless with their tongues against their fellow men: “Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be” (James 3:9-10).

The Westminster Shorter Catechism rightly teaches from Ephesians 4:24 and Colossians 3:10 that this image of God in man is “in knowledge, righteousness and holiness” (Question 10). Sadly, this image was corrupted when man fell into sin.

How then may this image be restored in man? Only in Christ Jesus! When a man is born again, the Holy Spirit which indwells him will make him more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. 2 Cor 3:18). “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom 8:29). The climax of this restoration occurs during the Christian’s glorification (1 John 3:2). Are you looking forward to that day?

THOUGHT: Both man and woman are made in the image of God.
PRAYER: Father, help me to be conformed to the image of Christ.