Schlagwort: Creation

By Christian / Carmen Joy Imes

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In this series, we look at thoughts from the book Being God’s Image – Why Creation still matters by Carmen Joy Imes. As there is unfortunately no German translation, we will at least deal with excerpts from her presentation in the German version of this video. This English version contains the same excerpts, but I recommend that you read the complete book.

As announced in the fifth part, the rest of the series will focus on ‚Human in God’s new world‘.

Human in God’s New World

Genesis 1 conveys our essential human identity as the image of God, introducing an important theme in Scripture. However, the phrase „image of God“ only appears in Genesis 1, 5, and 9. After that, the topic of bearing God’s name comes to the fore.

If we then move on to the New Testament, we find a few more passages in which the image of God is mentioned. Strikingly, these all refer to Jesus. And now comes the kicker:

Jesus, the Human

Jesus is not the image of God because he is God. Jesus is the image of God because he is human.

His entry into human history is not plan B but the culmination of plan A. And this also explains why the Gospel of John begins with words like those in Genesis 1:1: „In the beginning was …“ While every human being is God’s image, Jesus fulfills God’s intentions perfectly for the vocation entailed by this identity. „who shines with the same glory… Is the exact image of His being…“ (Hebrews 1:3 2001 Translation). The Father/Son language fills the first chapter of Hebrews, designating Jesus as God’s exalted covenant partner who will rule on his behalf. In the process, he brings „many sons and daughters to glory“ (Hebrews 2:10). That is, he facilitates the restoration of the family of God to a right relationsship with him so we, too, can radiate God’s glory.

Each aspect of Jesus’ ministry teaches us something about what it means to be a human. For example, why did Jesus heal people? Since Jesus is the model human, we need to get this right. In John 9, Jesus heals a man born blind. The man’s blindness was an occaison for Jesus’ public demonstration of power to reveal his messianic identity. At the same time, Jesus exposed the problematic theology of his disciples and the Jewish religious leaders. The point of the story is not to highlight the man’s deficiency but rather to unveil Jesus’ identity in the light of Israels’ hard-heartedness. Jesus’ healing of the man born blind was not just an act of compassion. Jesus was not simply „fixing“ this man’s problem. More importantly, he was exposing unbelief and anncounding his identity as the one who had come to fulfill Isaiah’s prophecies.

Jesus’ death was the culmination of humanity’s purpose. He was „obedient unto death“ – refusing to cling to power or autonomy (see Philippians 2:8). Faced with the same choice as the first humans, Jesus conquered sin and death by facing it head-on and receiving the judgement that humanity deserved. He did so willingly, taking on the full penalty of human rebellion as our representative. This act of self-sacrifice finally repairs the brokenness of the garden. Jesus is the inverse of the first humans.

John’s insights stand out as particularly relevant for the question of this series: What does it mean to be human? As the second Adam, Jesus relives the choice of the first humans. Rather than setting out to find his own path to glory, Jesus entrusts himself to the Father. His last act on the cross connects his own mother with John, the beloved disciple (John 19:25-27). In this way he creates a new human family, were „parent“ and „child“ are bound by loving commitment rather than by blood.

Jesus’ last words on the cross in John’s Gospel bring completion to his important work: „It is finished“ (John 19:30). All this took place on the „day of Preparation, and the next day wasa to be a special Sabbath“ (John 19:31; cf. 19:14). Just as God had finished his work of creation before the Sabbath (Genesis 2:2), Jesus finishes his work of ushering in the new creation by fullfilling humanity’s purpose through self-giving love and full obedience to God’s command.

Jesus died as the ultimate human, willingly taking on his innocent self the punishment we deserve.

A new Humanity

In the Genesis account, all the days of creation end with „and it was evening, and it was morning, the … day“. However, the seventh day did not end. On the seventh day, God rested from his creative activity … until this point in time. With Jesus‘ resurrection, John is signalling the beginning of a new week, a new creation.

In John’s letter, Jesus addresses Mary Magdalene as „woman“ (John 20:15), which involuntarily reminds us of the Garden of Eden. In contrast to Eve, Mary’s eyes are opened and she recognises Jesus. Then Jesus calls her by name an comissions her to tell the other disciples that he’s alive. This moment is a beautiful restoration of creation design for partnership, contrary to first-century cultural convetion.

Jesus’ physical resurrection indicates God’s ongoing purposes for embodied humans on earth. His commissioning of Mary with the news of this resurrection affirms God’s intentions for the partnership of men an women in the gospel ministry.

Many Christians have the belief that they will go to heaven after death. But if Jesus existed in heaven beforehand and then came to earth, why was he not immediately resurrected in heaven after his death? Such questions were already on the minds of his followers in the first decades and even more so in the centuries that followed. The Gospels say that he was dead for three days before he was resurrected and reappeared as a human being. Where was he in the meantime? Did he live again as a man or was he a spirit who was only using another human body temporarily? Or did he not die on the cross at all, but is it the case – as many Muslims believe today – that the Jews only thought they had killed him? Quite a lot of profound questions that we cannot answer here without going too far off topic.

But according to the Gospels, he did not just take on any human body, but at least once one that resembled the one he had at his death, including the wounds. Why? The continuity between his incarnation and the resurreection body suggests that we, too, will be our embodied selves in the new creation. We will be ourselves in the resurrection – you will be able to recognise me again.

For some, this may be a rather surprising or even absurd thought. And it deserves a closer look. Which we will do in later videos.

Jesus’ scars underscore the continuity between our present bodies and our resurrected bodies.

But why is it so important to talk about Jesus‘ resurrection and not marginalise it? If we miss Jesus’ ascension, we run the risk ov overspiritualizing his ongoing ministry as well as our own. Scripture tells us that Jesus will return in the same way he departed – bodily and visibly – to bring his kongdom reign to earth (Acts 1:11). And according to the Gospel of John, Jesus describes his spiritual rebirth as „born again“ or, more precisely, „born from above“ (John 3:3-8) What does this mean for us humans?

N. T. Wright says: „Genuine Christian hope, rooted inJesus’s resurrection, is the hope for God’s renewal of all things, for his overcoming of corruption, decay, and death, for his filling of the whole cosmos with his love and grace, his power and glory.“ This will be discussed in more detail in later videos.

Here is just a hint. Why does Paul speak in 1 Corinthians 15:19-22 in the context of Jesus‘ resurrection of being a “ firstfruit“? „By calling Christ’s resurrected body a firstfruit, Paul implies that his resurrection is not a unique, one-time event, but a taste of what is in store for every believer.“

Carmen Imes concludes this chapter with two further interesting key ideas:

Jesus’ ascencion inaugurates his ministry as judge and as high priest, and it emporers us to carry on his work.

Our mortality is a signpost on the way to a future in which all will be restored.

The Beloved Community

Those who grew up in the Christian world today are generally not familiar with the context in which the gospel was proclaimed. Humanity at that time was strictly divided in every conceivable way: by class, language, ethnicity, citizenship, religion, gender, etc. In Paul’s letters, for example, a distinction is made clear again and again from the perspective of the Jews: we – as God’s chosen people – and the others, the Gentiles. We probably cannot imagine how deeply this was anchored in the life of a person who sincerely wanted to worship Yahweh according to the covenant of Sinai. And now comes this with the gospel: „In him you also, who have heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, have been sealed in him as believers by the Spirit of promise, the Holy Spirit.“ (Ephesians 1:13 Züricher) This was shocking news for them: the spiritual blessings were now also open to the Gentiles. This is why Paul now refers to everyone – Jews and Gentiles alike – as the body of Christ. All can now be part of the people of the covenant. And other divisive boundaries are also torn down as far as the hope of mankind is concerned: mutual submission (Ephesians 5:21), the relationship between wives and husbands (Ephesians 5:22-23), slave and free (Ephesians 6:5-9). „But in the Lord the wife is not without the husband, nor the husband without the wife.“ (1 Corinthians 11:11 Zurich). „For all of you who were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus.“ (Galatians 3:27,28 Züricher) In the Christian community, everyone is equal. Everything is reset to the beginning.

The gospel makes possible a human community undivided by race or by physical or cognitive ability.

With this in mind, we can also reflect on why Jesus asked his followers to commemorate him by partaking of bread and wine together. There are no ‚observers‘ in the body of Christ. We are one family.

True community is made possible by physical presence and shared participation in communion.

It is not that God has given gifts to individuals, but that we are gifts to others (Ephesians 4:11-12). Jesus was the perfect image of God. Scripture invites us to look to Christ to learn how to be ourselves. Then the translation of Romans 8:28 proposed by scholar Haley Goranson Jacob also makes sense: „God works all things for good with those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.“ We are not simply waiting for redemption. Instead, we actively partner with God in this work of transformation.

Our future include the redeption and glorification of our bodies as we experience full adoption into God’s royal family.

From Creation to New Creation

Finally, Carmen Imes addresses two ideas that are widespread among Christians, but which are not found in the New Testament and only found their way into Christianity much later: The idea that our future is in heaven, the earth will be destroyed and believers will be raptured beforehand.

However, if we read the New Testament without reservation, we will not find these thoughts. Instead, we find the restoration of creation and God’s reign on earth.

Jesus’ return will not signal the destruction of this planet or the secret rapture of believers but will instead initiate his reign as king on earth.

Didn’t Jesus himself say in the so-called Lord’s Prayer: „Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven“ (Matthew 6:10 Zurich). Carmen Imes therefore summarizes the thoughts as follows:

The rebellious powers of heaven and earth will be decisively defeated, and this world will be purified and restored.

However, this should not lead us to simply wait passively:

Jesus calls us to turn from sin, declare our allegiance to him, and wait expectantly for his return. While waiting, we are to exercise our human vocation as stewards of creation.

The last thoughts came without further explanation and may have been unexpected for you. Therefore, we will talk about this unexpected hope in later videos.

By Christian / Carmen Joy Imes

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In this series, we look at thoughts from the book Being God’s Image – Why Creation still matters by Carmen Joy Imes. As there is unfortunately no German translation, we will at least deal with excerpts from her presentation in the German version of this video. This English version contains the same excerpts, but I recommend that you read the complete book.

As announced in the fourth part, we will only deal with the „path of wisdom“.

The Human Quest

If you were to ask Father Christmas what is most often on people’s wish lists, he would be unlikely to answer: Wisdom. Yet wisdom is actually one of the most important things you should acquire in life.

According to the Bible, we cultivate wisdom in two ways: First, by trusting God as th source of wisdom. And second by carefully observing the way the world works and choosing what is good.

Accordingly, we have the books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs in the Bible. Interestingly, the sages are not claiming to speak on God’s behalf.

Wisdom is something we must want. We must love her and spend all we have on her, cherishinig and embracing her. IIf we don’t do this, our story could end like Solomon’s: It proves that wisdom is not an achievement to gloat over but a muscle to exercise. Or as N.T. Wright suggests: „Love is the peepest mode of knowing because it is love that, while completely egaging with reality other than itself, affirms and celebrates the other-than-self reality.“

If you now have the impression that this is a rather difficult task for clever people, then the Bible sets the record straight: „O simple ones, learn to be shrewd; O fools, gain understanding. Listen, for I speak of noble things, and the opening of my lips will reveal right.“ (Proverbs 8:5,6 BSB) Ironically, the key to discovering wisdom is recognising tha twe don’t have the answers and that we are not in a position to know what’s best. That’s really the whole point – that we learn to depend on God to show us the path to life.

Human weakness and mortality do not disqualify us from fulfilling our human destiny. Depence on God through honest prayer is the path to wisdom. The book of Psalms contain many such prayers.

Human Suffering

But perhaps it has already occurred to you that the book of Ecclesiastes is rather depressing: „All things are wearisome, more than one can describe; the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear content with hearing. What has been will be again, and what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. There is no remembrance of those who came before, and those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow after.“ (Ecclesiastes 1:8-9,11 BSB)

And apparently the book of Ecclesiastes does not begin with wisdom but with a clear announcement of what a depressing prospect awaits us: „“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”“ (Ecclesiastes 1:2 NIV) But who said that and did the person really say it the way it is translated?

The person is called a ‚Prediger‘ in German. Hence the name of the book in German. In Hebrew it says Kohelet. This means ‚gatherer, church leader‘. In the Septuagint it was translated as Ekklesiastes, which means ’speaker in a popular assembly‘ and from which the name of the book is derived in English.

What he says in Ecclesiastes 1:2 is: „Hevel, hevel. Everything is utterly hevel„. Hevel means vaporous. It is used as a methaphor. „Everything is like a vapour.“ Ecclesiastes is not saying that everything is meaningless or ‚void‘ as it is sometimes translated. But rather ‚vaporous‘. The wisdom lies in recognising that it is beyond our ability to fully understand the meaning of life. And that if we only ever look to the future, to what we don’t have, to what will pass away, then we overlook the whole of life that is good right before our eyes.

Ecclesiastes urges us to enjoy the journey. Stop trying so feverishly to figure life out, but be grateful for moments of pleasure and satisfaction – food, drink, friends – this are gifts from our Creator.

Humans are not in a position to understand God’s ways. God does not owe us an explanation. He simply invites us to trust him. Bad things happen to good people because we live in a world scarred by brokenness. We need to learn to live with the unknown. Human mortality and the brokenness of our world means that we nee to learn to live joyfully within limits.

This is part of our being today, our destiny to be images of God and to live accordingly. But it won’t stay that way. In the next part, we will look at human in God’s new world.

By Christian / Carmen Joy Imes

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In this series, we look at thoughts from the book Being God’s Image – Why Creation still matters by Carmen Joy Imes. As there is unfortunately no German translation, we will at least deal with excerpts from her presentation in the German version of this video. This English version contains the same excerpts, but I recommend that you read the complete book.

We concluded the third part with the question of how it should affect our lives and behavior that we are all imago Dei, the image of God.

The Human Project

Adam’s reaction to God’s question already showed that his knowledge of good and evil was not far off. Their son Cain kills his brother out of hatred. Then he builds a city. His descendant Lamech took several wives, tyrranized his family and twisted the story of his ancestor Cain to invent a justification for murder. (Genesis 4:19-24). Then in Genesis 6 we learn that even ’sons of God‘ like Adam and Eve transgressed the boundaries set for them by God. In my opinion, the most conclusive explanation is that these ’sons of God‘ were spiritual beings created by God. The situation gets so bad that God puts an end to it with the flood. So had ‚the human project‘ failed?

In these first chapters of Genesis we also find Abel, Enosh, Noah and others who ‚called on the name of Yahweh‘. (Genesis 4:26) What was different about them?

To be human is to know our place in the created order.

Sin does not erase our identity as the imago Dei, but it prevents us from fully reflecting God’s glory.

Being God’s image, Carmen Joy Imes

In fact, the situation was so bad that Yahweh started a new beginning of the ‚human project‘. Those who read the account of the Flood may overlook this aspect: the account in Genesis 6-9 is designed to represent a reversal of the creation of the earth, with water from above flooding and covering the land, thus undoing Genesis 1. A new beginning. And this is also reflected in the artful chiasm of this account. The second part of the account mirrors the first:

The people get the habitable land back. God has not forgotten the one whose obedience made divine salvation possible. But the flood had not repaired humanity itself, the problem of rebellion and broken relationships had not been solved. Yet, quite to the contrary, human identity as the image of God had not changed either. God’s blessing is still intact: „Then God blessed Noah and his sons. He said: „Be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth.“ (Genesis 9). Interestingly, however, the part „subdue them“ from Genesis 1:28 is no longer mentioned. The Hebrew there is kabash, which is a very strong word that implies the possible use of force and power. But the use of force was one of the evils that prevented people from truly proving themselves to be the image of God. Therefore, God now sets clear limits on the killing of animals and humans. (Genesis 9).

Calling the shots

This is the second time that Yahweh has provided a good start for his images. The next chapter – Genesis 10 – contains the so-called table of nations of Noah’s descendants, which plays an interesting role in a different context. In this context, it is interesting to note that the story of the Tower of Babel is found directly after this in Genesis 11. God had endowed people with abilities and power to fulfill his mission. Genesis 11 shows his reaction to people misusing these abilities to build an unauthorized central power.

But the account of the building of the tower of Babel teaches us something important about what it means to be God’s image – or rather, to deviate from it.

Why did they want to build a tower „whose top reaches to the heavens“ (Genesis 11:4)?

Many think that the people wanted to ascend to heaven in order to achieve divine status. But that is not what the text says. What they wanted was not to be scattered over the earth – which was God’s mandate for his images.

Considering the biblical and historical context, a second interpretation is more likely. Such towers or ziggurats were to enable the gods to move between heaven and earth! Does that seem strange to you? Then read Jacob’s dream in Genesis 28, and then Genesis 11:5 also makes sense. The tower has fulfilled its purpose to a certain extent – just not at all in the way they thought it would: „Yahweh came down to see what the people were building – a city with a tower!“ (Genesis 11:5, New Testament). „Then the LORD came down …“ (Genesis 11:5 Zurich). They imagined that the gods would come down. And the biblical text takes up this idea and lets Yahweh descend, so to speak. We know the outcome.

There is (at least) a third possibility, as there is no mention of a temple in connection with Babel. The tower was intended as what is called a migdal in Hebrew: It is a kind of watchtower (but has nothing to do with the Jehovah’s Witnesses‘ watchtower). Before this account, Genesis 10:8-12 speaks of Nimrod, a violent warrior whose name means „we may rebel“. A watchtower to help them see enemy warriors from afar. The remark that they had „one language“ also fits in with this. In Assyrian texts, this phrase is used to indicate that a simple second language was imposed on the defeated. Hence the rhyming text in Genesis 11:3 „Come, let us make bricks, and let [them] be set on fire.“

Be that as it may, the name of the city should not be forgotten: Babel. Some translations translate Genesis 10:10 as Babylon. Babylon is later the city that destroys Jerusalem and brings God’s people into captivity and oppresses them. But God does not tolerate powers that oppose what God has commanded for his images. He shows this in Babel and later in Babylon. Also because of idolatry, which is so contrary to the fact that people should not worship images of gods, because they themselves are the images of the one true God!

In Genesis 11, God shows people who is in charge! Yahweh has reset the human project for the second time.

Being God’s image and Bearing God’s Name

This is where it gets interesting (as if it wasn’t already). The book of Genesis is interrupted 10 times by the Hebrew word toledot, which means „generations“ or „records“. This emphasizes sections that focus on the generations that follow. Toledot is found 5 times in the chapters we have looked at so far, Genesis 1-11 and then 5 times in Genesis 12-50.

Just as God places Adam in the garden to fulfill his mission, so he brings Abram from Mesepotamia – the heart of human rebellion – to the center of the Promised Land to restore what was lost:

‘I will bless those who praise you and curse those who curse you… All the tribes will be blest because of you.’

Genesis 12:3 2001 Translation

This promise is the key link from Genesis 1-11 to Genesis 12-50, and this is where the concept of bearing God’s name begins. From this point on – Genesis 12 – the focus of the biblical narrative is bearing God’s name, while the concept of being God’s image fades into the background.

I discussed this concept in detail in the series „Bearing God’s Name“, which I published before this series and which refers to the corresponding book by Carmen Joy Imes.

It would therefore be good – if you haven’t already seen it – to familiarize yourself with the ideas of the series „Bearing God’s Name“. In the next parts of this series we will take these thoughts forward and continue with the „Way of Wisdom“.

By Christian / Carmen Joy Imes

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In this series, we look at thoughts from the book Being God’s Image – Why Creation still matters by Carmen Joy Imes. As there is unfortunately no German translation, we will at least deal with excerpts from her presentation in the German version of this video. This English version contains the same excerpts, but I recommend that you read the complete book.

We concluded the second part with the announcement that we are now starting work as imago Dei, the image of God.

Getting to Work

What does this mean for us humans as the image of God, as imago Dei? Let me quote a sentence from Carmen Imes‘ book:

Doing good work is one way to express our purpose.

Being God’s Image, Carmen Joy Imes

I very much hope that I have triggered all sorts of thoughts on the subject of works, faith, salvation, righteousness by works, and so on. And I would like to follow up immediately: It has nothing to do with that at all. Rather, it has to do with the fact that we, as the image of God, want to do meaningful work and that this is good for us. It is part of our destiny. Take Genesis 19:9-10, for example: farmers should not harvest everything in the field or vineyard. That part as the fruit of their labour would be enough for them. But poor people and strangers without land should also have the opportunity to harvest with their own labour and gain a sense of self-worth from it. They shouldn’t be the recipients of all the work that is looked down upon.

However, the work that God has planned for his images is not about us.

„The image of God means being placed into a particular set or relationships with God, each other, and the rest of creation, for the purpose of ruling as his royal representatives.“

Being God’s Image, Carmen Joy Imes

What are the consequences?

If I truly believe that every human being is the image of God, created to signal the presence of God to the world, this belief ought to compel me to treat my fellow humans with dignity.

Women are God’s image, sharing equal dignity and bearing equal responsibility for representing God to creation.

Being God’s Image, Carmen Joy Imes

Now we are at the point where we should address certain biases against women that some believe can be derived from the biblical account of the fall of man.

Let’s imagine the situation with Eve and the snake. If you imagine a picture, I’m pretty sure it’s structured somewhat like this:

All the pictures that Carmen Imes (and I) can remember look similar. And they are all wrong on a few points, because this is not at all what the Bible says: Nowhere does it say that Eve and the serpent stood directly under the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. According to the account in Genesis 3:3, why would Eve not simply speak of „this tree“, but of „the tree in the middle of the garden“? So it must not have been a spontaneous decision, but the serpent sowed the seed of doubt. And it worked: „When the woman saw how good it was to eat from the tree, what a feast for the eyes it was and how much insight it promised, she took some fruit and ate.“ (Genesis 3:6 NEÜ) However, there is something correctly depicted in the picture that some men prefer to suppress: According to Genesis 3:6, Adam was then present when Eve took of the fruit: „She also gave some to her husband, who was standing beside her. He also ate.“ Eve is sometimes labeled as the cause of evil. But why didn’t Adam intervene vehemently? He was right next to her when she ate the fruit. And why were they both by the tree in the middle of the garden? Perhaps he was clever and waited to see if she wouldn’t drop dead immediately. And when she didn’t … who knows.

So they both decided not to act like the image of God. And the serpent was right about one thing: „the eyes of both of them were opened wide…“ (2001 Translation) But what they recognized was only that they were naked. You can hardly recognize a knowledge of good and evil like God when Adam initiates „the blame game“: he first blames Eve as an excuse in Genesis 3:12 and then immediately blames God himself because he ultimately gave her to him.

Carmen Imes summarizes the situation as follows:

Their disobedience to divine command and failure to trust God’s good intentions immediately fracture their relationship with God, with each other, and with the world God made.

The first humans lost mutual trust, mutual respect, innocence, and intimacy with God and each other. Worst of all, they lost access to the presence of God in the garden.

Being God’s Image, Carmen Joy Imes

Was this the end of humans being the ‚image of God‘? Carmen Imes argues – as do other scholars – that the reiterated mention in Genesis 5:1-3 („in his image“) and Genesis 9:6 („For as the image of God / he made man.“, Einheitsübersetzung 2016) reiterates human status as God’s image.

Because the essence of being God’s image is a claim about our identity rather than a capability or function, we cannot lose it.

Being God’s Image, Carmen Joy Imes

And that brings us to the question of how this realization that we are ‚imago Dei‚, i.e. the image of God, should affect our behaviour and our lives. We will deal with this in the next part.

By Christian / Carmen Joy Imes

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In this series, we look at thoughts from the book Being God’s Image – Why Creation still matters by Carmen Joy Imes. As there is unfortunately no German translation, we will at least deal with excerpts from her presentation in the German version of this video. This English version contains the same excerpts, but I recommend that you read the complete book.

We concluded the first part with this statement:

Creation is the cosmic temple of Yahweh in which he is to be worshipped. God presides over his creation through his images, which he has appointed as rulers over creation to maintain order in it.

But what is meant here by ‚his images‘? That’s what this second part of the series is about.

Crown of creation – image of God

Why have I spoken here of people as images of God? This already becomes clear from Genesis 1:27, when the climax of creation is described:

And God created man as his own image, as the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:27 englisch Translation of Züricher version, also Elberfelder version and others

So God created humankind as his own image, as the image of God he created them: male and female he created them.

Genesis 1:27 translation by Carmn J. Imes

But perhaps you were also surprised because you remembered the text differently:

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 NASB

Are we now created in the image of God or as the image of God? Which idea comes closest to the original text? The best way to find out is to use (1) ancient culture and (2) other passages of Scripture. In Latin translations of the Bible, the term ‚imago Dei‚ is used here: God’s image. In Hebrew, the word is tselem. This has a sister word with a clear meaning in related ancient languages: it is the statue of a god in its temple. This brings us back to the temple symbolism of the Bible, which we have already mentioned. So we were created to be God’s image:

Just as a statue of a god is intended to represent that god’s claim to a particular area, so humans are the physical representation of the Creator God on earth. And just as an idol is meant to deflect praise to the actual dity, so humans are to deflect praise to Yahweh. Theologian Marc Cortez calls this „representational presence“: „We need to view the imago Dei as a declaration that God intended to create human persons to be the physical means through which he would manifest his own divine presence in the world.“

N. T. Wright says we are to be an „angled mirror, reflecting God’s wise order into the world and reflecting the praises of all creation back to the Creator.“

We are God’s family. Being God’s image involves both kinship and kingship. Wer are part of the royal family.

Although the creation account climaxes with the appearance of humans, we are not the center of the universe. God is.

Being God’s Image, Carmen Joy Imes

„To be human is to participate in creation care on God’s behalf. Our task is to care for the earth the way the Creator would. We continue God’s creative work.“

You’re probably already thinking about how you can implement this. In itself, it’s good to think about what you can do yourself. On the other hand, it is also a symptom of many Christian faiths to focus very much on the individual.

„Together we are God’s image. God designed men and women to provide companionship to each other and work side by side in the world.“

Even in relation to Yahweh himself, this becomes clear in the Bible account in Genesis 1:26: „Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.“ (Züricher). The use of the plural here is neither an honourable designation for God nor a reference to the Trinity. „In an ancient Near Eastern context, the first audience would have heard this as a reference to God’s heavenly court, his devine council. (e.g. Job 1:6-12; Psalm 82; Isaiah 6:8)“ Humanity as the image of God was created by God as part of a community.

Now that this has been clarified, we can continue reading Genesis 2. And that’s where most people stumble. Because from verse 4 onwards it is apparently told again, but differently. But there is a reason for this: in Genesis 1, God is centre stage. Genesis 2 is about humanity:

„Genesis 2 explores what it means to be human in relation to God, to the earth, to plants, to the animals, and to each other.“ Therefore, the second creation account focuses on human identity and vocation. This chapter allows us to discover that humans were meant to be gardeners. This becomes clear from Genesis 2:5, where two reasons are given why the earth was not yet fertile: 1. God had not yet caused it to rain, 2. there were not yet any people to cultivate the land. „This statement implies that the intended design is partnership between Godd and humans to cultivate the earth.“ The whole earth was to become like Eden with the help of mankind.

In this context, we should also briefly clarify why the woman Eve is referred to in translations as a „helper“ of Adam. Was she only meant to be something like a subordinate, not equal to Adam? Not at all, as the original text shows. In Genesis 2:18,20, the Hebrew word kenegdo is used, which is correctly translated as ‚equal‘ or ‚exact match‘ or ‚corresponds to him‘. ‚Helper‘ is the translation of the Hebrew ‚ezer. It occurs over 90 times as a common noun in the Old Testament and is mainly used in two ways: (1) for allied soldiers and (2) for God as Israel’s helper. It is never used in reference to a servant or subordinate. Its primary use is military and is best translated as ‚ally‘. In fact, before Adam and Eve’s rebellion against God, there was no hierarchy separating the two.

We are all – regardless of gender – the image of God to fulfil his mission. No one is excluded from this. And none of us can fulfil this task alone. No one has to fulfil this task alone. In order to fulfil God’s mission, we need each other.

And I would like to leave it at that for this episode. Because if this part wasn’t long, it contained a lot of thoughts that are worth thinking about. In the next part, we are getting to work – as imago Dei, image of God.

Getting to Work

What does this mean for us humans as the image of God, as imago Dei?

Doing good work is one way to express our purpose.

„The image of God means being placed into a particular set or relationships with God, each other, and the rest of creation, for the purpose of ruling as his royal representatives.“

If I truly believe that every human being is the image of God, created to signal the presence of God to the world, this belief ought to compel me to treat my fellow humans with dignity.

Women are God’s image, sharing equal dignity and bearing equal responsibility for representing God to creation.

Being God’s Image, Carmen Joy Imes

By Christian / Carmen Joy Imes

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In this series, we will be looking at thoughts from the book Being God’s Image – Why Creation still matters by Carmen Joy Imes. As there is unfortunately no German translation, we will at least deal with excerpts from her presentation in the German version of this video. This English version contains the same excerpts, but I recommend that you read the complete book.

In order to better understand our calling and future as humans from a biblical perspective, we need to start with the Genesis account of creation. However, this is a very bad starting point for a video these days because practically everyone already has an opinion on it and switches off: There is everything from strictly literal interpretation to outright rejection.

But what Genesis is about can only be properly understood if we forget our 21st century context – insofar as that is possible at all – and read the words with the context of the Israelites 3500 years ago. We must take at least three essential differences into account:

1. People back then were not interested in „what holds the world together at its core“, i.e. today’s scientific approach. Instead, they were interested in who orders the world and is responsible for its functioning.
2. The concept of heaven and earth back then was very different to today. No, it’s not that it was somehow more limited or ‚primitive‘. As the ‚world‘ of these people was limited to a very manageable part of the earth, something like a globe or a world map was unimportant. What interested them was a description of the ‚world‘ in which the realm of humans, spiritual beings, the dead and the order of the whole was easy to understand. And this was also how the world views or models of other peoples were structured. Anyone who ridicules them today as unscientific has not understood their actual purpose.
3. The Israelites were familiar with the world views and creation stories from Egypt and Mesepotamia. A comparison of Genesis with these is therefore very revealing.

Patterns in the biblical account of creation

Carmen Imes refers here to the work of various scholars, in particular John H. Walton’s work, which can be found, for example, in his book The Lost World of Genesis One:

Jascha Schmitz had already explained the content in detail in his German video series Video Serie Genesis – Schöpfungsbericht der Bibel kritisch hinterfragt. I will therefore only summarise the results very briefly here.

In short, the creation account in Genesis is not about how God made everything, but why.

Carmen Joy Imes, Being God’s Image

To minimise the risk of adding our own ideas to the text of the Bible, it is important to look for patterns that the author uses to emphasise things. What is usually lost in a translation is the rhythm and repetition of certain words or images in the original language of the text. It is the same here: „God said“ is used 3 times for people and 7 times everything else, so 10 times. „Let there be …“ is used 3 times for the heavens and 7 times for the earth, i.e. 10 times. „make“ is used 10 times, „according to their kind“ 10 times, „God saw that it was good“ 7 times, etc. There are more of these. And we find this pattern:

Into the world, which in Genesis 1:2 is still „formless and empty“, Yahweh brings the order we know. On the first day, Yahweh separates light from darkness, which are then populated with sun, moon and stars on the fourth day. On the second day, Yahweh separates the waters – above and below – creating the sky in between. On the fifth day, Yahweh populates them with birds and fish. On the third day Yahweh separates dry land and on the sixth day these are populated with land animals and humans.

Ancient people were not interested in how things came into existence, but why. And the creation account in Genesis 1 gives the reasons, the why: on day 1, Yahweh provides light and on day 4, celestial bodies with which the Israelites could measure time, which was not only important for agriculture, but also for the observance of the feast days, which were also communicated to the Israelites according to the books of Moses. On day 2, Yahweh provides the area of air between the waters so that fish and birds can live in it on day 5 and more later. On day 3, dry land and vegetation are mentioned so that on day 6 land animals and man can live in it.

We must not forget that this is not a scientific description of a chronological order, but that the areas are mentioned on days 1, 2 and 3 and, symmetrically, the ‚inhabitants‘ of these areas on days 4, 5 and 6. Even if the 7th day comes afterwards, it is not primarily about a chronological sequence, but about the purpose, the why: everything was good and Yahweh could now ‚rest‘. Not in the sense of ‚rest‘, but that order was now established. There are also more detailed explanations of this. However, the word used here for ‚rest‘ is also used in the sense that the preparations are now complete and the actual reigning can begin.

Are we still thinking about the Israelites in the desert 3500 years ago? This is what was said about Yahweh, the God who brought them out of Egypt and who wants to make a covenant with them: This is Yahweh, who will be your God and you will be his people who will bear his name. Let us not forget to read and see the Genesis account in this context. That is why the account was written the way it is.

In connection with the creation account, God’s day of rest and the later Sabbath provision, we can also derive something for our lives:

The Sabbath calls us to stop working like slaves and start living like members of the royal family.

We will gain a better understanding of why a royal family is mentioned here as the series progresses. This is about another pattern in the text of the Bible, a metaphor that was well known to the Israelites: the members of the king’s family had a different status from all other people. Not just in relation to the inheritance of kingship, but throughout their lives. This pattern appears again and again in the Bible to describe our relationship with God.

What idea of the world did the Israelites of antiquity have? Based on the ideas of the nations and according to the account in Genesis and many other texts of the Old Testament, approximately this one:

As I said, we should not be too quick to dismiss this idea as ‚unscientific‘, primitive, naive and wrong, because people were concerned with completely different questions. Today’s scientific world view only answers part of the how and the why within the limited framework of the laws of nature. And even in the standard physical model, there are laws and constants for which there is no further justification. The ancient world view of the Israelites, on the other hand, contains everything that was known to them and the reason why it was like this: the why and wherefrom and the reason why everything is organised in this way and not otherwise. Everything was described in such a way that even the last Israelite could understand where and why things are the way they are.

Why is the creation account still formulated in this way? Because God did not want to make it clear to the Israelites how it was all ’scientifically correct‘ in contrast to the myths that had long been passed down among the peoples. We might be happy about such an explanation, but it was the last thing the Israelites needed after their liberation from Egypt in the desert. God merely took up the idea they knew and corrected the important points: No pantheon of gods provided for the order of the world – only he alone. There were also no battles between gods before creation. Nor did he use the body of a slain god or goddess as a substance for the earth. This is the case, for example, in the Babylonian creation myth Enuma Elish. He alone is the Creator, the God who showed himself to be superior to all the gods of Egypt, who freed them from Egypt and made a covenant with them so that they would be his people – bearing his name (see my video series Bearing God’s Name).

The biblical account of creation, on the other hand, is composed in such a way that some scholars consider it to be a kind of liturgy: The 7-day framework of the creation account was designed to be a must for the Israelites‘ working week. A cycle of 7 days is not found in other ancient calendars derived from celestial bodies. According to the books of Moses, it comes from a commandment of God and therefore in Hebrew 7 is a number for completeness. The designation of the 7th day as a day of rest is echoed in Psalm 132:7-8 or Isaiah 66:1,2 where God’s place of rest is mentioned. Many scholars therefore consider Genesis 1 to be a temple dedication text – the cosmic temple of God. But that is another exciting topic, which Jascha Schmitz has looked at in a longer video series in German: Kosmischer Tempel – Zentrales Thema der Bibel That series summarizes the content of Prof. Gregory K. Beale’s book The Temple and the Church’s Mission: A Biblical Theology of the Dwelling Place of God (New Studies in Biblical Theology)

This is not about a secret message hidden in the Bible. It is about the pattern of a temple, which is used again and again in the text of the Bible. A metaphor with which the Israelites and people of antiquity were completely familiar. A temple was the place of the presence of a god or goddess. In the cosmology of the Israelites, the realm of Yahweh and that of man were separate. However, in connection with Sinai, the Ark of the Covenant and later the temple, the Old Testament speaks of the presence of Yahweh. This is also the case in Genesis – in the creation account in Genesis. This is in connection with the Garden of Eden in paradise and the people. This pattern of Eden is later found again in the construction and depictions in the tabernacle, the temple and on to Revelation.

Creation is the cosmic temple of Yahweh in which he is to be worshipped. God presides over his creation through his images, which he has appointed as rulers over creation to maintain order in it.

An interesting statement with far-reaching consequences. But what is meant here by ‚his images‘? We will go into this in the next part.