Jesus & The Imago Dei

What is the “Imago Dei”? Most of us only think of the idea of the image of God (Imago Dei) when we read the Genesis accounts of God deciding to create man in his image. Theologians spend significant amounts of energy trying to understand the exact meaning of this phrase. Is “the image of God” a emotional capacity, inherent dignity and worth, being a reflective device for God’s glory, a royal calling, being an “icon”, or an ability to conceive beauty? The short answer is: yes. But after we are done thinking about God breathing life into the dust he used to form Adam, few of us think about how Jesus fits into the image of God when he breathes the air he himself created. If he entered human history and breathed his first breath after a very real and messy birth, how does Immanuel (God with us) fit into the Imago Dei?

Jesus doesn’t “fit” into the Imago Dei so much as he fulfills and completes it. We all know the theological phrase “the fall” and man’s sin being its epicenter. But some of us wonder what happened to this image we were created in after the fall. Is it gone, shattered, or smeared? Times when we look at the mass shootings and suffering in the world it feels like God’s image in man is long gone. But then we see the compassionate response of others, and we can remember that God’s image in us has been smeared and fractured, but not lost entirely. So what does Jesus have to do with this idea of “Imago Dei”? Everything.

When we look carefully, Genesis 1-3 shows the greatest commandment (love God and love others as yourself) always being at the heart of the image God gifted man. Reflecting God’s beauty and worth to the rest of the world has always been the highest calling on man. Is there anything more loving, than to both speak of and practically show God to others? Adam did neither of these when he failed to protect Eve from The Deceiver and then join in the rebellion. He failed to be human, as God called him, when he reached to be like God. Then hell broke loose on creation. Suffering, decay, and death crept in. From that moment forward, man would not be able to live as they were created. We literally needed someone to be “The Man”. We needed someone to show us how to live as we were created to live. So when The Image of God cried out in Bethlehem that first night of his life, God began to show us how to live in this broken world. And until his last cry on the cross (and then some) Jesus fulfilled the “job” of the Imago Dei. He loved God and loved other people as himself, all the way to the grave.

When Paul calls Jesus the second-Adam, he is commenting on God being the fulfilment of what man was always meant to be since Genesis. Jesus lived a perfect life and prepared a way for humanity to live forever; as we would have done if Adam had not first reached to be like God. So when Jesus says “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father,” he is not only speaking of his divinity, but also his being the perfect image of God. As he always does, Jesus is for us what we cannot be for ourselves. He didn’t just set a good example for us; he fulfilled the task for us. And when he stood up from his death and grave, Jesus further shows us how we are going to live forever when he wipes away every tear.

It’s difficult just trying to be human. Not attempting to be more than we are created to be, and not living as less than God desires. But just “being” human is complicated. However, when we think of what it means to be human, and how difficult it can be, we can rest in the arms of a God who came into our history to humanly be for us what we most need: God with us.