Image of God

This one can become very tricky.  God created Adam and Eve in the Image of Himself.  Genesis 1 attests to this truth.  But Genesis 5 attests to another problem.  Genesis 5 states that Adam and Eve bore a child in their own image.  Now someone might contest that Cain and Abel would have had descendant in the Image of God.  But all of them drowned in the Flood.  You will remember only Noah a descendant of Seth and his family survived.

In Genesis 9:6 it states, "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image."  So there should be a great influence placed on the fact that God created man in his own image.  But yet all the sons of Adam are born in his image.  Genesis 5:3 reminds us that all human beings will bear the burden of original sin.

St Paul can tell us that through one man (namely Adam) all men die.  Likewise, through one man (namely Christ) all men are made alive.  These statements ring clear, because we bear the image of Adam.  Adam corrupted the image of God.  He passed this corruption on to all mankind.  God sent his only begotten son into the flesh, so that the flesh would be restored.

Christ has died.  Christ has risen.  Christ will come again.  Therefore, Christians bear the image of Christ, the Son of God.  Thus it is written in the Explanation of the Small Catechism: "Do we still bear the image of God?  No; it was lost by the fall, and while a beginning is made of its renewal in believers, it will be fully restored only in eternal life."  Thank you.

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