January 4: Imago Dei

Philippians 1:21. For to me, to live is Christ…

We are on a journey this year to understand what this means: “To live is Christ.” But before we get deep into how Christ affects our life, we want to continue to go back to the beginning and understand what life is exactly.

There are still at least two important ideas from Genesis that we need to flesh out. Here’s the first:

Genesis 1:26. let us make man in our image, after our likeness.

To be alive is to image God. The image of God or Imago Dei has been stamped onto every human being. Every person bears God’s image, including you. God didn’t just create us, he created us to reflect him. Nothing else in creation can boast this.

The purpose and meaning of life is for you to image God. To make the invisible God visible.

The word for image in Genesis 1:26 is one of the same words that is used throughout the Old Testament for an idol. We are the physical reflection of God on the earth. Or at least we are supposed to be. Why are idols forbidden by God? Because God is the only god, and we (humans) are supposed to be the only idols of God.

How does all of this connect to Jesus Christ?

1 Corinthians 15:49. And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.

Jesus Christ is both God and the image of God. He is God and human. And he is the one that will restore us to the image bearers we were intended to be.

We still have a long way to go, but I hope you’ll keep coming back as we explore together how the life of Christ in us restores the image of God in us.