We Make Christians in the Image of God

There is an implied design in the statement “we make Christians.” Christians are formed and sanctified in particular ways.  God has a design for what we as Christians are supposed to look like and how we behave, so much so that when the world sees one, they will say, “Hey, that’s a Christian!”  

The design is called the “Image of God,” sometimes referred to in Latin as the Imago Dei. The image of God is ours by God’s loving act of creation, but that image was distorted by sin. Jesus became flesh, in part, to restore the image of God in us. Christ alone saves us, but the church has a vital role to play in the restoration of that image. 

The best book I’ve read on the doctrine of the image of God is Created in God’s Image by Anthony A. Hoekema. Dr. Hoekema was a Dutch-American Calvinist minister and theologian who served as professor of systematic theology at Calvin Theological Seminary for twenty-one years. His work was helpful to me in my study of Christian formation and shaped my understanding of the church’s responsibility to make Christians. Below are some thoughts on his book.

What Is the Image of God?

Hoekema begins his book by surveying the relevant biblical texts that speak to the image of God.1

After considering the texts, he summarizes that,

[…] to be faithful to the biblical evidence, our understanding of the image of God must include these two senses: (1) the image of God as such is an unlosable aspect of man, a part of his essence and existence, something that man cannot lose without ceasing to be man. (2) The image of God, however, must also be understood as that likeness to God which was perverted when man fell into sin, and is being restored and renewed in the process of sanctification.2

According to Hoekema, the phrase “God created man in his own image” describes how humanity is set apart from the rest of creation because we were formed in a unique way. We were created in God’s image in order to be like God. The likeness of God is expressed in the world as men and women mirror God and represent God. 

Mirroring God means humanity was given the privilege of revealing God to the world by reflecting the glory of God in the world. We also represent God in the world much like an ambassador would from a foreign country.

Imaging Includes What We Do

Hoekema denies the Gnostic dualism of spiritual life over embodied life and emphasizes that being made in the image of God includes the bodily aspects of humanity. Hoekema recognizes that theologians have denied the bodily aspects of the image of God but asserts, “[…] the image of God does not concern only a part of [humanity] (the “soul” or the “spiritual” aspects) but the entire person.”3

According to Hoekema, the doctrine of the image of God is practical and earthy; it’s connected to our bodies and what our bodies do. The image of God is concerned with what humanity is, what Hoekema calls our “structure,” or what we call human nature. Humanity enjoys a particular nature that is distinct within the created order. 

Humans also function in unique ways within creation, as we work, love, locate ourselves in space and time, worship, etc. Both of these aspects, the structural and the functional (the being and the doing) must be held together. 

Hoekema writes,

Since the image of God includes the whole person, it must include both man’s structures and man’s functioning […] human beings were created to function in certain ways: to worship God, to love the neighbor, to rule over nature and so on. But they cannot function in these ways unless they have been endowed by God with structural capacities that enable them to do so. So structures and functions are both involved when we think of man as the image of God.4

Human beings are creatures who are particular things and who do particular things.  And what we do and how we do it informs who we are. The two work together to reveal the image of God and what it means to be a human being. Hoekema writes, “We must see both, but we need to see the structure of man as secondary and his functioning as primary. God has created us in his image so that we may carry out a task, fulfill a mission, pursue a calling.”5 In short, the image of God supplies something very important for human flourishing—purpose.

Purpose

The image of God gives us purpose, but sin greatly distorts that purpose. If there is any hope for us to understand our purpose, then the image of God and the true purpose of our existence must be reimagined. And it is Christ who perfectly re-images our purpose back to us. Hoekema writes,

As we continue to ask what we must understand by the image of God we are reminded of the fact that in the New Testament Christ is called the image of God par excellence; he is the “image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15). If, therefore, we wish to know what the image of God in man is really like, we must first look at Christ. This means that what is central in the image of God is not such matters as reason or intelligence but rather love, since what stands out more than anything else in the life of Christ is his amazing love. In Christ, in other words, we see clearly what is hidden in Genesis 1: namely what man as the perfect image of God should be like.6

Christ is the true form of the image of God in humanity and as such he is the object of a Christian’s formation. We are made to be like Jesus. Jesus is the form after which men and women are refashioned. We are made like Christ, to mirror Christ and resemble Christ. 

Imaging Means Ordered Loves

Imaging Jesus means fulfilling your purpose as a human being. Hoekema says, “[…] from looking at Jesus Christ, the perfect image of God, we learn that the proper functioning of the image includes being directed toward God, being directed toward the neighbor, and ruling over nature.”7 

Christ loves perfectly and therefore his love is perfectly and wholly directed toward the Father, toward his neighbor and toward the creation. These three directed loves are the same for all Christians in whom the image of God is being re-formed. 

According to Hoekema, being human means rightly loving God—this is our first and most important relationship. “To be a human being in the truest sense, therefore, means to love God above all, to trust him and obey him, to pray to him and to thank him.”8 

Being human also means loving our neighbor—it is only through relationships that we have the opportunity to enrich the lives of others and to fully develop our own potential. “Men and women cannot attain to true humanity in isolation; they need the fellowship and stimulation of others. We are social beings. The very fact that man is told to love his neighbor as himself implies that man needs his neighbor.”9  

Finally, to be human is to love nature as God’s deputies or disciples. Christians are called to steward and rule over creation and to develop a God- glorifying culture.

This third relationship into which man has been placed by God means that man, while standing below God, stands above nature as its ruler, as the one who is summoned to admire its beauties, discover its secrets and explore its resources. But man must rule over nature in such a way as to be its servant as well.10

Hoekema observes that there is no other creature that lives in precisely this same threefold relationship; it is unique to bearing the image of God. Hoekema concludes,

Each of these three relationships is a reflection of God’s own being. Man’s responsibility to God and conscious fellowship with God is a reflection of God’s fellowship with and love for man. Man’s fellowship with his fellowman is a reflection of the inter-Trinitarian fellowship within the Godhead […] And man’s dominion over the earth reflects the supreme dominion of God the Creator over all that he has made […] Since this threefold relationship is unique to man, and since he images God in each of these relationships, we may conclude […] that the proper functioning of the image of God is to be channeled through these three relationships […] in the way man functions in these relationships.11

After humanity fell into sin, the image of God was not annihilated but perverted. The embodied aspects of the image of God within us were maintained; the functional (doing) aspects of the image were corrupted. The fall changed the direction of humanity’s love; instead of love being outwardly directed toward God, neighbor and the creation it became inwardly directed toward the self. 

God desires to renew the image of God in us. God seeks to redeem and restore the image of God so that “man who was using his God-imaging powers in the wrong ways is now again enabled to use these powers in right ways.”12 

Hoekema goes on to describe this redemptive process. Redemption of the image of God begins with regeneration, whereby the Holy Spirit, through the preaching and teaching of the word, brings a person into a living union with Christ so that the heart, which was spiritually dead, becomes spiritually alive. 

But the renewal of the image of God in the lives of believers continues through the work of sanctification. Sanctification is the process of renewal of the image of God. “In this renewal of the image of God we are once again enabled to live in love, in three directions: toward God, toward neighbor, and toward nature. In other words, the restoration of the image of God means that man is once again empowered to function properly in his threefold relationship.”13

According to Hoekema, Christian formation (making Christians) is the process of God redeeming his image in the lives of his people through his son Jesus Christ so that a Christian might again mirror and resemble God in the world through a reordered and reformed love for God, neighbor and creation. 

We Need the Church to Be Image Bearers

Hoekema concludes by giving us a few helpful remarks concerning the redemption of the image of God in his people. 

First, Hoekema reminds us that the church has responsibility for the renewal of the image of God. He writes, 

[Renewal of the image of God] has to do with believers as members of Christ, and therefore with the church that Christ is sanctifying. This means that the image of God today is seen in its richest form in Christ together with his church, or in the church as the body of Christ. But this also implies that the restoration of the image of God in man takes place in the church, through the fellowship of Christians with each other.14

One might be so bold as to say that making Christians does not occur outside of the church, which is in stark contrast with the beliefs of many modern evangelicals and with popular writings on Christian spirituality.

Secondly, the renewal of the image of God in the lives of God’s people is synergistic, that is to say, cooperative. Hoekema affirms monergism (one work) with regard to salvation and justification but sees a synergy in the process of formation.15  Hoekema writes, 

It is important to remember, however, that the renewal of the image involves both the Spirit’s gracious working within and the responsibility of man. In other words, this renewal is both God’s gift and our task.16

Thirdly, the process of renewal of the image of God is ongoing and will not be perfected until Christ’s return.

The perfection of the image of God in man is ultimately connected with the glorification of Christ […] The final perfection of the image, therefore, will not only be brought about by Christ; it will also be patterned after Christ. In the life to come we shall ‘bear the likeness of the man of heaven’ (I Cor. 15:49).17

Finally, Hoekema observes that the doctrine of the image of God has important ramifications for a person’s self-image. By self-image Hoekema means, “seeing ourselves not just as we are by nature, but as we are by grace.”18 The image of God, which he originally gave to Adam and Eve instilled a positive view of the self. This self-image was perverted in the fall but is healed through Christ. 

Through the work of justification Christians are forgiven. “This marvelous truth of divine forgiveness is the foundation for a positive Christian self-image.”19 But Christians are also sanctified, by the Spirit and through the work of the church. Through the ministry of the church, we are reformed into new creatures and receive a positive self-image in Christ. 

Hoekema summarizes,

The Christian self-image means looking at ourselves in the light of God’s gracious work of forgiveness and renewal […] He or she must always be pressing on, in the strength of Christ, toward the goal of Christian perfection. Christians should see themselves as new persons who are being progressively renewed by the Holy Spirit.20

In the church, we make Christians, by offering Christ to men and women. The church re-presents Christ to the Christian through the ministry of word and sacrament, where Christ is found. As Christ is offered through the church, we receive him and become more like him. 

The shape of our lives is Christ; the object of our formation is Christ; the goal to which our lives are leading is Christ; the purpose of our lives is Christ. We make Christians by offering Christ every Lord’s Day. Doing so keeps the shape of a Christian’s life in constant view.

Photo by Fares Hamouche on Unsplash

  1. Cf. Genesis 1:26-27, Genesis 5:1-3, Romans 8:29, 2 Corinthians 3:17-18, Colossians 3:9-10 and Ephesians 4:20-24. ↩︎
  2. Anthony A. Hoekema, Created in God’s Image (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1986), 32. ↩︎
  3.  Ibid, 68. ↩︎
  4.  Ibid, 69. ↩︎
  5.  Ibid, 73. ↩︎
  6.  Ibid, 73. ↩︎
  7.  Ibid, 75 ↩︎
  8.  Ibid, 76. ↩︎
  9.  Ibid, 77. ↩︎
  10.  Ibid, 80. ↩︎
  11.  Ibid, 81-82. ↩︎
  12.  Ibid, 86. ↩︎
  13.  Ibid, 86. ↩︎
  14.  Ibid, 89. ↩︎
  15.  For a fuller description of Hoekema’s commitment to monergism see Hoekema’s Saved by Grace. ↩︎
  16.  Ibid, 89. For a fuller description of Hoekema’s understanding of divine sovereignty and human responsibility, see chapter two of Created in God’s Image. ↩︎
  17.  Ibid, 92. ↩︎
  18.  Ibid, 102. ↩︎
  19.  Ibid, 107. ↩︎
  20.  Ibid, 111. ↩︎