meditations upon being made in God's image - the imago dei

Have you ever wondered what made mankind special? Is man any different from other animals? Are we being guilty of 'speciesism' by asserting that mankind is unique and special amongst the rest of creation?

According to Genesis 1:26-27 (as well as 5:1-2 & 9:2) mankind is unique in as far as we alone are made in the image of God. This is an extraordinary truth. The imago dei is the quintessence of our humanity. So what does it mean to be made in the image of God? Early church fathers understood the image of God to be in man's rational capacity - our mind, will and reason. A linguistic study into the semantic range of the words for "image" and "likeness" resulted in there being a correlation between our physical appearance and anatomical design as well as our rationality to the likeness of God. 

Yet, our uniqueness does not end with our reflection of the image of the God as profound as that thought is. An event in human history amplifies and draws into sharp focus our ability to not just reflect, but actively express the divine nature: the birth of Jesus Christ. 

The birth of Jesus is otherwise known theologically as the incarnation. Without the incarnation of the Son of God there could be no salvation. Scripture such as the book of Hebrews teaches why Jesus had to be both fully God and fully human for our salvation. But, it is not the redemptive aspect to the incarnation that I want to pause and meditate on here. 

Rather, I want to think about one of the most important implications of the incarnation for our understanding of our humanity and our uniqueness in creation. In becoming a human being, Jesus - who was eternally coexistent with God the Father (John 1:1-3, 17:5, Col 1:15-17) - in one sense deified all humanity. Now, please don't misunderstand me. I am not saying that we as human beings are gods. Nor am I speaking of the Eastern Orthodox doctrine of Theosis in which people are believed to be able to achieve deification. However, in one very profound sense, Jesus by condescending to become human and partake in human nature did deify mankind in so far as the triune God personally identified Himself with mankind. 

Jesus is described as the Word in John 1:1. The Word, or Logos in Greek, was with God and was God (John 1:1). The Word then became flesh i.e. human (John 1:14). Logos Christology dominated the theological formulation of doctrine in the first few centuries of the early church (as it should have). Indeed the incarnation of Christ remains a more prevalent theological focus in the Eastern Orthodox Church than it does in the Western Church. 

Recently, I was part of an astronomy workshop, in which the staff member gave us an idea of the size of our solar system and position of it within the milky way. He then continued to show us the size of our milky way galaxy in comparison with the universe. One website I looked at said to imagine our sun as a coin placed on a desk. The nearest star to our sun would be 350 miles away. By this scale the milky way galaxy would be 7.5 million miles across. Though an exact estimate of how large our universe is is very difficult due to the fact that space is still expanding; the universe is estimated to be about 93 billion light years across! These numbers blow the mind. Imagining these sorts of distances is really incomprehensible to our human minds. Yet, the Bible says that God created the heavens and stretched them out (Isaiah 42:5). The Bible also says God determines the exact number of stars and knows them all by name (Psalm 147:5).

Rather than the unimaginable size of the universe being a stumbling block to belief in the incarnation, I think it actually supports it. For if God can create the universe ex-nihilo (out of nothing), and can create a universe 93 billion light years in diameter, then the universe is a testament to God's omnipotence. Indeed, the heavens declare the glory of God (Psalm 19:1). The more we learn about our universe, the more God's glory is magnified. The semantic range of the Hebrew words for "image" and "likeness" as discussed earlier may also provide further evidence of God's omnipotence as to His purpose for the incarnation, which was built into the very design of our physical anatomy.

Jesus, the Logos, became human. Jesus' incarnation makes God the Father's immanence among His creation personal (Col 1:15, 2:9). In becoming a human being, Jesus elevates mankind in ways we could never achieve without the incarnation. Jesus' hypostatic union (between his divinity and humanity) remains a beautiful mystery. Though I use the expression " beautiful mystery", the fact of the matter is that truth always precedes the language and vocabulary needed in order to explain it. As such the very theological language I am using in this blog took centuries of formulation and revision to adequately describe the truth of Christ's two natures found in Scripture.

While mankind will never develop a hypostatic union the same as Christ's, nevertheless Peter does speak of partaking in the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). This partaking in the divine nature is only partial now, but will be become more fully realized when we receive our glorified, resurrected bodies. Nevertheless, the Christian is a new creation (2 Cor 5:17) and as such becomes a partaker in the divine nature of the Godhead. Indeed, the Christian is also the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19). Thus, not only does the Christian partake of the divine nature of the Godhead in the grace-activated transformation of the heart enabling us to practice holiness, not to mention being given eternal life; but also, we in fact become the very dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, housing the Spirit in our sanctified bodies.

This reality of the Christian experience further reduces the gap between God and man. We are image bearers of our Creator God by virtue of our humanity. And as Christians, we are transformed - or transfigured in a way - to bear the image of Christ (who Himself is the image of the invisible God, Col 1:15). It is this relationship with Christ and the subsequent Christlikeness that Jesus imbues to His followers that acts almost synecdochically for the deification of mankind. Christ in becoming human becomes the new Adam - the heavenly Adam (1 Cor 15:47-49) - and as such the new federal head of mankind. Just as we all are borne after the likeness of the first Adam in our sinful state, so too for the Christian he is borne after the likeness of the second Adam, the heavenly Adam (Christ). And so Christ Jesus comes, in a way, to represent all humanity in His own humanity, thus synecdochically deifying mankind.

This blog cannot plumb the depths of the implications and riches of the incarnation. Nor can this blog adequately survey the catechism of Logos Christology and the Hypostatic Union. I am not even trying to do so. No, this blog is designed to be more of a devotional meditation on our uniqueness among creation as being made in the imago dei and what Christ's incarnation means for us in that respect. I will leave it to you to contemplate what the incarnation means for us spiritually and societally, as well as for yourself personally. I hope this blog has inspired purifying, soul-quenching meditation in that regard.

Blessings.

a call to prayer for our politicians

For those of you who have read my recent series of blogs you will know that I have been meditating upon and animated by the theme of spiritual sojourning. Our faith and hope should not be misplaced in the ability of men (or lack thereof), but in our Lord and saviour Jesus Christ.

Nevertheless, our sojourn in the world does not automatically entail our abandonment of it. Yet, how do we reconcile our sojourn with following the affairs of the world? Paul speaks metaphorically in 2 Corinthians 5 of living in our earthly "tent" (i.e. body) and yet longing to put off the earthly in favour of the heavenly (2 Cor 5:1-2). Here we see another example of Paul's holy discontentment that we saw in Philippians 3:10-11. What is Paul's resolution to this frustration of our eager anticipation of the resurrection body and eternal life? In v.9 Paul says;

So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. 

2 Corinthians 5:9

Our aim as Christians should be to please God. How do we please God in our sojourn? One way to please God relevant to the theme of this blog is by making intercessory prayers and supplications for our leaders (1 Tim 2:1-3). Paul says our prayers for all people, including those who rule over us are "good" and "pleasing" in the sight of our Lord (1 Tim 2:3). So if it pleases God to pray for our leaders, and the aim of our Christian walk is to please the Lord then we should pray for those in government.

Therefore, I am exhorting my fellow Christian brothers and sisters in the UK (and elsewhere) to heed the call to intercede for our government and politicians.

Pray with me for the Conservative Party leadership contest. Pray for the Labour Party that is in crisis following the result of the referendum. And pray for the general election that will inevitably take place once the new leader of the Conservative Party has been chosen.

How then should we pray for our government and politicians? We may be jaded or disillusioned with our politicians. We may even resent them and feel bitter towards them. When we feel so negatively towards our politicians it dampens our zeal to pray. Our instinct is not to pray but rather to complain and protest.

Yet, the Christians of the first century whom the New Testament was originally written to had no say or power in choosing their political leaders. And in fact historically, the early church came under enormous pressure and persecution under the Roman Empire. And still, despite such severe treatment - even to the point of shedding blood (Heb 12:4) and martyrdom - the church was still commanded to be in subjection to the ruling government (Rom 13:1).

That command to be in subjection to our rulers is still in effect today. Peter commands the church to be subject to rulers and governors (1 Peter 2:13-14) for this is the will of God (1 Peter 2:15). Peter goes so far as to say that as Christians we should honour everyone, including the emperor (1 Peter 2:17).

We don't have to agree with every policy, decision or belief of our politicians. But we must respect them. And that means praying for all our politicians not just for the political party we vote for.

So, are there any biblical principles we can use to guide us in how to pray and what to pray for? I have been giving this some thought, and I think that we can draw inspiration in our prayers from the qualifications for church elders in 1 Timothy 3:2-7. Now I know that we should not judge the moral character of those outside the church by the same standards for those inside the church (1 Cor 5:9-10); but nevertheless when it comes to appointing or electing leaders and prime ministers of our country, then I think many of these same qualifications apply.

Paul says elders should be the husband of one wife (1 Tim 3:2). Boris Johnson has been married twice, had three affairs and has fathered a love child with one of his mistresses. Therefore, even before Johnson pulled out of the leadership contest, his moral character made him a highly dubious candidate for such a position.

Speaking of the qualifications for deacons later in the same chapter, Paul says deacons should not be greedy for dishonest gain (1 Tim 3:8). While I wouldn't go so far as to say Michael Gove's leadership bid was entirely machiavellian as the conspiracy theory claims, it did reveal that he is a callous and utterly ruthless politician with his own political ambition and agenda. Gove has lost the trust of many Conservative MPs for his last minute sabotage of Johnson's campaign to be prime minister. Therefore, is Gove of the right moral character to be the next prime minister?

My point is not to character-assassinate every candidate for prime minister. My point is that we can use the qualifications for elders and deacons as principles for what to pray for in our leaders. We not only want, but need men and women of integrity, honesty, humility and valour. We need leaders who are qualified, experienced in government and the art of statecraft as well as moral character.

I am a meritocrat. I believe in meritocracy. I believe those who are most qualified for the position should be given the responsibility. My desire is to see every leader of every major political party in Britain be equally qualified to lead our country as potential prime ministers. This is how I will be interceding for our politicians and government in the days, weeks and months ahead.

Join with me in making prayers of supplication and intercession for our leaders. These are disturbing times and dark days. Our leaders need our prayers. Whether they recognize it or not, let alone publicly acknowledge it, our leaders need the Church to intercede for them. Let us not fail them, nor displease our Lord and God for whom we live to please.