Imago Dei
Human beings are made in the image of God.
This doctrine defines Christian orthodoxy. Denial places one outside the historic faith.
Who binds this (creedal)
Every affiliated congregation inherits its denomination's position. Follow a chip to see the confession's language.
Key scriptures
- 1Cor 11:7 — For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.
- 1John 3:2 — Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
- Col 3:10 — And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
- Eph 4:24 — And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
- Exod 20:26 — Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.
- Gen 1:26 — And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
- Gen 1:27 — So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
- Gen 9:6 — Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
- James 3:9
- Jas 3:9 — Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.
- Luke 3:38 — Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.
- Matt 5:48 — Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.
- Ps 8:5 — For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
What the confessions say
Articles of the historic confessions that address this doctrine.
- Reformed Westminster Shorter Catechism Q10 — How did God create man?
- Reformed Baptist 1689 London Baptist Confession 4.2 — Of Creation
- Anglican Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion Article 10 — Of Free-Will
- Lutheran Augsburg Confession Article 1 — Of God
- Ecumenical Chalcedonian Definition text — Chalcedonian Definition
- Roman Catholic Council of Trent (Decrees) On Justification · Chapter I — On the Inability of Nature and of the Law to justify man
The Church Fathers
The earliest Fathers who commented on the Scriptures above.
But the apostle himself also, being one who had been formed in a womb, and had issued thence, wrote to us, and confessed in his Epistle to the Philippians that "to live in the flesh was the fruit of [his] work;" thus expressing himself. Now the final result of the work of the Spirit is the salvation of the flesh. For what other visible…
"Beloved," says he, "now are we the sons of God," not by natural affection, but because we have God as our Father. For it is the greater love that, seeing we have no relationship to God, He nevertheless loves us and calls us His sons. "And it has not yet appeared what we shall be;" that is, to what kind of glory we shall attain. "For…
If the number of the Trinity also offends you, as if it were not connected in the simple Unity, I ask you how it is possible for a Being who is merely and absolutely One and Singular, to speak in plural phrase, saying, "Let us make man in our own image, and after our own likeness;" Genesis 1:26 whereas He ought to have said, "Let me…
It seems to be worth inquiring in this passage how, according to the letter, when the woman was not yet made, the Scripture says, "Male and female he made them." Perhaps, as I think, it is because of the blessing with which he blessed them saying, "Increase and multiply and fill the earth." Anticipating what was to be, the text says,…
And he asks what will be the appearance of the risen body, when this human form, as according to him useless, shall wholly disappear; since it is the most lovely of all things which are combined in living creatures, as being the form which the Deity Himself employs, as the most wise Paul explains: "For a man indeed ought not to cover…
In order that the unity itself of the threefold majesty and imprint should encounter our understanding, the invisible majesty itself states so: "Let us make man in our image and according to our likeness." Look! He has demonstrated what we believe. God has engraved his image on the face of the human and has said "in our image." The…