Imago Dei as a status

Being made in the image of God is not an ability, but a status.

Michael Heiser puts out a list of common meanings for “image of God.”

• Intelligence

• Reasoning ability

• Emotions

• The ability to commune with God

• Self-awareness (sentience)

• Language/communication ability

• The presence of a soul or spirit (or both)

• The sconscience

• Free will¹

But, as Heiser points out, the “image of God means none of these things. If it did, then Bible-believers out to abandon the idea of the sanctity of human life in the womb.”²

Any intelligible account of what it means to be made in the image of God must account for four separate features:

1. Both men and women are equally included.

2. Divine image bearing is what makes humankind distinct from the rest of earthly creation (i.e., plants and animals). The text of Genesis 1:26 does not inform us that divine image bearing makes us distinct from heavenly being, those sons of God who were already in existence at the time of creation. The plurals in Genesis 1:26 mean that, in some way, we share something with them when it comes to bearing God’s image.

3. There is something about the image that makes humankind “like” God in some way.

4. There is nothing in the text to suggest that the image has been or can be bestowed incrementally or partially. You’re either created as God’s image bearer or you aren’t. One cannot speak of being partly or potentially bearing God’s image.³

I will save you the explanation of how the first list I provided conflicts with the second list; you can see Heiser’s explanation in his book.

Heiser explains that the answer to what being made “in the image of God” lies in the word in.

If I say, “I work in education,” I am using the preposition to denote that I work as a teacher or principal, or in some other educational capacity.⁴

This is the meaning that Heiser says is being used for in the image of God. Imaging is to be taken as a verb or function. “The image is not an ability we have, but a status. We are God’s representative’s on earth. To be human is to image God.”⁵

1. Heiser, Michael S. The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible. Lexham Press, 2015, 40.

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid., 41.

4. Ibid., 42.

5. Ibid, 42.