Grace in the Image of God

The primary instance when God demonstrated His grace in creation was when He created human beings.    In the counsel of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit conferred together and concluded this:  “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground” (Genesis 1:26). Two separate aspects of this declaration powerfully display the grace of God.  First, God determines to create man in His own image, an honor conferred on no other creature.  Then, God proceeds to entrust to mankind the whole creation that He has spent the past six days bringing into existence.  These two remarkable decisions truly are the grace of God made manifest—His undeserved love on display in all its glory!

“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27).  The choice God made to create us in His own image was absolutely essential for us to be able to both receive and value the grace of God.  If we were not created in the image of God we would be unable to have a personal faith relationship with Him.  And it is because we are in relationship with God that we can actually appreciate His grace.  True, God demonstrates His goodness even to the unbeliever and the ungodly.  “He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matthew 5:45).  Therefore, anyone can be a recipient of the common grace of God, even animals and other creatures.  However, the unbeliever does not recognize the good gifts he receives as coming from God.  He does not understand that they are signs of God’s goodness and mercy.   Only after we have come to faith and been born again, only after the image of God that was destroyed by sin has begun to be restored in us, can we really appreciate the common grace of God as being “of God.”  And without that faith relationship we can in no way experience the special grace of God by which He redeems, justifies, sanctifies and glorifies His people. Therefore, God’s act of creating us in His image may have been the most gracious act of all.

What does it mean to you to be created in the image of God?  Our reason and intelligence, our ability to communicate using language and symbols, our creativity and spiritual nature are all aspects of what it means to be created in the image of God.  These things set us apart from every other creature God has made.  We are truly unique and truly blessed with the grace of God.  

Copyright by the Author.