What is the 'Image of God'? Part 3

In the previous two posts, we explored a number of different views on the image of God and what it means. The perspective that has been adopted is that it refers to the relationship between the members of the Trinity, and how we are called to share in that relationship, both with God and with others. Jesus, in John 17, clearly calls for us to be united as one, as He is one with the Father.


So what does this look like? How can we put some legs on this idea?


One example might look like this.




The white light on the left, entering the prism, represents original humanity. The very image of God. Perfect harmony, with God and each other. As the light enters the prism, it becomes distorted. This is what happened at the Fall in Genesis 3. As the light exits the prism it is scattered, just as God scattered the people in Genesis 11 at the Tower of Babel.


At the Fall, we chose to sever our relationship with God as human beings. We became a distorted image, no longer a part of that beautiful Trinitarian relationship. We turned our backs on God.


At the Tower, although the people were working together as one, they were disobeying God, and so God came down and scattered the people to the corners of the Earth and "confused their language." The people who had once lived in the same place, shared the same language and much the same lives, now lived in different places and environments, spoke different languages, and led very different lives... much like the different colours that refract out of the prism.


Each one of us is different. We enjoy different things, we have different backgrounds, shared different experiences, different educations, emotions, personalities, skills and abilities... the list is endless. The different colours refracted out of the prism represent these differences, whether they are personality differences, cultural differences, or physical differences, etc. We even see Paul talking about different people receiving different gifts of the Spirit. These are also represented by the refracting light.


Individually, we don't reflect the image of God. We refract the image. We're not longer pure white light, but rather we are each from a different part of the colour spectrum. I might be green or blue or violet while you might be red or yellow or orange. A blue light can never be a white light, just as a red light can never be white. At least, not by themselves.


It's not until all the colours from across the spectrum are brought together in community that we begin to reflect God's image again, the original white light. The colour wheel below shows how all the colours combining together bring about the return to white light. It is in our diversity that we have unity, and diversity in our unity. The diverse colours uniting to be the white light reflection of God.



In the previous post, we discussed how we were made to be loved by God, but that's not where it ends. We were also made to reciprocate that love. We were made to love God back. Strangely, God says that that's not enough in Genesis 2. God says, "It is not good for the man to be alone." However, we know that the man, Adam, was not alone. God was with him. We know that God walked with him in the garden in the cool of the day.


This is not quite what God meant. What was being said here is that the man needed someone that was like him. He needed a companion, a partner in life. Being close to God means being relational, not just with God but with other people.


The two greatest commandments that Jesus identified, love the Lord your God and love your neighbour, could not be separated but go together. Jesus didn't make these up. He took them directly from Scripture. Love the Lord your God comes right out of Deuteronomy 6:5, and love you neighbour is taken from Leviticus 19:18. Jesus, while quoting Scripture, was explaining that you cannot be fully human, reflecting the image of God, without loving God and sharing in relationship with others.


Israel was chosen by God, called by God, to be a lighthouse to the nations. Israel was a holy nation, chosen by God, to bless the nations so that they might also come to know God. While it didn't turn out to be an overly effective strategy, the hurdles that Israel struggled to overcome were broken down by Jesus, including the barrier between the nations.


Jesus proclaims in Luke 24 that He lived and died so that repentance and forgiveness of sins would be preached to all nations, and in Matthew 28 gives a mandate to "go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."


Jesus is calling you to go to all the different colours refracting out of the prism, and gather together in the relationship that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit share, once again recreating the white light and reflecting God's image. We are called to live in communion with God and each other... with all those that are different from us... with all nations.


Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations...