What is the "Image of God" in Man?

 

1. Key Texts Addressing the Imago Dei

1) Genesis 1:26-28

2) Genesis 9:6

3) Psalm 8:5-6

4) James 3:9

2. Key Words and Semantics

1)  צֶלֶם - "image". This word has the idea of an artistic description (Numbers 35:32; 1 Samuel 6:5; 2 Kings 11:18; Amos 5:26). 

2) דְּמוּת - "likeness". This word means an appearance, pattern, or personality (2 Kings 16:10; 2 Chronicles 4:3; Psalm 58:5; Ezekiel 1:5, 10) 

3. Historical Perspectives

Irenaeus - "But if the Spirit be wanting to the soul, he who is such is indeed of an animal nature, and being left carnal, shall be an imperfect being, possessing indeed the image in his formation, but not receiving the similitude through the Spirit, and thus is this being imperfect...And then, again, this Word was manifested when the Word of God was made man, assimilating himself to man and man to himself, that by means of his resemblance to the Son, man might become precious to the Father. For in times long past, it was said that man was created after the image of God, but it was not yet shown; for the Word was as yet invisible, after whose image man was created. Wherefore also he did easily lose the similitude. When, however, the Word of God became flesh, he confirmed both these: for he both showed forth the image truly, since he became himself what was his image; and he reestablished the similitude after a sure manner, by assimilating man to the invisible Father through means of the visible Word" (Against Heresies, Book 5, Chapter 6)

"Again we find Irenaeus saying that though man was created in the image of God, he lost the similitude or likeness to God in the Fall. Christ, however, showed us in his own person what the image of God truly was. Furthermore, Christ also restores the likeness of God in those who belong to him by making them one with God the Father." (Anthony Hoekema)

Similarly, Plato and Aristotle thought reason was man's highest faculty and characteristic which distinguished him from the lower animals. 

Audaeus and the Anthropomorphites - This was a heretical sect in the 4th century which took Gen. 1:26 too literally, thinking that the image of God meant that God is literally a body composed of parts and that the image of God is man looking like what God literally and physically looks like it. 

St. Gregory of Nyssa - St. Gregory of Nyssa believed that the image of God consisted in man's rational intellect and free will. He teaches this in his treatise On the Making of Man. Some have objected to this view as being too speculative, but it does fit well with the major distinction between humans and animals in Gen. 1:26-28. 

Thomas Aquinas - "Thomas finds the image of God primarily in man's intellect or reason" (Anthony Hoekema). 

Aquinas, in his masterpiece Summa Theologica, said the following about the imago dei in humanity:

"The first stage is man's natural aptitude for understanding and loving God, an aptitude which consists in the very nature of the mind, which is common to all men. The next stage is where a man is actually or dispositively  knowing and loving God, but still imperfectly; and here we have the image by conformity of grace. The third stage is where a man is actually knowing and loving God perfectly; and this is the image by likeness of glory.... The first stage of the image then is found in all men, the second only in the just, and the third only in the blessed." (Summa Theologica, Part I, Q. 93, Article 4)

Anthony Hoekema posits five criticisms of Aquinas' view (of which i give the first three of them below):

[1]. The idea that the image of God solely consists in man's intellectual nature is more rooted in Greek philosophy than in Scripture. 

[2]. "Thomas's view detracts from the goodness of man's original nature, by positing a struggle between the "lower" and "higher" aspects of human nature from the very moment of creation" (Hoekema)

[3]. "Thomas's view of the image of God detracts from the seriousness of the Fall. That is, according to Thomas, man was essentially the same after the Fall as he was before it, merely without the gift of supernatural grace, or the donum superadditum."

John Calvin - Calvin thought the image of God consisted primarily in man's soul. 

"The integrity with which Adam was endowed is expressed by this word [image or likeness of God], when he had full possession of right understanding, when he had his affections kept within the bounds of reason, all his senses tempered in right order, and he truly referred his excellence to exceptional gifts bestowed upon him by his Maker" (John Calvin)

Calvin believed the imago dei consisted in righteousness and holiness as well. 

Is there a distinction between Image and Likeness?

Many early fathers and scholastics believed there to be a distinction in the mental "image" and moral "likeness" in man, thus separating the two from one another. Among such theologians were Origen, St. Gregory of Nyssa, John of Damascus, Peter Lombard, Thomas Aquinas, and Robert Bellarmine. However, it appears that Rome has now abandoned this distinction:

"Patristic and medieval theology diverged at certain points from biblical anthropology, and developed it at other points" (https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/cti_documents/rc_con_cfaith_doc_20040723_communion-stewardship_en.html)

Perhaps one of the reasons for the development of this distinction was the Septuagint's insertion of "and" (kai) in between "image" and "likeness" in Genesis. 

This distinction between "image" and "likeness" should be rejected (at least as two completely different concepts). We should be willing to allow a minor distinction, but not to the point of major differences between the two, as some of the church fathers and most of the scholastic theologians did, unfortunately. 

"In Genesis 1:26 both image and likeness are used; in 1:27 only image is used, while in 5:1 only the word likeness is used. In 5:3 the two words are used again but this time in a different order: in his own likeness, after his image. And again in 9:6 only the word image is used. If these words were intended to describe different aspects of the human being, they would not be used as we have seen them used, that is, almost interchangeably. Although these words are used generally as synonyms, we may recognize a slight difference between the two. The Hebrew word for image, tselem, is derived from a root that means "to carve" or "to cut." It could therefore be used to describe a carved likeness of an animal or a person. When it is applied to the creation of man in Genesis 1, the word tselem indicates that man images God, that is, is a representation of God. The Hebrew word for likeness, demūth, comes from a root that means "to be like." One could therefore say that the word demūth in Genesis 1 indicates that the image is also a likeness, "an image which is like us." The two words together tell us that man is a representation of God who is like God in certain respects." (Anthony Hoekema)

Summary and Clarifications

Based on the biblical data, I would conclude that the imago dei at least consists in things like man's reason and natural dominion over the other animals. After the fall, this image has been distorted, but there are still traces of it remaining (see Calvin's commentary on Gen. 1:26) Ephesians 4:24 and Colossians 3:10 show that righteousness and holiness are part of what makes up this image. This image encompasses the entire human person. 

In terms of Reformed theologians, William Ames was probably the one who did the best job articulating the theology of the imago dei. 

"We see the beautiful balance and comprehensiveness of the Reformed doctrine of God’s image in the systematic theology of William Ames. Ames wrote that this image consisted of the body’s “beauty and usefulness conforming to God’s will”; the soul’s “faculties . . . in the understanding and the will,” including its gifts of “wisdom, holiness, and righteousness”; and man’s “dominion over other creatures so that he might use them freely to the glory of God and for his own necessity.” Even man’s placement in paradise “as in his palace” contributed to “the perfection of man” by which he imaged God. Ames went on to say that with the fall came “spiritual death,” which began with “the defacement of the image of God.” However, God moderates the effects of the fall through “vestiges of God’s image” that remain “in the understanding and in the will.” Evidently these are the “very nature of man,” which cannot be destroyed without unmanning man. The vestiges in the understanding consist of some theoretical knowledge of God (Rom. 1:20). Though defiled, the conscience retains some ability by which man is able to distinguish between just and unjust actions (2:15). “In the will,” according to Ames, “the vestiges appear in a certain inclination to dimly known good,” which though dead and unable to produce spiritual good, still moves men to approve “shadows of virtue” (cf. 2 Tim. 3:5) and restrains them from “many grosser sins” (cf. 1 Cor. 5:1). The Christian’s love for God moves him to love men, too, “for they are in some sort partakers of the image of God" (Joel Beeke and Paul Smalley)