Eric Douma: Made in the Image of God

Eric Douma is pastor of Gospel of Grace Fellowship in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. He joins me this episode to discuss the theological and logical implications of just what it means to be made in the Image of God.

²⁶ Then 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 birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

²⁷ So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
— Genesis 1:26–27 (ESV)

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Outline of the Discussion

Mankind is made, both male and female, in the image of God.
There are two levels of meaning to being made in the image of God. One is that we're inherently made in His image. Another is that, through sanctification, we're being made into His image. It's largely the first that we're discussing here.
The culture is moving to the Left. We refer to this with political language, but in religious
As an image-bearer of God, our value is found in our maker, and in that we're made to reflect His glory. It's not found inherently in ourselves directly.
Post-modernism has been the main focus of attack on the Bible. The pagans no longer deny the truth of the Bible, they now deny that we can know the Truth.
Being made in the image of God sheds an entirely new light on the third commandment. By bearing His name, we take on the role of representing Him. That should not be done carelessly.
It's unclear what it means to be made in the image of God in the sense that angels are described in the Scripture as being moral beings, and also appearing similar to human beings, but are not said to be made in God's image.
Being made in God's image, we are created to reflect His glory. When we sin, we not only don't reflect His glory, we testify falsely to His nature.
When David sent Uriah to the front lines in order to have him killed so that he could take his wife Bathsheba, he was said to have blasphemed God.
Sin is “missing the mark” (hamartia), which not only means we didn't meet His standard, it also means we didn't represent Him properly.
Sin is being ungodly, or godlessness (asebes).
Sin done in ignorance needs atoning.
Sincerity is meaningless in regard to sin. Being sincere does not mean we are without sin.
The Law of Christ is the sum of the Law. It also demonstrates how we properly reflect the Glory of God.
Understanding our duty to properly reflect God's glory is a very weighty thing.
Confessing our sin has the effect of overriding our deeds and testifying to the rest of Creation that what we did is NOT reflective of God, nor diminishing of His Glory, bringing a different light to 1 John 1:9-10.