Some Thoughts on the Imago Dei

Is the Body "Essential" to the Imago Dei?

I was reading a theological article just a few minutes ago on the relationship of the body to the soul. In it, the author says that man as a body-soul composite is the image of God. This is one view that has been taken in church history, so it’s not novel with the author in question. However, it is problematic for a variety of reasons.

Firstly, Paul the apostle says that man “is the image and glory of God.”¹ This is an ontological claim. Man is the image of God. Given that this is the case, then it follows that man ceasing to be the image of God is equivalent to his ceasing to exist. What man is, then, must endure beyond the death of the body, seeing as the dead continue to be men. But the only thing that endures beyond the death of the body is the soul. It is the soul, then, that is the image of God, i.e. the man, and not the body.

Secondly, God is Spirit,² and a spirit does not have flesh and blood.³
Humans have flesh and blood, and this we share in common with the animals. What we do not share in common with the animals, however, we share in common with God — mind, will, word. Man’s body, then, is not the image of God. One can have a body and not be the image bearer of God (e.g. animals), but one can lack a body and remain the image bearer of God (e.g. the dead in heaven).

Thirdly, in 1st Cor 15:47-49 the apostle Paul writes —

The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.

Here we see that the body we have is said to bear the image of the man of dust. Given that Adam did not cease to be the image of God, what this means is pretty straight forward — While we are still the image of God, our bodies are made in the image of Adam’s body.⁴ At the resurrection, our bodies will be made in the image of the resurrected Christ’s body. The image of God, in other words, is not physical but spiritual.

Lastly, the Scriptures make a distinction between spiritual imaging and physical imaging, for a lack of better terms. For example, in 2 Cor 3:18 Paul writes —

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.

Here we are told that Christians are being transformed into the image of Christ, from glory to glory. This is not a physical transformation, but a spiritual one. To bear the image of Christ, then, is to be like Christ spiritually. It is a process that is taking place over the course of our lives and will be perfected upon either our death or our resurrection. The glorification of the body, whereby we will bear the image of the man from heaven,⁵ however, will take place instantaneously.⁶ Thus, the incremental transformative process of bearing the likeness of Christ is spiritual, while the instantaneous event of bearing the image of Christ is physical. There is a clear distinction between spiritual imaging and physical imaging. Whereas we now bear the image of God (mind, will, word) and are incrementally coming to bear the image of Christ (holiness, glory, righteousness), our bodies bear the image of the man of dust right now and will only bear the image of the man from heaven upon our resurrection and glorification.

To state the matter as concisely as possible — The imago Dei is ontological, spiritual, whereas the imago Christi is spiritual & physical.

Concluding Remarks

Given that man will always be man, and to be man is to be the bearer of God’s image, then it follows necessarily that the image of God is not physical but spiritual. This does not denigrate the body, for the body is the natural means God has given us to express being his image. It is the means whereby we exercise dominion over creation and subdue it. This is what Scripture clearly teaches us, and to go beyond this in order to try to safeguard against error is to fall prey to another error which is equally bad.

—h.

1. 1 Cor 11:7a.

2. John 4:24.

3. Luke 24:39b.

4. This seems to be what is being taught in Gen 5:1-3 —

This is the book of the genealogy of Adam. In the day that God created man, He made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female, and blessed them and called them Mankind in the day they were created. And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years, and begot a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.

5. 1 John 3:2.

6. 1 Cor 15:51-52.