CHAPTER FOUR. The Image of God in Man: Before the Fall

Imago et similitudo Dei: the meaning of humans being God’s image and likeness investigated from a Christianphilosophical perspective This investigation is an effort to determine the meaning of the Biblical revelation that human beings were created in the image and likeness of God and to do so from a Christian-philosophical perspective. The following steps are taken: The introduction is a reminder that one’s view of reality (ontology) and of being human (anthropology) is decisive in terms of how one will understand the meaning of “imago Dei”. It is illustrated, firstly in the older essentialistic (or ontological) viewpoints, which explained the image of God in man analogically, in other words as similarity and difference between the divine and human natures. Next, it is indicated that the more recent relational viewpoints on the image of God also cannot really indicate its full richness. The next section provides an exposition of how a few reformational philosophers understood this mysterious Biblical expression about the human being. It is indicated how their viewpoint about human beings can solve many misconceptions connected with the “imago et similitudo Dei” and also open new, wider perspectives. The concluding part will summarise the results of the investigation.

Adresatami tekstów biblijnych mówiących o grzechu Adama i jego skutkach dla całej ludzkości są ludzie żyjący już pod jego wpływem. Od początku objawienie wyznacza perspektywę odkupienia dla człowieka dotkniętego grzechem pierworodnym. Właśnie ta perspektywa jest kluczem interpretacyjnym objawionej rzeczywistości. Perspektywa odkupienia prowadzi do Chrystusa. Przez grzech Adama ludzka natura została pozbawiona łaski uświęcającej oraz pewnych darów wiążących się ze stanem pierwotnym. Człowiek wciąż jest obrazem Boga i jest do Niego podobny, ale grzech pierworodny ogranicza wyrazistość tej fundamentalnej właściwości ludzkości stworzone przez Boga, a człowieka stawia na drodze oczekiwania na przyjście jego Odkupiciela. Chrześcijańska koncepcja śmierci nie ogranicza się jedynie do jej nieuchronności i powszechności oraz ścisłego związku z grzechem i nieposłuszeństwem. Chrystus rzucił nowe światło na jej tajemnicę. W świetle tym śmierć jawi się jako narzędzie zbawienia, a oddanie życia jako wykonanie Bożej woli w imię posłuszeństwa. Natura człowieka jest wyznacznikiem „porządku stworzenia” i tworzy ścisły związek z rzeczywistością Bożego obrazu. Z jego „trynitarnym rozumieniem” wiąże się kategoria daru, poprzez który mężczyzna i kobieta w communio personarum stają się jednością. Grzech pierworodny nie zniszczył tego układu. Historia mężczyzny i kobiety jest zapisem zbawczego dopełniania się „oblubieńczego” znaczenia ludzkiego ciała. Podstawą tego zapisu jest obraz Boży w człowieku, a jego głębia dotyka tajników ludzkiego serca.

According to Father Stăniloae, if God is transcendent, He is persona, and His personal character assures His transcendence. His persona transcends even His infinity. Likewise, the image of God in man lies essentially in the character of the person: every person becomes a new “eye” of spiritual transparency. The most adequate, expressive and communicative image of the supreme Image is the human being, or more precisely, the human face. Starting from the fact that personhood is no longer experienced as a mystery, Stăniloae turns to the Bible, which testifies that the face (panim) is the essence of a person. This biblical theology of God’s shining face or presence (panim) is the key to understanding Father Stăniloae’s eschatology and, by extension, his entire theology of the person. There is a dynamic and revelatory movement from the anthropological dimension of eikon–tselem (“image of God”) in his earlier studies, such as God’s Immortal Image, to the later theology of personhood in Volume 6 of his Dogmatics, which is indebted to the biblical dimension of prosōpon–panim (the human “face” of Christ). Eternal bliss, according to him, will be the contemplation of the face of Christ; this is the “eternal perspective of deification” — the divine energies conceived in and radiated from the face of Christ.

The article is devoted to consideration of anthropological aspects of human sinfulness and ways of sin redemption, as well as the feasible spiritualization of the world, “together with man, groaning and suffering.” God created man in His image and likeness, but the image of God in man is distorted by sin, and the possibility of God-likeness is narrowed. Having distorted the image and almost lost the possibility of resembling God, man began to realize that he was the only creator of reality, including his own life, and “gained” what he had long sought - since the Renaissance. Sin has become the main reason for the anthropological transformation of man from the image of God to a man who is losing the remnants of spirituality and morality, despairing of the meaninglessness of his life and remaining in the tragic fragmentation of his existence. The sinful world created by sinful man is accepted by modern man as the only possible one, as an indisputable reality; a sinful man in an alien world - this is the life of modern man. Is a person capable of changing anything in the dominant atmosphere of universal sinfulness of the modern world, both on a personal and social level? God does not confront man with insoluble problems; God gives man both strength and ways to solve them, but man also needs to show effort. Participation in the sacraments; prayer to the Lord, Mother of God, saints; fulfillment of the commandments; remaining in the fear of God; repentance; love for neighbor; cultivating deep faith is a direct path to God, through which a person is saved and hopes for the acquisition of the Kingdom of Heaven.

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The church's mission (Missio Ecclesia) is to positively impact lives by bringing transformation to man and their environment. The Missio Ecclesia seeks to bring man back to God, acknowledging that, irrespective of man’s situation, every human has a part of God (Imago Dei). The early European Missionary enterprise in Africa, therefore, in an attempt to attain the church's mission, built social amenities like schools and hospitals as an evangelistic strategy. In modern times, the Church of Pentecost (CoP) has adopted prison reforms as one of its evangelistic strategies. Ministry to the marginalised, like prisoners, has a long Christian history as a targeted ministry of restoring the image of God in man. Adopting a historical lens, the paper traces the roots of prison ministry from early Christianity through the African missionary endeavours of the 15th century. Through a mixed method approach, this paper constructs the motivation of the CoP’s initiative to establish camp prisons as Inmate Skill Acquisition and Reformation Centres (ISARC) in Ghana. The paper identifies through interviews decongestion, biblical mandate, and reformation as the main push factors for the CoP in this initiative. The findings illuminate the positive impact of the CoP’s prison reform initiative while highlighting the need for sustained efforts, intentional support, and comprehensive reintegration programmes to ensure long-term success and societal benefits.

A Critical Analysis Of The Image Of God In Man According To Karl Barth

In the article the author analyzes the time ontology as noumenal relation, developed in the treatises of Ja.S. Druskin and genetically associated with the “leap” to biblical thinking implemented by L.I. Shestov. It is shown that the path of “conversion” of consciousness described by Ja.S. Druskin has the character of “inner mystery” of the soul, ascending to the counter gifts of the Spirit. This is a kind of “inner ritual” that the soul performs in every momentary effort to stand before the Creator and Judge, seeking reciprocal grace. Methodologically Ja.S. Druskin radicalizes the way of overcoming the “natural attitude” of consciousness, started by E. Husserl, and characterizes it as “philosophical paganism”, which can be overcome only by the biblical attitude of consciousness. The latter is a relation that transcends any ontology of the created world and carries out the act of returning the created “I” to its uncreated image, which is assumed as a relation to the absolute “Thou” of the Creator. This is the “personal eternity” that opens not as a logical timelessness, but as a special vision – as being in the Face of God. Exploring the architectonics of the noumenal “I – You” relationship, Ja.S. Druskin develops the philosophy of dialogue as new Philosophia prima, which includes the whole gamut of the traditional metaphysical problematics in the context of the primary absolute “I – Thou” relationship, including rethinking the category of time. In this context, the category of time acquires new eschatological meaning, since it is fi lled not with just simple duration, but with the process of human transformation – the transition from the “shadow of death” into eternity, from the state of immanent lies to the recovery of the gift of grace and the rediscovery of the image of God in man.

The Pauline Concept Of The Restoration Of The Image Of God In Man