The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Are You a Traducianist or Creationist?

If fallen mankind somehow acquires this alleged "image of Satan", which you still haven't shown to be found in Scripture, then people aren't "created" with this image but it is thus added at some period of time after birth. If they therefore have to acquire this "image of Satan", then individuals are born either without an image, ala: John Locke's "tabula rasa", or they are born as brute animals, or they are born as the Scripture teaches with the image of God albeit radically fallen, marred, distorted and wicked in all its parts.

The Image of God in Man: A Reformed Reassessment, (Slightly modified from articles first published in the British Reformed Journal)

The first of these, I Corinthians 11:7 reads,

For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, forasmuch as he is the image and glory of God: but the woman is the glory of the man.

The argument for broader and narrower senses of the imago dei is this: "man" is here spoken of. This refers to all men without exception. Therefore, all men are the image of God, in some sense.108 However, the meaning of this verse is clear to all who believe that a text ought to be understood in its context. Paul is speaking about prayer (vv. 4-5) in the church institute (v. 16). Thus I Corinthians 11:7 is not dealing with the heathen but the apostle’s "brethren" (v. 2) who are imitators of him as he imitates Christ (v. 1). It is simply not true that "the head of every man is Christ" (v. 3), if this is applied to those other than those renewed in God’s image in regeneration (Eph. 4:24, cf. I Cor. 11:1). Therefore I Corinthians 11:7 provides no support for a divine image in every man head for head. Thus some more astute scholars have only included Genesis 9:6 and James 3:9 in their proof texts for the broader/narrower view of the image of God.109

Genesis 9:6 is the second text appealed to for an image of God in all men:

Whoso sheddeth man’s blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.

The exponents of the traditional view are correct in their assertion that this text speaks of all mankind and not just believers. They are wrong, however, in stating that it says that all men are now in the image of God. The text simply does not say this. It merely reiterates Genesis 1:26-27 that God made man after his likeness and thus points us back to the sixth day of the creation week. At the fall Adam lost the imago dei and begat children in his image (Gen. 5:1-3), the image of the devil (cf. Canons III/IV:1-2). How then is the creation of man in the image of God a reason for the capital punishment of murders? Man, unlike all other creatures, was created in God’s image as the crown of creation. Man as a rational-moral creature shows himself, unlike the beasts, to possess a constitution that is able to bear the divine image of knowledge, righteousness and holiness. Anyone who murders a human thus attacks God, for the divine image was given to the human race at creation and not to apes or ants. Thus the confessional view, contrary to the claims of John Murray, does full justice to "the gravity of the offence of murder," "the gravity of the penalty" and "the reason for the latter’s infliction."110

James 3:9, the third verse, provides slightly more difficulty for the confessional view. David Cairns, who holds that "humanity in general" does bear the image of God, states, "The most direct reference [to all men bearing the divine image in the New Testament], and it is oblique, is James 3:9."111 Concerning the believer’s tongue, the inspired Scriptures read,

Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God.

The traditional position claims that "men" here is generic, including all men and not just believers. From the text alone, this would seem to be the case. Certainly the commentators seem to think so.112 Furthermore, the verb gegonotas, translated "are made" in the Authorized Version, is in the perfect tense and so indicates a past act with present effect. Thus the "men" in our text are those who were made and, hence, presently are, in the image of God. Clearly the explanation of James 3:9 cannot proceed along the same lines as that of Genesis 9:6, namely that the text speaks of Adam as created. Are not all men then in the image of God in some sense? Here two points need to be pointed out. First, the Greek (tous anthropous tous kath homoiosin theou gegonotas) translated "men, which are made after the similitude of God," literally speaks of cursing "the men, the ones made after the similitude of God," that is "the made-after-the-similitude-of-God men." The text does not say that all men are in God’s image. In itself, the phrase could be universal, referring to all men head for head, or restrictive, referring to the regenerate alone. Second, the Scripture’s overall teaching and the context must determine which of these two are being spoken of. We have seen that the Bible supports the restricted sense and a careful reading indicates that the context does too. James 3:1 raises the issue as to who should be teachers (didaskoloi) in the churches. Christians must be "perfect" (teleios; v. 2) in their words (vv. 2-12) and "wise" (sophos; v. 13) in their deeds (vv. 13-16), and certainly teachers must be thus qualified. Chapter 4 tells us directly that there were "wars" and "fightings" in the churches (v. 1) and pride in their midst (vv. 5-10). So bad was it that these "brethren" were speaking "evil one of another" (v. 11) and so "judg[ing] another" (v. 12). Thus James 3:9 tells us that we must not curse our brethren who were created, and therefore are, in the imago dei.113 Thus we can safely conclude that those in the image of God in James 3:9 are believers in the churches "of the twelve tribes scattered abroad" (1:1).114