In the image of God!

Ecclesiasticus 17:1-13

The Lord fashioned man from the earth,  to consign him back to it. He gave them so many days’ determined time,  he gave them authority over everything on earth. He clothed them with strength like his own,  and made them in his own image. He filled all living things with dread of man,  making him master over beasts and birds. He shaped for them a mouth and tongue, eyes and ears,  and gave them a heart to think with. He filled them with knowledge and understanding,  and revealed to them good and evil. He put his own light in their hearts  to show them the magnificence of his works. They will praise his holy name,  as they tell of his magnificent works. He set knowledge before them,  he endowed them with the law of life. Their eyes saw his glorious majesty,  and their ears heard the glory of his voice. He said to them, ‘Beware of all wrong-doing’;  he gave each a commandment concerning his neighbour. Their ways are always under his eye,  they cannot be hidden from his sight.

Food for thought!

"He made them in his own image."

When we say that there is in us an image of God, what do we mean? In what does this image of God consist of? Is it in all of us, in body and soul? Is it in everybody? Is it in both men and women? Is it in man only?

To say that there is an image of God in us does not mean that there is equality between God and human beings. We simply are saying that in us there is some likeness to God, copied from God as from an exemplar; yet this likeness is not one of equality, for such an exemplar infinitely excels its copy. Yes, there is in us a likeness to God; not, indeed, a perfect likeness, but imperfect.

In what does the image of God consist of?

It is one thing to say that we are made in the image and likeness of God; it is another thing to say in what the image of God that is in us consists. In other words, human beings are like God in exactly what? The Bible can help us in this. We find the first hint in the book of Genesis 1:26, «Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature, so they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, and, yes, earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.»

According to this text, immediately after God resolved to make us after the likeness of himself, he added what we consider to be the clue to responding to the question, «So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, and, yes, earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.»

All this suggests that the image of God in us, the likeness of human beings to God consists in being God's representative or extension before «the fish of the sea, the birds of heaven, the cattle, all the wild animals and all the creatures that creep along the ground.» It means that we have a God-given task to carry out. And since nemo dat quod non habet (no one gives what he or she has not), and also since Ad impossibilia nemo tenetur (no one is obliged to do the impossible), God gave or equipped human beings with all they need to carry out the task; it means human beings have the godly capacity to carry out the task.

The godly capacity human beings have is the image and likeness of God. Or better, the image and likeness of God in human beings is the godly capacity in them. Thanks to this godly capacity that human beings have, they are capable of doing many godly things.

Indeed, it is this godly capacity in man that makes the difference between humans and animals. This means further that the godlier we are the more human we are; and the more human we are the godlier we are.

Is the image of God to be found in all humans, male and female? We must understand that when Scripture says, ‘to the image of God He created him,’ it adds, ‘male and female He created them,’ not to imply that the image of God came through the distinction of sex, but that the image of God belongs to both sexes, man and women.