Let us make sure that our own thinking about the image of God leads us not only to appreciate our fellow human beings (every one of them), but also to grieve deeply for them. If that happens, then our rhetoric will truly emanate grace and love – not just grace and love that are more polite and conducive to civility, but grace and love that are more impassioned to call the lost and ruined to the love and restoration of God in Christ.

Last week, on the occasion of remembering Martin Luther King, Jr., several prominent evangelicals signed and released a statement affirming that “every human being, in and out of the womb, carries the image of God; without exception. Therefore I will treat everyone with love and respect” (see The Aquila Report article).

The statement was meant to improve the way we treat and talk to one another. It affirms: “For the image of God exists in all human beings: black and white; rich and poor; straight and gay; conservative and liberal; victim and perpetrator; citizen and undocumented; believer and unbeliever.”

I appreciate what the Imago Dei Campaign has done. And their application – that we should “see the image of God in friend and foe” and thus treat even our opponents with “grace and love” – is unquestionably biblical. James laments that “no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God… My brothers, these things ought not to be so” (James 3:7-10).

However, when extolling the image of God that exists in every human being, we must not lose sight of this tremendous fact – that what we see of the image of God in ourselves and in each other should make us weep.

With characteristic balance, Calvin affirms that the image of God still exists in us, but also affirms that it is in rather ghastly condition. He writes:

There is no doubt that Adam, when he fell from his state, was by his defection alienated from God. Therefore, even though we grant that God’s image was not totally annihilated and destroyed in him, yet it was so corrupted that whatever remains is frightful deformity (Institutes, 1.15.4)

 “Frightful deformity”… that’s not language you often hear in evangelical circles when speaking about the image of God. Instead, the accent falls on man’s intrinsic worth, dignity, and creativity. These should be accented, but they should not be accented exclusively. Calvin continues:

Now God’s image is the perfect excellence of human nature which shone in Adam before his defection, but was subsequently so vitiated and almost blotted out that nothing remains after the ruin except what is confused, mutilated, and disease-ridden (1.15.4).

Thus, for Calvin, the application of Scripture’s teaching on the image of God extends beyond appreciating the dignity of each and every human being. When the present state of our ‘image bearing’ is fully surveyed, we have little to celebrate, and much to grieve.

But we do not grieve as those without hope, for we know the way of restoration for ourselves and for everyone – “black and white; rich and poor; straight and gay; conservative and liberal; victim and perpetrator; citizen and undocumented; believer and unbeliever.”

Calvin speaks a good word to those who recognize the frightful deformity of what remains of God’s image in us: “Consequently, the beginning of our recovery of salvation is in that restoration which we obtain through Christ, who is called the Second Adam for the reason that he restores us to true and complete integrity” (1.15.4).

What I am saying is this – a full and balanced survey of the present state of human beings, and of the abiding image of God in us, should not make us think of beaming faces and happy smiles (see here). If it does, we’re missing something. Rather, it should make us think of the tears and heartache that those made in God’s image now experience in this life of alienation from Him as, in their various ways and lifestyles, they manifest a state of ruin.

I commend the Imago Dei Campaign for emphasizing the importance of “a personal relationship with God through the life, death and resurrection of Christ” alongside their call to recognize the image of God in everyone. But let us make sure that our own thinking about the image of God leads us not only to appreciate our fellow human beings (every one of them), but also to grieve deeply for them.

If that happens, then our rhetoric will truly emanate grace and love – not just grace and love that are more polite and conducive to civility, but grace and love that are more impassioned to call the lost and ruined to the love and restoration of God in Christ.

Matthew S. Miller is a graduate of Wake Forest University and Reformed Theological Seminary. He is currently the Senior Pastor of the Greenville ARP Church and writing a ThM thesis at Erskine Theological Seminary on the pro-life movement.

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