The Statement of the Case.--In Genesis 1:26 we are told that God said,
"Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." In Genesis 2:7 the
narrative relates, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the
ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man
became a living soul" (see Psalm 8:4-8). These passages have a great
representative character and the truth expressed in them has lived and
will live under all theories of the appearance of man upon this
earth. In the Bible man is shown as the latest and highest creation of
God, the last and best of His work in the animal world, but with a
difference that is world-wide between him and the brute creation.
Here is an animal, coming up out of the dust, endowed with spiritual
qualities which place him not only at the head of the animal kingdom,
but dominating it. The most radical evolutionist must admit that man
is the last in the list of uplifts in the animal world, that he has
qualities which elevate him far above it and by which he dominates
it. Somewhere back there, again, he must admit that there came a
change and the dust-born animal was changed into a God-born soul. The
great truth then remains, man is an animal but endowed with a growing
marvellous self-conscious, self-determining personality. As the Bible
is a progressive revelation, showing us more and more the greatness of
spiritual truths, it represents man as starting from no high plane of
civilization and as a learner through the ages. Man is even now in the
process of making; he has not yet come to his best estate.
The Image of God.--What is the likeness of God? "God is Spirit" (John
4:24) and that part of man which counts is his spiritual kinship to
God.
Man's intelligence, moral nature and will constitute "the image of
God" in him and make it possible for him to come into communication
with God and to occupy his unique place in the universe. Only a person
can understand a person.
"Man is dear to God because he is like Him. Vast and glorious as it
is, the sun cannot think God's thoughts; can fulfill but cannot
intelligently sympathize with God's purposes. Man, alone among God's
works, can enter into and approve of God's purpose in the world and
can intelligently fulfill it. Without man the whole material universe
would have been dark and unintelligible, mechanical and apparently
without any sufficient purpose. Matter, however fearfully and
wonderfully wrought, is but the platform and material in which spirit,
intelligence and will, may fulfill themselves and find development."
The Bible seeks to show men in how many ways they resemble God and to
urge them to be worthy of their likeness to God. There is a certain
philosophy on the other hand, sometimes called "the dirt philosophy,"
which seeks to show men in how many ways they resemble the brute and
to urge them to live the life of the brute.
But a great practical question which demands an answer of us--as we
look out upon the world of men taking them as they are--is, Did God
make the evil man "in His likeness" as well as the good man?
The Good Man.--The best things bear the stamp of their maker. If a
good judge of pictures is taken into some famous art gallery it is not
necessary to point out to him the excellencies of the paintings, they
tell their own story. There are men in the Bible who manifestly bear
the image of God; Abraham, Isaac, Enoch, Moses, David, John, Paul and
others. There have been many men in ancient and modern times who,
when some great crisis has come in the state or church, have conducted
themselves as men born in the image of God; men who have sacrificed
their own interests to be loyal to the truth. We all recognize such
men as God-born.
The Evil Man.--The difficulty is however to recognize any image of God
in a certain class of evil men who have low instincts and desires; men
who lie, cheat, steal and break every commandment of God and man.
Did God make the worst and the lowest of men? If we are to consider
fairly the question of the making of man in the image of God we must
not shun this problem, which the vilest of men and the most degraded
savage presents. What can be seen in these men that reminds us of "the
likeness of God"? We are to judge men, however, by what they are
capable of and are, at their best, rather than at their worst. The
art world regards Michael Angelo's statue of Moses as one of the
greatest creations of the sculptor's genius. Suppose, however, some
one should maliciously deluge this masterpiece with ink, smash it into
fragments with a huge hammer, and then ask as he looked upon the
marred and blackened bits of marble, "Is that a masterpiece of Michael
Angelo's genius?" So we look upon a man who has been marred and
broken by sin and ask the question, "Was that man created in the image
of God? Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright;
but they have sought out many inventions." Trace back the cause of the
degradation of the individual or society or state and we always find
the root to be in some transgression of a righteous law of God.
The Bible uniformly asserts that God is not the author of sin or man's
fall into evil ways, but that he has sufficient light to follow right
ways, if he will. But that an evil man has this marvelous heritage of
being God-born is shown by the fact that even when he has marred "the
likeness of God" in him, by sin, beyond human recognition there is
still a possibility of its being restored. Jesus Christ said, "For the
Son of man is come to seek and save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10;
Matthew 15:24; Luke 15:4); the most evil men came to Him and,
confessing their sins, were brought back into sonship with God. The
incentive to Christian work, in the slums of the cities, amongst the
most degraded savages and everywhere, is the finding of men broken and
marred by sin and the possibility of bringing them back to God.
God disapproves the sin but loves the sinner. "God commended His love
towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us"
(Romans 5:8-11).