Is there a chief characteristic which best illumines the image of God in Man? What is it exactly that makes Man as a lens through which to see God? Moses thoughtfully and deliberately escorts the reader to the characteristic showcased above all else: humility.
Though much ink has been spilled in an effort to answer what constitutes God’s image in Man, to one degree or another, differing viewpoints fall short in this: their emphasis tends toward Man’s superiority and uniqueness among Creation, versus his lowliness. Man’s surprisingly underwhelming appearance in view of the Narrative’s flow receives alarmingly little attention. Far from highlighting his kingliness or virtue among the creatures, the Narrative settles on humility as his chief characteristic.
Following the Narrative arc, one would approach the creation of God’s image with great anticipation, considering this Divine Being just spoke all of Creation into existence, effortlessly setting the Sun and Moon in the sky. The reader’s imagination is left to run wild with cosmos-informed expectation. What image could possibly suffice to portray a Deity so capable and profound, so mighty, bustling with wisdom beyond comprehension? It’s at this point that the Narrative throws a surprising twist. Instead of imaging forth Himself in vast and cosmic form, God presents His image with stature and dimensions vastly disproportionate to the scope of His previous created effort. It’s not Man’s majesty, but meekness the Narrative sets its eye upon.
The Psalmist struggled with this very incongruity as he tracked the Creation Narrative’s flow,
O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth! You have set Your glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babies and infants, You have established strength because of Your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.
When I look at Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You care for him? (8:1–4)
The Psalmist parallels Adam with babies and infants. Man’s smallness in view of Creation’s magisterial scope is what catches his attention. The author marvels that a child is destined to overthrow the masterful foe, the Serpent.[1] Just so, lowly Adam is set beside God’s creative marvels such as the moon and sun. Solomon, soon to be inaugurated as king (with numerous Adamic similarities), is similarly described as “young and inexperienced” (1 Chronicles 29:1). Meditating on the Creation Narrative, Man’s smallness is what left the Psalmist in wonder.
The Psalmist dives deeper, though, into the paradox. While man is exceptionally lowly in form, he’s given the highest of positional honors.
Yet You have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.
O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is Your name in all the earth! (8:5–9)
In this sense, Psalm 8 struggles with the exact flow which the Creation Narrative staggeringly presents its reader. The highest of roles and honor is given to that which is most humble in form. The being in whom most authority is invested is most lowly in stature. One may have expected God’s image to reach the size and stature of Babel, or at least the dimensions of Nebuchadnezzar’s “golden ego” (see Daniel 3:1). Instead, God’s “cast” for His image is in proportion to animals—being created, in fact, among other creatures versus apart.
Here, Genesis is most interested in introducing Christ—the truest image of the Father. The New Testament offers surprising glimpses of Christ before He took on flesh. It speaks consistently of Him having image and form before ever having taken on flesh. Colossians speaks of Him as “the image of the invisible God” before the world was yet created (1:15–17). Philippians depicts Him as “the form of God” before taking on the form of a servant and being born in the likeness of men (2:5–7). Hebrews casts Him as “the radiance of the glory of God” and “exact imprint of His nature,” before presenting Him as sharing in flesh and blood with His brothers (1:3; 2:14). John discusses Him as being “in the bosom of the Father,” or “at the Father’s side,” when neither had chests (John 1:18). Each passage approaches “image” and “likeness” as immaterial concepts somehow present before Christ took material form.
How is Christ “in the form of God” before taking the form of a servant? Or how is He “the exact imprint of [God’s] nature” before receiving flesh and blood? Unless “form” can mean character reflection and “imprint” be immaterial likeness, these passages struggle in terms of timeline. This, of course, is in keeping with the flow of God’s desire—that Man reflect Him in his innermost, unseen parts first (see Deuteronomy 10:16; 30:6; Psalms 32:9; 51; Jereremiah 12:2-3; 31:33; Matthew 12:34).
In this sense, Adam’s startling dimensions, his minuscule existence, in view of Creation’s incredible scope, has direct correlation to Christ’s inner-character of breathtaking humility. His size and stature mirror the lowliness of the pre-incarnate Christ. As a result, the reader shouldn’t be surprised at the true Son of God, God’s image, being born in a stable and placed in a feeding trough for animals—just like Adam shared his created day with the land creatures (Luke 2:6).
As shocked as Genesis means to leave its reader, so first century onlookers experienced similar shock and dismay at Jesus being a carpenter’s son and one who took interest in the lowliest of the day (Mark 6:3). They didn’t expect one who washed feet and died naked on a cross, but one much more “magisterial” according to their own estimation. In much the same way Genesis lets down its reader in cosmic-fashion, offering a “hobbit-like” image of God, so first-century onlookers struggled at Jesus’ presentation.
God is one who in His heart, is gentle, meek and lowly. “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden’ ” (Matthew 21:5). Like Adam was created on the day of beasts, so Christ takes His kingly ride upon one for His inauguration. Far from “image of God” discussions contemplating “What makes Man superior?,” Genesis foreshadows Isaiah who says, “He grew up before [God] like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him” (53:2). Startlingly, Image of God studies tend toward greater sophistication than was meant by the text. “Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls” (Matthew 11:29).
“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6 quoting Proverbs 3:34). Ironically, both Adam and Nebuchadnezzar receive opposition from God for assuming roles and ego beyond His intention. Each are demoted, being reduced to beasts of the field—reminding them of the ground from which they were formed (see Genesis 3:21; Daniel 4:33). In contrast, while the image of God is initially presented as infinitesimally small—as male and female—it is graced in seed form with the potential to become cosmic in scope, as rightly it deserves.
The “body of Christ” will grow global in stature, becoming a more realistic depiction, in view of God’s vastness. It’s here where Paul looks even beyond the “Church” and recognizes that all Creation will be united in Him. “For in Him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross” (Colossians 1:19-20). But why? “Being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:8–11). It was for the sake of Christ’s humility and lowliness, mirroring that of the Father’s that He was “highly exalted.”
Of all that Genesis could have pointed to in order to say, “This, this is what God is like!”, and while all Creation looks up for the awesome being His nature demands, He says, “There! There! Look down to Him who serves, who dons the lowliest form, labors in humblest of roles, and is most easily missed. That! That is what I’m like.”
Ben Lovelady (M.A., MTS) serves as a pastor in northwestern Illinois, where he and his wife live with their six children.
[1] James M. Hamilton Jr., Psalms, ed. T. Desmond Alexander, Thomas R. Schreiner, and Andreas J. Köstenberger, vol. 1, Evangelical Biblical Theology Commentary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Academic, 2021), 151.