Recently, I have been thinking about some of the truths laid forth about humanity in the opening chapters of Genesis. The most foundational truths for our worldview come from what we read in the creation chapters of the Bible. Truths such as who is God, why was man made, why does human life have value, what is marriage, and why are we on earth, are all answered in Genesis.
While I am not an Old Testament scholar, I do recognize the importance of these truths. In a culture that is shifting and trying to figure out right and wrong - or if morals even exist - these truths are foundational for a Christian, grounding us, and keeping us from being swayed by the ebb and flow of culture.
Working to provide help and hope at IDES is rooted in many of these truths, but one that recently stood out to me is the value that every single human being has because we are God’s image bearers. When we deploy to the disaster site, we do so to help anyone in the community because we know each person has inherent God-given value.
Genesis 1:26-27 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
The structure of verse 27 is there to emphasize mankind being created in God’s own image, as it makes the statement, and then repeats it in reverse wording.
So how does this play out throughout the Bible? How does God show that He values every single human life - regardless of how humans decide to assign value?
In the days of Abraham, the city of Sodom had gone completely astray from a right relationship with God. The Lord was prepared to destroy the city in just punishment for their sin. Abraham had the boldness to talk to God and plead for the city to be spared, working his way down to just 10 righteous people. “For the sake of 10, I will not destroy it” (Genesis 18:32) This shows the value that each human life has in the eyes of God. Though the city was filled with thousands of wicked and vile men, God valued the life of the 10 righteous enough to spare the city.
Later on in God’s redemptive plan, as Jesus was in his earthly ministry, he prioritized the care of those society had deemed lesser than - the outcast. He served, healed, and preached, choosing to primarily focus on the poor, sick, lepers, crippled, tax-collectors and prostitutes.
In Matthew 8, we see one instance of this as Jesus heals a leper. This shows the love and care that our Lord showed to the most outcast of society. Lepers were forced out of town to colonies on the outskirts. They had to declare to all around their condition in order to keep others safe - I can’t imagine the loneliness and difficulty that such a life would bring. But though society pushed them away, Christ welcomed them in and healed them. He knew they had inherent value because they bore the qualities of their maker!
Years later, when Christ had ascended and left His disciples to start the church and spread the Gospel, one of the things they valued most was caring for the poor. In Galatians 2, we see the leaders of the early church - James, Peter and John - meeting with Paul and Barnabas.
Galatians 2:9-10 They agreed that we should go to the Gentiles, and they to the circumcised. All they asked was that we should continue to remember the poor, the very thing I had been eager to do all along.
We see in this instance, and others throughout the New Testament, that caring for the poor was an issue the Apostles valued very highly. What was their reason for helping people who had little means of returning the favor or benefiting the burgeoning church? I would assert that Paul and the other Apostles knew, from their knowledge of the Torah, that each person holds within them the image of God and this gives them deep intrinsic value. More value, in fact, than we can describe. And that knowledge was one of the reasons they so valued giving money to help those who by the world's standards are worth very little.
In his book Genesis in Space and Time, Francis Schaeffer describes the impact of knowing he is made specially in God’s image by saying,
Suddenly I have value, and I understand how it is that I am different. I understand how it is that God can have fellowship with me and give me revelation of a propositional nature. Furthermore, I can see that all men are so differentiated from non-man, and I must look upon them as having great value.
All this is to say, we need to remember God has given each human incredible worth. We need to let it affect our walk with God and our relationships with people each day. All of our neighbors, co-workers, friends, and even our enemies bear the image of the one true God!