Mre Thelgical Cllege Library https://myrrh.library.mre.edu.au Priscilla and Aquila Centre P&A Annual Cnferences 2018-02-05 Men and wmen in the image f Gd Leslie, Andrew https://myrrh.library.mre.edu.au:443/handle/10248/11870 Dwnladed frm Myrrh, the Mre Cllege Institutinal Repsitry
Men and wmen in the image f Gd 2018 Priscilla & Aquila Cnference Elective 1. Intrductin First gruping: (Gen 1:26-7) Then Gd said, Let us make mankind in ur image, in ur likeness, s that they may rule ver the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and ver every living creature that mves n the grund. S Gd created mankind in his wn image, in the image f Gd he created them; male and female he created them. (Gen 5:1-2) When Gd created mankind, he made them in the likeness f Gd. He created them male and female and blessed them. And he named them mankind when they were created. When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a sn in his wn likeness, in his wn image; and he named him Seth. (Gen 9:6) Whever sheds human bld by humans shall their bld be shed; fr in the image f Gd has Gd made mankind. (Jas 3:9) With the tngue we praise ur Lrd and Father, and with it we curse human beings, wh have been made in Gd s likeness. Secnd gruping: (2 Cr 4:4) The gd f this age has blinded the minds f unbelievers, s that they cannt see the light f the gspel that displays the glry f Christ, wh is the image f Gd. (Cl 1:15) The Sn is the image f the invisible Gd, the firstbrn ver all creatin. (Heb 1:3) The Sn is the radiance f Gd s glry and the exact representatin f his being, sustaining all things by his pwerful wrd. Third gruping: (Rm 8:29) Fr thse Gd freknew he als predestined t be cnfrmed t the image f his Sn, that he might be the firstbrn amng many brthers and sisters. (1 Cr 15:49) And just as we have brne the image f the earthly man, s shall we bear the image f the heavenly man. (2 Cr 3:18) And we all, wh with unveiled faces cntemplate the Lrd s glry, are being transfrmed int his image with ever-increasing glry, which cmes frm the Lrd, wh is the Spirit. (Cl 3:9-10) D nt lie t each ther, since yu have taken ff yur ld self with its practices and have put n the new self, which is being renewed in knwledge in the image f its creatr. (1 Jhn 3:2) Dear friends, nw we are children f Gd, and what we will be has nt yet been made knwn. But we knw that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, fr we shall see him as he is. An utlier : (1 Cr 11:7) A man ught nt t cver his head, since he is the image and glry f Gd; but wman is the glry f man. 1
2. Survey f different appraches Traditinal Patristic-Augustinian reading Structural/ntlgical image: intellect, memry, will Dynamic image: active lve Partially lst image: the Fall Restred image: grace in Christ Criticisms: Emphasis n the sul: dualistic? Emphasis n reasn: privileges autnmy and intelligence? Emphasis n riginal righteusness : what abut the Fall? Mdern functinal-representatinal reading Genesis 1:26-7 and Ancient Near Eastern parallels: A ryal dimensin: image representing divine rule A priestly dimensin: image representing service f the gds Gen 1-11 an idelgical critique (e.g., Richard Middletn, The Liberating Image): Gen 1:26-7: a demcratizatin f the image Living images in Gd s csmic temple : Augustinian eches: A ryal dimensin: besides the definitive human task represented in Genesis 2:15 by the agricultural metaphr (t till and keep the garden), which is a paradigmatic frm f rganizing and transfrming the envirnment int a habitable wrld fr humans, we may nte the pervasive interest thrughut the primeval histry in human cultural achievements and technlgical innvatins such as citybuilding (4:17; 11:1-9) and nmadic livestck-herding, music, and metallurgy (4:20-22). The human task thus reflects in significant ways the divine artisan prtrayed in Genesis 1 as artfully cnstructing a wrld. (Liberating Image, 89) A priestly dimensin: In the csmic sanctuary f Gd s wrld, humans have pride f place and supreme respnsibility, nt just as ryal stewards and cultural shapers f the envirnment, but (taking seriusly the temple imagery) as priests f creatin, actively mediating divine blessing t the nn human wrld. (Liberating Image, 89-90) Jerme Zanchi (1516-90): Fr this is the truth n the earth: in it a visible image was made nt by smene frm a picture r sculpture but by Gd himself, having fashined man with his wn hands, furnishing them with bdy and sul, and making him alive in his state. Fr n this accunt he wished t be visible 2
Criticisms: in the midst f the wrld s he culd be seen by all things. But since he himself is invisible in his wn nature, at least in this, his visible image, there was a likeness, where he may be bserved and knwn. Yu see, after building sme great city, great princes are accustmed t establish an image f themselves in the midst f it, in nging memry f its builder, in rder that frm the shape and utline f a frm like the ne wh had been the builder f the city, all psterity might hnur him in sul, and lve him in sul. Similarly, after making the wrld, Gd fashined his wn visible image in it s that man himself as a vicar f Gd might als rule it, and that Gd in him, as in his image, by a certain means be seen and lved. (De Operibus Dei, III) Jhn Owen (1616-83): They [ther creatures] culd nt any way declare the glry f Gd, but passively and bjectively. They were as an harmnius, welltuned instrument, which gives n sund unless there be a skilful hand t mve and act it. What is light, if there be n eye t see it? r what is music, if there be n ear t hear it? Hw glrius and beautiful sever any f the wrks f creatin appear t be, frm impressins f divine pwer, wisdm, and gdness n them; yet, withut this image f Gd in man, there was nthing here belw t understand Gd in them t glrify Gd by them. This alne is that whereby, in a way f admiratin, bedience, and praise, we were enabled t render unt Gd all the glry which he designed frm thse wrks f his pwer. (Christlgia, Wrks I.183) Image restricted t dminin-like activity/activities Des it restrict the image t culture makers? What abut the impact f the Fall n dminin? Jhn Kilner: Dignity and Destiny (2015) Key bservatins: Men and wmen made accrding t the image: i.e., accrding t Christ wh alne is the image f Gd Difference between the dignity f an intended destiny (cmmn t all) and thse wh finally reach that destiny (Christians united t Christ) Image and idlatry (cf., Ps 115:4-8; Exd 32; Rm 1-3) A pwerful dynamic verpwers the dynamic f being in the image f Gd. Peple, since they are inescapably in Gd s image, shuld exclusively be living ut Gd s intentins fr them t reflect gdly attributes, t Gd s glry. Yet they instead live ut the implicatins f their identificatin with cunterfeit gds. Such is the pwer and tragedy f sin. Peple becme mre like what they wrship. (Dignity and Destiny, 157-8) Key strengths: Fcus n Christ fr defining the image Sidesteps difficulties f peple pssessing the image in different measures Augustinian eches: Christlgical fcus f traditinal emphasis n riginal righteusness : 3
E.g., Jhn Calvin: Nevertheless, it seems that we d nt have a full definitin f image if we d nt see mre plainly thse faculties in which man excels, and in which he ught t be thught the reflectin f Gd s glry. That, indeed, can be nwhere better recgnised than frm the restratin f his crrupted nature Nw we are t see what Paul chiefly cmprehends under this renewal. In the first place he psits knwledge [Cl 3:10], then pure righteusness and hliness [Eph 4:24]. Frm this we infer that, t begin with, Gd s image was visible in the light f the mind, in the uprightness f the heart, and in the sundness f all the parts. Fr althugh I cnfess that these frms f speaking are synecdches, yet this principle cannt be verthrwn, that what was primary in the renewing f Gd s image als held the highest place in the [riginal] creatin itself. T the same pertains what he teaches elsewhere, that we with unveiled face behlding the glry f Christ are being transfrmed int his very image (2 Cr 3:18). Nw we see hw Christ is the mst perfect image f Gd; if we are cnfrmed t it, we are s restred that with true piety, righteusness, purity, and intelligence we bear Gd s image. (Institutes I.xv.4) The image and the traditinal bdy-sul unin Upright sul prvides ptential t image and glrify Gd ptential nly actualised in the embdied unin Image partially lst: sul s ptential t act righteusly and glrify Gd lst in the Fall Image restred thrugh the new nature received frm Christ: prgressively actualised in sanctificatin and glrificatin f the bdy 3. The image and male-female cmplementarity Karl Barth and Genesis 1:26-7: [Gd] willed the existence f a being which in all its nn-deity and therefre its differentiatin can be a real partner; which is capable f actin and relatin t him. (Church Dgmatics, III/1.184) Criticisms Richard Lints (Identity and Idlatry): irreducible plurality in unity Augustinian eches: (1 Cr 11:7-12) A man ught nt t cver his head, since he is the image and glry f Gd; but wman is the glry f man. Fr man did nt cme frm wman, but wman frm man; neither was man created fr wman, but wman fr man. It is fr this reasn that a wman ught t have authrity ver her wn head, because f the angels. Nevertheless, in the Lrd wman is nt independent f man, nr is man independent f wman. Fr as wman came frm man, s als man is brn f wman. But everything cmes frm Gd. Zanchi: Fr withut the bdy, the sul is by n means able t exercise the dminin that Gd has given t humanity (hminibus) when he says, let them have dminin ver the fish f the sea [Gen 1.26]. Accrdingly, n the ne hand he leads by vice, whilst the he guides by hand, and bth are used fr his rule whereby he is the lrd f thse things. And we knw that an aspect (speciem) f his dminin and authrity is even that authrity which a man has ver a wife. The difference f sex des nt cme frm the sul but frm the bdy. (De Operibus Dei III) An analgy f the Trinity? (1 Cr 11:3): I want yu t realize that the head f every man is Christ, and the head f the wman is man, and the head f Christ is Gd. 4