Imago Dei and Visual Aids in Dignifying Human Worth
Genesis 1:26 records God's declaration, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness," marking humanity's creation as distinct from all other creatures [4]. This imago Dei—the image of God—establishes the theological foundation for human dignity across Christian traditions. The phrase appears twice in the verse, emphasizing its peculiar importance: humanity was formed to be "God's representative, clothed with authority and rule as visible head and monarch of the world" [4]. This representational character defines what it means to bear the divine image.
The Image as Representation, Not Replication
The imago Dei does not consist in physical resemblance. When Paul addresses the Athenians in Acts 17:29, he argues that "we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device" [5]. The apostle's language, delivered amid the sculptured monuments of Athens, rejects any notion that divinity can be captured in material form or that humanity's imaging of God operates through visual likeness. The image is not anatomical but functional and relational—a capacity to represent God's authority and character in the created order.
Colossians 1:15 applies the language of image directly to Christ, who is "the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation" [3]. Here "image" means "exact likeness and perfect Representative" [3]. Christ's imaging of the Father is complete and unmediated; humanity's imaging is derivative and dependent. John Chrysostom, expounding this passage, emphasizes that those who have experienced redemption know Christ "in the glorious character here described, as above the highest angels" [2]. The distinction matters: Christ is the archetypal image; humanity bears a creaturely image that finds its fullness only in relation to him.
Preciousness in God's Sight
The imago Dei grounds human worth not in inherent qualities but in God's valuation. Psalm 17:8 uses figures of speech—keeping as the apple of the eye, hiding under the shadow of wings—that denote "the preciousness of God's people in His sight," echoing similar language in Deuteronomy 32:10-11 and Matthew 23:37 [1]. Isaiah 43:4 declares, "Since thou wast precious in my sight," a statement John Gill interprets as reflecting not intrinsic human worth but divine election and familial adoption: "they have no intrinsic worth in them; they are in no wise better than others... but they are precious in the sight of God and Christ" [8]. This preciousness is ascribed, not achieved. God's people are "of the same mass and lump with others" and "mean and despicable" in worldly estimation, yet valued by the Father who "has chosen them, and taken them into his family" [8].
This theological move—locating dignity in divine regard rather than human achievement—resists both self-exaltation and despair. Humanity's worth does not fluctuate with capacity, productivity, or social standing. The image-bearing status is a gift, not a merit badge.
Visual Aids and the Danger of Idolatry
The prohibition against graven images in the Decalogue intersects with imago Dei theology in a pointed way. If humanity already bears God's image, attempts to craft visual representations of divinity become redundant at best and idolatrous at worst. Paul's Athenian speech underscores this: the "matchless monuments of the plastic art, in gold and silver and costliest stone" that surrounded him could not capture deity [5]. Even the more intelligent pagans recognized that "these sculptured gods and goddesses were [not] real deities" [5], yet the practice persisted, substituting crafted symbols for the living God who had already provided his own image-bearer in humanity.
Chrysostom's homilies on Colossians press the ethical implications. Christians are to live "as men living in the light, and having our citizenship in Heaven, and having nothing in common with earth" [6]. The contrast is not between material and immaterial per se, but between idolatrous attachment and proper orientation. Believers are to "scorn all these things" that enslave—not because the physical world is evil, but because misplaced devotion to created things, including visual representations, makes people "more slavish than all the slaves in the world" [6]. The one thing to be regarded as terrible is "sin, and offending against God" [6], not the absence of visual aids to devotion.
Ambassadorial Representation
The imago Dei carries an ambassadorial function. Chrysostom describes Christian ministers as ambassadors who represent "the kingdom of heaven, eternal life, society with Christ" [7]—realities that transcend what can be conveyed "so long as we are in this flesh, and the present life" [7]. The honor sought by such ambassadors is not for their own sake, "for we know its worthlessness," but so that hearers "may be profited, that not with listlessness or indifference ye may attend to what is spoken" [7]. This ambassadorial model extends the logic of image-bearing: just as humanity represents God in creation, so the redeemed represent Christ's kingdom in the world, not through visual symbols but through embodied witness.
The imago Dei thus dignifies human worth by establishing humanity as God's visible representative in creation, a status grounded not in physical form or inherent merit but in divine election and relational purpose. Visual aids, far from enhancing this dignity, risk obscuring it by substituting crafted images for the living image-bearers God has already appointed. The image is borne in persons, not in pictures.
Sources
- Psalms (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Psalms 17:8: Similar figures, denoting the preciousness of God's people in His sight, in Deu 32:10-11; Mat 23:37.”
- CCEL/NPNF (Eastern Orthodox) “John Chrysostom, Homilies on Galatians–Colossians–Thessalonians: Homily III. Colossians i. 15–18 “Who is the Image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all creation: for in Him were all things created, in the heavens, and upon the earth, things visible and things invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers: all things have been created through Him, and unto Him; and He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the Church.” To-day it is necessary for me to pay the debt, which yesterday 732 732 See Hom. ii. § 3 fin. I deferred,”
- Colossians (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Colossians 1:15: They who have experienced in themselves "redemption" (Col 1:14), know Christ in the glorious character here described, as above the highest angels to whom the false teachers (Col 2:18) taught worship was to be paid. Paul describes Him: (1) in relation to God and creation (Col 1:15-17); (2) in relation to the Church (Col 1:18-20). As the former regards Him as the Creator (Col 1:15-16) and the Sustainer (Col 1:17) of the natural world; so the latter, as the source and stay of the new moral creation. image--exact likeness and perfect Representative.”
- Genesis (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Genesis 1:26: The last stage in the progress of creation being now reached--God said, Let us make man--words which show the peculiar importance of the work to be done, the formation of a creature, who was to be God's representative, clothed with authority and rule as visible head and monarch of the world. In our image, after our likeness--This was a peculiar distinction, the value attached to which appears in the words being twice mentioned. And in what did this image of God consist? Not in the erect form or features of man, not in his intellect, for the devil a”
- Acts (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Acts 17:29: Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think--The courtesy of this language is worthy of notice. that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device--("graven by the art or device of man"). One can hardly doubt that the apostle would here point to those matchless monuments of the plastic art, in gold and silver and costliest stone, which lay so profusely beneath and around him. The more intelligent pagan Greeks no more pretended that these sculptured gods and goddesses were real deities, or e”
- CCEL/NPNF (Eastern Orthodox) “John Chrysostom, Homilies on Galatians–Colossians–Thessalonians: everything, and are more slavish than all the slaves in the world. 316 316 [Compare Chrysostom’s Commentary on Gal. i. 7 .—G.A.] But let it not be so with us. But scorning all these things, as men living in the light, and having our citizenship in Heaven, and having nothing in common with earth, let us regard but one thing as terrible, that is, sin, and offending against God. And if there be not this, let us scorn all the rest, and him that brought them in, the Devil. For these things let us give thanks to God. Let us be diligent”
- CCEL/NPNF (Eastern Orthodox) “John Chrysostom, Homilies on Galatians–Colossians–Thessalonians: cities, nor so and so many measures of corn, nor slaves, nor gold; but the kingdom of heaven, eternal life, society with Christ, the other good things, which neither are we able to tell you, so long as we are in this flesh, and the present life. Ambassadors then we are, and we wish to enjoy honor, not for our own sakes, far be it, for we know its worthlessness, but for yours; that ye may hear with earnestness the things we say; that ye may be profited, that not with listlessness or indifference ye may attend to what is spoken. Se”
- Isaiah (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on Isaiah 43:4: Since thou wast precious in my sight,.... As the saints are; not that they are valuable in themselves; they have no intrinsic worth in them; they are in no wise better than others; they are of the same mass and lump with others; they are of the fallen race of Adam, and are earthly and simple as he was; nor are they precious in their own sight, and much less in the eyes of the world; they are mean and despicable: but they are precious in the sight of God and Christ; in the sight of God the Father, who has chosen them, and taken them into his family, and blessed them wi”