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as a warning against the following errors: (1) that the soul is divisible; (2) that all men are
numerically of the same substance; and (3) that Christ assumed the same numerical nature
which fell in Adam.[For further study of this subject confer especially the study of Dr. Honig on
Creatianisme en Traducianisme.]
III. Man as the Image of God
A. HISTORICAL VIEWS OF THE IMAGE OF GOD IN MAN.
According to Scripture man was created in the image of God, and is therefore God-related.
Traces of this truth are found even in Gentile literature. Paul pointed out to the Athenians that
some of their own poets have spoken of man as the offspring of God, Acts 17:28. The early
Church Fathers were quite agreed that the image of God in man consisted primarily in man’s
rational and moral characteristics, and in his capacity for holiness; but some were inclined to
include also bodily traits. Irenæus and Tertullian drew a distinction between the “image” and
the “likeness” of God, finding the former in bodily traits, and the latter in the spiritual nature of
man. Clement of Alexandria and Origen, however, rejected the idea of any bodily analogy, and
held that the word “image” denoted the characteristics of man as man, and the word
“likeness,” qualities which are not essential to man, but may be cultivated or lost. This view is
also found in Athanasius, Hilary, Ambrose, Augustine, and John of Damascus. According to
Pelagius and his followers the image consisted merely in this, that man was endowed with
reason, so that he could know God; with free will, so that he was able to choose and do the
good; and with the necessary power to rule the lower creation. The distinction already made by
some of the early Church Fathers between the image and the likeness of God, was continued by
the Scholastics, though it was not always expressed in the same way. The former was conceived
of as including the intellectual powers of reason and freedom, and the latter as consisting of
original righteousness. To this was added another point of distinction, namely, that between
the image of God as a natural gift to man, something belonging to the very nature of man as
man, and the likeness of God, or original righteousness, as a supernatural gift, which served as a
check on the lower nature of man. There was a difference of opinion as to whether man was
endowed with this original righteousness at once at creation, or received it later on as a reward
for a temporary obedience. It was this original righteousness that enabled man to merit eternal
life. The Reformers rejected the distinction between the image and the likeness, and
considered original righteousness as included in the image of God, and as belonging to the very
nature of man in its original condition. There was a difference of opinion, however, between
Luther and Calvin. The former did not seek the image of God in any of the natural endowments
of man, such as his rational and moral powers, but exclusively in original righteousness, and
therefore regarded it as entirely lost by sin. Calvin, on the other hand, expresses himself as