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sphere, but this is entirely unwarranted. While the first meaning of the Hebrew preposition be
(rendered “in” here) is undoubtedly “in,” it can also have the same meaning as the preposition
le (rendered “after”), and evidently has that meaning here. Notice that we are said to be
renewed “after the image” of God in Col. 3:10; and also that the prepositions used in Gen. 1:26
are reversed in Gen. 5:3.
2. The image of God in which man was created certainly includes what is generally called
“original righteousness,” or more specifically, true knowledge, righteousness, and holiness. We
are told that God made man “very good,” Gen. 1:31, and “upright,” Eccl. 7:29. The New
Testament indicates very specifically the nature of man’s original condition where it speaks of
man as being renewed in Christ, that is, as being brought back to a former condition. The
condition to which he is restored in Christ is clearly not one of neutrality, neither good nor bad,
in which the will is in a state of perfect equilibrium, but one of true knowledge, Col. 3:10,
righteousness and holiness, Eph. 4:24. These three elements constitute the original
righteousness, which was lost by sin, but is regained in Christ. It may be called the moral image
of God, or the image of God in the more restricted sense of the word. Man’s creation in this
moral image implies that the original condition of man was one of positive holiness, and not a
state of innocence or moral neutrality.
3. But the image of God is not to be restricted to the original knowledge, righteousness, and
holiness which was lost by sin, but also includes elements which belong to the natural
constitution of man. They are elements which belong to man as man, such as intellectual
power, natural affections, and moral freedom. As created in the image of God man has a
rational and moral nature, which he did not lose by sin and which he could not lose without
ceasing to be man. This part of the image of God has indeed been vitiated by sin, but still
remains in man even after his fall in sin. Notice that man even after the fall, irrespective of his
spiritual condition, is still represented as the image of God, Gen. 9;6; I Cor. 11:7; Jas. 3:9. The
crime of murder owes its enormity to the fact that it is an attack on the image of God. In view
of these passages of Scripture it is unwarranted to say that man has completely lost the image
of God.
4. Another element usually included in the image of God is that of spirituality. God is Spirit, and
it is but natural to expect that this element of spirituality also finds expression in man as the
image of God. And that this is so is already indicated in the narrative of man’s creation. God
“breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Gen. 2:7. The
“breath of life” is the principle of his life, and the “living soul” is the very being of man. The soul
is united with and adapted to a body, but can, if need be, also exist without the body. In view of
this we can speak of man as a spiritual being, and as also in that respect the image of God. In