(from “Bible Nuggets” series, The Baptist Digest, March 22, 1973)
And God said, Let us make man in our image . . . so God created man in his own image, in the image of God created him; male and female created he them (Genesis 1:26-27, KJV)
The most significant thing about man is the fact that he was created in the image of God. What does this mean? One thing that it clearly means is that, since God is a person, man is also a person. What is distinctive about a person? A person can think, feel, will; he has a capacity for self-knowledge and self-determination. Possibly no one thing is more characteristic of a person than the fact that his very nature demands communication with other persons. In other words, there is no person without other persons.
The highest expression of that need for communication is man’s fellowship with God. It was Augustine who said: “Thou madest us for thyself, and our heart is restless, until it repose in Thee.”
The fact that man is created in the image of God provides a solid basis for respect for all men and women. One who has been created in the image of God should always be respected as an end of infinite value and never as a mere means. They are never to be manipulated or used to attain selfish ends.
It is particularly important for human relations that all persons are created in the image of God. Here in the beginning, it says, “male and female created he them.” The man and the woman are equally created in the image of God. The same can be said for any distinctive racial or cultural group. It was on the basis of this and the provision of the grace of God for all people that Paul could say, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female, for ye are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).