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Here are six people: a newborn baby, a famous AFL player, a billionaire, a person who can't walk or talk, a man sleeping on the street, and a Year 7 student. If you scrolled through social media or the news, which of these would the world say matters most? Which would it say matters least?
The world measures people by all sorts of things: money, looks, fame, talent, usefulness, followers. But Genesis refuses to play that game. It gives every one of those six people exactly the same reason they matter. We're still in the Creation part of our walk through Genesis, and in this lesson we dig into what it means to be made in God's image, and what difference it makes to everyday life.
What you'll learn
- Why every person has worth that they didn't earn and no one can take away
- The "job description" God gave people at the start
- Why Jesus is the perfect image of God
Image means worth
"So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them." (Genesis 1:27)
In the ancient world, only kings were called "the image of a god". Genesis says something radical: every man and woman is made in God's image.
- Male and female are both made in God's image. Neither is more like God than the other.
- This worth is given, not earned. A newborn baby has it before doing anything at all. A person who can't walk has it fully.
- Your worth comes from God, not from how you look, how clever you are or how well you perform.
Does sin wipe out the image? No. Even after the Fall, the Bible still says people bear God's image. James is shocked that people can praise God and then turn around and curse other people, who are made in God's likeness (James 3:9–10). So who matters most out of those six people? All of them, equally.
Image means a job
Genesis 2 zooms in and shows what image-bearers were made to do. Imagine God had written a job advertisement:
| Position vacant: Image-bearer | Verse | What it means for us |
|---|---|---|
| Rule over the creatures | 1:28 | Look after the world for God, like a caring king, not a bully. |
| Work the garden and take care of it | 2:15 | Work is good. It was God's plan before sin, not a punishment. |
| Name the animals | 2:19–20 | Use your mind and creativity: study, sort, invent, create. |
| Trust and obey God's word | 2:16–17 | Live God's way, trusting he knows what is good. |
| Rest | 2:2–3 | Stop and enjoy God. |
| Benefits: | 1:29, 2:9 | Plenty of good food, a beautiful home, and God himself. |
A few things to notice:
- "Rule" means care, not domination. A good king protects what is under him. That's why Christians care about animals, the land and the environment.
- Work matters to God. Schoolwork, chores, sport, art, building, caring for others: all of it can show what God is like.
- Rest matters too. We aren't machines. People were made on day 6, so their very first full day was God's day of rest! Resting is a way of trusting that God runs the world, not us.
Image means relationship
Six times in Genesis 1, God says that what he made is good, and then very good. So what's the first thing God says is not good?
"The LORD God also said, ‘It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make for him a suitable helper.’" (Genesis 2:18)
Being alone. And this is before sin ever came into the world. God made us for relationships: family, friendship, community and marriage (2:24).
The word helper might sound like someone less important, like an assistant. But the Hebrew word, ezer, is used most often in the Old Testament to describe God himself helping his people (for example, Psalm 121:1–2). So it doesn't mean "less important". It means a partner who brings what is missing. God is loving and giving, so people made in his image are made to love and give too.
Where's the grace?
God gives every single person a worth they didn't earn and a purpose they didn't have to invent. That's a gift.
Key words
- Image of God: people are made to reflect what God is like and to represent him in his world.
- Worth: how much someone matters. In the Bible, every person's worth comes from God.
- Rule: in Genesis, to care for and protect the world on God's behalf.
- Helper (ezer): a partner who brings what is missing; often used of God himself.
How this points to Jesus
If people are meant to show what God is like, how well do we do it? Honestly, not very well. We're like cracked mirrors: we still reflect God, but badly. (The next part of Genesis shows why.) But there is one person who reflects God perfectly:
"The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation." (Colossians 1:15)
If you want to know what God is like, and what a true human being looks like, look at Jesus. And the Bible says that when people trust Jesus, God starts remaking them to be like him (Colossians 3:10). The cracked image gets restored.
Think about it
If every person bears God's image, what does that mean for the way we talk about people online?Show answer
Every person we post about or reply to is made in God's image, so we should speak about them with respect, even when we disagree, and never mock or tear them down.
Why do you think God built rest into the world from the very start?Show answer
Because we aren't machines. Rest is good for us, and it reminds us that God runs the world, not us. It was part of God's good design before anything went wrong.
Why do we need to look at Jesus to see what a true human is meant to be like?Show answer
Because all of us reflect God imperfectly, like cracked mirrors. Jesus is the perfect image of God (Colossians 1:15), so he shows us what people were made to be.
Take it further
Think of one person you find hard to treat well. This week, remind yourself that they are made in God's image too, and choose one way to treat them as someone who matters. Your worksheet helps you write your own image-bearer job description.
If you'd like to, you could pray: God, thank you that you made every person in your image. Help me to treat everyone as someone who matters to you. Help me to work well, rest well and love well, like Jesus. Amen.