Humanity, the Image of God and Sin

What you'll learn

• Explain what it means that humans are made in the image of God and why that grounds human dignity, work and relationships
• Defend the historical Adam and fall, and trace the biblical teaching on the covenant of works, Adam's federal headship and original sin from Genesis 1-3 and Romans 5:12-21
• Define total depravity, the bondage of the will and common grace accurately, saying what each does and does not mean

The doctrine in one sentence

God created man, male and female, in his own image, good and upright, and placed Adam as the covenant head of the human race; when Adam sinned, all humanity fell in him, so that every person is now born guilty, corrupt in every part and unable to turn to God, yet still bearing God's image and restrained by his common grace.

That sentence holds together two truths that our culture constantly pulls apart. The first is glory: every human being is an image-bearer of God, with dignity no government grants and no disability or age removes. The second is ruin: every human being is a sinner, guilty before God and bent inward on himself. Secular humanism tends to keep the glory and deny the ruin. Some kinds of cynicism keep the ruin and deny the glory. Only the biblical doctrine explains why humans can compose Bach and build Auschwitz.

This lesson matters for apologetics because the gospel is the answer to a specific problem. If you misdiagnose the problem, you will misstate the cure. A person who thinks humans are basically good with a few bad habits will hear the gospel as moral advice. A person who understands Romans 3 will hear it as rescue.

Created in the image of God

Genesis 1:26-28 is the foundation. God says, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness," and then: "male and female he created them." Three things stand out. First, humans are created, not self-made or evolved gods; we are creatures, dependent on God for every breath (Acts 17:25, 28). Second, we are made in God's image, which no other creature is said to be. Third, the image is given to both man and woman equally, so both share the same dignity, while Genesis 2 also shows them as distinct and complementary, the woman made as a fitting helper and the two joined in one-flesh marriage (Genesis 2:18-24). Jesus reaffirms this creation pattern: marriage is the lifelong union of one man and one woman (Matthew 19:4-6).

What is the image? Christians have given three kinds of answer, and the best approach combines them. The structural view points to what we are: rational, moral, relational, creative, able to know God. The functional view points to what we do: the very next words in Genesis 1:26 are "let them have dominion", so we are God's royal representatives, ruling and cultivating the earth on his behalf (Genesis 2:15; Psalm 8:5-6). The relational view points to communion: we are made to know and love God and one another. The Shorter Catechism (Q10) captures the original moral quality of the image: God created man "in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over the creatures," echoing Colossians 3:10 and Ephesians 4:24, where the image is renewed in Christ.

Reformed theology often distinguishes the image in a broad sense (our humanness: reason, will, conscience, which remain after the fall) from the image in a narrow sense (true knowledge, righteousness and holiness, which were lost and are restored only in Christ). That is why Scripture can still ground human dignity in the image after the fall (Genesis 9:6; James 3:9), while also teaching that Christ is the perfect image of God (Colossians 1:15) into whom believers are being remade (2 Corinthians 3:18).

The consequences are enormous. Because the image belongs to every human, murder is a crime against God (Genesis 9:6), cursing people is incoherent for those who bless God (James 3:9), and the unborn, the disabled, the elderly and the poor have a worth not measured by usefulness. Work, family, art and science are part of our calling, not distractions from spiritual life. Humans are also a unity of body and soul (Genesis 2:7), so the body is good and will be raised.

A real Adam: special creation and the debate over origins

The image of God belongs to real people descended from a real first couple. Genesis 2 tells how God 'formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life' (Genesis 2:7), and then made the woman from the man's side (Genesis 2:21-22). The rest of Scripture treats Adam as a historical person. Luke traces Jesus' genealogy back to Adam (Luke 3:38). Paul tells the Athenians that God 'made from one man every nation of mankind' (Acts 17:26). Jesus grounds marriage in what the Creator did 'from the beginning' (Matthew 19:4-5). Above all, Paul's argument in Romans 5:12-19 and 1 Corinthians 15:21-22, 45 depends on one real man whose real act brought sin and death into the world, just as one real man, Christ, brings righteousness and life.

So this course holds, with the Reformed confessions, that Adam and Eve were specially and directly created by God as the first human beings and the parents of the whole human race, and that the fall was a real event in history. Theories of human common descent, in which humanity evolved from earlier hominids, sit in serious tension with Genesis 2:7 and with Paul's argument in Romans 5:12-19. Confessional Reformed churches have rejected them. For example, the United Reformed Churches (2001) rejected evolutionary teaching, including theistic evolution, and the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (2012) affirmed that Adam and Eve were special, direct creations of God and denied that they descended from other forms of life. Some sincere Christians hold such theories, but they are not a neutral option for a Bible-believing apologist.

The age of the earth is a different kind of question. Christians who agree on everything above differ on the days of Genesis 1. Young-earth creationists (for example John MacArthur and Ken Ham) read them as six ordinary days. Others hold old-earth readings: the day-age view (Hugh Ross), the framework view (Meredith Kline) or the analogical-days view (C. John Collins). This is an in-house debate. What is not negotiable is that God created all things out of nothing, that Adam and Eve were specially created in his image, and that the fall really happened.

The covenant of works and Adam as federal head

In Genesis 2:16-17 God gave Adam a command with a promise and a threat: he might eat of every tree except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, "for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." Reformed theology calls this arrangement the covenant of works (the Shorter Catechism, Q12, calls it a "covenant of life"). God freely bound himself to Adam: perfect obedience would lead to confirmed, everlasting life (pictured in the tree of life), and disobedience would bring death.

The word "covenant" is not used in Genesis 2, but the elements are there: parties, a condition, a promise and a sanction. Hosea 6:7 likely speaks of those who "like Adam transgressed the covenant", and above all Romans 5:12-21 and 1 Corinthians 15:22, 45 treat Adam as a representative whose act counted for others.

This is called federal headship (Latin foedus, covenant). Adam did not act merely as an individual, or merely as a biological ancestor, but as the appointed representative of the whole human race. The Shorter Catechism (Q16) says the covenant was made with Adam "not only for himself, but for his posterity." Paul's whole argument in Romans 5 depends on this. "Sin came into the world through one man" (5:12); "by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners" (5:19). And the logic runs both ways: Adam is "a type of the one who was to come" (5:14). As Adam's disobedience is counted to those in him, so Christ's obedience is counted to those in him. If you reject representation in Adam, you lose the logic of representation in Christ.

Some Reformed theologians debate how best to describe the covenant of works, and some broader evangelicals do not use the category at all, though most agree with the substance that Adam acted as our representative. The Westminster and 1689 confessions both affirm it.

The fall and original sin

Genesis 3 tells how the serpent questioned God's word ("Did God actually say...?"), denied God's threat ("You will not surely die"), and slandered God's goodness ("you will be like God"). Eve took the fruit, and Adam, who was with her, ate. At the root of the fall was unbelief and pride: the creature wanting to define good and evil for itself. The results were immediate: shame, hiding from God, blame-shifting, curse, pain in work and childbearing, exile from the garden, and death (Genesis 3:7-24). Yet in the same chapter comes the first gospel promise (Genesis 3:15), the offspring of the woman who will crush the serpent's head.

Original sin does not mean the first sin. It means the sinful condition into which every descendant of Adam is born. The Shorter Catechism (Q18) gives it three parts: the guilt of Adam's first sin (imputed to us, Romans 5:18-19), the want of original righteousness (we lack the positive holiness we were made with), and the corruption of our whole nature, from which flow all our actual sins. David says, "in sin did my mother conceive me" (Psalm 51:5); Paul says we were "by nature children of wrath" (Ephesians 2:3).

Two parts are distinguished here. Original guilt is our legal standing: we are counted guilty in Adam. Original pollution is our moral condition: we inherit a corrupt nature. Some evangelicals accept inherited corruption but not inherited guilt; Reformed theology affirms both, chiefly because Romans 5:12-19 says death reigned over those who had not sinned in the way Adam did, and because the parallel with Christ requires real imputation.

Why is this fair? The question deserves a humble answer. Adam was a sinless representative in a perfect setting, and we have each ratified Adam's choice with our own (Romans 3:23). More importantly, the same principle of representation is the only way any sinner can be saved: if we refuse to be judged in Adam, we cannot ask to be justified in Christ.

Total depravity and the bondage of the will

Total depravity is one of the most misunderstood phrases in theology, so define it carefully. It does not mean that people are as bad as they could possibly be, that they have no conscience, that they cannot do outward good, or that they are incapable of kindness, beauty or courage. It does mean that sin has affected every part of human nature (mind, will, emotions, desires and body), so that nothing in us is untouched, and nothing we do flows from a pure love for God. "Total" refers to extent, not to degree.

The biblical case is cumulative. Before the flood, "every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Genesis 6:5). "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick" (Jeremiah 17:9). Paul strings Old Testament texts together in Romans 3:10-18: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God." The mind is darkened (Ephesians 4:17-18), the natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:14), and the mind set on the flesh "does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot" (Romans 8:7). Most strikingly, Ephesians 2:1 says we were "dead in the trespasses and sins."

That leads to the bondage of the will (the title of Luther's 1525 reply to Erasmus). Fallen people still make real choices, and they are not forced against their will. The problem is that the will follows the heart, and the heart is turned away from God. We freely choose what we most want, and apart from grace we do not want God. Jesus said, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him" (John 6:44), and "everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin" (John 8:34). This is "total inability": not an inability to choose, but an inability to choose God, which is why salvation requires the new birth (John 3:3-8), as Lesson 7 will show.

WCF 6.4 sums it up: from this original corruption, "whereby we are utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, and wholly inclined to all evil, do proceed all actual transgressions." Arminian evangelicals agree that humans are fallen and cannot save themselves, but hold that God gives "prevenient grace" to all that restores the ability to believe; Reformed theology holds that the grace that enables faith is the effectual grace that actually brings the elect to faith.

Common grace: why the world is not as bad as it could be

If people are totally depraved, why do unbelievers often live honest, generous lives, write beautiful music and cure diseases? The Reformed answer is common grace: God's undeserved kindness to all people, believers and unbelievers alike, which restrains sin and enables real (though not saving) good. God "makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good" (Matthew 5:45); he "did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons" (Acts 14:17); the law written on the heart produces a working conscience (Romans 2:14-15); and governments restrain evil (Romans 13:1-4).

Common grace explains the mixed world we see. It is why you can learn from a non-Christian doctor, enjoy a secular novel, and work alongside a kind atheist. It also gives the apologist a starting point: unbelievers still know right from wrong, long for meaning and justice, and use logic, all of which make sense only in God's world (Romans 1:19-21). Common grace is not saving grace. It delays judgement and adorns life, but it does not regenerate the heart.

Why it matters: sin explains the world and the heart

Romans 1:18-32 shows how sin works at the level of a culture. People "by their unrighteousness suppress the truth" about God that is plain to them, exchange the glory of God for images, and are "given up" to disordered desires and broken relationships. Sin is first of all against God (Psalm 51:4), and only then against others. Idolatry is at the root of immorality. Romans 3:9-23 gives the verdict: Jews and Gentiles are "all under sin", every mouth is stopped, and "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 5:12-21 traces it back to Adam, and Ephesians 2:1-3 describes the whole human condition: dead, following the world, the devil and the flesh, and "by nature children of wrath."

This doctrine is liberating, not depressing. It explains why utopian schemes fail, why education alone does not make people good, why the line between good and evil runs through every heart, and why you still fight sin as a Christian. It humbles pride, because no one is above the need for grace. It removes despair, because the problem is not hidden from God and he has dealt with it in Christ. And it makes the gospel make sense: "where sin increased, grace abounded all the more" (Romans 5:20). Image-bearers in ruin are exactly the people Christ came to restore.

Where others depart

Secularism generally treats humans as products of unguided evolution, with no real image of God and no fall, so evil is explained by ignorance, environment or biology (Secular Society module). Islam teaches that humans are born in the natural state (fitrah), that Adam sinned but was forgiven (Quran 2:37; 20:121-122), and that there is no inherited sin (Islam module). Judaism generally speaks of a good and an evil inclination (yetzer hatov and yetzer hara) rather than original sin (Judaism module). Jehovah's Witnesses accept inherited sin and death from Adam, but deny the immortal soul and see the ransom as restoring what Adam lost (Jehovah's Witnesses module). Latter-day Saints teach that the fall was a necessary, even positive step (2 Nephi 2:25) and that people are punished for their own sins, not Adam's (Articles of Faith 2) (Latter-day Saints module). Roman Catholics affirm original sin (CCC 404-405) but describe it as the deprivation of original holiness and justice rather than total corruption, and teach that baptism removes it (Roman Catholicism module). Pelagianism, condemned at the Council of Carthage (418), denied original sin altogether; its descendants survive whenever people say we are basically good.

Key texts

• Genesis 1:26-28: Humans created in God's image, male and female, with dominion. The foundation of human dignity, equality and calling.
• Genesis 2:16-17: The command, promise and threat given to Adam. The basis for the covenant of works.
• Genesis 9:6 and James 3:9: Even after the fall, murder and cursing are wrong because people are made in God's image. The image is damaged, not erased.
• Romans 5:12-21: Sin and death came through one man, and by his disobedience many were made sinners; Christ is the second representative. The key passage on federal headship and original sin.
• Psalm 51:5: "In sin did my mother conceive me." Sinfulness from the start of life, not only from first actions.
• Romans 3:9-23: Jews and Gentiles are all under sin; none seeks God; all fall short of his glory. The universal verdict.
• Ephesians 2:1-3: Dead in trespasses, following the world, the devil and the flesh, by nature children of wrath. Total depravity in three verses.
• Romans 1:18-32: Humanity suppresses the truth about God and is given over to idolatry and disorder. How sin works in culture and why every person knows God.
• Matthew 5:45 and Acts 14:17: God sends sun, rain and fruitful seasons to the just and unjust. The basis for common grace.

Objections and answers

Try answering each one yourself before you open the response.

Written task

A colleague at school says: "I don't believe in original sin. Kids are born innocent; they learn bad behaviour from their environment." In 300-400 words, explain in your own words what the Bible teaches about human beings: both their dignity as image-bearers and their condition as sinners. Use at least four Scripture references, define original sin and total depravity accurately (including what they do not mean), and show how this diagnosis prepares for the good news of Christ.

Hand this in to Mr Scott. He will look for:

• Affirms human dignity in the image of God (Genesis 1:26-27; 9:6 or James 3:9) as well as human sinfulness, holding both together
• Defines original sin accurately, including Adam's representative role (Romans 5:12-19) and inherited corruption (Psalm 51:5 or Ephesians 2:3)
• Explains total depravity correctly, including what it does not mean, and mentions common grace to account for real goodness in people
• Engages the colleague's environment argument fairly and with a concrete observation
• Connects the diagnosis to the gospel (for example Romans 5:19-20) in a gracious, non-condescending tone

Further reading

• Created in God's Image by Anthony A. Hoekema: A balanced Reformed study of the image of God, the fall, sin and the restoration of the image in Christ.
• Not the Way It's Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin by Cornelius Plantinga Jr.: A readable and penetrating account of sin as the vandalism of shalom; excellent for seeing how sin explains everyday life.
• Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhof: Part Two (The Doctrine of Man in Relation to God) gives concise, classic Reformed definitions of the image, the covenant of works and original sin.