This sermon on Genesis 1:26-28 is entitled “Man: The Image of God”. It was preached during Morning Worship on Sunday, October 12, 2025 by Pastor Jeremy Brandenburg. This sermon is part of a series on the book of Genesis.
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Transcript
If you’ve ever followed a building project—perhaps for your school, business, or church—you know that at certain points there are ceremonial steps. How many times have you seen a picture of executives from a company or institution at the beginning of a project, grabbing shovels and scooping a little mound of dirt? There are updates along the way and, at the end of the project, often a ribbon-cutting event.
In the creation of all things, visible and invisible, by the only God—God all-powerful and all-wise—He pauses on the sixth day. He had already done creative work: God made every beast of the field, everything that creeps on the ground, all the animals and the creatures. But He still had one creature to make. And on the sixth day, He takes this great pause. It’s a deliberate step. God sets off what He is about to do by speaking—not to creation first of all, but by speaking to Himself and about Himself.
He says, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”
On the sixth day, after God had made the land and seas, the plants and trees, the sky, the moon and sun, every bird, fish, and great creature that swims in the sea, every bug and beast—God pauses this great and monumental work of creation. He pauses because He is about to make the capstone of His creation. It’s as though all the angels in the invisible heavens and every living thing—the birds landed, the frogs stopped hopping, the buffalo stopped running—because the God of the universe was about to do His greatest work in creation.
On the sixth day, in verse 26, God takes counsel with Himself to culminate the work of creation with these sublime words: “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness.”
I want to consider this morning man as the image of God—the creation of man in the image of God—in three sections:
The meaning of the image of God
The ethical importance of the image of God
The redemption of the image of God
1. The Meaning of the Image of God
This is one of the most important doctrines in all of Scripture: man as the image of God. But what is the image of God? What does it mean that we are God’s image-bearers?
It’s very important that we understand this rightly and biblically. Notice how God tells us about creating man. The story is brief—only one chapter in the Bible tells the story of the creation of the whole universe. Yet something special happens in the creation of man. God pauses.
There is wording here that has given theologians reason to wonder and investigate: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” Who is the “us”?
Part of that wording is to demonstrate that this is a deliberate act on God’s part. He goes from day to day, from act to act, but here He pauses and uses the plural form about Himself. For grammar geeks, this is referred to as the “intensive” or “impressive” plural.
Many theologians have looked to see a reference to the Trinity here, and the Bible certainly reveals that God is triune—one God in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In a way, these words do point forward to that truth. But there is also another way to understand them.
Herman Bavinck summarizes it well when he says that God’s self-reference in the plural “points to the fullness of life and power which are present in God.” It points to the fullness and majesty of God’s own being. In the creation of man, it’s as though—when making other creatures—He simply lifted His finger, but here He summons His strength and majesty in this great act of endowing one of His creatures with His own image.
God is putting the seal of His own character on humanity, making us different from every other creature.
Dominion and the Image of God
One of the things closely connected with being an image-bearer is dominion. Dominion is an important biblical topic. God told Abraham, “Leave where you live and go to another place that I’m giving you.” That’s dominion. Dominion was promised to God’s people—a place, a rule, the ability to govern.
But dominion is not the essence of the image of God—it is a consequence of it. Because man is made in God’s image, he can’t help but rule; he must exercise dominion. Adam and Eve, man and woman, are both created in the image of God with equal dignity.
Genesis 1:26–27 says:
“God made man in His image. In the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
Both man and woman are made in God’s image, with equal dignity.
Capacities and the Image of God
When people talk about the image of God, they often mention human capacities—our ability to think and reason, to be creative or conceptual. Those are important, but we must avoid thinking that the image of God is those capacities.
If the image of God depended on intelligence, then those who reason less would bear less of God’s image—and that cannot be.
The image of God is not based on ability, strength, or intellect—it is based on relationship. It’s the relationship that human beings have to God—unlike any other creature.
Psalm 8 asks, “What is man that you are mindful of him?” God, who made the vast universe, is intimately related to us. Humanity is crowned with glory and honor.
The Image of God and Salvation
The doctrine of the image of God is vital to understanding salvation. The image was corrupted in the Fall but not destroyed. Every human being, even the unbeliever, still bears the image of God. That is the broad sense.
In the narrow sense, man was created in true knowledge, righteousness, and holiness—and that image is renewed in Christ.
Ephesians 4 tells us that in Christ, we are being renewed “in the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”
So, the image of God is man as God made him to be. Man apart from Christ is not what God made him to be.
2. The Ethical Importance of the Image of God
Because man is made in the image of God, every human being has dignity from God and is worthy of protection, care, and love—from the womb to the tomb.
This truth shaped Western civilization. The Declaration of Independence says, “All men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights.” That truth comes from Scripture.
Proverbs 22:2 says, “The rich and the poor meet together; the Lord is the maker of them all.”
The image of God is the foundation for biblical justice, for care of the poor, the slave, the stranger, and the widow. It teaches that women, too, are image-bearers of God and deserve honor and dignity.
It even explains small things we take for granted: when an ambulance passes, we pull over—because someone made in the image of God is in need. When soldiers risk their lives to rescue one person, it’s because that person is an image-bearer of God.
Because every human being is an image-bearer, each one deserves respect, even those who have done great evil. Henry Scougal wrote that this truth should make us regard even the wicked “with the same sympathies as we have when confronted with a body mangled with injuries or disfigured by disease.”
We must hate the sin but love the sinner, because even the sinner bears God’s image.
3. The Redemption of the Image of God
Though the image of God has been corrupted by sin, God has not abandoned His work. He is restoring His image in us through the God-man, Jesus Christ.
Romans 5 says:
“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, so death spread to all men because all sinned… For if many died through one man’s trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for many.”
Christ is the true image of God. Through Him, communion with God—lost in the Fall—is restored.
Genesis 1:27 points forward to redemption:
“So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”
We were created together in Him. The first “him” was Adam, but the true “Him” is Christ—the firstborn of creation, through whom all things were made.
In Christ, the image of God is vindicated and restored. As Bavinck says, “Even in his most distant straying, man cherishes a memory of his origin and destination.” That memory is the longing to be restored to God’s image.
Colossians 1:28 says, “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ.”
Every person bears God’s image. But only in Christ is that image made whole again.
1 John 3:2 gives us this promise:
“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.”
Let’s pray:
Our God and Father, we deal with many confusing thoughts, conflicting attitudes, and troubles in this life. But we thank You that as Your people—those made by You and belonging to You—we have been brought back in Christ.
We were straying like sheep, but have returned to You, the overseer of our souls.
We thank You for Christ in us, the hope of glory.
Help us to believe and embrace these things to the glory of Your name.
We pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
