The substantive view says that what makes us God’s image bearers is some feature of human substance. In other words, there’s something about what we are as humans, that reflects something of what God is like. In order to understand what this could be, we reflect on human nature itself. Looking at different ideas about human nature that have been suggested by philosophers down through the centuries, we find that some are closer to the biblical picture than others.

The relation view says that what it means to be made in the image of God is for us to have a relationship with God and with the rest of humanity. Using this as a starting point, we unpack the vertical and horizontal relationships we can have as humans in light of what we’re told in scripture. We close by thinking about how these two can be combined, and consider how this relates to a debate that has been going on in Western philosophy since the time of Plato.

The vocational view says that the image of God is about exercising our dominion over the rest of creation, as representatives of God’s rule in his creation. We consider the biblical reasons for thinking about the image of God in this way, and then reflect on what it means to have dominion. Does it mean we have free license to do whatever we like with God’s creation, and if not then what does it mean for how we relate to other animals and the environment?

Having looked at the main views about the image of God and how they relate to one another, we turn to the question of what sin is and how it damages our ability to bear the image of God without completely removing it.

Why doesn’t the image of God get mentioned much in the New Testament, and what happened to the effects of sin on our ability to bear this image? We take a look at how Jesus not only restores the image of God in humanity, but elevates it and opens up a future where we can fully live out the image of God in him.