1. Imaging
God
The Bible, The Greeks, Jesus and You

2. What does it mean to Image
God?

3. The Old Testament
Genesis 1:26-27 : Then God said, “Let us make man
in our image, after our likeness…”
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.

4. What Happened to God’s
Image?
Genesis : trying to get relationships right
Leviticus, Deuteronomy : Details as to
how to care for the whole person
Nephesh : spirit, soul, mind and body, used 754 times in the OT
Daniel 12:2-4
“…And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall
awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting
contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of
the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the
stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal
the book, until the time of the end...”

5. The Greeks
Zeus, Dionysius and the Titans
• Hera is jealous of Dionysius (son of Zeus
and Demeter) and cajoles the Titans to kill
him
• Titans kill and eat Dionysius and in turn
are burnt to ashes by Zeus
• Humans were derived from the evil matter
of the Titan’s ashes
• A tiny portion of Dionysius ingested by the
Titans turns up in humanity as the divine
soul-stuff*
Dualistic Ontology or Two “natures of
being”
• Body
• Mind/Soul
* E.R. Dodds, The Greeks and the Irrational, University of California Press, 1951, 155.

6. Plato 427-347 BC
The Republic
• The body itself is a form of
fallenness to be ruled over by
Reason
• Appetites of the body to be strictly
controlled by Reason
The Phaedo
• The soul is held down, tainted by the body.
• The body is a prison and death a liberation of it. It is mortal.
• The soul is immortal because it resembles the divine.

7. The New Testament
Incarnation
John 1:1-3, 14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through
him, and without him was not any thing made that was made...
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his
glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Luke 1:35
And the angel answered her, “The Holy
Spirit
will come upon you, and the power of the
Most High will overshadow you; therefore
the child to be born will be called holy—
the Son of God.”

8. Jesus Heals the Broken
Image
Leprosy: Matthew 8:2-4; Mark 1:40-45; Luke 5:12-16
The Blind : Mark 10:46-52; Matthew 20:29-34;
Mark 8:22; Luke 18:35-43 John 9:8
The Deaf/Mute : Matthew 15:29-31; Mark 7:31-37
The Demon-possessed/Mentally Ill :
Matthew 12:22-37; Mark 1:21-28; Mark 3:19-30; Luke 4:31-37; Luke 8:
22-26; Luke 11:14-26
Jesus also instructs his disciples and empowers them to heal diseases and
cast out unclean spirits : Matthew 10; Mark 6:6-13; Luke 9:1-6

9. Jesus Defeats Death
Raising Jairus’ Daughter
Mark 5:22-23; Luke 8:49-56
Raising of
Lazarus
John 11

10. Crucifixion

11. Resurrection
Luke 24:1-7
And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said
to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has
risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of
Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the
third day rise.”
John 20:14-16
Having said this, she turned around
and saw Jesus standing, but she did
not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said
to her, “Woman, why are you
weeping? Whom are you seeking?”
Supposing him to be the gardener, she
said to him, “Sir, if you have carried
him away, tell me where you have laid
him, and I will take him away.” Jesus
said to her, “Mary.” She turned and
said to him in Aramaic, “Rabboni!”
(which means Teacher).

12. John 20: 25-29 “Unless I see in his
hands the mark of the nails, and place my
finger into the mark of the nails, and place
my hand into his side, I will never believe.”
Eight days later, his disciples were inside
again, and Thomas was with them.
Although the doors were locked, Jesus
came and stood among them and said,
“Peace be with you.” Then he said to
Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my
hands; and put out your hand, and place it
in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.”
Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my
God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you
believed because you have seen me?
Blessed are those who have not seen and
yet have believed.”
Luke 24: 36-39 As they were talking about these things, Jesus himself stood among them,
and said to them, “Peace to you!” But they were startled and frightened and thought they saw
a spirit. And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your
hearts? See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does
not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”

13. Ascension
Luke 24:50-53
Then he led them out as far as
Bethany, and lifting up his hands he
blessed them. While he blessed them,
he parted from them and was carried
up into heaven. And they worshiped
him and returned to Jerusalem with
great joy, and were continually in the
temple blessing God.

14. Niceno–Constantinopolitan Creed of 381 AD
• We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen
and unseen.
• We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God
from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the
Father. Through him all things were made.
• For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he
became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man.
• For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the
third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is
seated at the right hand of the Father.
• He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.
• We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the
Son. With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified. He has spoken through the
Prophets.
• We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
• We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
• We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen.
What We Believe

15. Augustine 354-430
Early Influences
Manichaeism mid third c.
• Gnostic religion mixing some Christian and Greek thought
• An elaborate cosmology describing the struggle between
a good, spiritual world of light vs. an evil, material world of darkness
Neo-Platonism of Plotinus 204-270 AD
• There is a supreme, totally transcendent “One”, containing no division,
multiplicity or distinction; beyond all categories of being and non-being.
• Plotinus identified his “One” with the concept of ‘Good’ and the principle of
‘Beauty’.
• The true human is an incorporeal or body-free contemplative capacity of
the soul, and superior to all things with a body or substance. It then
follows that real human happiness is independent of the physical world.

16. Augustine’s Anthropology
• Augustine's favorite figure to describe body-soul unity is a marriage.
Initially the two elements were in perfect harmony but after the fall,
they are now experiencing dramatic combat between one another.
They are two categorically different things.
• The body is a three-dimensional object composed of the four
elements (earth, wind, fire, water). The soul has no spatial
dimensions. Soul is a kind of substance, participating in reason, fit for
ruling the body.
• Augustine was not preoccupied, as Plato and Descartes were, with
the details of the body/soul union. To be human is to be a composite
of body and soul and the soul is superior to the body because it has
the capacity for reason.
• Women – saved, not by Jesus work, but by the work of the two
theotokos : the Virgin Mary and Mary Magdalene.

17. Rene Descartes 1596 -1650
cogito ergo
sum

18. The Arts
The Resurrection of the Flesh
Luca Signorelli ,Chapel of San Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto 1499-1502

19. The Last Judgment
Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel, Rome 1536-1541

21. John Donne 1572-1631
At the round earth's imagined corners blow
Your trumpets, angels, and arise, arise
From death, you numberless infinities
Of souls, and to your scattered bodies go ;
All whom the flood did, and fire shall o'erthrow,
All whom war, death, age, agues, tyrannies,
Despair, law, chance hath slain, and you,
whose eyes
Shall behold God, and never taste death's
woe.
But let them sleep, Lord, and me mourn a
space ;
For, if above all these my sins abound,
'Tis late to ask abundance of Thy grace,
When we are there. Here on this lowly
ground,
Teach me how to repent, for that's as good
As if Thou hadst seal'd my pardon with Thy
blood.
Death, be not proud, though some have called
thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so ;
For those, whom thou think'st thou dost
overthrow,
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy picture[s]
be,
Much pleasure, then from thee much more
must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou'rt slave to Fate, chance, kings, and
desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as
well,
And better than thy stroke ; why swell'st thou
then ?
HOLY SONNETS
VII
HOLY SONNETS
X

22. Theologians
Jonathan Edwards 1703-1758
• Hugely influential American pastor and theologian
• Associated with Reformed Theology and the
Puritans
• Known best for his sermons and Religious
Affections
• Shaped the First Great Awakening overseeing
first revivals in his own church 1733-35• Firmly rooted in the Enlightenment
• “denies that there is a material world. All that exists
are God and us as minds with our ideas. Our
existence is attenuated, shadowy, in comparison to
God.
• “He also thinks that the world as we know it does not
persist through time.
• “In fact, the "world" is shorthand for an infinite series
of durationless world-stages that exist in the divine
mind. Think of it like a motion picture at the cinema.”
*
*Oliver Crisp, Jonathan Edwards on God and Creation, OUP, due out

23. Hymns
How Great Thou Art
When Christ shall come, with shout of
acclamation, And take me home, what
joy shall fill my heart. Then I shall bow,
in humble adoration, And then proclaim:
“My God, how great Thou art!”
Words: Carl Gustav Boberg, Swedish 1885
Come, my Lord, no longer
tarry, Take my ransomed soul
away; Send thine angels now to
carry Me to realms of endless
day.
Words: Robert Robinson, English 1757

24. Karl Barth 1886-1968
• Swiss Reformed theologian
• Church Dogmatics (13 vols)
• Sovereignty of God
• Trinitarian Theology
• Barmen Declaration
• Jesus is the starting point, our
anthropological point of reference.
• We understand our humanity by
looking at/understanding Jesus.
• Trinitarian – in relationship
• Eternal (though not immortal)
• Embodied

25. Jesus and You
N.T. Wright
“Jesus's resurrection is the beginning of God's new
project not to snatch people away from earth to heaven
but to colonize earth with the life of heaven. That, after all,
is what the Lord's Prayer is about.”
“the work of salvation, in its full sense, is (1) about whole human beings, not
merely souls; (2) about the present, not simply the future; and (3) about what
God does through us, not merely what God does in and for us.”
“Our task as image-bearing, God-loving, Christ-shaped, Spirit-filled Christians,
following Christ and shaping our world, is to announce redemption to a world that
has discovered its fallenness, to announce healing to a world that has discovered
its brokenness, to proclaim love and trust to a world that knows only exploitation,
fear and suspicion…
The gospel of Jesus points us and indeed urges us to be at the leading edge of
the whole culture, articulating in story and music and art and philosophy and
education and poetry and politics and theology and even--heaven help us--
Biblical studies, a worldview that will mount the historically-rooted Christian
challenge to both modernity and postmodernity, leading the way...with joy and
humor and gentleness and good judgment and true wisdom. I believe if we face
the question, "if not now, then when?" if we are grasped by this vision we may
also hear the question, "if not us, then who?" And if the gospel of Jesus is not the
key to this task, then what is?”

26. So what is the point?
“The point of the resurrection…is that the present bodily life is not
valueless just because it will die…What you do with your body in the
present matters because…
… God has a great future in store for it…What you do in the
present—by painting, preaching, singing, sewing, praying, teaching,
building hospitals, digging wells, campaigning for justice, writing
poems, caring for the needy, loving your neighbor as yourself—will
last into God's future. These activities are not simply ways of making
the present life a little less beastly, a little more bearable, until the day
when we leave it behind altogether (as the hymn so mistakenly puts
it…). They are part of what we may call building for God's kingdom.”