“Then God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” (Genesis 1:26–28, ESV)
(This post is one in a series interacting with Leonard Vander Zee’s presentation at an All One Body gathering on October 8, 2020. Click here to see more posts in this series.)
The Basics of Genesis 1:26-28
The way Genesis 1 begins and ends is extremely important. It begins with the words, “In the beginning, God created…” (Genesis 1:1, ESV) and ends saying, “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31, ESV). God created, and what He created was VERY GOOD.
When God created humanity He made a clear statement “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion…” (Genesis 1:26, ESV). Then, after talking about humanity having dominion over creation, we read, “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, ESV). After this we get the creation mandate: “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion…” (Genesis 1:28, ESV)
I want to make sure everyone is following the flow of the text because it’s VERY important. First, God says he is going to create humanity in his image/likeness and says they will have dominion over the earth—an integral part of bearing God’s image. Then, God creates humanity in his image, as male and female. Then, God gives them the command to be fruitful and multiply as the WAY to have dominion over creation.
Leonard’s Objection
Here’s why this is important. In his presentation, Leonard Vander Zee objects to the concept that “male/female sexuality is essential to being made in God’s image.” He says it is a “dangerous notion” which is “theologically questionable.” Yikes… Sounds scary.
After making this claim, he incorrectly lays out our argument: “Because we are to be fruitful and multiply which involves procreation, which is part of ‘exercising dominion,’ which is an aspect of the image of God.” Then he tears down this incorrect argument by saying, “Let’s simply remember that all creatures procreate, but not all creatures are made in God’s image. Procreation is not unique to humans and therefore cannot be an aspect of the image of God.”
Here’s his argument. Since all creatures procreate, procreation is not an aspect of the image of God. Therefore, male and female are not part of the image of God. Although he doesn’t explicitly make this next step of the argument—yet—he is laying the groundwork to say: Since male and female are not part of the image of God, male/male or woman/woman can just as easily image God.
Flipping An Argument On Its Head
Some of you may have read Leonard’s summary and wondered why I accused him of “incorrectly” stating our argument. Here’s why. He flipped everything on its head. If you look at the way I laid out Genesis 1:26-28 at the beginning of this post, notice it is the exact REVERSE of how Leonard lays out our argument. Leonard begins with “procreation,” but we never begin there. We begin with the image, then go to dominion, then talk about procreation.
If you lay the argument out with “procreation” first—as Leonard does—you can easily undermine the argument by showing that every animal procreates—as Leonard does—then argue that procreation (and the male/female distinction) is not part of the image of God. However, if you lay the argument out the way Scripture does—with procreation last—Leonard’s objection doesn’t hold water.
Here’s why. Humans are the only ones created in the image of God and told to have dominion over creation. This tells us that dominion IS part of the image of God. Then, there’s an important followup question: How are humans to have dominion over creation? We are to procreate—multiply and fill the earth. The commands “fruitful” and “multiply” and “fill” and “subdue” and “have dominion” are connected in Genesis 1:28.
So, yes, Leonard is correct that animals are also told to procreate BUT they are NOT TOLD to procreate as a way of having dominion over the earth. That’s extremely important.
Necessity of Male and Female
This is also why the Human Sexuality Report makes the statement, “humanity’s creation as male and female is inextricably linked with humanity’s creation in God’s image. We image God not simply as generic human beings, who happen to be male and female, but as male and female human beings” (Human Sexuality Report, p. 17).
Herman Bavinck said something similar, “The creation story in Genesis shows this clearly in the fact that both together are said to have been created in God’s image (Gen. 1:27). Not merely one of them, but both, and not the one separate from the other, but man and woman together, in mutual relation, each created in his or her own manner and each in a special dimension created in God’s image and together displaying God’s likeness” (The Christian Family, p. 3).
Less In the Image of God?
Following his objection, Leonard makes a strong accusation: “But the worst thing about this idea is that it can easily lead to thinking that gay folks are made in the image of God to a lesser extent than straight folks. Think about the history of that idea to see what the results might be.” Simply put: This is a false accusation. Nobody is saying this. I don’t know of a single person in the CRC making the argument that “gay folks are made in the image of God to a lesser extent.” NOT A SINGLE ONE.
The exact opposite is true. The Human Sexuality Report EXPLICITLY makes statements like, “God, who made all people in his image…” (46) and says that disordered sexual desires “in no way render a person inferior, less human, or less the image of God.” (72).
So, Leonard needs to stop making this false accusation.
Restored In the Image of God
Here’s the plain truth: We all need to be renewed in the image of God (Colossians 3:10). Sin has made a mess of things—it has distorted the “very good” of God’s creation, even the image of God.
But, thanks be to God! Jesus IS the image of God (2 Corinthians 4:4). Through his redemptive work, we can be transformed into HIS image (Romans 8:29) and renewed in the image of our Creator (Colossians 3:10).
How do we experience this transformation/renewal? We repent of our sin and turn to Jesus in faith, trusting Him for our salvation. Then we keep our eyes on Him, joining the rest of God’s people, who “with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” (2 Corinthians 3:18, ESV).