God, Image of
God, image of
Man is made according to the image of God (Genesis 1). This image or likeness lies chiefly in the soul, intellect, and free will distinguishing him from the brute. It overflows from the soul to the body, making him fit to rule over lower creation. Essential likeness is perfected accidentally by natural and supernatural virtues, especially by charity and justice.
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
God, Image of
In Gen 1:26, Gen 1:27, the truth is declared that God created man in His own image (celem), after His likeness (demuth). The two ideas denote the same thing – resemblance to God. The like conception of man, tacit or avowed, underlies all revelation. It is given in Gen 9:6 as the ground of the prohibition of the shedding of man’s blood; is echoed in Psa 8:1-9; is reiterated frequently in the New Testament (1Co 11:7; Eph 4:24; Col 3:10; Isa 3:9). The nature of this image of God in man is discussed in other articles – see especially ANTHROPOLOGY. It lies in the nature of the case that the image does not consist in bodily form; it can only reside in spiritual qualities, in man’s mental and moral attributes as a self-conscious, rational, personal agent, capable of self-determination and obedience to moral law. This gives man his position of lordship in creation, and invests his being with the sanctity of personality. The image of God, defaced, but not entirely lost through sin, is restored in yet more perfect form in the redemption of Christ. See the full discussion in the writer’s work, God’s Image in Man and Its Defacement; see also Dr. J. Laidlaw, The Bible Doctrine of Man.