Applying the Gospel

“Freely you have received; freely give.”
(Matthew 10:8)

The life of Jesus Christ is the divine life incarnate in human life. As he gives himself to God on our behalf—and to us—the life of the Triune God of love is revealed to be a Gift-Life. Because Jesus gives us his own Spirit, our worship isn’t just a response to him, it’s a participation in his loving, self-sacrificial Gift-Life.

God calls us to give, he grants us the privilege of fellowship with him in a generosity like his, and he provides us the opportunity to give as an element of the liturgy. “Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; bring an offering, and come into his courts” (Psalm 96:8). To come into his presence with an offering is an activity that corresponds with the reality of who the Gift-God is. Our other-centered gifts of charity and mercy reflect the glory of his being. “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7) because God himself is The Cheerful Giver.

So we give by faith and in the name of Jesus during our worship on the Lord’s Day: “On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper” (1 Corinthians 16:2).

Our offering is a communion with Jesus in his grace: “See that you excel in this grace also… For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:7, 9).

Our offering is a token—a real token—of the offering of ourselves to God: “By the mercies of God… present your bodies as a living sacrifice” (Romans 12:1).

Our offering is a way to express our allegiance to the one true God over against the false god, mammon: “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Matthew 6:24).

Our offering is a way to demonstrate thankful obedience to God who calls us to give: “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving” (Psalm 50:14). (This aspect of thanksgiving is especially highlighted by the place of the offering in our liturgy, following the assurance of the forgiveness of our sins through the grace of God in Christ.)

Our offering is a way to bring the fruit of our lives’ work into our relationship with God, to submit our time and energy to him according to his purposes: “The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of the LORD your God” (Exodus 23:19).

Our offering is a way to give ourselves to the mission of the church, to the mission of Jesus himself, as our gifts (representing our lives) support pastors, missionaries, and other ministries as they proclaim the Gospel.

Our offering is a way to bless each other with practical help that resonates with God’s own love: “If anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?” (1 John 3:17). “Do not neglect to do good, and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God” (Hebrews 13:16). Such gifts, given through faith in Christ to support each other in the church, are considered “a fragrant offering, a sacrifice acceptable and pleasing to God” (Philippians 4:18).

How might giving an offering “by faith and in the name of Jesus” be different from charitable giving that happens outside the church’s worship? How might “online giving” fit (or not fit) with this idea of a liturgical offering? Why might some offerings be unacceptable to God (e.g., the offerings of Cain in Genesis 4 or Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5)? What makes an offering self-sacrificial? Why would self-sacrificial giving be a cheerful prospect for Christians? What difference does being rich or poor make in one’s response to God’s call to give? What is the value of distinguishing between types of gifts like tithes, alms, or other offerings? In what practical ways can you prepare to participate in this element of worship each time the opportunity is presented?

Yahweh God called to the man and said to him,
“Where are you?” …
“Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”
(Genesis 3:9, 11)

Sin is nothing other than a violation of our relationship with God. “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” (Psalm 51:4). Immediately after our first parents committed the first sin, God called them into his presence to confess their sins as part of the process of redemption and restoration to fellowship. The brokenness of our relationship with God (which is our own fault) must be addressed if we’re going to continue in God’s presence. This is why we confess our sins early in the liturgy.

Fear prevents us from confessing our sins. We suspect that, if our sins become known, we will suffer rejection. Adam and Eve tried covering themselves with fig leaves, hiding from God among the trees, and shifting the blame—and God’s unwanted attention—anywhere but themselves. In fear, they chose hostile self-protection rather than vulnerable honesty before God and each other. The extreme defense against the confession of sin is pride, self-righteousness, self-justification; if I can convince myself and others that there’s nothing much wrong with me, that I have no sins to confess, then I’ll be safe. (Fear is still at the root here.)

Ultimately, it is the grace of Jesus Christ that frees us to confess our sins. Think of Peter, after Jesus had blessed him and his companions with a miraculous catch of fish (Luke 5:1-11). Think of Zacchaeus, after Jesus visited his house (Luke 19:1-10). “God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance” (Romans 2:4).

So, the call to confess sins is an act of God’s love, a gracious work of the Holy Spirit (John 16:8). The Triune God of love works reconciliation, and the confession of sin is a part of that process. The way to encourage confession is not with threats of judgment or punishment, but with promises of mercy, forgiveness, love, and acceptance—credible promises reinforced by a history of love’s evidence. God frees us from the fear of rejection so that we drop our defenses and become truly vulnerable before him. This only happens when you are convinced that God loves you in spite of your sin. Before you confess your sin, you must believe that God forgives you.

Jesus Christ has divine authority to forgive your sins (Luke 5:24). He took our sins upon himself, confessed them on our behalf, and prayed for our forgiveness on the cross (Luke 23:34). He suffered the divine judgment we deserved in our place, in order to spare us in his mercy, and now we can be assured that we are forgiven, because of his sacrifice (Ephesians 1:7). As foreshadowed when God clothed Adam and Eve with garments of skins (Gen. 3:21), God has clothed us in the righteousness of Jesus Christ (Isaiah 61:10), covering our shame. Now, “as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). He has “cast all our sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19). Even though you’ll never be able to know or confess all your sins, they have all been forgiven by the grace of the Lord Jesus, and the eternal guilt of them is irretrievable.

You need to hear the Good News of this forgiveness frequently, which is another reason this is a regular part of our liturgy. As your appreciation for the grace of Jesus grows, so will your awareness of your own sinfulness and your freedom to truly confess your sins. In turn, this will lead to yet greater celebration of the glorious grace of Jesus. And, as you hear yourself and others confessing sins aloud together, you will grow in your own ability to forgive and love. You won’t be surprised to hear of the real sins of others; of course they sin! We admit as much together every week! And together we receive the assurance from God’s very Word that, in Christ, we are forgiven and welcome in his presence.

“The pious fellowship permits no one to be a sinner. So everybody must conceal his sin from himself and from the fellowship. We dare not be sinners. Many Christians are unthinkably horrified when a real sinner is suddenly discovered among the righteous. So we remain alone with our sin, living in lies and hypocrisy. The fact is that we are sinners! …

“Even when sin and misunderstanding burden the communal life, is not the sinning brother still a brother, with whom I, too, stand under the Word of Christ? Will not his sin be a constant occasion for me to give thanks that both of us may live in the forgiving love of God in Jesus Christ? Thus the very hour of disillusionment with my brother becomes incomparably salutary, because it so thoroughly teaches me that neither of us can ever live by our own words and deeds, but only by that one Word and Deed which really binds us together—the forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together, pp. 110, 28).

Why do we fear that the confession of our sins will lead to our rejection? Can you think of times you have been reluctant to confess your sins? Can you think of times when you have felt freed to confess your sins? Have you known the power of God’s forgiveness in Christ? Has this power translated into your ability to forgive others? Why and how would you call others to confess their sins to God?

“Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you.” (Matthew 7:6)

This is a parable. Jesus’ parables are often difficult to understand. The trick is to find the (often surprising) perspective in the parable that we’re supposed to inhabit. This parable is a satire. Jesus isn’t saying what he appears to be saying on the face of it. It sounds like he might be saying, “If you are a discerning judge of character, you will know when some people are so hostile to the message of the Gospel that you should just keep your mouth shut about it, lest they attack you.” But he can’t be saying that, for a couple of reasons.

First, the direct context. In this part of his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus is literally telling us not to judge others, not to condemn others, but to learn better how to share the Gospel with others when they sin. Just read what immediately precedes this verse:

“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.” (vv. 1-5)

People who condemn others are looking to justify themselves, to separate themselves from “bad people” in order to think of themselves as “good people.” Jesus reveals that self-righteous hypocrites with condemning hearts will find themselves condemned with the same “condemnation-unto-separation” they wanted to wield against others. Alternatively, he invites us to submit ourselves to his gracious judgment, and to take a confessional and empathetic approach toward helping others when they sin. We should recognize that we are the same (“brothers”) and that our struggles with sin are the same (“logs” and “specks” are the same materials). We can demonstrate the freedom and love of Christ’s kingdom when we humbly approach other sinners in relatable ways, looking to help them also to submit to Jesus’ gracious judgment. To think that he would then go on to say, “But you should be discerning—some people are so bad you shouldn’t share the Gospel with them,” would be entirely antithetical to his main point.

Second, the larger context of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If Jesus is really saying, “Do not share the holy and precious message of the Gospel with people who are hostile to the Gospel,” then it would seem that he himself did not take his own advice here. He told the wonderful truth of who he is and what he came to do, and was trampled down by his enemies for it. Are we to think that this was a failure of his wisdom, his discernment, his good judgment? Are we to think that Jesus, and all the Christian martyrs following him, would have done better just to keep their mouths shut to avoid being attacked by opponents of the Gospel? Are we to think that better discernment on Jesus’ part would have kept him off the cross?

To be sure, there are times when Jesus teaches us to be wise and discerning about what we hear from others, or even to shake the dust off our feet when people prove unreceptive to his message of peace. But that isn’t what Jesus is saying here.

So what is he saying here? Again, this parable is a satire, being used to expose the ridiculous position of self-righteous hypocrites who would condemn others for their sin. This parable assumes a scenario in which hypocrites view other sinners as beastly street dogs and unclean pigs. We know people in Jesus’ day who thought of other people as dogs and pigs—the self-righteous religious people like the Pharisees! They prayed, thanking God that they were not like those bad people, those sinners/women/Gentiles/dogs/pigs. The Pharisees saw themselves as distinct and separated from sinners. When they spoke the truth of God’s Scriptures, it was to attack other sinners. They used God’s Word as a weapon to condemn and separate.

It’s easy to imagine a self-righteous person using the Bible—in all its holy and precious truth—to attack people they condemn. Hypocrites are blind to their own sin, and blind to the reality of God’s gracious judgment in Christ. But when they “discern” sin in other people, they start lobbing holy hand grenades of truth. They throw bits of divine law, divine wisdom at others like missiles meant to do harm. Those holy and precious criticisms will not be helpful to sinners, they will not be well received or taken to heart, they will be despised and trampled upon. Maybe that sinner really has sinned, and maybe the hypocrite really spoke God’s true and beautiful Word to that sinner—but that sinner rejects it for the way the hypocrite used it as a weapon. And the sinner will attack the hypocrite in return. The hypocrite only served to drive a relational wedge between himself and the other sinner… which was, after all, what the hypocrite was looking to do. “Condemnation-unto-separation.” The truth-as-projectile approach of condemning people will explode on you, it’ll backfire, it’ll come back to bite you. The wicked will be snared in his own net to his destruction (Ps. 35:8). “Whoever who digs a pit will fall into it” (Prov. 26:27). “With the judgment you pronounce you will be judged” (Mt. 7:2).

(Here is a sermon on Matthew 7:1-6.)

“Ascribe to Yahweh the glory due his name;
bring an offering and come before him!
Worship Yahweh in the splendor of holiness.”
1 Chronicles 16:29

God takes the initiative in our relationship with him. Humans didn’t decide to exist; God created us. Sinners wouldn’t decide to be in a relationship with God; he called us, he invited us, he paved the way for us to come to him in worship and commanded us to walk it. Apart from his gracious initiative, we would not come. When we do come to worship, it is entirely as a response to who he is and what he has done for us. “Worship is the gift of participating through the Spirit in the incarnate Son’s communion with the Father” (J. B. Torrance). When God calls us to worship, he is giving us this gift.

The language of “calling” pervades the Scriptures. Believers in the church are “called to belong to Jesus Christ… called to be saints” (Romans 1:6). We are “called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). We are “called to freedom” from the slavery of legalism (Galatians 5:13). We are “called to the one hope that belongs to [our] call” (Ephesians 4:4). We are called to salvation and sanctification and glory through the gospel (2 Thessalonians 2:13-14). We are called to eternal life (1 Timothy 6:12). “Consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise… not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish… God chose what is weak… God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not” (1 Corinthians 1:26). Being called into a relationship with God is a gracious privilege that he grants us, not a reward for being impressive in any way.

In fact, being called to worship is quite like Lazarus being called out of the tomb by Jesus (John 11:43-44). Jesus wasn’t waiting to see if perhaps the dead man would come of his own initiative. Dead people are unresponsive, by definition. When Jesus calls, the dead come to life and become responsive. When God calls us to worship, by his grace, he makes us responsive to him, and we are thankful for it! So, God has the first word in our worship. That first word is the invitation and imperative of his love, to find our life in him. Jesus says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). The Good News is that there is power in his calling, in his voice, to wake sinners from spiritual death and bring them to himself in worship.

When we are called to worship, what are we called out of? What are we called into? What are some examples of calls to worship in the Bible? Why is it significant that God takes the initiative in our relationship? Why do sinners resist coming to God in worship? What is it about God, about Jesus, about worship that attracts you to come? Does the call to worship seem to you more like an invitation or an imperative? Why is it good that it is both? How would you describe the “spiritual state” that God’s calling creates in us? How can you participate in calling other sinners to worship?

“Pursue love… Let all things be done for building up… All things should be done decently and in order.” (1 Corinthians 14:1, 26, 40)

In his first letter to the Corinthians, starting in chapter 10, Paul addresses various aspects and elements of worship. He talks about Baptism (ch. 10), the Lord’s Supper (chs. 10-11), the orderly exercise of spiritual gifts (chs. 12, 14), evangelism (ch. 14), the proclamation of the Gospel (ch. 15), and the first day of the week as the usual day for worship and giving (16:2). His teachings are to be acknowledged as “a command of the Lord” (14:37)—God is the one who tells us how to worship. Right smack in the middle of this large section concerning worship is chapter 13, the famous “love chapter.” Love, as defined by God, is at the heart of Christian worship.

As you might guess, chapter 13 is followed by… chapter 14! Paul builds on the centrality of love by saying that everything we do in worship should be done for the sake of mutual edification, to build one another up in careful and considered ways. We engage in worship in order to bless others with the knowledge of God in Christ, whether those others are already Christians or not. “Love… does not insist on its own way” (13:5). We don’t come to worship just to have a pleasant time for ourselves, but to serve and give of ourselves in relationship with others. Often this means foregoing our personal preferences or comforts, even as Christ has laid down his very life to bless us.

We recognize our great need to come to God in worship for our own spiritual good, but we don’t participate in worship merely for our own sakes. We engage in worship for the sake of each other, because this is how God lives. The Triune God is One living for the Other in his very being, and our worship is a participation in his life together. So God-centered, Christ-patterned, Spirit-filled, other-oriented love should compel and characterize everything we do in worship. We come to worship to help each other 1) to become disciples of Jesus, 2) to grow as disciples of Jesus, and 3) to make disciples of yet others. This is how the church is meant to grow (Ephesians 4:11-13). These are expressions of Christian love in worship.

So, the intelligibility of our communication in worship is a priority. If we’re going to be able to say “Amen” together in agreement, we need to be able to understand one another (14:16). In the Incarnation and in the Scriptures God has accommodated himself to us, to make himself known to us in intelligible ways. So we should use language in ways others can understand, even if they know little to nothing of the Bible. “Nonbelievers are expected in gathered worship, nonbelievers should find worship comprehensible, and nonbelievers may be convicted and converted through corporate worship” (Tim Keller). God makes himself known for the good of those he loves. He makes himself known, even when there are obstacles to knowing him in our hearts and minds. Participating in his revealing love in each element of our worship, we should seek to illuminate some facet of who this God is, what he has said, what he has done, and how he has told us to relate to him through faith in Jesus, for the good of those with us.

Do you come to worship because you know you need to meet with God and his people for your own spiritual good—for your own edification? Do you also come to worship for the good of others who are there? Do you sometimes feel a guilty pressure to come to worship? If so, how do you process that? Thinking through the worship service, can you think of how each element is designed to reveal God for our relationship with him? Can you think of how your participation in that element might help others to know him and grow as disciples of Jesus? What are some ways we can accommodate ourselves to visitors during worship, to help them understand the Gospel and hopefully say “Amen” to it with us?

“The hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23-24)

Jesus teaches that Christian worship is Trinitarian (“in spirit”), and that it will be in accordance with God’s revelation (“in truth”).

Worship “in Spirit”

Jesus, the Son, says we will worship the Father. He also says that God is “spirit.” Maybe “spirit” should be capitalized, to refer to the Spirit, commonly called the third Person of the Trinity. “Worship in Spirit and truth is Trinitarian worship—worship that is aware of the distinct work of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit in our salvation” (John Frame). In the one Godhead, the Father and the Son have dwelt, from all eternity, in the blessed communion of the Holy Spirit. The Father and Son relate to Each Other in the Spirit. We can’t conceive of everything this means. But, because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we can know that we’re invited into this Triune relationship. As we have been granted the very Spirit of God, we’ve been welcome to relate to God the same way God himself relates to God. We relate to the Father the same way the Incarnate Son, Jesus, relates to him, in the Spirit. This is the best gift and the highest privilege of God’s grace!

Since God is Triune, and our worship is a participation in the Trinitarian life, this means worship involves worshiping together. For Christians, corporate worship is “natural.” We cannot conceive of worship solely or even primarily as a private devotion. The Spirit is the divine Unifier of Persons; worship in the Spirit is when people (plural) are unified in communion with the Triune God.

Worship “in Truth”

“The acceptable way of worshiping the true God is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will” (WCF 21.1). There is such a thing as “acceptable worship” (Heb. 12:28) and unacceptable, unauthorized worship (Lev. 10:1-3; Acts 5:1-11), because truth matters in real relationships. God tells us who he is, he tells us what relationship with him will be like, and he forbids us from relating to him according to our own imaginations (see the Second Commandment). So Christians worship God on his terms, in his ways, according to the truth that he has revealed to us.

Ultimately, Jesus is the truth God has revealed to us about himself for worship. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Jesus is the Son worshiping the Father Jesus is a human being worshiping God as God would, in the Spirit. His life and words are the pattern for our worship, and more than “merely” the pattern. Jesus is the true worshiper (Pss. 15 & 24), and we may only come to God through him, we may only truly worship in his name.

According to the Gospel, how is it possible for sinners like us to worship the Father, to relate to him as his Incarnate Son relates to him? What does it mean that the Father and Son relate to Each Other in the Spirit? What does it mean that we are welcome to relate to God in the same way, in the same Spirit? What is the significance for your life, your worship (personal or corporate)? Why does truth matter in real relationships? What do you think about God telling you what is acceptable worship? What do you think about God rejecting “unauthorized” worship, even revealing that it means death? Are there ways in which you are prone to approach the worship of God according to your own imagination or preferences, rather than according to his revelation? What does Jesus reveal to us about true worship in his life and teachings? Why would you want to worship in his name rather than coming to God in your own name?

“Worship is the gift of participating through the Spirit in the incarnate Son’s communion with the Father” (J. B. Torrance). Worship is something the church does corporately on the Lord’s Day. “Corporately” is another way of saying “communally.” Corporate worship reflects the divine communion of persons. And now, because of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that divine communion of persons is not limited to Divine Persons, but it is shared with all kinds of people who enter into a relationship with God through faith in Jesus. Christianity is about one communion, one relationship in particular—the relationship between the Father and the incarnate Son in the Holy Spirit. That one communion is opened up to us by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. The church is blessed to participate in that one communion by entering into the Son’s own place in his relationship with the Father in the Spirit.

Hopefully this isn’t too opaque or abstract to be truly meaningful for us. We may dive headlong into corporate worship, heart and soul and body, and abide in Jesus together as he abides in the Father. We are invited to participate in this new reality as really real. We truly participate in the divine life together as God’s new creation during the very ordinary rituals of the Lord’s Day liturgy. There is nothing more real in our relationships than what we do together in corporate worship. We really respond to God’s calling us to worship together. We really proclaim and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus together. We really pray and sing to our Father together in the name of his Son. We really confess our sins to God before one another. We really hear the assurance of God’s forgiveness of our own sins and the sins of our brothers and sisters in Christ. We really offer gifts of thanksgiving to God for the blessing of each other. We really hear the Good News about Jesus together in the reading and preaching of God’s Word. We really acknowledge Jesus before men in the corporate confession of our faith. We really declare that we enjoy reconciliation to God and that our relationships with each other are renewed because of Jesus when we pass the peace. We really eat and drink together at the Table—not just sharing an earthly meal, but a heavenly one in God’s presence, spiritually, that is, through the Spirit of Christ. We really stand as a people together under God’s gracious blessing.

It’s not that we experience “real fellowship” only when we connect over a midweek meal or a shared interest; corporate worship is the really real fellowship in Christ that reorders all other times together. It’s not that “real discipleship” only happens in a small group Bible study, one-on-one mentoring, or pastoral counseling; corporate worship is really real discipleship, where we truly learn what it means to follow Jesus and live with God together in his name. It’s not that “real prayer” only happens at the prayer meeting or in your morning quiet time; in corporate worship we truly pray together in the pattern of the Lord’s own prayer to his Father and ours. It’s not that “real evangelism” happens only out on the streets; corporate worship is where all kinds of people hear the Gospel addressing them in their unbelief. This worship is not just a token version of reality; corporate worship is the most real reality to be found in this world.

Do you feel the need to come to church as something like your need for Jesus himself? Do you view corporate worship as the primary place where you learn to live as a Christian? In what way(s)—if any—is your idea of sanctification connected to corporate worship? Do you find real strength for life with God in the “Ordinary Means of Grace,” the Word and Sacraments? Do you recognize how profound it actually is to confess your sins before others in the church, and to hear them also confess their sins regularly? Does your giving represent the sacrificial offering of your whole life to God as a response to his grace? How do you love and serve others while participating in corporate worship? How do you open yourself to receive their love and service? How do you view the intersection of evangelism and worship? How does corporate worship shape your life for the rest of the week? What do you think about the Trinitarian view of worship proposed by J. B. Torrance?

This is a sermon from Psalm 51, preached Thursday, October 14, 2021, during Worship at the Stated Meeting of the Pacific Northwest Presbytery of the PCA, at Evergreen Presbyterian Church in Beaverton.

Sermon Audio (mp3)

Sermon Notes (pdf)

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.
(Genesis 1:26-27)

Of all God’s creation, humanity is uniquely made in the image of God. Readers of the Bible have long debated what exactly that means. It’s pretty easy to discard ideas like physical properties—God is Spirit, so we don’t resemble him in the eyes. So the discussion usually turns to capacities. What can we do that uniquely reflects something of the Triune God? Is it our capacity to reason? to imagine? to communicate with words? to create? to love? to live vicariously? These are all fascinating things to explore. But are these kinds of things of the essence of what it means to be created in the image of God?

What if being created in the image of God wasn’t strictly about things like our capacities? What if this is more relational language? The very next time the Bible uses this language is just a few chapters later, with explicit reference to the original creation of humanity:

When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. Male and female he created them, and he blessed them and named them Man when they were created. When Adam had lived 130 years, he fathered a son in his own likeness, after his image, and named him Seth.
(Genesis 5:1-3, emphasis added)

The father-son relationship between Adam and Seth is analogical to the relationship between God and humanity. This seems to suggest that sonship is a significant aspect of what it means to be created in the image of God. Male and female, humanity has been created uniquely to enjoy a Son’s relationship with God as our Father. Perhaps being created in God’s image is less about something intrinsic to our existence in-and-of ourselves, like capacities, and more about a special relationship that God declares to us for our faith.

When you consider the Triune nature of God, it makes sense that God uses the language of “image” and “likeness” to communicate the idea of this relationship. In himself, God is Father and Son in the loving communion of the Spirit. What it means for God to be God is for him to relate as Son to Father, and that is what it will look like for us to reflect his image. Of course, in our sin, we have rejected this relationship and ceased to reflect true divinity in our humanity. We need someone to restore the image of God and Sonship for us.

Jesus is the true Son of God, both in his eternal divinity as the second Person of the Trinity, and also as the perfect human being in right relationship with God the Father. “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation” (Colossians 1:15). Whether male or female, “in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith” (Galatians 3:26-29). By God’s grace, you are being “conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he [Jesus] might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Romans 8:29).

“You sum up the whole of New Testament religion if you describe it as the knowledge of God as one’s holy Father. If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father” (J. I. Packer). God is Son. Sonship is what it means for us to be created in the image of God. And Sonship is what we are being redeemed for, renewed in the image of Christ.

What do you make of the thought of enjoying the incarnate Son’s relationship with the Father? Why is it important that this Sonship is true of both male and female? In the Bible, a big part of Sonship has to do with inheritance (consider Gen. 1:26)—what is the inheritance of God’s Son (and therefore the inheritance of all those who are in Christ)? Can you think of some other Scripture passages that describe what it means to have God as our Father? Why might a discussion of “capacities” be insufficient to describe what constitutes the image of God in humanity? What else do you think it might mean to be created in the image of God?