God’s Image; Objective?
Nathanael Szobody on Many find it beneficial to understand the essence of God’s character apart from creation or his interactions with people so that we may get to the heart of who he is. How is this possible for us who have never seen, heard, or been shown anything other than what God wills to relate to us, his creation?
Do we want to speak of his power? Power over what? How do we know he is powerful? We know of his power only in relation to his ability to create and dispose of his creation according to his will.
His omniscience? His sovereignty? All these things are only known in relationship to how he deals with us, his people.
Ah, but his glory? Look in scripture; God’s glory is always described as his greatness in the relationship he has established with his people. If it is the cherubim and seraphim who glorify him it is because of the lamb who was slain, or because of his righteousness in judgement. All these things pertain to his relationship.
It appears that God simply isn’t interested in revealing anything to us that is ‘outside’ of creation, or more importantly, that does not pertain to our relationship with him.
How can one even speculate “If God had not created”?? He did create! And thus he is a creator! If he had not created we would be talking of a completely different God. Since it is what he did we must conclude that it is what he is and serves to help us define who he is insofar as he is revealed.
God’s image is not in the abstract (as far as he has revealed it to us). God’s image as it is revealed is summed up in relationship. For even the Trinity is a relationship of three in one in which humans take part when they enter his rest. This relationship is sacrificial giving of life, otherwise known as love.
All other attributes, therefore, serve this character of self expenditure for his creation. Clearly, then, it is futile to try to come up with any sort of ‘objective’ explanation of God’s image, when all that he is shown to us in the context of a relationship with the individual!
And praise the Lord for that! For now when we study his word and seek his face we can know that whatever we find is what he desires us to know for the sake of giving it to us.
Comments ( 2 )
In the liturgy God gives to us sacramentally and we receive these heavenly treasures in faith. The liturgy after the liturgy is our vocations where we give ourselves sacrificially to our neighbor in love. Our vocations leads us to forgiveness which is found in the liturgy and the liturgy leads us to our calling in our vocations and so the two are connected. Faith receives the gifts from God in the liturgy and then takes on flesh and bone to serve our neighbor in love. Here a relationship is established between the liturgy and vocation that gives us an understanding of how God's sacramental relationship with us leads us to a sacrificial relationship with our neighbor. The hinge between liturgy and vocation is Luther's post communion collect: "We give thanks to thee, Almighty God, that thou hast refreshed us through this salutary gift; and we beseech Thee that of Thy mercy Thou wouldst strengthen us through the same in faith toward Thee and in fervent love toward one another."
So even the personal, introspective nature of much of worship is meant to lead to a practical reflection of God's image in our service to one another.
For because of the cross we can now come together as his body in that garden, that new creation, which is called the church, and dine with him in his self-giving love. How our church services would be revolutionized if our worship leaders understood this.