Christmas is just a few days away. For many, this is the time for last minute shopping, cooking, and cleaning. Also a time full of stress, sweat, and tears as we prepare for festive holiday celebrations with family and friends.
It doesn’t have to be this way—in fact, Christmas should not be a time of busyness.
Faithlife author groups give you the chance to interact directly with Bible scholars, pastors, and influential Christians—within your favorite books or in the group.
This is a chance to ask those burning questions you’ve always wanted to ask an author, but couldn’t. If you’re following the group, then within your book you can highlight the text and ask a question to the group—and get an answer from the author.
The separation of church and state does not directly appear in the Constitution of the United States. Rather, the phrase represents an understanding of the First Amendment, popularized (but not invented) by a correspondence between a Baptist church and President Thomas Jefferson.
One of the hardest things for me to wrap my brain around as a Christian is how a God who defines himself as love (1 John 4:8) and defines the greatest form of love as laying down your life for someone else (John 15:13) could lead Israel on a bloodbath in the Old Testament.
Does God’s seemingly violent nature in the Old Testament change how Christians should see violence today? Does God’s violence justify ours?
Read more…
Even pastors and their wives make mistakes in marriage. Not everyone can be vulnerable enough to admit their mistakes, but Matt and Lauren Chandler want to show you that every Christian couple has their own challenges to overcome—and as you’ll see in the video below, the mistakes they’ve made were rooted in some of their biggest problems as individuals.
Genesis 1:26–27 tells us that as humans, we are made in God’s image. But what does that mean? Ask a few Christians, and you’ll probably get several different responses.
Dr. Michael Heiser, Bible scholar and author of the new book, The Unseen Realm, says that we often base our status as image bearers on one or more of the following qualities:
At a glance, this might seem like a strong list of qualities we uniquely share with God. We can generally agree that most of these qualities distinguish humans from the other things God created. But Dr. Heiser says, “The image of God means none of those things. If it did, then Bible-believers ought to abandon the idea of the sanctity of human life in the womb. That assertion may jar you, but it’s quite evident once you really consider that list in light of how Scripture talks about the image of God.”
In The Unseen Realm, Dr. Heiser uses the ancient Hebrew worldview of the supernatural to cast a biblical light on our relationship to the divine. To fully grasp that relationship, we have to take another look at what it means to be made in God’s image.
Referring back to the list above, Heiser says, “The problem with defining the image by any of these qualities is that, on one hand, nonhuman beings like animals possess some of these abilities, although not to the same extent as humans. If one animal anywhere, at any time, learned anything contrary to instinct, or communicated intelligently (to us or within species), or displayed an emotional response (again to us or other creatures), those items must be ruled out as image bearing. We know certain animals have these abilities because of carefully conducted research in the field of animal cognition. Artificial intelligence is on the verge of similar breakthroughs.”
Our list just got a lot shorter. If all human life uniquely bears the image of God, we have to definitively know that no other species bears (or could bear) these qualities. Or, we need to specify the combination that is uniquely human. Putting any qualities on this list is risky—can we afford to stake our identity as God’s image on any one quality? Heiser goes on:
“Defining image bearing as any ability is a flawed approach. This brings me back to my pro-life assertion. The pro-life position is based on the proposition that human life (and so, personhood) begins at conception (the point when the female egg is fertilized by the male sperm). The simple-celled zygote inside the woman’s womb, which pro-lifers believe to be a human person, is not self-aware; it has no intelligence, rational thought processes, or emotions; it cannot speak or communicate; it cannot commune with God or pray; and it cannot exercise its will or respond to the conscience. If you want to argue that those things are there potentially, then that means that you have only a potential person. That’s actually the pro-choice position. Potential personhood is not actual personhood. This thought process would mean that abortion is not killing until personhood is achieved . . .”
So how do we define God’s image (and thereby, “personhood”) to include all humans? Dr. Heiser believes that a proper understanding of Hebrew grammar makes all the difference.
He says, “The turning point is the meaning of the preposition in with respect to the phrase “in the image of God.” In English we use the preposition in to denote many different ideas. . . . For example, if I say, ‘put the dishes in the sink,’ I am using the preposition to denote location. If I say, ‘I broke the mirror in pieces,’ I am using in to denote the result of some action. If I say, ‘I work in education,’ I am using the preposition to denote that I work as a teacher or principal, or in some other educational capacity.”
Did you catch the difference there?
“Humankind was created as God’s image. If we think of imaging as a verb or function, that translation makes sense. We are created to image God, to be his imagers. It is what we are by definition. The image is not an ability we have, but a status. We are God’s representatives on earth. To be human is to image God.”
Being a human doesn’t mean you are an image of God, it means that you are imaging God by being human.
As a noun, an image is a copy, a symbol, or a representation. One dictionary defines it as “a physical likeness or representation of a person, animal, or thing, photographed, painted, sculptured, or otherwise made visible.” When we think of being made in the image of God, this is what often comes to mind—we’re fleshy images of God. God sculpted images of himself out of dust, and made them flesh (Genesis 2:7). Merriam-Webster even references Genesis 1:27 in one of it’s definitions of image: exact likeness or semblance (meaning, “the state of being somewhat like something but not truly or fully the same thing”).
Do you see the problem with using image as a noun here? It implies that there are qualities or traits that set humans apart as images of God—unique qualities which we cannot define without excluding (or potentially excluding) life in the womb. When we look at a statue, we can use a set of qualities or standards to determine what that statue represents (and how accurately it represents it). Is it a human? An animal? A mythological creature? We can even compare that statue to paintings or pictures or similar statues to determine how clearly it portrays what the artist claims it is. But that’s not how being in the image of God works.
The “medium” of God’s image is humanity. If you are human, you are in the image of God, regardless of the qualities you possess.
Heiser suggests that the image of God is a status, and imaging God is something we do by being human. Used as a verb, it means to make an image, to portray, or to project on a surface. In a very real sense, being made in God’s image means you are projecting God on earth—wherever you are, and whatever you look like. Whether you’re in the womb, or reading words on a screen, you are in the image of God.
We are “God projectors” that turn on at conception and never turn off.
Dr. Heiser talks about the image of God in more detail on this episode of Faithlife Today (Heiser starts at 2:13):
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Want to see how Dr. Heiser’s insights on the image of God tie into his study of the supernatural worldview of the Bible? In The Unseen Realm, Heiser uses his mastery of biblical Hebrew and other ancient languages to illuminate God’s spiritual realm, offering insight into how that world interacts with our own.
This scholarly work which began fifteen years ago is available now. Get your copy of The Unseen Realm here.
Photo credit: Christine Szeto.
After 40 years of marriage, John and Noël Piper wrote This Momentary Marriage: A Parable of Permanence, where they share many of the insights they’ve gained over decades of pursuing Christ together, and offer biblical insight into the purpose of marriage.
Using the Visual Copy tool in Logos Bible Software, I’ve assembled some of the most frequently highlighted quotes from this book, as well as few quotes that stood out to me personally. These are some of the passages and sentiments that have resonated the most with people who read the book.
Here are 7 quotes on marriage from John and Noël Piper:
“The beauty of the covenant-keeping love between Christ and his church shines brightest when nothing but Christ can sustain it.” —John and Noël Piper
“Crass materialism sustains very few marriages. The vestiges of God’s vision for marriage remain. They may be distorted and nameless, but they still remain. God’s common grace grants many cut flowers to flourish for a lifetime.” —John and Noël Piper
“Marriage is meant by God to put that gospel reality on display in the world. That is why we are married. That is why all married people are married, even when they don’t know and embrace this gospel.” —John and Noël Piper
“Marriage is not mainly about being or staying in love. It’s mainly about telling the truth with our lives. It’s about portraying something true about Jesus Christ and the way he relates to his people. It is about showing in real life the glory of the gospel.” —John and Noël Piper
“When the impossible day comes that Christ breaks his vow, ‘I am with you always, to the end of the age,’ then, on that day, a human being may break his marriage covenant.” —John and Noël Piper
“The most foundational thing to see from the Bible about marriage is that it is God’s doing. And the ultimate thing to see from the Bible about marriage is that it is for God’s glory. Those are the two points I have to make. Most foundationally, marriage is the doing of God. And ultimately, marriage is the display of God.” —John and Noël Piper
“The meaning of marriage is the display of the covenant-keeping love between Christ and his people.” —John and Noël Piper
For more biblical insight on marriage, get yourself a copy of This Momentary Marriage, and see what John and Noël Piper can share with you and your spouse about the divine purpose of your relationship to each other.
Get the Crossway John Piper Collection to get This Momentary Marriage and 38 other popular John Piper titles.
If you each snag a copy of the book, you and your spouse (or future spouse) can read together with a Faithlife Group. Create a reading plan, and share notes about what you’re reading, right inside the text!
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Did you enjoy these quote slides? They were created using Logos’ Visual Copy tool. Highlight your text, select Visual Copy, and hundreds of beautiful quote backgrounds are at your fingertips for blog posts, social media, presentations, and more!
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