Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– Ephesians 2:10
Made in the Image of God
Every human being has been made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) but not necessarily the physical image because God is spirit (John 4:24). Part of God’s image in us is expressed in seeking justice, in loving others, in doing good, and in many other similar things. But in other ways, we can never be like God, for He is perfect, sinless, and holy. Let us be image-bearers of God in how we treat others, even our enemies, with respect and dignity, praying for them, loving them, and doing good to them, just as God did for us, who were once His enemies and wicked sinners (Romans 5:8, 10). To respond to evil with good makes us more like God, for that is how He responded to us, who were once the children of disobedience and wrath.
Living the Image of God
The image of God is the very express image of Jesus Christ, and much of His image is obviously that He is completely sinless, without spot or blemish, and most holy. Nobody could ever accuse Jesus of sin–not the Jews, not Pilate, not the Roman centurion at the cross, nobody. That is the image that God, Who is the Potter, wants to impress upon us. Since God is holy, we must live lives that are holy, not perfect but striving for it. Peter quotes Leviticus 11:44 and writes, “Be holy, because I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16). Now that we’ve seen the template for our lives in the perfect life of Christ, what’s the Potter to do with us?
Made Into the Image of Christ
Paul writes that “we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18). Perhaps Paul is saying that we are being shaped and molded into the image of Christ by God’s Spirit, as Paul used the capital “S.” So it may be the personal pronoun for God the Holy Spirit. We do need God’s spirit.
A New Creation in Christ
We are conceived in the image of God, we are to reflect the image of God, and we are to be made into a more Christ-likeness, Who is God. Paul writes that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). That is, “if” they’re in Christ, all the old has passed away (sins and sinful habits), and the new (creation in Christ) has come in living a life pleasing to God and not self. Thankfully, “in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation” (2 Corinthians 5:19), and that makes you and me “ambassadors for Christ” so that “God [is] making his appeal through us” (2 Corinthians 5:20). Will you point others to Christ as His ambassador?
Conclusion
Paul writes in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them,” meaning we are made in the image of God, to be an image of God, to be made into the image of Christ and into a new creation in Christ Jesus by the Spirit of God. These all have God’s fingerprints on them, and we should be able to see the Potter has left His impressions on us, His clay vessels.
