The doctrine of the image of God helps us answer core questions:

• What does it mean that God made us in His image?
• How did sin impact this image?
• How does Jesus redeem and restore that image in us as we enter into a relationship with Him?
• How do we view our nature, our personalities, our purpose, our physical bodies?

Being made in the image of God means that, as human beings, we are worthy of

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and respect as unique individuals.

• It would be helpful if we could find some core principle that Jesus gave that could drive our understanding of how we interact with our fellow image-bearers –whether they are struggling and in need of mercy or whether they are prideful and have set themselves up as our ideological enemies.
• Can you think of an ethical principle that could serve this purpose? What truths can shape our understanding?

God created everyone

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• All human beings are equal in dignity, worth and value regardless of their gender or skin color.
• In the

of God, there is unity, yet diversity (one in three, three in one). So, it is God’s design for human communities to reflect this. Human

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is from God and

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is from the enemy.
• Many of the -isms at the

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of our divisions are due to the fact that we put ourselves as the standard, the very definition of what it means to be human. We expect everyone else to be like us. But this is not the case. Remember, just as you are unique, so is everyone else.

God

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everyone because they are created in His image

• God is

for His image in every human being. Sin has corrupted this image, but God is in active pursuit of individuals to reclaim His glory. This is why Jesus came.
• As redeemed image-bearers, one of our main goals is to be restored to our first purpose: To reflect the

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of God. The Spirit fills us to accomplish this purpose.
• Matthew 22:37-40 is the foundational

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we have been seeking.

Jesus taught us how to

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with others

• We are called to

– this is our primary ethic. Love God, love people. This sums up the entirety of God’s thoughts about how His redeemed image-bearers are meant to interact with the world.
• John 1:14 | And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
• The Spirit gives us walking

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of what love looks like in any and every situation and interaction with our fellow image-bearers. Principles and truths drive it, but we are not meant to live by a list of rules anymore. We are meant to keep in step with the Spirit.
• So love looks like: Care and Compassion, Action and Intentionality, Dignity/Respect, Imparting Value, Promoting Truth, Pursuing Justice, Advancing Equality

The

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reminds us that Christian love will often look like defeat when it is actually conquering and overcoming the greatest obstacles.

• Therefore, we can love our fellow image-bearers radically and with great dignity, pursuing justice, even for those who have hurt us or with whom we disagree.
• The kind of love we are aiming at should confound the world.