All Human Ethics Flow from the Image of God (Lent 17, 2023)

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I’d be hard pressed to find anything–any topic of contemporary significance, any issue historical or current, any future-directed thought, or ethical dilemma that doesn’t point back ultimately to the Image of God.

When you start to look at mankind through the lens of the Image of God it’s easy to see that all human ethics flow from it.  “Be holy because I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16). Everything that we do that is right or wrong flows from our having been made uniquely in the Image of God.  For indeed, how do we know what is right or wrong, anyway?  Stay tuned on that one…

Focus for Lent: Consider how the Image of God is related to every ethical question.

Questions for further thought:

What other creatures have an enforceable ethical standard?

Do they have standards based upon power or goodness/truth?

Helene Guldberg writes in Psychology Today,
“Human beings have something that no other animal has: an ability to participate in a collective cognition. Because we, as individuals, are able to draw on the collective knowledge of humanity, in a way no animal can, our individual abilities go way beyond what evolution has endowed us with. Our species is no longer constrained by our biology.

Many scientists reject any notion that human beings have abilities that are profoundly different from other animals. To do so, they fear, will give ammunition to creationists and spiritualists. But we do not need spiritual or “magical” explanations to grasp that the difference between human beings and other animals is fundamental rather than one of degrees.”

While it’s possible to source other explanations, how does the Image of God provide an obvious and fundamental basis to understanding humanity?

That is not to say that animals have no intrinsic worth or that our moral responsibility towards animals doesn’t exist.  Read about man’s responsibility and relationship to other animals in Scripture (see Genesis 1:28)?

Prayer: Father God, may we never take for granted the blessing of ruling over the creation You gave us. May we never forget that this is a benevolent rulership, a stewardship given to mankind. Forgive us for the ways we have abused this privilege. Forgive us for acting as if we are owners, not stewards. Forgive us for ignoring what being Your Image-bearers means. Thank You for this high privilege. Remind us to consider all ethics flow from You in our daily lives. We love You, Lord. Amen.

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If you’re already signed up on my Home Page sidebar to receive posts, you’ll get the 2023 Lent Devotionals automatically. Or you can “Like” Seminary Gal on Facebook and they’ll be delivered to your Facebook news feed. If you haven’t signed up, today is a great day to do so. Advent and Lenten devotionals remain among my most popular offerings. You don’t want to miss this encounter with God to prepare your heart for Easter! Understanding that prior years’ devotionals continue to minister, you may want to have access to a full series ahead of time:

• Lent 2013 looked at The Letter to the Romans: Paul’s Masterpiece to reclaim foundations of our Christian heritage and began February 13, 2013.
•  A very special and ever popular offering was Lent 2014’s Be Still and Know that I AM God  which can be obtained through the archives beginning in March 2014. 
• Lent 2015 began on February 18, 2015 with a series entitled With Christ in the Upper Room: Final Preparations.  We explored what is often called “The Upper Room Discourse” found in John chapters 13-17. 
• ReKindle, the Lent 2016 series, began on February 10, 2016 and encouraged us to rekindle our spiritual lives.
• Light: There’s Nothing Like It was the 2017 Lent series and explored this metaphor often used to portray Christ.  It is archived beginning March 1, 2017.
• Lent 2018, we explored the questions of Pi and Chi (the Greek letter beginning the word Christos, which means Christ, Messiah, the Anointed One). We asked and answered the questions “Why?” from the movie Life of Pi as we discovered the uniqueness of Jesus Christ in a world of many faiths.
• Lent 2019 gave us a deeper window into Easter “More to the Easter Story” since we miss so much when we rely only on a superficial understanding of the work of Christ. These devotionals are archived beginning March 6, 2019.
• Our Lent 2020 devotional series offered prayer points surrounding “Be Thou My Vision” and were aimed at helping us to see God for who He is. The full set of devotionals are archived beginning February 26, 2020.
• The theme for 2021 Lent Devotionals was how to live between two worlds while waiting for Christ’s return. Into the gap between the City of Man and its fixation upon sin and the City of God with its demand for holiness, two words minister peace: But God. Praise God for His intervention! They are archived beginning February 17, 2021.
• Last year’s devotionals, Revelation in 40 offered 40 vignettes, scenes, concepts, and thoughts to inspire us to read the Book of Revelation as it is written and to go deeper. They are archived beginning March 2, 2022.