The Image of God

The difficulty is the image of God is seldom linked to the designs of men and women. Many scholars talk about mankind being in God's image but do not directly see His image in the designs of men and women.

Generally, scholars speak of God's image through the concepts of emotions, intellect, and will. God has emotions, so do we; He has intellect, so do we; He has a will, so do we; He creates, so do we. Indeed, that is true, but look at Genesis 1:26-27. It is easy to see a more straightforward conclusion. 

What if the image of God is somehow about maleness and femaleness? That is the implication of Genesis 1:26-27.

Obviously, we do not believe that God is both male and female. We do believe that the best description of the image of God is that He is both "Separate and Belonging" or "Powerful and Relational."

Using theological terms like "transcendence" and "immanence" further supports this implication. Transcendence is about separate, beyond, and different. And immanence is the concept of with, belonging, not beyond.

When considering God's attributes, it is easy to categorize each under the categories of Separate or Belonging. So, our belief is that God's image is the foundation for men's and women's designs. Maleness represents the separate or powerful, and femaleness represents the belonging or relational.

Man's design is separate, powerful, and work-oriented. Woman's design is primarily belonging, relational, and relationship-oriented. Although each can operate or develop like the other, the design is primarily powerful for men and relational for women.

In Scripture

Does scripture support the idea that God is separate and belonging or powerful and relational? The answer is an unequivocal yes. Multiple scriptures show how God speaks of Himself as both.

For instance, Isaiah 57:15 states that He "...inhabits eternity... in a high and holy place..." and at the same time "...with him who has a contrite and humble spirit..." This theme is easily seen in so many scriptures. Another favorite is Micah 6:8, where God tells us what is good - "He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God?" 

Note the verses speak of both power and the relationship. That is His image and how He desires that we represent that image on the earth.

In Relationships

Since men are designed with testosterone to be powerful, separate, and work-oriented, and women are designed to be belonging, relational, and relationship-oriented; it makes sense that God created men and women to complement each other.

That is the design from the beginning, and it is the same today. Men and women fit the roles God created for us.

Unfortunately, the world distorts the image of God and presents different views of men and women. Satan promotes a confusing message for both men and women, trying to get us to operate outside of our designs. When that happens, it distorts our representing the image of God.

One of the best representations of God's image is a marriage done the way God asks—men leading with love and women respecting with love. When done that way, we follow God's order for life as stated in 1 Corinthians 11:3—God, Christ, man, woman—protection from above, submission from below.

Again, this is about order and role, not value and worth. Christ the Son and God the Father are equal in value but different in role. The same is true of men and women.