Not exactly created "in the image" of God

Little by little discovering by reading, conversations, and questions that familiar Bible phrases and references sounded out in modern English can fail to communicate some important texture, echoes, resonance or other attached meaning to a Biblical word or idea, today it occurred to me that maybe something similar is going on in the cherished idea that humans are "created in the image of God." Related: that a person can see Jesus in the face (voice, actions, examples) of others. And: that "we are the hands and feet of God" here on Earth.

In particular "in the image of" possibly has other facets or nuances that get overshadowed by the typical, casual meaning - as if a mirror image or photographic image. Note that the speculations that follow are purely conjecture and don't derive from excavating the original ancient Greek or ancient Hebrew source words and surrounding lines of text, either. Trying on some synonyms for "image of God" there are several that put the overall meaning in a slightly different light. (1) With the likeness of God, (2) in a manner similar to God, (3) with the essential orientation and purposes [character] of God, (4) an identity or resemblance that is true to God's Way.

Examine closely the usual "in the image of God," [Genesis 1:27, New International Version]

So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Now substitute one of the earlier synonyms to see the result. In place of pepple as God's carbon-copy that we tend to imagine in the age of photocopiers and social media photo sharing, the meaning shifts to talk about the interior instead of the looks and likeness on the outside. Without analyzing the source languages used at the time of Genesis going from oral tradition to written inscription, it is impossible to know if "image of God" does differ to modern understanding. But certainly it is in the realm of possibility that "the image of God" more accurately is about some essential interior capacity and instinct; something that is in the human identity that comes from God, something that resonates with and longs for God. To have a core, essential, heart-felt, identical identifying identity to the Great I Am surely rings with truth, righteousness, and beauty.

Judgement Day is not what you think

Popular imagination for judgement that is balanced and weighed.

The weekly Bible Study is incrementally making its way through Romans; this time the tail of chapter 3 and first lines of chapter 4. The idea of JUDGEMENT comes up and for some reason when hearing it read on this occasion that word stuck out in my mind. Like so many words, with modern ears a particular image comes to mind that could miss the meaning of the original word long, long ago. Besides the historical drift in meanings - what it refers to AND the connotations that echo from it, there is also the potential misalignment of (modern) English and the earlier translation(s) relied upon to arrive at the words printed today. Setting aside both concerns (historical and translational), though, consider the roots and several senses contained in 'judgement'.

The idea of "You will be judged" in a courtroom situation has the idea of punishment and maybe reformation or realignment: too lenient is considered unjust, but too harsh is also considered unjust. However, the folk image of "knocking on heaven's door" and being judged as to being admitted or else being denied admission is slightly different to the courtroom example. It is more of a pass/fail gatekeeper image. What the passage in Romans 3 and 4 means, though, could be something neither of the Pearly Gates or the courtroom bench. Clues to the full and true, intended sense of Justice that Paul describes can be found in the family of related words: Justice, Justify, Judgement, Judicial, Adjudicate, and so on. Assuming that God's nature is Love for all creatures, animal and vegetable (micro-organism, too?), and that his faith is abiding --no matter what is in a person's own mind or heart, then JUDGING is about realigning the out-of-tune soul, restoring neglected relationships between Creator and Creature. Therefore, when coming before God to be judged and/or for the Final Judgement Day the purpose is to put things in order, completion, Shalom, in-tune. It is not retribution, revenge, tit for tat, or punitive damages coming due in some kind of cosmic accounting. This sort of judging is more closely related to justifying something, in the sense of typewriters that arrange the lines of text along the left margin, or the right margin, or center-justified along the axis of the page.

See Romans 3:28 (NIV translation, emphasis added)

...we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.

Or the same verse from The Message translation: Our lives get in step with God and all others by letting him set the pace, not by proudly or anxiously trying to run the parade.

Or from Hawai'ian Pidgin English translation: So dis wat we figga: Anybody can get um right wit God wen dey trus him, not wen dey ony do da stuff Godʼs Rules say. 

  Justified in this passage may sound to modern ears as a synonym for 'authorized' and 'by reason of' (in the sense of rationalizing or entitlement for something). But consider the earlier discussion where justified has the meaning of realigning and putting into order. With that emphasis, then the assertion that "a person is JUSTIFIED BY faith" gives a new picture: faith does not authorize or give excuses for a person's way of walking through the world, but instead faith is the mechanism by which a person's drifting off the path can thereby be put back into the proper standing again. Likewise of JUDGEMENT DAY: this is not a frightening threat of ultimate accountability. Instead it is a repair of misaligned and mistaken being for the purpose of putting things right all over again.

Similarly for the words, 'true' (and truths), 'righteous' (and self-righteous), and 'holy' (perfected, Shalom, full circle of completion). Taking the technical meaning in carpenter language, a cut line or a plank is 'true' when the line is straight, correct, right, aligned. Thus when something is seen to be true, this means it is right, and by extension that it is righteous. When things are indeed all in order (not chaos or in entropy) then there is a sense of completion and rest; thus everything is whole, holy, hale, healed, healthy, and complete. Shalom.

Not to abolish the Law but to fulfill it - music metaphor

Bible Study on Tuesday morning brought us back for the 4^th or 5^th time in the past many years to Paul's letter to the Rabbi Christ followers in Rome. The NIV (new international version) and maybe all Bibles, no matter the branch of Christianity or language of publication, arranges his many letters by order of length rather than chronologically or geographically, for example. This is the longest of the 13 attributed to him.

 

[Wikipedia in English for 'Epistle to the Romans']

In Romans 2:1–4 Paul warns hypocrites of condemning others for failing to follow Jewish Law while themselves also fail to fulfill its ultimate spirit, sticking to the letter of the law but missing the meaning of it. The men in the weekly Zoom get-together chewed on this timeless tension in general, but then also looked for examples in our own time and the people and places we know today, too.

Music is a precious metaphor or analogy so often. Here, too, it provided a way to think about Paul's warning about the connection of form and content, law and spirit. Consider the way a band, a soloist, or a choir learns a piece of music. The printed sheet of music is something like a law - a declared way things should be. However, blankly (lacking in spirit or verve) reproducing the pitches and rhythms in synch with the others does not express the full meaning and beauty (and truth) of the song. Only by practicing over and  over can the performer's mind let go of the technical details of the printed 'law' and begin to hear one's fellow players. Perhaps at an even higher level the entire ensemble of performers begins to feel the swell and dip of the whole piece of music, not just thinking about one measure at a time or just one musical phrase, but also the much larger musical art all together. In other words, the music is only alive after the printed notes on the page of musical notations no longer confine the spirit of the players. Likewise in Paul's letter: it is not the legalisms, the details and preoccupation with small things that is the beginning and end of worship. Those elements of Law do exist and occupy a place of significance. But such things should not be confused with the larger spirit of the Law. In modern terms, it is the difference between Christianity and Churchianity; worshiping the Lord and Master versus the building and by-laws. 

Taking the musical metaphor a little further, consider the creative power of (jazz) improvisation. There are rules and boundaries, but those do not define the art. Rather it is the free-flow and back and forth of one performer in relationship to the others that makes the whole thing pulse with life. Listeners can recognize phrases of well-known melodies woven into much larger unscripted meanings. In order to satisfy players and listeners alike there must be a constant tension between the 'Law' (tempo, whole group sync to each other, taking turns with each other) and the 'Spirit' (embellishment, variations, returns to the central pattern of melody). Too much 'flow' or too much 'control' will not allow the life of the event to rise up.

Leaving the land of music in order to venture into the arena of foreign language learning, there is another useful metaphor between 'law' and 'spirit' that Paul has put into his letter in the 2^nd chapter of Romans. Newcomers to a language need to practice basic syllables, accent, and core vocabulary again and again; they have to 'walk' before they can 'run' or fly. Such things as word order, social status (addressing the right person in the right way) are a kind of linguistic and social grammar. Only by gaining a kind of 'muscle memory' can the student of foreign language go deeper and farther to express their own meanings. Intermediate-level students have the task of balancing "fluency" and "accuracy." Being overly concerned about making mistakes (accuracy focus) can inhibit the person from putting their skills into play. Being overly concerned with speed and repartee with native speakers (fluency focus) can mislead the person into believing they have no corrections to pay attention to – with the result that native speakers may struggle to catch the intended meaning, or may be caused embarrassment from errors in word choice, for example. Something similar may be true in the grammar of Christianity that Paul writes about: too much concern with ritual rightness could distract the faithful from the larger prize and main point - to love God and also one's neighbor as oneself. But too much concern with the Greatest Commandment (to love God and also one's neighbor as oneself) while disregarding the Law and process means that congregational efforts may fail through lack of common structure and ways.

Jesus states that he has come not to abolish the Law but to fulfill it, not its letter but its spirit.

"Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." [Matthew 5:17 NIV]

In conclusion, after reading and reflecting on Romans 2 the other day, the illustrations from making music & from speaking in a new language seem to line up with this essential tension Paul describes between leaning too much on the letter of the law (or the opposite, paying little attention to its particulars). So the next time something you hear or see gives you feelings of hypocrisy, think of the Jazz Masters jamming: holding on to the law, but just barely, in order to soar all together - not a lone voice but an ensemble raising their song.