The point of this post is not to give an exhaustive scholarly definition of what the term "imago Dei" means, but rather to help the average believer understand it's importance and why it should be a lens that all believers should be viewing life through. It's a concept that has come to have an increasingly greater impact on my life the further I dig into it, and yet I don't pretend to be doing anything other than scraping the surface of its depths.
 

Imago Dei is a latin phrase that translates to "the image of God". It may sound like a boring theological term, but the importance of grasping what it truly means can not be overstated. It's key to answering life's most important questions because it's a term that is used to describe what we are, or rather what we are supposed to be. There is a crisis of identity for the modern day Church in western culture and a correct understanding of the historical concept of imago Dei would go a long way to get us back on track. In our misguided zeal to be progressive and mainstream, we've made a wrong turn by trading "true" for "new". As one of my favorite quotes from C.S. Lewis states:
 

Why do any of us exist? If you believe we all got here by some random series of events, I don't see how you can really answer that question. Random things don't have purpose in the deepest sense, they just exist. They might meet a need, but that's only by chance. If something is random you can't say why it does something, you can only describe what it randomly happens to do. Only created things can truly have a purpose because all created things are made with an intent to do something. I believe that science and logic show us that there is an astronomical amount of intent in our universe because it is too finely tuned to exist by chance. No, we are created beings and as such, the only place we can go to find true purpose is to look to our creator.

So, we look to God's own words in the bible in the creation account that we find in Genesis. After God made the heavens and the earth, he created all the living creatures that exist. All that he created glorifies the creator in the way a painting glorifies an artist. We can see is power, his creativity, and so many of his attributes through creation. That's why in Paul writes in Romans 1:20 "For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made". But humans were singled out to do this to a degree that no other aspect of creation is.
 

This concept is echoed in Genesis 5:1-2 and Genesis 9:6. Sometimes it uses the word "image" and sometimes it uses the word "likeness". These words are not used to describe anything else in all of creation. The point is that here our creator is telling us what we were created to do and be. We were made to be representatives of God! Not exactly like him, because we aren't God, but to share in more of his attributes and qualities than anything else in all of creation.

He put humans in charge of all the rest of creation as ambassadors and viceroys. Our job was to represent and glorify him on earth. When God tells Adam and Eve to go forth and multiply (Genesis 1:28), He's commanding them to go forth and fill the earth with His glory!

Throughout history theologians have wrestled with huge lists of questions and tried to study scripture to accurately answer them. Often times these questions and answers were organized together into what's historically called a catechism. In modern terms I guess we would call them a theological FAQ. In the Westminster Shorter Catechism, written in 1646, the first question they tackled was, "What is the chief end of man?", to which they answered, "Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.".

This seems like a simple feel-good verse but it has some very profound implications. The statement James makes is very clear that anything in all of creation that is good or perfect is a gift that comes directly from God. This includes anything that you see, taste, touch, smell, or experience in any other way that could be called good, in the truest sense of the word, is from God and God alone. He is the source of all of it. This truth can not be overstated and is at the very heart of understanding the nature of ultimate reality and the meaning of life itself. 

To further explain this, James ties this idea of every good and perfect gift to the concept of light. It’s an appropriate and helpful metaphor because light has a source from which it originates and then it shines on or through other objects. Those objects either reflect the light or let light pass through it and in doing so they might appear to have a light of their own, but it is merely a derivative light. Think about the moon which shines brightly in the night sky, but the light we see is merely a reflection of the Sun. The Sun is the source of the light, the moon is not. God’s goodness shines on and through creation and brings joy, warmth, and life much like how the Sun shines on this world and does the same. God is the true source of it all which is why He is called “the Father of lights” by James.

Let’s think about what some of the practical implications of this truth actually are. This means that the beauty that you see at a sunset is the beauty of God shining through his creation. It means the joy brought to you by playing with a small adorable puppy is a joy that originated from God and shines through that puppy. It means the wholesome deep laughter that comes from a good time with good friends, is laughter that originated with the Father. Most importantly perhaps, it means that everything that is good that you love about the people whom you hold most dear is a goodness that comes from God and shines through those people. They are all merely windows or holes in the curtains that light peaks through. So what we love in all these things is actually God shining through them, whether we knowingly acknowledge that or not.

If He truly is the source of all of it, then that means all of creation (including you and I) is the source of none of it. It would mean that nothing good and perfect has ever or will ever come directly from you or anyone you have ever known for that matter. Pause and let that sink in for a moment. How does that statement make you feel? If you are a human being, which I suspect you are, this probably shatters your sense of self-worth or at the very least feels wrong.

It’s the very reason why James starts off with the warning, “Do not be deceived” because he knows that all of us are deceived. We have all bought into the lie that we actually bring something good into the world that is uniquely ours and this is where our inherent value comes from. We bring love, we bring laughter, we bring beauty and we believe that we are all little lights of goodness in our own right. We have come to believe that we are the source of some good, even if it’s just a little, and what’s so wrong with that?

When we spend our lives chasing after anything else but God, we will in the end only find death. When we are deceived about where the light comes from, we end up chasing the creation rather than the creator. We will find that the joy we seek is not in them, but only came through them. It’s why we will spend our whole lives moving from one thing to the next to try and find meaning and purpose, only to be constantly let down. How many times in your life have you pursued a dream, only to be let down when you actually achieved it?

Scientists will tell you that life on this planet is only possible because of our Sun. We need its warmth, the plants use the sunlight to grow and for many other reasons. The moon is also bright at night and when the Sun shines on it, the surface can reach 260 degrees Fahrenheit. However, when the Sun does not shine on it, the surface drops to minus 280 degrees Fahrenheit. The moon without the Sun is cold and dead and can provide no life. When we give creation credit and praise for the good things in this world instead of God it’s like turning your back on the Sun in favor of the moon. It’s leaving behind what brings life for what does not. We will forever be worshiping windows when we could have the Sun itself! The windows will give light for only a short time but when the sun sets, we will be left with nothing but darkness.