Being human is a complex and multifaceted experience. According to the Bible, humans are created in the image of God, which gives us inherent value, dignity and purpose. However, the Bible also teaches that humans are fallen and sinful, which leads to brokenness in our relationships with God, others and creation. Through faith in Jesus, God redeems and restores humanity, giving us hope for the future. Let’s explore in more depth what the Bible teaches about key aspects of our shared human identity and experience.
Made in God’s image
A fundamental truth about humanity that the Bible teaches is that we are made in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26-27). All human beings, regardless of gender, ethnicity, social status or ability, reflect God’s image. This gives all people sacred worth and value that must be respected. Being made in God’s image distinguishes us from the rest of creation, gives us dignity, and calls us to represent God’s loving care for the world. It means we have the capacity for relationship with God, morality, reason, creativity, and stewardship over creation. Yet because we are finite creatures, our reflection of God’s limitless perfection is limited and flawed. Only Jesus Christ is the perfect image of God (Colossians 1:15).
Unity and diversity
The Bible teaches that despite our diversity, humans share an essential unity because we are all made in God’s image with equal value (Galatians 3:28). God has made us as a human family descended from common parents, Adam and Eve. But the Bible also celebrates the diversity of cultures, languages and ethnicities in humanity that reflect the boundless creativity of our Maker (Revelation 7:9). Part of bearing God’s image is to have dominion over creation, so God has endowed the human race with immense diversity of interests, talents and abilities that enable our stewardship and cultural development. The church is meant to be a reconciled unity-in-diversity that overcomes divisions and celebrates our common new identity in Christ.
Relational beings
Human beings are created for relationship, first with God and also with each other. We see the relational nature of humanity in the loving communion amongst the Trinity that humans are invited into (John 17:20-23). Our fundamental need for connection reflects our origin in the God who is love and community within the Trinity. We also see God declaring that it is not good for man to be alone (Genesis 2:18). We are made for intimate relationship with others, to love and be loved. Even society depends on networks of interdependence and mutual care. The fall severely damaged human relationships with selfishness and hostility. But Jesus came to reconcile us to God and each other. The church is meant to be a new reconciled human community pointing to God’s ultimate plan to unite all things in Christ (Ephesians 1:9-10).
Body and spirit
The Bible presents human beings as an integrated whole of physical body and immaterial spirit (Genesis 2:7). Rather than denigrating the body, the Bible affirms embodiment as integral to God’s original design. Our bodies enable us to relate, create culture and do good works to glorify God. Jesus Christ is fully divine and fully human, affirming the sacredness of the physical creation. However, the Bible also presents the spiritual and moral dimension of humanity. We have a conscience, an inner sense of God’s law, with a capacity to relate to God. The human spirit goes beyond rational intellect to include creativity, morality, relationships and worship. Our spirits live on beyond the death of our earthly bodies. One day our bodies will be resurrected and transformed like Jesus. God values human life in its unified wholeness.
Purpose and meaning
The Bible teaches that as God’s image-bearers, humans have great dignity, worth and purpose. Our lives are not the product of impersonal cosmic forces, but of a loving Creator who has made us for a reason. We are not accidents or highly evolved animals. All people have immeasurable value regardless of age, gender, social utility or other worldly measures of significance. Part of bearing God’s image is to participate in meaningful work as we rule over creation and shape culture (Genesis 1:28). We honor God by using our gifts and abilities to serve others, do justice, create beauty and give order to the world he has placed under our care. When Jesus restores God’s reign, our cultural work will be redeemed and incorporated into the new creation (Revelation 21:24-26).
Moral consciousness
Humans alone have a moral nature and innate sense of right and wrong. The Bible teaches that humans are made in God’s image with the capacity to discern and respond to God’s moral law. God has written his moral law on human hearts and consciences (Romans 2:14-15). We have an inner sense of justice, duty and wisdom. Of course, our moral perceptions can be distorted or ignored because of sin and finitude. The moral law of God, summarized in the Ten Commandments, gives clear expression of God’s upright standards given for human flourishing. Our conscience affirms God’s law. Tragically humanity rebels against God’s moral boundaries. Yet Jesus enables us to fulfill God’s intent for human morality by the inner transformation of our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Jeremiah 31:33).
Free will and responsibility
Central to the Biblical teaching about humanity is that God has made us as volitional creatures with the capacity for free moral choice. Despite the bondage of sin and finiteness of human understanding, we are not ultimately determined by external forces. Humans have a limited but real free will to make moral decisions and shape our character through our choices. We are responsible before God for the way we exercise our will. The Bible warns us not to follow the worldview that reduces humans to complex biochemical machines without free will or morality. Our choices contribute to our formation of virtue or vice. Of course, our will is corrupted by the Fall such that we need God’s grace to liberate our enslaved wills and empower us to choose the good. Through Christ we can take responsibility for our choices rather than blaming outside forces.
Made for responsibility
Flowing from the gift of free will, the Bible teaches that humans are morally responsible for how we treat others, live justly in society, care for the environment, and obey God’s commands. We are not free to live however we want, but must answer to the God who made us and will judge us (Hebrews 4:13). Part of being made in God’s image is that he has entrusted humanity with managing his world justly and prudently as his representatives. We are responsible for the weak and vulnerable. Misusing our will to exploit others is a grievous affront to our Creator. God also calls us to be stewards over the natural environment he has entrusted to our care (Genesis 1:28). Our capacities for moral reasoning and just governance enable humans to have dominion while reflecting God’s love. Christ came to free us from sin’s bondage that we might properly fulfill these responsibilities for which we will give account.
Sin and depravity
While originally made in God’s image as morally free and accountable beings, the Bible also teaches the sad reality that humanity chose to rebel against God. Adam and Eve’s disobedience represented the first human sin that led to the corruption of our originally good nature (Genesis 3; Romans 5:12). The result is that humans are now fallen creatures with a tendency toward selfishness, injustice, greed, hatred, and evil. No human society ever perfectly lives up to God’s standards of righteousness and love. The persistent reality of war, oppression and corruption testifies to our corporate sinfulness. While still reflecting God’s image with consciences and moral capabilities, apart from God’s redeeming grace, humans invariably use their gifts for self-serving ends rather than to honor God and advance human flourishing. Our minds and wills are corrupted by sin and finitude such that we cannot save ourselves. We are lost without Christ.
Hope in Christ
The Bible’s realistic picture of fallen humanity offers hope because our sinful condition is not the end of the story. God sent Jesus Christ, the perfect God-man who alone fulfills God’s ideal for humanity. By his sinless life, atoning death for sin, and resurrection from the dead, Jesus provides the only way for our salvation (John 14:6; Romans 3:21-26). When we repent and believe in Christ, we are forgiven, justified, spiritually reborn and reconciled to God. The Holy Spirit empowers us to grow in holiness as God originally intended for humans before the Fall. Believers in Christ are remade in God’s image and will one day be entirely restored to God’s ideal (1 John 3:1-3). God’s plan in Christ offers hope for both individual transformation and the ultimate redemption of all creation.
Looking forward
The Bible’s sweeping narrative traces the origin, fallenness and redemption of humanity. Jesus Christ offers hope for the transformation of each person. And one day, Christ will return to liberate the world from sin’s presence and consequences forever. God will judge evil. There will be no more sin, suffering or death. God’s people will be resurrected to new life in perfect fellowship with the triune God. The entire creation will be restored to harmonious flourishing for eternity. Then we will see humanity fully reflecting the image of God as God originally intended. The future hope in Christ inspires us to seek now the shalom that will one day fill the earth. The story isn’t over. God invites us to find our true calling as humans in Him.